अभी अभी एक सफ़र गुज़रा है...

अभी अभी एक सफ़र गुज़रा है,
अभी अभी एक क़हर गुज़रा है I

अभी अभी एक सहर गुज़रा है,
अभी अभी एक लहर गुज़रा है I


अभी अभी वो हलकान गुज़रा है,
अभी अभी वो परेशान गुज़रा है I

अभी अभी एक अरमान गुज़रा है,
अभी अभी एक इंसान गुज़रा है I

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कुछ समंदर का भंवर देखना था...

कुछ समंदर का भंवर देखना था,
कुछ मुक़द्दर का असर देखना था I

कुछ तूफान का क़हर देखना था,
कुछ अपमान का ज़हर देखना था I

कुछ प्रस्तर में अंकुर देखना था,
कुछ जलधर का शरर देखना था I

कुछ सपनों में अग्यार देखना था,
कुछ अपनो में अहंकार देखना था I

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शरर : चिंगारी
अग्यार : अजनबी
जलधर : बादल

प्रस्तर : पत्थर

मैं खिल्ली उड़ाती तालियों का...

मैं खिल्ली उड़ाती तालियों का,

मुर्दा तमाशा भर हूँ I

मैं बारिश से भींगी दुनिया में,

एक अलहदा प्यासा भर हूँ I

मैं खुशियों में डूबी आँखों का,

एक गला रुआंसा भर हूँ I

मैं डूब चुकी कश्तियों के,

किनारे लौट आने का...

मूर्ख आशा भर हूँ I 

    ###

वक़्त से लेकर उधार...

वक़्त से लेकर उधार,
कुछ सपने... कुछ ख़ार,
शुरू किया था एक सफ़र,
बस तुझे मानकर आधार I

पर दूर तक आकर भी इस सफ़र में,
आज जाने क्यूँ लगता है,
पूरा सफ़र बेकार...तेरा असर बेकार I

जब सब कुछ तुझको हीं,
पता है सही ग़लत,
तो मेरी जान को,
क्यूँ डाली आफ़त,
क्यूँ आग जलाया,
सिने में... भीड़ जाने को,
लड़ जाने को,
जब तुझे पता था,
मेरा अंत...जब तुझे पता था,
मेरा उजड़ा वसंत I

आज मेरा कुछ भी नहीं ,
आज मेरा तू भी नहीं ,
आज बस मैं मेरे जुनून,
का बिखरा हुआ एक हिस्सा हूँ ,
आज बस मैं तेरे अफ़्सूं ,
का बिलखता हुआ एक किस्सा हूँ I

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अफ़्सूं : जादू / जादूगरी

कैसे कह दूँ... खुद को मुक़म्मल!

कैसे कह दूँ... खुद को मुक़म्मल,

के जब देखता हूँ तेरे आँसू तो,

टूटता है मेरा हौसला,
टूटता है मेरे संबल I

कैसे कह दूँ...खुद को मुक़म्मल,

के जब पता हीं नहीं के अंबर,

के उपर कौन बैठा है?

के जब पता हीं नहीं के सूरज,

चंदा से क्यूँ रूठा है ?

कैसे कह दूँ ...खुद को मुक़म्मल,

के जब जनता हीं नहीं,

के क्यूँ कृष्ण के इंतेज़ार में,

राधा का प्यार बैठा है ?

के जब जानता हीं नहीं के क्यूँ,

राम के इंतेज़ार में हर अहिल्या

का प्रस्तर आकार बैठा है ?

कैसे कह दूँ... खुद को मुक़म्मल,

के जब देखता हूँ हर दिन,

क्षय होते फूलों का स्वास,

लूटता हुआ जीवन का हर प्रयास,

और मानव गति...दुर्गति पे रोता आकाश,

तो कैसे कह दूँ खुद को मुक़म्मल,

जब बैठा है, कोई मुझसे उपर, 

जो हैं सबसे सबल, जो है सबसे अव्वल!

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वक़्त लगता है...

वक़्त लगता है,
सूरज को चंदा बन पिघलने मे I

वक़्त लगता है,
चंदा को सूरज बन जलने में I

वक़्त लगता है,
बचपन के जवान बनने में I

वक़्त लगता है,
जवान के सयान बनने में I

वक़्त लगता है,
कूक को पहचान बनने में I

वक़्त लगता है,
भूख को बेईमान बनने में I

वक़्त लगता है,
बूँद को तूफान बनने में I

वक़्त लगता है,
इंसान को भगवान बनने में I

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Mera Wala Fear aur Mera Wala Anger!

Fear is a factor that cripples mind; fear is a factor that shows in eyes; fear is a factor that makes you frantic; fear is a factor that makes you mad.

Mr. Naseeruddin Shah has been under fear for whatever of his reasons but despite the fear he still enjoys his life in his rarefied home area, despite the fear he still enjoys a spick and span loo in his home and despite the fear he and his family is still safe.

Now during the cold winters of early 1990 the war cries of hatred made the milieu of valley in Kashmir vitriolic.

Some of the slogans used in the valley during that time are as follows:

“Ralive, Tsaliv ya Galive” (either convert to Islam, leave the land, or die)

“Kashir banawon Pakistan, Bataw varaie, Batneiw saan”

(We will turn Kashmir into Pakistan alongwith Kashmiri Pandit women, but without their men folk)

"Dil mein rakho Allah ka khauf; Hath mein rakho Kalashnikov"

(With fear of Allah ruling your hearts, wield a Kalashnikov)

“Yahan kya chalega, Nizam-e- Mustafa”

(We want to be ruled under Shari’ah)

And you know what such slogans did? They instilled fear in the hearts of mothers to such an extent that they were ready to kill their daughters before killing self; the families were ready to vacate their ancestral homes and take refuge in camps where there were no proper sanitation facilities available. (If anyone who has ever had the opportunity to defecate in open can understand the shame that it imbues in you and especially in those who had used toilets in their houses before.)

People are still bound to be stuffed in a small space with at least their three generations whereas they were owners of spacious accommodations just two and half decade ago. 

I mean this is called fear.

Then he said that he was not afraid but he was angry because of the general situation in the country that is happening on the name of religion. 

I mean just for once think about the anger of those whose land were dismembered in the name of religion. Think about anger of those, whose Hinglaj Bhawani is restricted to only books of Durga Chalisa…in general condition they can never go to Hinglaj temple in this birth. Think about anger of those whose sacred places were destroyed in the name of showing one-upmanship on the face of earth and they are reduced to a situation that in their own land they are running from pillar to post to build a temple for their revered God.

I mean come on… this was not expected from Mr. Naseeruddin Shah whom the nation never considered as only a Muslim when it watched him perform in Sparsh,Mirch Masala,Wednesday,Masoom or Paar for that matter. Since he was associated with sensible cinema, some sensible reactions from him was expected not the mera wala fear or mera wala anger.

When anyone of a stature, that Mr. Naseeruddin Shah enjoys, makes a comment on the situation of the country the constraint should be exercised. Because when anything undesirable happens due to the comments, it is the common men who suffer and need succor from each other in distressful situations. The celebrities remain in their secured citadels. And when some prominent personality of the society makes such statements, it is perceived that the milieu must be really bad otherwise why someone of his stature would be talking about it on the T.V.

We have a driver working in our company. One day he told that he needs some holidays to build his house. I was a bit startled to know that a driver was making his house whereas a private naukri –wala- admi spends his whole life in rented accommodations. When I enquired further on how he marshaled financial resources to make a home he told that he was granted Rs. 2,20,000 from some govt. scheme that doles out money to build houses to people belonging to poor class. I was startled to know that the govt. scheme didn’t differentiate in a Hindu and Muslim and even if our Driver is a Muslim, he got the benefit of the scheme on the yardsticks of being the countryman. Later, the driver told that his family members were immensely benefited from some Mobile Health Vehicles (again run by Govt.) that go to small villages and help complete whatever of tests required for a patient or could be done for a patient in a mobile health vehicle.

I think that these positive things that happen on ground level should be the epicenter of talks while talking about the image of the country.

On the ground level the Hindu and Muslim community needs each other more frequently than those who live in their own secured world.

In 2016 there was some communal tension in my city but not of the flagrant nature but while we were at our office, words spread that shops were being closed down and general transportation was stopped. We were advised to leave the office as soon as possible. I had my driver (who also happens to be a Muslim) not of company, with me that day, and seeing the desolate roads he got panicked. I assured him that first I would drop him in his house only then I would go to mine. We moved towards his house but I was also anxious of anything untoward that could have happened. I left him at his home and then I drove as fast as possible to my house. 

Anyways, the roads were totally empty that day, so that also added to my speed. But during that period I had experienced immense fear I mean when there is a riot no one recognizes anyone. I just want to say that even if I am not a superman, I decided that first I would drop my driver at his house and then I would go to mine. I didn't see that my driver was a Muslim, he was my driver only and a human being whose family was waiting for him. And the same way my driver is ready for me whenever there is any emergency situation in my life. I mean though we are Hindu and Muslim yet seldom have we had any fear of each other. 

Under our company another entity works as our sub-contractor and the proprietor of that company is Muslim. But workers working under him are Hindus also and he is ever ready to help them out whenever there is an emergency situation in the lives of his Hindu workers. And mind you the help that he provides in shape of money is other than that he is legally bound to pay like: Salary, ESI, and PF.

With the two examples, I just want to show that the two communities, generally, are not baying for blood of each other on day to day basis and what is shown on TV might sometimes be aloof from what the reality might be.And since the reach of T.V is maximum, use of it should also have some responsibility. And the more positive we talk; the more the negatives will wilt, on their own.

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Happy new year to www.blogger.com and www.indiblogger.in !

You must be wondering that why I am greeting happy new year to these two websites?

Actually…to whom do we greet? The entity that is dear to us, right?

Then, by no means, I can say that www.blogger.com and www.indiblogger.in is dear to me. I might be cut off to my friends for 2-3 days but I am in constant contact with these two sites. So, I think that it just makes sense to greet the entities that are part of my day to day life (literally). Both have become a habit in my life. Seldom has a day passed, when I have not had a glance at these two websites. In a way they both have become an integral part of dissemination of my thought process.

I would like to scribble some striking attributes of these two sites and the way they have affected my life.

www.blogger.com :

My formative years were those when it was very tough to get anything published. The newspapers and magazines were not that open and encouraging towards the novices and if at all they were open they were open only to those who had some contacts in the publishing world. And moreover these publishing platforms had a ring of ‘super-intellectuality’ to them. Not any one could have had entry in that intellectual citadel of them. They were reserved for only those who had the reach in their world.

So even if you had the itch of writing your writing could never have got published. Because your social tentacles didn’t have that ‘reach’.

But blogger.com changed it. It gave everyone the reach to publish their work without the hassles of imploring before the editors of newspapers and magazine. And it also broke that concept that it is only a handful of people in the world who are endowed with the skill of writing. www.blogger.com established that given a chance anyone can emerge as a writer. Because www.blogger.com provided a platform the world is richer in terms of published words and in terms of understanding of life around the world.

www.Indiblogger.in :

Now when one gets published one needs some sort of review on the work. But for that you need an audience. And here the www.indiblogger.in plugged the lacuna between a writer and his/her readers by providing an interactive platform that brought in closer the writers who had new nomenclature as bloggers . The same bloggers became the readers for other writers. And by providing the opportunity to interchange the roles www.indiblogger.in imbued a writing soul with confidence that is the sine qua non for anyone who ever aspires to write.

And giving confidence was not only restricted to bringing together the writers and readers. The various contests and campaigns filled even the novice writers with the aplomb that they would have never got in the traditional beseeching- before -the -editors of magazines and newspapers. www.indiblogger.in not only saved the writers with dream of publishing from unavoidable humiliation but also gave recognition in plenty with open arms through its Badges and hefty Prize sum.

The painstaking work of the www.indiblogger.in team needs a big plaudit for weaving a network of people who  were also thinkers but lacked the vehicle to disseminate their creative work among those who would really appreciate their hard work. And in the process, the www.indiblogger.in helped bring closer many minds that would have remained unknown of each other in this incarnation of their lives.

So, today I am wishing a prosperous new year to these two entities that have played a cardinal role in whatever capacity that I have today as a writer.

                                                           ###

P.S: If my write-up seems to be reeking of sycophancy then I wouldn’t mind being labeled a sycophant as long as I sound indebted to these two sites for their role in my writing life.