Category: Prose n Poetry

I write

आहुती

उषा की निमर्ति
निशा की आहुति
तारों का टूटना
गिरना ‌और बिखरना
सपनों की आहुति
पत्थरों की पूजा
धरती की ठोकर
गिरती हुयी मंजिल
उडती हुयी राहें
जिन्दगी की आहुती

अश्क

गमों की रहगुज़र पर जब अश्कों ने भी साथ न दिया
तो हम चल पडे अकेले ही मंज़िल की तलाश में
आंख की कोर पर बूंद मानों लटक कर रह गयी
और धीरे धीरे हालात की आंधी ने उसे भी सोख लिया

मैं!

मैं निराशा की गर्त में डूबने वालों में नहीं
आशा की कोर को छूना जानती हूं ।
यथार्थ को जी कर सपनों को पालती हूं
इस छोर पर खडी हो उस छोर की
बाट जोहने वालों में नहीं
मैं अंतहीन होना जानती हूं ।
विध्वंसक न सही
मैं हौले से आंचल के कोर से
खुद अपने आंसू पोछना जानती हूं ।
शब्दों की गहराइ में उतरती भी हूँ
पर उथले कीचड को पहचानती हूं
ज़रा सी ठेस से टूटने वालों में मैं नहीं,
अपने टुकडों को समेटना जानती हूं ।
निराशा के अंधेरों में डूबने वालों में नहीं
मैं आशा की हर सहर बिताना जानती हूं ।

Cut and Paste

I think there should be a serious research done on the influence of ‘cut and paste’ command in the realms of academics in particular and the society in general. This ubiquitous command has given every individual the ability to plagiarise at the click of a mouse. The morality of this issue would depend upon which side of the fence one belongs to – taken from a different and rather liberal perspective, plagiarism makes for a  very effective system for dissemination of information! On a more serious note, let’s consider this – without the facility of ‘cut and paste’, an individual would mandatorily need to read through and copy the text/synopsis/what-have-you. This would atleast ensure that he ( or she) reads what is being plagiarised and perhaps even understand some part of it. As a freelance editor, I frequently get manuscripts which are so blatantly borrowed from the net that the new owner does not even bother to get the numbers/genders/timelines in consonance with the rest of his text. In a similar vein, my children ‘research’ their projects on the net – and produce fabulous looking reports that does their father proud. Atleast they don’t have the pretensions or snobbery of claiming to have submitted an original document ! So, is this ‘cut and paste’ making us more knowledgeable by more effective dissemination of knowledge or is it ‘dumbing down’ our intellect by reducing our ability of original thinking ? Maybe I can prevail upon my daughter’s class teacher to hold a debate on the topic.

Return of the King

Yesterday was a day which we will not forget all our lives. Returning back from the new home (site) while I was driving at a breakneck speed of 75-80, Tarique told me stop the car immediately. “STOP STOP VULTURE!!!” Tarique almost shouted.

I shushed him “ stop day dreaming! vulture, here? you are crazy!!, must be Osprey or something”. But, by then I had already slowed down a bit and I stopped a little ahead. I spotted something too. Sitting on an almost bare tree, along with black kites, was a form that looked much bigger than the black kite and the form did look like a … (gulp) Vulture.

So, while Tarique stood guard, I rushed back home to get the camera (our current home is just 1.5 kms away from the sighting place) I made a few phone calls to city birders thinking if it really is a vulture, more pair of eyes should see it, I reached back 15 mins later, to see the bird still sitting there, Tarique took over the camera, while I parked the car and followed him. The clicking begins, and we see the results, IT IS A VULTURE!! WOW!!! more frantic phone calls and I found out that people have already left their respective work places and residences to reach the spot. We prayed, this bird should wait here for some more time atleast till some of the birders arrive.

We also discovered a carcass down below , black kites were troubling the vulture and we were perhaps approaching nearer to its comfort zone, the vulture flew, right over my head, but the sun shone in my eyes so could I not identify which vulture. We left the identification to later and kept clicking. The bird then flew away far after being with us for a good 35-40 minutes.

Jaimesh, Mr. Gopal Thosar (Hon.Wild life Warden ) and Dr. Pimplapure arrive and see the photos, discuss the carcass (it was a calf freshly killed by someone and thrown) and while we all were gloating over the find when all of us shout again almost in unison IT’S BACK! the majestic bird, as if to prove a point, came back and circled for about 10 minutes and then vanished.

So which vulture was it? Long billed ? White back? No! it was the Red necked Vulture AKA the King Vulture

Hot Sams

It was 9:15 AM and I was hungry, having skipped dinner the previous night. I stepped into Haldiram’s to pick up a loaf of bread for breakfast and nearly drowned in nostalgia looking at the fresh Hot Samosa’s being laid into the trays at the counter.

We had morning college, 7.30 AM and during winter its darn early in Nagpur to be in the college at 7.30 -but still a bunch of us were very regular – we would attend first two classes, get thoroughly bored and hungry by 9.30 .

Our respite was a small chai-samosa thela in front of the college run by a “Kaku” and “Kaka” (a middle aged women who we would call kaku and her husband). Alpana insisted on calling her Maushi though showing her true kokonast breed 😉

So four of us I, Pattu, Alpana and Shishir would invariably find ourselves gorging steaming hot samosa’s -straight out of the kadahai sipping ginger tea. Alpana in her trademark style would ask for more mirche and then say the mirch is too hot. We would tease her for riding her bicycle on the footpath instead of the road and generally pull each others leg eating atleast four samosa’s each…

Samosa!! I use to love them -I still do, but I rarely get to eat them now 🙁

Pyaas

I wrote this sometime in 1986

प्यास 

मैं ज्योति, तुम उजियारा
मैं नभ प्रतीक, तुम सूरज हो
मैं सौरभ, तुम हो सुवास
मैं हूँ प्रार्थना, तुम बने शिवि
मैं प्रकृित निश्चछल, तुम उज्जवल मानव
मैं पूर्ण, तुम हो संपूर्ण
मैं सरिता कलकल, तुम सागर सम
बहती बहती पवन हूँ मैं, तुम मंद हवा का झोंका हो
मैं गति, तुम हो ठहराव
मैं आकाश, तुम ब्रम्हांड हो
मैं प्रेरणा, तुम कल्पना
मैं बूंद बनी प्यासे तुम
मैं स्वाति, तुम चातक

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