और गुमान इत्मीनान का...

एक पल जीत का,
एक पल अतीत का I

एक पल जिस्म का,
एक पल तिलिस्म का I

एक पल उजास का,
एक पल उदास का I

एक पल उड़ान का,
एक पल थकान का I

एक पल मसान का,
एक पल मुस्कान का I

एक पल की ज़िंदगी,
और गुमान इत्मीनान का I

###

This too will pass…

This too will pass…

But with this will pass the time,

That can’t be brought back by any dime.

This too will pass…

But with this will pass my prime,

That can’t be brought back by any enzyme.

This too will pass…

But with this will pass the liberty to go awry,

That can’t be brought back by any sorcery.

This too will pass…

But with this will pass the emotions,

That make the life bloomy and flowery.

This too will pass…

But with this will pass the emotions,

That take us away from the elements of life,

That are gloomy and dreary,

And these can’t be brought back by any wizardry.

This too will pass…

But with this will pass the sparkle of her eyes,

And crackle of her voice,

That can’t be brought back by any exercise.

Yes this too will pass…

But it will leave behind only,

Stinky mud and wilted grass,

That would serve only as a relic,

For belief and faith in almighty,

As a total farce, a total crass.

                ###

P.S: Written for Indispire prompt
       #ThisTooWillPass

बाद मुद्दत के आराम मिला है...

चित्र सभार : @luvlostluvfound 


बाद मुद्दत के आराम मिला है,

कल किताब में...

तेरी तस्वीर का इनाम मिला है I

बुझती आँखों को,

अंजन बेदाम मिला है,

डूबते दिल को फिर से,

धड़कने का काम मिला है I

ज़िंदगी के बियाबाँ में बरसों के बाद ,

कोई इंसान मिला है,

बरसों बाद कोई... दिलोजान मिला है I

The Chath Puja & Immature Social Response!

Pic Credits:https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Nowadays, there is hustle and bustle in the markets and makeshift shops, in my part of the country, for chath festival. The environs are filled with the melodious chath songs. The local edition of newspapers  are fraught with stories of how much allegiance the people belonging to Bihar and U.P put to this festival that even after settling miles away from their native place they perform the Puja without fail.

This way the people living abroad get to be in touch with their cultural roots and the whole eastern India media goes gaga over such cosmetic attempts of gratitude towards the cultural root embalming.

The news channels and newspapers are announcing the arrival of Lok Astha Ka Mahaparv Chath. Sometimes I wonder if Chath is alone the Lok Astha Ka Mahaparv then what are Holi and Diwali. Are they Raj Astha Ka Parv? I have seldom seen any aristocrat wallowing in the mud in Holi, it is only common man (the Lok) who wallows in the mud making it also a Lok Astha Ka Parv.

In this festival several folk songs are sung and in these songs there is one line that says that Chathi Mata and the Sun God can cure the leprosy among other troubling issues. Now, I can tell from my experience that there is an unreasonable kind of fear attached to this Parv. People believe that any mistake committed in the process of following the rituals of Chath puja can result in turning you a leper.

And leprosy has a macabre stigma attached to it. Several societies including Indian have ostracized the leprosy infested humans in the past as there was no other logical and medical way to fight the spread of the leprosy bacteria. And since the leprosy bacteria eat up the body parts that make the hands and legs turn into stump and the face into not a pretty sight to watch, the fear that the disease creates in the human mind is enormous and debilitating. And thus it serves as great deterrent against committing any mistakes during the festival. In a way the festival rituals flourish and feed on fear.

I guess that the centuries of living under the slavery made the Indian psyche bereft of logical thinking. Otherwise what might be the reason that the India that had the legends of medical fields like Dhanwantari and Sushrut believed and continue to believe that leprosy is the upshot of bad past karma instead of the bacteria?

The draconian rules related to Chath as regards the cleanliness shows that people in ancient times had the idea that the filthy environments lead to the development of mycobacterium leprae even if they didn’t know the cure. Sometime ago, I had read in a magazine that during the era of St. Paul*, bathing used to be considered as luxury, so many devotees of the lord refrained from bathing. But after some extended period of non- bathing, several diseases started to spread and leprosy was one of them. So, this gives a hint that leprosy does have a link to unclean and unhygienic environment.

But during the Chath festival the concept of cleanliness gets the face of insanity. People believe that if the wheat grains getting dried for the Prasad get tasted by birds the Chathi Mata and Sun Lord will punish the devotees with the dreaded disease leprosy. I mean this is utterly illogical and irrational to think so. Why will the Chathi Mata (who is the 6^th part of the nature) and the Sun Lord (Who is the evident emblem of the nature) will get angry if birds (which are by all means the integral part and child of nature) taste the wheat grains to placate their hunger?

In the pastoral Indian life (especially in Bihar,I come from Bihar so I know Bihar closely enough to comment on) people take pride in defecating in their fields where they sow the seeds of wheat. I want to say that excreta is the prime reason to transmit many dreaded diseases and if god never got furious for defecating in open and consequently spreading the diseases, then I fail to understand how come the gods can get angry if the birds taste the wheat grains?

During the festival the fasting ladies are revered as pious souls. And these ladies behave as if they have been blessed by the god and goddess personally. They feel very valued because people believe that they are purely pious soul for four days of the festival. And these are the same women who torment their daughter-in-laws for rest of the year. So the rigorous rituals of the Chath festival alone should not be regarded as a yardstick to measure the piety of the souls. Because, after the completion of the festival the women don the hat of devil mother in laws as soon as possible. If the rituals fail to make you a better person then you fail the festival also that celebrates the change of season and teaches that however strong you might be, you will set as the Sun sets and remains whole night under the thrall of darkness.

The Chath Puja is advised to people who have Leucoderma or other skin related diseases. Once, I was in a metropolitan city and there in my apartment a sweet bubbly girl of 10-odd years used to reside with her parents. She had a small white patch. And her mother was advised to observe the fasts of Chath . I used to feel very bad for that little girl who was made to feel kind of uncomfortable because she had just a small white patch. The tender mind can have devastating imprints of embarrassments, when made to feel different due to some medical condition.

Though, I am still to encounter any medical literature that says that doing Chath Puja alone treated leprosy and advised against Dapsone, the unfounded belief that Chath Puja can cure leprosy and white patches run deep in the society.

Though right from western to Indian saints have been tested on touch stone of treating leprosy to prove their divine attributes.

The Indian society that used to question beliefs and philosophies and argue the established leanings now meekly acknowledge what is meted out to it. We hardly find any debating nature as regards the popular usage and rituals like Adi Guru Shankaracharya and Mandan Misara had in the past that only enriched our tradition and culture with notional sanity.

I hope that someday the name of Baba Amte is incorporated in folk Chath songs, for the magnificent son of Chathi Maiya who served the lepers with all probity, sincerity and proved to be the savior for them. You might argue that Chath is the festival of U.P,Bihar then how come a Marathi Manus be incorporated in the Chath folk songs? Mind you Chathi Mata is an omnipresent part of nature and can Mother Nature be restricted in demarcated regions like we parochial thinking humans try to restrict the regions?

As long as the Chath festival is celebrated as the gratitude towards the boon of nature it is sublime but as soon as it is there as overbearing panacea for all troubling diseases and situations, it loses it shine of sublimity. The festival should be used to include people instead of excluding and segregating human souls.

The Chath festival should be used as a tool to attain spiritual ascension instead of getting entangled in ritual injunction.

*St. Paul story is based on memory; I don’t have any documentary evidence at hand when I am writing the post.

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कहीं तो उड़ने को पूरा आकाश है...

कहीं तो उड़ने को पूरा आकाश है,
तो कहीं रेंगना हीं उपलब्ध प्रयास है I

कहीं तो कपटता हीं उच्च विन्यास है,
तो कहीं निष्ठा भी पूर्ण उपहास है I

कहीं तो इंसान हीं करता निराश है,
तो कहीं पत्थर से हीं आस है I

कहीं तो दिन हीं बोझिल बनवास है,
तो कहीं रात भी झिलमिल उजास है I

कहीं तो गागर को तृप्ति का एहसास है,
तो कहीं सागर को अतृप्त प्यास है I

कहीं तो जीवन अटल विजयी विश्वास है,
तो कहीं ज़िंदगी...
अटकल है, तुक्का है, कयास है I

Sunshine Blogger Award Nominees!

I am writing this post to thank a fellow blogger, Mr. Shri Krishna Sharma who found me eligible enough to nominate for Sunshine Blogger Award. Mr. Shri Krishna Sharma is a prolific writer and has equal command and right in both Hindi and English languages. The best part of his writing is that sometimes he incorporates a one or two line satire in his articles, keeping the other parts of the post clinging to its core issues. The satires from Mr. Sharma force us to rethink about our stand on several issues that plague our society. He writes flowery poetries as well that touch the soul.

You can find more about him here: http://www.samaysakshi.in 

 

Now the time for rules to accept the award that I need to follow: 

• To thank the persons who nominated you and link the post back to
    him/her.

 
• Display the Sunshine Blogger Award picture on your post.

 
• Answer the 11 questions the nominator gave you.

 
• Nominate 11 bloggers who motivate you.

 
• Provide 11 questions to your nominees.

Here are the replies to the questions posed by my nominator Mr. Shri Krishna Sharma.

Why Do You Blog?

I blog because I want the white space of paper or MS word (for that matter) to talk the language of my thoughts. I blog to let others know about how good, bad or uncomfortable I feel about a given aspect of life. And in the process, I happen to meet some wonderful people who remind me that finding like minded people in the world is not so difficult.

I blog to improve my writing skills; I blog to understand the world with a better perspective; I blog to inspire myself to think better.

What does blogging mean to you?

I guess I have answered it in the first question itself.

What is your favorite blogging topic and why?

My favorite topic entails the understanding of day to day struggles that humanity goes through. The struggles that strive to make the life and the world a better place.

Who is your audience and how do you reach out to them?

My audience is the whole world who knows how to read. I want to reach everyone interested in reading. My google aided blogspot.com and www.indiblogger.in are the best two platforms through which I try to reach my readers.

How do you intend to expand your reach and your reader base?

Writing something meaningful is the first step to attract the minds of the readers, so I try to write something meaningful every time I think of writing something.

Who is your favorite blogger from your genre?

Actually, I read from a variety of topics, so to pinpoint a single one would be quite impossible. It is not that I like one and I don’t like others. Actually several flowers make a bouquet…so I like the bouquet far more than I like a single flower.

Do you intend to be a professional blogger ever?

Actually, I write blogs on the topics that interests me and I don’t think that going professional way would give me this latitude. Though, I have done some professional content writing in the past but for blogging I would like to keep it personal instead of professional.

Do you intend to convert your blogposts into a book?

Can’t say quite clearly about it. Actually, book publishing depends on the requirements of the publishing market. In the past, I have failed miserably in the publishing market (I mean my fiction writing was not found eligible enough to be published and after that I have stopped thinking in that direction) Yes, I have been a failure in the publishing world and I have no qualms in accepting that! I am happy with the blogging platforms’ flexibility to write on any topic that I want to write on and there is no fear of getting rejected either. I can publish my writings at my convenience.

What is the importance of Sun Shine Blogger nomination to you?

Look, writing (or blogging in any genre for that matter) is all about recognition and when you are recognized as a writer (or a blogger of a particular genre) a zillion liters of inspiration get infused in the mind to do better with writing and blogging.

In addition to blogging, what else is your hobby?

Reading daily news- papers online about the happenings of the world is one of my interests. The commentaries on how the present scenario of the world is woven intricately with the past intrigue me.

What is one thing that no one knows about you?

If the one thing that no one knows about me, it must be something qualifying for the respect of secrecy. So, let it be that way.

Here is my list of nominees in alphabetical order:

1)      Anita  ( www.anitaexplorer.com) 

2)      Binita Bora ( https://educatedunemployedindian.com)

3)      Bhawana (https://code2cook.com)

4)      Dipali Bhasin (https://www.spoonsandsneakers.com)

5)      Dr. Amrita Basu (https://healthwealthbridge.com)

6)      Jitendra Mathur (https://jmathur.wordpress.com)

7)      Magiceye (https://mumbai-eyed.blogspot.com)

8)      Manoj (https://www.bloggingtriggers.com)

9)      Rajkumar (http://viewtraveling.com)

10)  Sachin Baikar (http://sachinbaikar.com)

11)  Sunil Deepak (http://www.deepaksunil.com)

 The questions to my nominees are:

1) Could you remember the time for us when you decided to start a blog?

2) What motivates you to blog ?

3) Do you have a feeling that blogging helps you understand the world better and vice versa?

4) Who is your audience and how do you reach out to them?

5) Do you intend to be a professional blogger ever?

6) Do you intend to convert your blog posts into a book?

7) What is the importance of Sun Shine Blogger nomination to you?

8) In addition to blogging, what else is your hobby?

9) Who is your favorite blogger from your genre?

10) How other bloggers’ blogs help you shape your perspective towards life?

11) Are you in the habit of reading? Tell us about your favourite book.

                                              ###