चाहे तो वो लिख दे...

चाहे तो वो लिख दे, आसमान को आसान,

और अगर चाहे,

तो लिख दे, मुस्कान को भी परेशान I

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Does Grey Matter?

We humans have penchant for seeing things in stark Black or stark White. For us the grey seldom counts.

There is news doing rounds for two days that a rag picker’s son cracked the exam to become a doctor. The newsmakers are singing hosanna of how a boy from poor family background who lived in a hut, that didn’t have even toilets, has cracked the prestigious medical exam.

Though there is no taking away the credit that the boy deserves, yet I have my grouse with the way the success of students from weaker economic class is eulogized. The news article reads that he didn’t have toilets in the house (or the hut) and look where he has reached. Now the thing that irritates is that as if living in a hut that is sans a loo is some kind of yardstick for praise. What I mean to say is that there is no talismanic properties attached to the status called ‘poor’ that helps you crack prestigious exams of career path. It is your mental abilities that enable you to achieve such success.

Why I am saying this is because people tend to generalize things. There is a belief in my side of India that if you are bereft of fundamental facilities in life like loo and electricity then your daily life qualifies to have the status of ‘struggle’ (even if you are owner of lands) and if your daily life includes the facilities like loo and electricity then you are leading life of a decadent. What I am trying to put forth is that even the students who have facilities of loo and electricity go through their share of struggle with studies and with life. 

But, since, we are such a sucker for extremes that we totally ignore the tribulations that the students with average abilities and moderate facilities have to go through. 

There is a coaching institute in my part of the country that boasts for sending the students from poor background to IITs. While there is nothing wrong in the ideology itself but how many institutes are there in India that focus on making a student smart,who is weak at maths, physics, and chemistry. 

These coaching institutes take only those students who have the ability to solve scientific equations and they are sure that they can groom them to crack the exams. You might say what is wrong in it? Because, unless you have a certain ability, you can’t qualify a certain exam. Point taken, but why there are no initiatives to make the learning easy for students who have difficulty with learning? And when you are taking only the mentally sharp students, then why give the argument that they are poor? Ok, you can say that you are providing them a platform that otherwise they would not have. But, even then, don’t publicize that how being only poor helped them crack IIT exams. And from here starts the out of proportion exalt of students belonging to poor background as if they have done a miracle. If they didn’t have a bend of mind that is responsive to scientific equations, however poor they could be, they would never be able to crack the exams that seek such abilities.

In the process of extolling the achievement of the poor section of students, we somewhere belittle the efforts of the students who belong to a class that have a loo and electricity in their houses.  Even if, they fail to crack these exams, their struggle deserves no less praise. But who cares for grey, we love only Black or White.

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मैं लक़ीर लिख रहा था...

मैं लक़ीर लिख रहा था,

वो तस्वीर लिख गया I

मैं रात लिख रहा था,

वो प्रभात लिख गया I

मैं नैराश्य लिख रहा था,

वो प्रयास लिख गया I

मैं क़ाश लिख रहा था,
वो आकाश लिख गया I

मैं साँस लिख रहा था,
वो सुहास लिख गया I

मैं शीश लिख रहा था,
वो आशीष लिख गया I

मैं हार लिख रहा था 

वो प्रहार लिख गया I

मैं बेक़रार लिख रहा था,

वो क़रार लिख गया I

मैं आज लिख रहा था,

वो आगाज़ लिख गया I

मैं साज़ लिख रहा था,

वो आवाज़ लिख गया I

मैं लाल लिख रहा था,

वो गुलाल लिखा गया I

मैं हाल लिख रहा था,

वो कमाल  लिख गया I

मैं जाल लिख रहा था,

वो ज़लाल लिख गया I

मैं मलाल लिख रहा था,

वो निहाल लिख गया I

मैं  पीर लिख रहा था,

वो आख़िर लिख गया I 

मैं लक़ीर लिख रहा था,

वो तस्वीर लिख गया I

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उसने उसको पागल कह दिया...

उसने उसको पागल कह दिया,
और अंजाने में खुद को जाहिल कह दिया I

पागल होना भी उस शंकर का खेला है,
जिसके पास विष और अमृत दोनो का मेला हैI

पागलपन में शंकर का अंकुर है,
जो सती के लिए विक्षिप्त हुआ,
जो कृति के लिए संलिप्त हुआ I

फिर पागलपन हमको क्यूँ खलता है,
क्यूँ पागल होना सस्ता है I

पागल होना ईश्वर के संग होना है,
पागल होना शंकर के संग रोना है I

पागलपन  भी शंकर का है एक रूप,
पागलपन भी शंकर के छाया की एक धूप I


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If Family Counts Then Accept It Too!

A star kid says that whatever he has achieved is only because of his hard work and struggle, and his scintillating family background has nothing to do with it. Furthermore, the media blares that at such a young age (of 22or 23), it is quite an achievement to be debuting in a Bollywood movie.

Now I would like to deal with the two sentences written above.

First is about the hard-work & struggle sermon that the star-kids preach to the naïve world. How come it happens that so sincerely hardworking and struggling souls (whose parents and brethren happen to be from film industry) finds only acting as a suitable career choice? Because, incidentally, entering IITs & IIMs are also about hard work and struggles, but the thought of cracking exams for IITs and IIMs don’t flit through their minds.

After so much of brainstorming with family members about their career, they end up at doing only movies as their career choices. They deduce that only doing movies is the ultimate paragon for hard graft and struggle.

And being able to fetch a movie for oneself all alone is quite a matter of pride but to take the pride when it is not a reality is all about misleading oneself and others. 

The star kids feel that if they divulge that they get movies because of their parents and their network, they will be considered a less hero. Because a hero is someone who achieves everything through his own abilities. And they think that if they acknowledge that their status is because of their lineage, they will shred the image of a self-made hero that most people adore and believe in. But they forget that people are not so uninitiated in the ways of the world.

It is no rocket science to figure out that why in whole population of India (and especially that part of population which strives to become a movie actor) the eyes of producers, directors succeed to find acting skills in only those who have a familial cinematic pedigree. 

I am not against film actors’ children becoming film actors but the word of wisdom that entails hard work and struggle that comes out freely from the mouth of these star kids is hard to digest and sounds cosmetic.  They should frankly tell the world that they are there because of their family background. And what this candid remark will do is that it will dispel the aura that is created using the words like hard work and struggle. This way many young boys and girls, from humble backgrounds, who leave for Mumbai in search of a career in Bollywood will stop believing that only hard work and struggle can bear the fruits for them in the Indian tinsel town. 

I am not trying to belittle the grand philosophy of hard work and struggle in life but just trying to establish that the hard work & struggle per se is not the ticket to Bollywood that is advocated by these star kids more often than not.

Second thing is about media vehemently glorifying the “young age” tag. When they say this (young age), they seem to establish that the young age itself is responsible for their achievements. But this is not the reality and they know it well. But only to sugar coat a promotional piece of writing they use such tags. 

Otherwise if only the young age had the miraculous powers to make one debut in a Hindi movie, we would have got dozens of debuts on every weekday. By writing that someone has achieved such a great achievement tantamount to debuting in a movie at a young age of 22 is kind of belittling the efforts of all those 22 years of youth who really work hard and struggle to get a job in Indian employment milieu.

I am not saying that media should not celebrate the opportunities that these privileged star kids get but the language should show respect for others who are not lucky enough to have that kind of opportunities.

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हर पार लड़ाई है...

हर पार लड़ाई है,
इस पार भी उस पार भी I

जूझना, लड़ना, हारना,
एक सच्चाई है,
इस पार भी उस पार भी I

तुमसे बड़ा मैं, मुझसे छोटे तुम,
हर पार यही ढिढ़ाई है,
इस पार भी उस पार भी I

बेईमान,बेनाम,बेज़ार ,
हर पार है ये बाजार,
इस पार भी उस पार भी I

लूटता घर,उजड़ता शहर,
हर पार है यही मंज़र,
इस पार भी उस पार भी I

अर्श का अरमान, फर्श का असरार,
हर पार है ये अस्फ़ार,
इस पार भी उस पार भी I

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असरार: भेद

अस्फ़ार: यात्रायें

पर उसने सपनों में आना छोड़ दिया...

वो कहता था, जीवन झरना है,

पर उसने बहना छोड़ दिया I

वो कहता था, जीवन सोना सा गहना है,

पर उसने हँसी पहनना छोड़ दिया I

वो कहता था, जीवन को कहीं पहुँचना है,

पर उसने चलना छोड़ दिया I

वो कहता था, जीवन सपना है,

पर उसने सपनों में आना छोड़ दिया I

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रास्ते बहोत थे, वास्ते बहोत,

रास्ते बहोत थे, वास्ते बहोत थे,

फिर भी आज हम अकेले खड़े हैं,

ज़िंदा हैं के बस अपनी ज़िद पे अड़े हैं I

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झुकना है और सलाम करना है...

झुकना है और सलाम करना है,

उनके जूतों से अपनी नज़रों का मिलान करना है,

वो साहब हैं,

इसीलिए अपनी रीढ़ की हड्डी को कमान करना हैI

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यूँ हीं जीना मरना है....

यूँ हीं जीना मरना है,

यूँ हीं हँसना रोना है I

यूँ हीं उगना डूबना है,

यूँ हीं सोना जगना है I

यूँ हीं रुकना चलना है,

यूँ हीं गिरना संभालना है I

यूँ हीं खोना पाना है,

यूँ हीं आना जाना हैI 

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मोहब्बत तुम्हारी आँखों में थी...

मोहब्बत तुम्हारी आँखों में थी, 

शरारत तुम्हारी बातों में थी, 

मैं जो डूब गया इस समंदर में,

वो इज़ाज़त तुम्हारी साँसों में थी I

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अजीब है ये ज़िंदगी का ख्वाब...

अजीब है ये ज़िंदगी का ख्वाब,
कोई जीने से महरूम,
कोई मरने को बेताब I

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