bhaskar saikia

The traveler has found his road,
The world has gained a new messenger;
Walking over the sands of time,
Beneath the boundless sky,
Into the vastness of emptiness—
The world of Sifar.

Why is the heart capable of love?
It would never have hurt
Otherwise;
Breaking the  tantrum of silence,
Every step plunging into a world of many Alephs.

When the heart is adamant,
The heart listens,
To excuses sometimes;
Yet fearful—
It might forget the road.

May the traveler keep on walking
Across the great desert—
Conquering fear, love, hatred and failure.

A traveler gives hope
To others,
A traveler brings new light.
A traveler is a warrior,
A traveler is a conqueror.
It is because of travelers
Such as this,
That Alephs can be found in every Sifar.

There are moments in life when we feel like we are walking through an endless void, a vast sifar—emptiness stretching beyond comprehension. It is in these moments, when the road seems to lead nowhere, that we begin to question: Why do we seek? Why does the heart long, love, and break? And why, despite everything, do we keep moving forward?

Like a lone traveler setting foot on a path unknown, we navigate the landscapes of love and loss, triumphs and failures. Each step feels uncertain, every turn a new discovery—sometimes of beauty, sometimes of despair. But in this journey, something profound unfolds: we realize that within every sifar, every nothingness, lies the potential for aleph—an infinity of meanings, of transformations, of becoming more than we were before.

The inspiration for this poem comes from Lucky Ali’s 1998 album Sifar, particularly the songs Mil Jaan Se Kabhi and Baadalon Ki Gehrai Mein. These songs carry an ethereal depth, speaking of journeys both physical and emotional, of searching for something beyond the tangible. They evoke the feeling of floating through an unseen world, where emotions take shape like clouds drifting in the vastness of the sky. Just like the traveler in the poem, Lucky Ali’s music captures the essence of longing, introspection, and the silent conversations we have with the universe.

The traveler who dares to walk into the unknown is more than a wanderer. They are a seeker, a messenger of new possibilities. They do not fear wrong turns or lost roads; they embrace them. They understand that even heartbreak is as great as love itself, for one cannot exist without the other. They know that just as the sun and the rain are equal blessings, so too are failures and victories—both shaping the soul, refining the path.

To journey is not just to move but to evolve. Every experience, every silence, every moment of surrender to the great void teaches us something. And in this journey, when we feel like we have lost our way, we must remember: the road itself listens, the desert whispers, and the universe conspires to guide those who walk with purpose.

So, let the traveler keep moving forward—through fear, through love, through failure. For it is through these steps that we turn sifar into aleph, transforming emptiness into boundless possibility. And it is because of such travelers that light continues to break through the darkness, that hope is never truly lost, and that new worlds are discovered in the vastness of existence.