नहीं लूजिये जी होप थोड़ा फाइटवा करो जी

Life has been terribly busy past few months. Admittedly, I have been entangled in way too many things too - birding, photography, poetry, writing, research, teaching, course designs, administering programs, debates, history, politics, and what not...!! To add to that already huge basket of interests and activities, two more things got added - HoD of economics area and Warden for student affairs. An avenue of solace, whether personally or professionally, has been as easy to find as an oasis.

The work schedule has taken its toll most on my own writing, whether blogs or research. I don't know how many blog posts have been written inside my head and forgotten. The new blog on eco-politic affairs I so often talked about is not born yet. There are songs and movies, policies and politics, books and authors, places and pictures I have been meaning to write about but free-thinking time is sheer luxury.

Anyhow, few days back, I heard these lines from Gangs of Wasseypur - II:

फ़्रस्टियाओ नहीं मूड़ा नरभसाओ नहीं मूड़ा  

जो भी रौंगवा है उसे सेट राइटवा करो जी 

नहीं लूजिये जी होप थोड़ा फाइटवा करो जी

And then, yesterday, I stepped on an old post of this blog - the one belonging to the time when I was in the final months of my affair with IIMA and started a fight against the system there. Find it here: Inspired again. This was the post that reinvigorated me all over again - the fighter me shall never be dead!!

The Owl that tried flying in the day

Sitting in my study today noon, I noticed the watchman crossing several times and then some ruckus. As I looked in that direction, there flew a large bird towards my porch. I thought that these watchmen are chasing and harassing some poor bird and ran outside barefoot. 

Indeed, there was a barn owl that was being chased, not for a sinister reason though. The watchmen were afraid that this (probably) injured owl, blinded by day-light will fall prey to a stray dog or cat. 

Slightly confused, more concerned, I snatched a curtain and gave it to the watchmen for catching the owl and leave it in a safe place. And they did that swiftly and softly enough. 

Within less than a minute, we were trying to put the owl on a branch high enough to keep it safe. The poor soul couldn't even hold the branch properly. Anyhow, it fell into the safe zone beyond iron grills and tried moving for few second blindingly.

I checked on it till late evening and it was sitting there peacefully. The eyes were opening better as the darkness dawned. However, the pic below was the last one that I clicked, as I was sure the wise owl was already tired and scared enough of his human interaction today.

P.S. - Just checked for it now at 10 pm. The owl is not there... hopefully it has flew away and having a happy dinner with family :)

मुझको फिर से गलत कहेंगे वो...

Since I abandoned my poetry blog some years ago, I never shared my poems on any other forum. 

However, last month I shared a ghazal through a Facebook note. Sharing the same here again: 

दौरे-हाज़िर में रह रहा हूँ मैं

किस कदर ज़ुल्म सह रहा हूँ मैं।

अपनी आवाज़ भूल जाता हूँ

कितना खामोश रह रहा हूँ मैं।

इक समन्दर है मेरे भीतर ही

और चुपचाप बह रहा हूँ मैं।

कभी उठा था आस्माँ की तरह

अब तो टुकड़ों में ढह रहा हूँ मैं।

ये जहाँ मात चाहता था सदा

और हमेशा ही शह रहा हूँ मैं।

जब वो यह चाहते थे वो था मैं

चाहिये वो तो यह रहा हूँ मैं।

मुझको फिर से गलत कहेंगे वो

फिर से कुछ उनसे कह रहा हूँ मैं।

Anniversaries

Today, it's been 8 years since I arrived back at home after leaving IRMA. Between the day and night of the day eons ago, my whole life changed. About a week back, I was with one of my FPM batchmates and I happily reminded her that it was 7 years since our very first class at IIMA.

In 3 days' time, it will be 2 years of a great back-stab and in 9 days' time, of another. 3 weeks to the 8th anniversary of the day, when I decided to end this life and second anniversary to the time, when life went for another full toss.

Well, if you are wondering what is so special about this month of June, there is nothing. June has been one of the more happening months of my life but so is the case with November, March, October, May, December, April, August, and 4 more months.

In a month, it will be almost a full 2 years, when we talked for the first time. And in exactly a month, it will be full two years, when talked for the last time. In essence, every day of the year has a memory associated with it - seeing you or not seeing you, missing you or missing you completely, finding you completely or losing myself completely....

Sometimes I wonder - how many anniversaries can I remember? How many anniversaries should I remember? There have been ups and downs and special occasions in my professional life and more so in my personal life. Both have affected me for good and for bad but every time any such date crosses the calender, it crosses my mind too. And as I live those memories over and over again, I get sometimes nostalgic, sometimes poetic, sometimes idiotic.

But now, I think it is been too much for too long for too many memories... they have run their course...they are faded... they are too far back in past... the persons do not matter any more... the events are beyond impact... the past is dead... I better forget it now, for now is the time...!!!

मैं ये हर शाम कहता हूँ 

कि तुमको भूल जाऊँगा 

मगर जब सुबह होती है

भुलाना भूल जाता हूँ

Poetic Geniuses - 4

Read Poetic geniuses - 1   Read Poetic geniuses - 2   Read Poetic geniuses - 3

When the television debut of Aamir Khan - Satyamev Jayate - opened today with these lines, I knew what I am going to write next here. I knew I am going to talk about Dushyant Kumar today. Before I begin, here are the lines quoted by Aamir Khan:

सिर्फ हंगामा खड़ा करना मेरा मकसद नहीं

मेरी कोशिश है कि ये सूरत बदलनी चाहिए।

मेरे सीने में नहीं तो तेरे सीने में सही

हो कहीं भी आग लेकिन आग जलनी चाहिए।

My first encounter with Dushyant Kumar (दुष्यन्त कुमार) was during my first year of graduation. The Student Federation of India (SFI), the left-wing student organization, was running a poster gallery on the Lucknow University campus. Although I had little idea about their political philosophy but I was so impressed with their slogans that I became their life-member then and there. I still remember those posters with lines of Dushyant Kumar: 

भूख है तो सब्र कर रोटी नहीं तो क्या हुआ 

आजकल दिल्ली में है ज़ेर-ए-बहस ये मुदद्आ| 

गिड़गिड़ाने का यहां कोई असर होता नही 

पेट भरकर गालियां दो, आह भरकर बददुआ| 

and also, 

रहनुमाओं की अदाओं पे फ़िदा है दुनिया

इस बहकती हुई दुनिया को सँभालो यारो

कैसे आकाश में सूराख़ हो नहीं सकता

एक पत्थर तो तबीयत से उछालो यारो

Years later, I realized that what I was introduced to that day will come back some day to stay with me for life. In my post-graduation days of 2003, when Hindi literature was nowhere on internet, the good old book-guide uncle at Indian Book Depot, Aminabad suggested me a book called - Saaye Mein Dhoop ( साये में धूप). For very long, this was the only available volume of Dushyant Kumar. I started liking this poet all over again. He was perfect for the age I was passing through, for he had a perfect rebel in him -

मत कहो, आकाश में कुहरा घना है

यह किसी की व्यक्तिगत आलोचना है 

रक्त वर्षों से नसों में खौलता है

आप कहते हैं क्षणिक उत्तेजना है

and at the same, a perfect romantic too -

चांदनी छत पे चल रही होगी 

अब अकेली टहल रही होगी 

जिन हवाओं ने तुझ को दुलराया 

उन में मेरी ग़ज़ल रही होगी 

Few years later, when internet was all pervasive and I had enough time and know-how, I started reading about Dushyant Kumar. It came as a shocker to me that he died at an early age of 42 (September 1, 1933 to December 30, 1975). He was the greatest signature of Hindi ghazal till today, with only Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' coming close. The rebellion spirit in his poetry is no less than what Faiz Ahmed Faiz brought to Urdu poetry. This is why he is the most quoted poet in any 'energized' gathering even today.

Recently, I ran a 10-day long a-picture-a-day series with Dushyant Kumar's couplets as a tribute to him. The series can be found here. However, my most favorite poem of his still remains the one, which I had quoted on a hand-made card to my nephew on his first birthday.

जा तेरे स्वप्न बड़े हों।

भावना की गोद से उतर कर

जल्द पृथ्वी पर चलना सीखें।

चाँद तारों सी अप्राप्य ऊचाँइयों के लिये

रूठना मचलना सीखें।

हँसें

मुस्कुराऐं

गाऐं।

हर दीये की रोशनी देखकर ललचायें

उँगली जलायें।

अपने पाँव पर खड़े हों।

जा तेरे स्वप्न बड़े हों।

The Crackpot Prophecy

Well, here is a chain of thoughts which had entered my mind I-don't-know when and it sounds completely insane even to me. At times I feel it is like a prophetic voice telling this to me, at times I feel it emerged out of a game-theoretic strategic forecasting that I did for a term-paper and at times, it is like the circle of insanity has completed.
For the simple reason of not having any basis or corroborative proof of whatever I am going to write down here, I have resisted the idea from coming out of my diary. But I guess, there are times when the insanity supersedes the rationality of this professor homo economicus. So here it goes - read it at your own risk.

1. Manmohan Singh will not see the dawn of 2013 as the prime minister of India. I don't know why or how but he'll not. 
2. Rahul Gandhi will never become the prime minister of India and so will be the case any other Gandhi for very long.
3. Narendra Modi will never become the leader of Bhartiya Janta Party as a whole. Although it may be like Indira Gandhi's Congress (Indira) to Indian National Congress. 
4. 2012 will, indeed, be the end of world but end of the world as we know it. The year will change the world for ever and for better.
5. China eventually (by the end of 2012) will form an 'open' alliance will islamic nations against India, Israel, Japan, and western powers (USA and EU in particular).
6. There will be a war between Sino-islamic alliance and Hindu-Jew-Christian alliance, divided on these lines only. That will be the end of many nations and the world order as we know it. 
7. India will fall briefly to China and will resurrect under a leader, who will be a radical, staunch Indian, and will lead the nation to the days of ancient glory. I have no idea who this one could be but sometimes I feel like it could be a completely new face or Narendra Modi. In either case, he will start his campaign from western UP or Karnataka - perhaps Udupi.
8. China will finally fall to India, aided by an internal revolt from Chinese people and perhaps an islamic back-stab.
9. One continent will be completely gone by the end of this war and most probably, that would be north America.
10. And there is something more stuck inside my head but that will take another round of crack.

Now, don't blame me for going cuckoo. You asked for it.

Hope and Children

Only reason I see 

hope and happiness 

in this idiot world -

Children :)

Just talk to a child

play with her

or do nothing 

but observe

and you'll see

why the world again 

becomes full of hope!!

And that is why, 

to survive this idiot world, 

I never miss a chance

to be with children....

whether they are my sister's kids :)

Or my friend's new born 

 

or a friend's playful child

or children from a deaf-n-dumb orphanage in Jaipur 

They are always curious, 

innocent, 

and full of joy!

:)