कौन जाने... वो कैसे बाँटता है?

कौन जाने...

वो कैसे बाँटता है?

किसी के जीवन में,

सुख और दुख,

अहा और उफ़ I 

कौन जाने... 

वो कैसे बाँटता है?

हँसी की धूप,

हृदय की हुक I

कौन जाने... 

वो कैसे बाँटता है ?

प्रबुद्ध  उजियारा,

विरुद्ध अंधियारा I 

कौन जाने... 

वो कैसे बाँटता है?

चमकता सितारा,

दहकता अंगारा I

कौन जाने...

वो कैसे बाँटता है?

कोमल इत्मीनान,

कठोर इम्तिहान I

कौन जाने...

वो कैसे बाँटता है?

असीमित आसमान,

व सीमित उड़ान I

वो इंसान तक बहुत बेहूदा निकला...

उसे मेरे गेसुओं की छाओं की तमन्ना थी ,

उसे मेरे पलकों के गांव  की तमन्ना थी I 

उसे मेरे कान की बाली से प्यार था,

उसे मेरे लबों की लाली से प्यार था I

उसे मेरे गालों  का भंवर पसंद था,

उसे मेरे सांसों का खबर पसंद था I 

उसके लिए मैं हीं उसका जहान थी,

उसके लिए मैं हीं उसका अभिमान थी I 

एक दिन मैं उसकी बाहों में थी,

अपने  ख्वाबों  के पनाहों में थी,

के एकदम से उसने मुझे झटक दिया,

मेरे ख्वाबों के आसमान से निचे पटक दिया,

पूछा तो पता चला,

के जो मेरे गोर रंग पे मरता था,

वो मेरे गर्दन के सफ़ेद दाग से डर गया I 

उस दिन उसने मुझसे अलविदा कह दिया,

मेरे मोहब्बत के फलसफे को शर्मिंदा कह दिया,

और... 

दुनिया की गलीज़ रवायत को,

एक बार फिर  ज़िंदा कह दिया I 

उस दिन मुझे पता निकला,  

के जिसे मैंने खुदा समझा था ,

वो इंसान तक  बहुत बेहूदा  निकला I

###

Hello… brilliant brains, before designing death… look around!

Yesterday, I read a piece of news about a student researcher  in engineering field committing suicide in one of the premier engineering institutes of India located in Jharkhand. The rumored reason has love angle. Now that he is gone, his parents are left with only the painful reminiscence of a brilliant son because of whom they were party to much happiness in their lives.

It is not that people don’t commit suicide but the thing that bothers more in this case is about the involvement of a guy who was doing his research and doing research means that he had done his graduation and his P.G, so a certain level of maturity is expected of him. I mean we hear news about students succumbing to study pressures at lower rung of educational stairs, but if somebody commits suicide at almost the utmost level of studies, then he should be examined as an example as to whether the scintillating educational achievements provide necessary succor to deal with the real problems of life.

The problems that can be termed the real McCoy of the practical world.

Agreed that demon of the brain can pulverize the logical thinking but if a guy doing a research program kneels down before the demons, then as a society we seriously need to ruminate about the mental salubrity of the achievers who live beneath the veneer of polymathic air in society.  Why we should worry about the self-eliminatory attempts by these brilliant brains is that if they are alive then they can contribute positively to the society in a way that could be inimitable and unprecedented in nature.

What I feel, and it is entirely my opinion which can be termed entirely unfounded as well, is that being brilliant gives you a sense that mentally you are indomitable. And when you feel mentally crippled, you feel it beneath your dignity to realize that you can also lose a fight in life, given you have been overcoming all educational hurdles so far.

Actually, life is not a one pronged challenge but a multi -pronged contest. So, the technique for one type of challenge is not that effective for other type of test. So, it is necessary to adapt oneself in different situations. And for once if you stop feeling special or gifted and bother to look around, you will find many reasons to feel ashamed about thinking to design your death.

When some brilliant brain is deciding to design his/her death, they must look around and see that people are struggling to have even a normal life and normal happiness in that life.

There is one organization that does the fundraising work for people in physical distress along with other financial distresses. Reading about the stories at their website  can give one feeling about how lucky one is to be alive and kicking. 

This is just one site, if you rummage around the web and around the social milieu, you might find plethora of such instances that will help take the mind away from suicidal thoughts.

Thing is that no one has come on the earth to live forever, we have to die. We will die anyway in accidents, in natural calamities, through ailments and diseases. So why put mind to design death, why not put your mind to design life!

I think that everybody should act responsibly towards their family and think about others who are not that well off in terms of living the life and this will give a reason to shun the thought of suicide at the overpowering moment and once the menacing suicidal thoughts are over, the sun of life will smile proudly on you to have chosen life from next day.

###

कुछ लोग जो साए थे...

कुछ लोग जो साए थे,
वो अब पराए हो गये I

कुछ लोग जो हमारे थे,
वो अब किनारे हो गये I

कुछ लोग जो मासूम चेहरे थे,
वो शतरंज के शातिर मोहरे हो गये I

कुछ लोग जो धड़कन की कहानी थे,
वो अखियन का पानी हो गये I

इसीलिए...

कुछ लोग जो याद ज़ुबानी थे,
वो बीती बात पुरानी हो गये I

###

Were your forefathers freedom-fighters?

Nowadays in T.V debates, more often than not, a question springs up about whether someone’s forefathers (or organization with reference to parties for that matter) were part of freedom struggle or not. And here every effort is made to make the other participants of the debate feel guilty and one-self sublime on the basis of whether their forefathers took part in the freedom struggle or they didn’t.

Generally, the years before the 15^th of August 1947 are pictured as the years where only thing that every Indian was doing was: Angrezon Bharat Chodo & Bharat Mata Ki Jai.  

From the eyes of today’s India we would like to proudly paint every Indian’s forefathers with the colour of freedom struggle. And now, everyone is also gregariously willing to have the traces of lathi -charged bruises on the body of their forefathers as the emblem of allegiance to the freedom struggle.

On the contrary to the view of the gloomy and despondent India, the pre-independent- era people were also busy bringing smile on the faces of Indians through singing and dancing. Dada Saheb Phalke, Ashok Kumar,Kanan Devi and Sohrab Modi are some names that tried to shape a different identity of India on the basis of which we take pride in our Indian films having a worldwide reputation for entertainment. I mean to say can we label these stars as sinners because they indulged in activities that gave bliss to senses necessary to lead a life free of depressive milieu?

During the era of so called diametrical darkness, Mr. Srinivasa Ramanujan was busy with his Maths, C.V.Raman  and Satyendranath Bose were busy with their Physics, J.C Bose was busy with his biology, P.C Mahalnobis was busy with his statistics. What I am trying to put forth is that only singing “Vande Matram”  is not the sole yardstick of patriotism to be gung-ho about. Being able to unravel the mysteries of maths and physics is by no means a less service to the nation than yelling chants of Bharat Mata ki Jai and having Lathi bruises.

If we go by the today’s gung-ho patriots who argue vehemently that every one of the pre-independence era needs to have an appellation of freedom fighter and especially that kind of freedom fighter who raised anti-imperialism slogan and went to jails then what kind of people we would have left with and got to calculate the poverty, income and expenditure indices of independent India after the strike of midnight on 15^th August 1947? What kind of people we wanted to run our nuclear plants and steel plants?  Many of you would agree that pursuing a specific branch of study needs its own secluded space and uninterrupted attention and if someone is doing that then it is not less pious a job than crying slogans of freedom.

Because a nation doesn’t only need the mob; it needs the minds also.

Had it not been the case, the party (that claims to be the front runner of freedom struggle) would have made a simpleton rustic, who chanted slogans of Bharat Mata Ki Jai., its prime minister candidate for independent India instead of a well -educated person that it did make.

Incidentally, the country infatuated with freedom -struggler tag forgets the treatment that the independent India meted out to Mr. Batukeshwar Dutt  who was a (friend ) partner of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru in making India independent through their own  revolutionary struggle. Whereas many who were only titular freedom-strugglers got most of the butter from the milk they never churned.

Coming again to the point in discussion, to paint the pre-independent India as a place rife with only poverty, illiteracy, and darkness and to attribute only handful of people responsible for the renaissance of India post-independence are  kinds  of mistakes that people should shun making.

Had everyone been busy reciting only bhajans and chanting slogans, from where we would have got the expertise to understand the science that helps make a nuclear bomb and thus makes a nation capable of saving its sovereignty and making it independent in real terms?

So, India as a nation is not an independent piece of contribution from a certain group of people who had bruise- blanketed body, instead it is a patchwork of all those who wrote poetry, who wrote statistical thesis, who served patients, and who made bridges in pre-independent era. The India of today also owes a lot to film-related people, sports -related people, and business- related people who worked tirelessly in pre-independent India to give India a foundation on which we have today sculpted a formidable existence that is respected world-wide.

By no means, I am trying to belittle the people who got thrashed by imperial rule; they are entitled to all the respect of the country but at the same time do not forgot the contribution of those who didn’t get the physical bruises but were mentally bothered to contribute tremendously to help blossom the notion of India as a nation in palpable terms.

###

अच्छा नहीं लगता !

तुम्हारे सब कुछ होने के आगे,
मेरा कुछ नहीं होने का एहसाह,
अच्छा नहीं लगता !

तुम्हारे आसमान में उड़ने के आगे, 
मेरा ज़मीन पे रेंगने का एहसास,
अच्छा नही लगता !

तुम्हारे उन्मत हो के गरजने के आगे,
मेरा नतमस्तक हो के मीमीयाने का एहसास,
अच्छा नही लगता !

तुम्हारे सब कुछ वश में होने के आगे,
मेरे बेबस होने का एहसास,
अच्छा नही लगता !

###

तुमने हीं मुझे पहली बार माँ होने का एहसास दिलाया था...

#WorldSuicidePreventionDay
चित्र सभार: :https://www.trendsmap.com/twitter/tweet/1039076211757117440

तुमने हीं मुझे पहली बार माँ होने का एहसास दिलाया था,

तुमने हीं मुझे पहली बार ममता का आकाश दिलाया था I

तुम हीं मेरे अस्तित्व का गौरव थे,

तुम हीं मेरे पांडव कौरव थे I

पर क्यूँ एक दिन तुमने कुछ सोच लिया?

और फाँसी के फंदे को भींच लिया I

तुम्हारे मर्द होने का अभिमान था कितना नादान,

के तुम मुझसे बोल भी ना सके की तुम थे कितने परेशान!

एक बार जो तुम बोल देते, अपना दिल खोल देते,

तो आज तुम्हारी छोटी बहन ,पापा और मैं एक दूसरे से छुप छुप कर अकेले में न रोते I

ग़र हार जाना हीं अंतिम बात होती...

ग़र हार जाना हीं अंतिम बात होती,

तो काँच में बिजली न खेलती I

ग़र हार जाना हीं अंतिम बिसात होती,

तो आस्मां में लोहे की चिड़ियाँ न उड़ती I

ग़र हार जाना हीं अंतिम औकात होती, 

तो अंतरिक्ष में इंसानी छाती न धड़कती I

ग़र हार जाना हीं अंतिम इबरत होती,

तो पानी में फौलाद की पनडुब्बी न सोती I

तो हार जाने पे, कुछ बेकार जाने पे,

फंदे पे झूलना, इमारतों से कूदना,

पटरियों पे कटना, जिस्म में ज़हर का घोलना,

पागलपन तो नही पर सपनों का सूनापन ज़रूर है,

लेकिन लड़ना और लड़ के हारना भी तो जीने का एक शऊर है I

तो चलो एक बार फाँसी,ज़हर,पटरी को किनारे करते हैं, 

और सपने, उम्मीद, और ज़िंदगी को इशारे करते हैं I 

###

#WorldSuicidePreventionDay दस सितम्बर 

हर आँख जो रोती है...

हर आँख जो रोती है,

कोई बात होती है I

हर साँस जो सोती है,

कोई बात होती है I

हर अस्मत जो बिकती है,

कोई बात होती है I

हर हिम्मत जो टूटती है,

कोई बात होती है I

###

Teacher’s Day: A day of introspection for teachers also!

Generally, on teacher’s day, the sea of emotions with surfs of reverence ripple in hearts of students and they write eulogies and sing hosanna to show their gratitude towards the human mortal who is raised to the status of GOD . And this gratitude showing sometimes falls to a level where it seems diametrical boot licking.

The concept of GURU in India is so sacrosanct that speaking about any shortcoming of the GURUS might be as tantamount to blasphemy. But this doesn’t mean that teachers are sans flaws.

The favoritism on the part of teachers start at the very nascent stages, say from standard I or Standard II. Only one or two students are the apple of eyes of the class teacher, rest of the class is left on its own ability and destiny to learn the ropes of the behemoth burden that education system of India imparts to them. 

And by god’s limitless grace, if you fall under the tag of slow learner, the partisan teacher will leave no stone unturned to make you feel trivial before the student who is a number-cruncher or who is a gifted orator. It is not that you have any allergy to hard work, but it is such in life that hard work is one thing and your mind grasping educative errands is the other. And that is why you remain aloof from the praising periphery of the teacher’s wisdom. And since you are branded slow learner, the teacher couldn’t care less about your progress in the class. 

Gradually, time passes and you manage to survive with the serpentine labyrinth of the Indian education system. But whereas you only managed to survive, the apple eyed guys secured their places in medical or engineering institutes. So, your meek survival is again outshined by their blinding achievements and again they get all the praise from their teachers. Such teachers’ chest gets swelled with pride having bright and successful students. And you remain slithering on the ground of the education system to make sense of it and make sense of your life. 

By mistake or by God’s grace (for your hard work, and grey matter, matter zilch!), if you also manage to secure a place in a technical education school, the partisan species of teacher will hound you there also. Around the end of the academic year, the most sophisticated teacher will ask the class to raise hands in order to know who has got placement and who has not. And again, under the light of partisan thunderbolt your unplaced gloomy face withers. But the teacher is happy to know the 90% placement data of the class. What about remaining ten percent? Does it count! 

I agree that not all teachers are the same. Some do care about the last- benchers or the eternal flunk artists. But the teaching arena has majority of teachers who are parochial in their approach about their concept of teaching.

On this teacher’s day, I hope that such teachers will find time out from the razzmatazz of celebrations and introspect about how they have impacted lives in their active years as a teacher.

###

बेटियाँ...

भाग: एक

आसमान चीरती बेटियाँ,
निशान चूमती बेटियाँ,
बंदूक तानती बेटियाँ,
सलामी कबूलती बेटियाँ,
हर मैदान मारती बेटियाँ I
    

 भाग : दो 

आग ओढती बेटियाँ,
फंदे झूलती बेटियाँ,
जहर निगलती बेटियाँ,
नसें काटती बेटियाँ,
हर सम्मान हारती बेटियाँ I

###