Lamhe chura yaadein banata jaata hoon.......

जिंदगी की अनजान राहों पे....अच्छे बुरे वक़्त से गुजरता हुआ....
खुलते पन्नो में अपनी कहानी पढता हुआ...
नये साथी बनाते, तो कुछ साथिओं को पीछे छोरता हुआ…..
कभी खुद को समेटते, तो कभी किसी को संभालता हुआ…
ख़रा युही देखता हूँ सालों को बीतता हुआ……
इन सालों में से कुछ लम्हें चुरा लेता हूँ…
लम्हों को पीरो साथ साथ यादें बनाता जाता हूँ!!!

सरक के पार रहने वाली बुडिया को इस दुनिया से जाते देखता हुआ,
बदलते मौसम और कम होती इंसानियत को निहारता हुआ….
मासूम बचपन को धीरे धीरे खोता हुआ……
हँसता हुआ…..रोता हुआ…
इन सालों में से कुछ लम्हें चुरा लेता हूँ…
लम्हों को पीरो साथ साथ यादें बनाता जाता हूँ!!!

सालों बाद…जब बैठूँगा अकेले में अपने हाथों की झुरियूं को निहारता हुआ….
तब कभी खोलूँगा अपनी यादों की पोटली….किसी को भूलता तो किसी को तरसता हुआ…….
यादों की सुनहरी तस्वीर पे अपनी छाप खुरेद्ता हुआ…….
चेहरे पे हंसी लायेंगी यह सब बातें……
हंसुंगा….खुश हो लूँगा....आने वाले वक़्त से डरता हुआ....
इसीलिए इन सालों में से कुछ लम्हें चुरा लेता हूँ…
लम्हों को पीरो साथ साथ यादें बनाता जाता हूँ!!!

- Mukul Priyadarshi

**** Mistakes in hindi writing could be attributed to my limited knowledge of google transliterate tool. I am aware of the mistakes but could not correct it. It is not intentional.

Waiting Forever.....

It was a small, nondescript, oval shaped park sandwiched between roads from both the sides, with residential societies standing on the other sides of roads. It was named ‘Anandvan’ but was very well maintained or lush green. There were some benches in the park, oval noses at the ends had long Ashoka and big mango trees; and centre of the park had open space where societies’ children played.
On one side of the park was a residential society ‘SevaGram’. Naynaa along with her mother Mehek lived on the 3rd floor of the building, with their balcony facing the park. They enjoyed evening tea in the balcony, watching children play and some oldies sitting on the benches chatting continuously for hours, till it was dark. It was an amalgamation of two distant ends of life, children unaware, enthusiastic and enjoying every moment. On the other hand were old men/women tired, disturbed and uninterested. Park was their solace, their territory and their independence. And children’ unadulterated love and kindness was their daily dose of stamina which kept them going.
For some days Naynaa observed an old man, of around her mother’s age, sitting on the corner bench, all alone, little interested in happenings around him, submerged in his own thoughts and gazing intermittently on distant horizon till it was dark. She had never seen him before and none of others present in park seemed to recognize him. This has been his routine for last 2-3 weeks. It was no different for next some weeks till, one day, when Naynaa came in the park and sat beside him. Surprised, he looked at her and gave a gentle smile.

“Hello Uncle, I am Naynaa. I live in SevaGram Society” said she to start the conversation.
“Hi Beti….How are you? I see you daily in your balcony with your mother. How did you come down today” he asked casually, plucked a leave from the nearby plant and kept making small pieces of it till it was impossible to tear it any further. He had made a heap of leaves’ pieces on the ground and this was the latest addition. She thought, maybe, this is his time pass activity in the park. The plant closer to the bench had very less leaves left and she knew it well why it was so.
She replied, “Hmmm...Yeah...I enjoy my evening tea in balcony with mom, watching children play in the park and setting sun in far sky. But it is you who have pulled me here today”
He threw the leave pieces and looked surprised, worried at her. “I…how can me?”he asked.
“I mean...I have observed you sitting here daily all alone, lost in your own thoughts. So thought to give you a company. Hope I will not bore you”

“No...No...not at all. You are welcome. I am new to this locality, am a bit reserved kind of person and don’t easily mingle with all, so generally keep a distance from others.” said he apologetically.
They kept chatting on general topics, whether, politics, sports and literature. It continued for many days and in the process they started admiring each other. If he was an intelligent and knowledgeable person. She was quick and witty. Naynaa liked spending time with him, and he no one knew when he felt. Whenever time permited she would come down in the park and they would chat for hours. Intermittent chats became routine and they came to know each other very well after some months. Naynaa was employed in an IT company and was living with her mother. She had lost her father last year to cancer. He was Mehir, a retired government employee, shifted some months ago in the city and was living all alone. When Naynaa asked him about his family, he informed her that he was never married and requested her not to ask any more questions about it. She respected his feelings. They would chat for hours on varied subjects, but never about their personal life. Naynaa would share most of her conversation with Mehir with her mother.

One day when Naynaa asked him, “Uncle. I know you won’t like it but this is within me for months. I have come to know you well but still I feel I don’t know you. You are a stranger to me. Who are you? Why didn’t you marry? Why did you come to this city?”

“You will know it all one day. Just have a little patience” he said and she didn’t ask anything more. It was all normal after that. They met, chatted and respected each other. Suddenly Naynaa stopped coming in the park and even Mehir didn’t turn up for a while. The bench in the corner stood unoccupied, witnessing their absence. Mehir started coming after some days but Naynaa didn’t turn up. He would come daily, wait for her and then return back when it is dark.
One day she came to the park, she looked down and dejected. They chatted but the weirdness of the circumstances was obvious. Mehir cut it in the middle and asked, “What has happened? Why are you looking so sad today? Where were you for so many days?”
She was stunned by the bluntness of his question in the middle of the conversation. She took time to bring her together, trying to control her emotions she said, “I lost my mother. She is no more”
He was shocked, didn’t move an inch, eyes fixed on her. They kept quite. She was trying to control herself, staring sometimes in sky; sometimes kept her head pressed down; or moved her eyes in varied directions
Mehir was observing this. He added, “I know it’s tough for you. It is natural. It is tough to loss some close to heart. But she was always like this, living the moments, doing things in flash and see… she left in a flash. It was also tough to me when I lost her almost 35 years back. She didn’t say anything, just left a note “Bbye Mehir!! Wish you all the best from my side for your life” That was it. No calls, no meetings, just the end. I tried hard to contact her but she would never reply to my messages even if she was aware.
“Who???...my mother”
“Yeah….your mother, Mehek. You remember…you asked me….why am I alone? What am I doing here? And I had said, “I would let you know when the day comes”. Today is the day. I and Mehek were together in college, together till our first job. Subsequently as we inched towards our youth and age got over us, we would have fights; there was insecurity and the question of marriage. We were from different parts of India and your mother was not ready to go against her parent’s wishes. One day we had a big fight and she left. She left…just left….neither ever contacted me nor acknowledged my many attempts to get in touch with her. And then I came to know the she married your father. She moved ahead in her life, but for me she was the full stop. I remained there still the same she left years ago. I was not waiting for her to come back. But living along her shadow, with the dreams we had together, for the future that I didn’t wish to see. I kept following her…..through common friends or internet, secretly, never coming in her way. I never married….it was tough to get over her…I could not do that. I kept working for my parents and brothers and when I retired, came in here and would come every day in the park to see her when in the balcony. I am not sure if she ever recognized me, it’s tough to recognize some body after 35 years. But for me her single gaze was enough to live for the day”

Tears rolled through his eyes. He wept uncontrollably in the presence of Nayana. He might have wept after years, for long time he had lost all emotions; earthy pulls never affected me. He kept crying, not sure if this was for Mehek’s death or for the decision she made 30 years ago or for the life which he sacrificed on her.
It had gone dark, 8:00 PM, Naynaa brought him in her apartment. She brought water for him. Mehek’s asthi, mortal remains, were kept in an earth pot in the corner of the room along a big portrait of her. She was smiling, maybe saying welcome to Mehir.

He was about to leave when Naynaa started speaking, “She always knew you are around. If you were following her, she was also informed about you. It was she who sent me to you to sit in the park. I would share everything which you used to tell me in those conversations and she would simply say he hasn’t changed. If she moved away from you, years ago, due to her parental wishes, she maintained the gap till her end for the rules of the society we live in”

Those words hit Mehir hard, caught him unawares. She knew all about him? She still loved him?? Message of those words were smooth to have flown inside him, he felt the rush within. He was at peace after so many years……got the answer for which he had been wandering. He opened the door and said turning back,” Bbye Naynaa…Take care of you….I don’t know how to live from tomorrow and for whom”
“For me….my mother died sure that you would look after me in her absence” replied Naynaa.

Nobel Laureate Barak Obama

Barak Obama won Nobel Peace Prize. I can't digest this even if I am one of his greatest admirers. There are some arguments and counter arguments going on but I will not dwell on that, and just hope Barak leaves up to the expectation.

*********
Currently admiring this song from movie 'Whats your Rashi' for last couple of days and below some lines are just mesmerising:

Yeh raat thodi toh dhalne do
dheere dheere isko pighalne do
aage hai do raah maanaa magar
thodi door toh saath chalne do

khone wali ho kal tum
ruk sako jo do pal tum
kuch tumhari tasveerein
rakh loon apni aankhon mein…
jao na… jao na

Listen to it on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn2jUyBFyn8&feature=related

Gandhi is not a Gaali

I must have been class 7 or 8- an age where teenhood sparks starts fighting to get out of parental grip. An age where dreams outdo the deeds and being the best in friend’s eye is the only motto.

Chat among we friends would always be on mundane topics, but it would be slightly different if it was independence, republic or Gandhi Jayanti days. Gandhi bashing would the trend at the slightest mention of his name. In a bid to outshine others we would bring out many lesser known false stories about him which we had heard in our general conversations outside school. Most discussed topics were how Indian National Army formed by Subhash Chandra Bose would have thrown out British with the help of Hitler and Japan had he been not killed in an accident. But Gandhi never supported Bose and even forced him out of Indian National Congress. How Gandhi was responsible for partition of India as he didn’t allow Jinnah to become the Prime Minister for he had soft corner for Jawahar Lal Nehru. Intermittently we would have many rounds of cheap and vulgar Gandhi jokes. Gandhi was a hated figure and to an extent a gali which was used for friends who either tried to be honest or if they wore circular spectacles.

I grew with time and luckily started enjoying reading books. In the process read many books on Indian independence struggle and some of the Gandhi ji’s biographies. His auto biography ‘My Experiment with Truth’ is simply great. After all the understanding gathered over a period of time, I can say with authority that there would not be a second human being like Gandhiji. He is simply the greatest. He not only preached. He lived his message. He famously remarked, “My life is my Message”. So true.

For those who say Indian National Army would have snatched independence from British with the help of Hitler and Japan, should know INC suffered a heavy jolt in north eastern part of India when they tried to enter India. Indian was still a country where industrial production was zero and to believe INC would have won with begged weapons or for that matter with indigenous swords, bow, sickle and canon etc, is the farthest of any imagination. I can’t buy this argument. India was still a divided country with no weapon production of its own. How can have we defeated British. Gandhiji realized this early and opted the way to force them to go on their own than throwing them out by defeating.

And the second incident of partition. Much has been written over it. Just recently Jaswant Singh lost his job for his book on partition. I only know by this time Gandhiji was well out of daily political negotiations. He was more of a mentor then and he did try his best to save the country from this agony. And if he favoured Nehru over Jinnah. That was the best thing to happen to our county at that time. See what Jinnah made of Pakistan. And Nehru’s work is for all to see. All the greatest institutions that make India today had been established under his leadership. Be it independent judiciary, Election Commission, Dams, BHEL, IITs etc. He gave a solid foundation to India.
I don’t say Gandhiji was faultless. There must be some weaknesses in Gandhiji as well, but after all was he not a human? Another point raised against him is about the company of women around him in his older days. Damn you…..they were his relatives……his nieces. Have you ever seen male members of family looking after the old? It’s always our mothers and sisters who look after elders’ daily chores. So was doing Gandhiji’s family. Why does it offend you?
Gandhiji is simply the greatest. And that’ why Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela follows him, Barak Obama wants to dine with him and Einstein said, “Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.”

(Gandhi pic from Internet)