Sholay: A Total Recall

Sholay is not a movie, its a way of life...at least my life ;)

Watching Sholay on the big screen (that too in 3D) was a complete experience. Complete, since people would have seen it at least a hundred times (what!! you haven't seen it that many times - get your filthy mouse off this blog) on small screen but watching it in theater with surround sound (and in 3D!) was surreal. Let me just give you instances why this experience of mine was a complete paisa-vasool and much more:

* Things flying off the screen right into your face - well that is what 3D is all about - but this is logs, gravels, boulders from Ramgarh! I mean, come on!

I was pretty sure that the train robbery sequence would be amazing on 70mm (that, technically speaking is width of the film reel but that is how you show off when you mean larger screens) and it absolutely was! With dakus flying-off horses' back and in slo-mo was thrillingly beautiful. It felt like I was there on the maalgaadi from district Jamalpur with dacoits trying to rob - what is my best guess...oil drums. And that scene where the logs shoot off the track after Veeru's daringly "high" act - WOW! They spent some money on adding a few logs to give you that 3D shocker and I tell you that was money well spent. On a sober note, they could have done much better with some other scenes but I am not complaining. There were screeching sparks from the tracks, boulders in that Basanti ki ijjat ka sawal  chase sequence and ashes from the blown off bridge in the climactic scene, where the surreal experience was just perfect!

* Characters - as if they are your long lost kin and reunited after ages (39 yrs for some, at least 20 for me when I had seen Sholay for the first time on TV).

Jai, Veeru - Refreshingly Young and dashing in denims - no gay undertones here but Veeru looked raw and He-Manish in almost every frame (but for his tummy in some scenes :P). 

Basanti - Smoldering, what else would you call her with that extra pink blush on her cheeks.

Gabbar - Yucky, ugly, loathsome and worth every penny of that poore pachaas hazzar!

Thakur - Crisp, revengeful and youngest old man in Ramgarh.

Ramlaal - An Ideal Man Friday who would dish out anything from cash to photos to FBI secret files (just getting carried away here), at one twitch of Thakur's eyes.

Imaam saheb - actors should take lessons from his blind-act - bechara to the T and his "Itna sannata kyun hai bhai". Gave me goose bumps in Abdul's mourning scene.

Radha - the silent one and the conscience keeper.

Mausi - So cute that you would love to have a mausi like that! - Reminds me of that Chashm-e-baddoor scene where Dipti Naval kissed Mausi (her dadi in that movie) and then says - "Lipstick laga!"

Surma Bhopali, Angrezon ke zamane ke jailor, Sambha, Kalia, his side kicks (that actor who got his place in cinematic history with that so blandly uttered abuse), Shankar, Dinanath, Kashiram...part of my consanguinity.

* Dialogs - so Sholaystic (not scholastic mind you!).

It starts with - 

"Aadmi aur sikkey me shayad yahi farak hai"

"Istick toh mein rakhta hun aur jo istick maine phinphnayee"

"Haramjada"

"Wo hai na hari ram naii, jailor ka bada moonh laga hai muaan...haaaan"

and the epochal ones -

"Kitne aadmi thhe"

"Basanti in kutton ke samney mat nachna"

"Bahut katili nachaniya hogi...humko bhi dikhao 2-3 thumke"

I am a complete sucker for anything Sholay. What! You don't believe, ask D - she has to keep up with my stale Sholay jokes, day-in, day-out. Sholay is history, geography, memories...it is much, much, much more than a movie. I mean it has made people's lives - take Raju Srivastav for instance, he has made a career out of Sholay jokes.  

Thanks D for this total recall! Had I not watched Sholay in theater - zindagi se shikwa na hota par zindagi, zindagi na hoti ;). 

Spirit

यूँ ही कब कहाँ ये जीत पाती
हर मोड़ पर सकुचाती
हर चोट पर मुरझाती
एक नज़र पडे तो इतराती

अनजान कभी इसे है भाता
एक रंग ही कभी रम जाता
कभी प्यास इसे जगाती
गहन सोच कभी थपथपा जाती

कभी कोई बात ठेंस लगाती

फिर खुद ही अकुलाती, इतराती
संभल जाती,
यूँ ही कब कहाँ ये जीत पाती।
 

आज मैं...

आज मैं गूँज हूँ
एक ऐसा शक्तिपुंज हूँ
उठा दूं, जगा दूं
संकोच तोड़ने की कुंज हूँ .


आज मैं सोच हूँ
मंथन हूँ
चिंतन हूँ
निशब्द क्रंदन हूँ
पाश नहीं, पर बंधन हूँ।


आज मैं रंग हूँ,
बेरंग को दर्शनीय बना
आज उसके संग हूँ
खूब ठठा कर, विहंग हूँ
खुद में डूबा हूँ, मलंग हूँ।।

तिरस्कार

इतिहास के पन्नो में है बदा,
रामायण-महाभारत भी करते इसका बखान
आर्यावर्त के शूरों ने कब किया है औरत का सम्मान .

वस्त्र हर कर मार ठहाके
लज्जा भी हुई घोर सभा में नीलाम
आर्यावर्त के शूरों ने कब किया है औरत का सम्मान .

जग पूजता उनको, पुरुषों में मर्यादा में उत्तम
जाने वो हुए कैसे महान
हो ना पाया जब उनसे अपनी ही भार्या का सम्मान

युग बदला, लोग बदले
हीन सोच पर लगा नहीं पुण्याविराम
पवित्र सति के नाम जाने कितनो के फूंके प्राण
देवदासी बना कुचले कितनो ने उनके अरमान
आर्यावर्त के शूरों ने कब किया है औरत का सम्मान .

आजकल मुझे भी डर लगता है

आजकल  मुझे भी डर लगता है
उम्मीदों  की क़तार देख डर लगता है
दबे हुए शब्दों में एक दबी हुई ज़िन्दगी देख डर लगता है
हर दौड़ को पीछे खींचते सोच से डर लगता है
आस भरी आँखें देख डर लगता है
डर  मिटटी भरे उन सोने के बर्तनों से लगता है .
जो थे मार्गदर्शक उनको भटकते देख डर लगता है .
ढकोसली  हँसी , बनावटी चेहरे देख डर लगता है
गलतियों को पर्दा डालती बातों से डर  लगता है
अवरोधरहित बहाव में पेचीदे मोड़ों को देख डर लगता है .

विश्वासघात

गुमनाम होने की तलब फिर जगी
अंधियारे में भटकने की कसक फिर जगी
जो भी पाया था, लुटाने की इप्सा फिर जगी
जो खोया था, उसे मिटाने की सोच फिर जगी
खुद को धुंध में भुलाने का मन हुआ
जो भी संजोया था, उसे बिखराने का मन हुआ. 

कितनी बार तो मन टूटा था,
पर आज ऐसा क्या हुआ -
किसी की आँखों में चढ़ना भ्रम था
वहीँ टिके रहना भी भ्रम था
विश्वास जीतना शायद एक वहम था
क्या किसी की नज़रों में ओछे दिखने का ग़म था?

विश्वास भी तो ताल पर थिरकते नट जैसा है
जम जाये तो विस्मित कर देता है
और थम जाये तो...

कल रात नींद नहीं आई

कल रात नींद नहीं आई
लगता है ज़िन्दगी ने अपना बोझ बढ़ा दिया था
बोझ और भार में यही फर्क होता होगा -
भार से सुनते हैं कोयला हीरा हो जाता है,
और बोझ से शायद कोयला धूल!!
बात वहीँ रुक जाती तो हवा हो जाती,
कुछ पनपता जेहन में और नींद में घुल-मिल जाता,
पर कुछ सिसकियों ने बात जकड ली,
कुछ घुला नहीं, धुला नहीं
और हवा हुई तो वो हुई नींद. 

खामोश शब्द

खामोश शब्द, अन्तर्द्वंद विकट
क्या छुपा है, क्या प्रकट
खोखला मन, विषम तन्हाई
कोरे कागजों के पुलिंदे, न खून न स्याही .

लिखने को उठते हैं हाथ
तरंगो से बिलखते जज़्बात
कुछ छुप जाते हैं
कुछ छप जाते हैं.

सोच का विशाल अम्बार
विफल शब्दों की लम्बी कतार,
बौखलाते बेकार.
अनकही - अकड़ कर खड़ी विरुद्ध
अनगिन शब्द व्यर्थ, लाचार. 

ले चल उस छोर जहाँ..

ले चल उस छोर जहाँ,
सरल, शिथिल मन हो,
मशाल जले ज्ञान की
ओजपूर्ण हवाओं मे
वेग भी प्रचंड हो.

आग की जो हो बात,
प्रबुद्ध, शुद्ध आग हो,
भाव रहे पाक साफ़,
सोच ही अखंड हो.

प्रकाष्ठ खुलते हो जहाँ
विचारों का सैलाब हो,
होड़ मे उठें जो शब्द
कीर्ति का हो आवाहन,
यश की ही जय हो.

धुंध को रौंदती,
सशक्त,साहसी रंग हो
ले चल उस छोर जहाँ
सरल, शिथिल मन हो.

Losing my religion

Rise without reason

Fight without a cause,

Two hoots to logic

All from the heart.

Flying through the wind

Flowing through the stream...

seeking extreme.
Never chewed a thought,
all instinct
No revisits, no regrets
All terse, all succinct.

Then a fall so hard,
Break, it did -
No, decimated it all!!!
Flow controlled...
screeched to a halt.
Now actions have a reason
Thoughts have a fault.
Blame it on one,
blame it on all,
No revisits, no regrets
I know, have lost it all.

Palace of Illusions

I have always been fascinated by the epic Mahabharata and its characters. And each time I read any literature related to it I get overwhelmed by the depth of the epic. Be it Sivaji Savanta's Mrityunjay (though very well written but still in awe of the tome) or Rashmirathi (veer rasa rendition by the great Ramdhari Singh Dinkar) - both coincidentally taking a broader look at Karna, the doomed warrior - the stories and sub-plots of Mahabharata never bore you.

And as I was contemplating of getting a copy (they say you shouldn't have a copy of Mahabharata, as it can lead to mayhem in your personal life) my good friend S handed me this book to read. Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerji Divakaruni, is very different from all the Mahabharata related books I have read. The idea of Draupadi's (or Panchali's, as she would prefer) viewpoint of the tale and the war was something which only a lady could have thought of. And before I infuriate the feminists around let me clarify that this book is so well written that it feels like you are reading Draupadi's autobiography.

The book treats each of the event that shaped the persona of Panchali in a very human manner, without any superficiality. That is what would attract any avid reader and mind you once you start the book it becomes really difficult to put it down, even though you might be aware of the events ahead. Panchali's longing to be accepted in a patriarchal world where one was identified by only the accompanying male (husband, brother, father, et al.) is painted beautifully in the book. Her special relationship with the enigmatic Krishna and her brother, Dhrishtadyumna, her secret desires for Karna and what she thinks of her mother-in-law Kunti, are some of the things which make this book special. 

Everyone who has read/heard Mahabharata stories (or probably even seen the TV series) revisits this great tale of human desires, envy and egoism. This book gives an entirely new paradigm to all those events and takes the concept of story telling to a new-level.  

इंकिलाब

तमस रोज़ तुझ पर बरसता है
क्यूँ सिंहनाद की आस तू रखता है
सिंह कब झुण्ड में बिसरते हैं ,
विरुद्ध अकेले ही चल पड़ते हैं ।
प्रलय की कुंजी तुझमे है
हुंकार काल का तुझमे है !!
तुझमे बहता जीव का गूढ़ रहस्य
तुझमे ही विप्लव का प्रचंड सरित।
सब्र का बोझ तू क्यूँ ढोता है
धैर्य की हद क्यूँ नहीं खोता है?
क्यूँ विवश, लाचार यूँ फंसा है तू
मुँह छुपाये कहाँ रमा है तू ।
जननी की गोद तरसती है
तुझे मूक देख वो बिलखती है
जन्म का ऋण तुझे भरना है
संजो हुनर-शक्ति-साहस, समर का आवाहन अब करना है ।

छत, जेठ की रात और हमारे हिस्से का आसमान

आज जब एक ब्लॉग पढ़ा तो जैसे कहीं और ही बह गया। बात तो उसमे बस एक चौक की थी लेकिन ऐसा लगा कि लेखक ने हमारी पुरानी यादों का बस्ता खोल दिया। और ठीक उसी वक्त हमारे कुक ने किसी से फोन पर ट्रांसफार्मर का ज़िक्र किया।

फिर जो अगला दृश्य हमारी आँखों के आगे था वो था जेठ की गर्मी की रात और हमारे घर की छत। भागलपुर या उस जैसे छोटे शहरों में ये तो आम बात होती है कि पूरे मोहल्ले का एकलौता ट्रांसफार्मर, गरमी के चरम पर पहुँचते ही जवाब दे जाता है। और गर्मी की अँधेरी रातों में जनता अपने अपने छत को अपना कमरा बना लेती है। उसी में बच्चे एक लालटेन की रौशनी में पढ़ रहे होते हैं, कोई रेडियो सुन रहा होता है और कोई बस ऐसे ही आराम कर रहा होता है। वैसे ये बात गौर करने की है की छत पर पढने का मज़ा ही कुछ और है। जब मन उब सा जाये तो आस-पड़ोस में एक नज़र घुमा लीजिये। कुछ मोहल्ले वाले दोस्त दिख जायेंगे और इसी बहाने अगर किस्मत अच्छी है तो शायद कुछ नयन सुख भी ।


और फिर हमारे यहाँ तो तिवारीजी, सिन्हा साहेब, पाठकजी सब मिलकर या तो गर्मी को गरियाते थे नहीं तो विज्ञानं और तकनिकी को कहीं कोने में फ़ेंक कर, ट्रांसफार्मर के प्रचालन पर चर्चा। मतलब आपका ज्ञान विस्तार इस गति से होता था कि नए शब्द सीखने के साथ साथ आप ये भी समझ जाते थे की कितना तेल ट्रांसफार्मर में डालना पड़ता है, कब तक उसको चार्ज करना होता है और कितने दिनों में बिजली रानी आप पर दया बरसाती हैं। उस खुले वातावरण में आप न सिर्फ कम्युनिटी लिविंग सीखते हैं बल्कि तर्क-वितर्क का भी अभ्यास हो जाता है। और इतनी ज्ञान वर्धक बातें आजकल कहाँ हो पाती हैं। खासकर बड़े शहरों में वक़्त की तो ऐसे ही किल्लत होती है। फिर कौन छत पर चढ़े (पहले तो आप खुशकिस्मत हैं अगर आपके पास अपनी छत है) और कौन आस पड़ोस वालों से जिरह करे । और जो ख़ुशी बिजली रानी के आने पर होती हैउस ख़ुशी से तो शायद आज की जेनेरेशन वंचित ही रह जाये। अजी वैसी ख़ुशी तो हम कहेंगे इंडिया के वर्ल्ड कप जीतने पर भी नहीं हुई थी। एक सामूहिक शोर सा उठता था और कितनो की आहें,कितनो के उलाहना भरे शब्द से सैलाब सा बन जाता था ।

फिर लौट कर अपने कमरे में तो पढने की इच्छा भी नहीं होती थी। बस इंतज़ार होता रहता था की कब बिजली फिर से जाये और हम एक मायूस सा मुखौटा लगाकर, दिल में उमंग लिए फिर से छत पर पढने भागें। और फिर तारों के नीचे पढने/सोने का मज़ा ही अलग है। उसमे आप कभी टूटता तारा देख सकते हैं, कभी कोई धूमकेतु और कभी कुछ न दिखे तो एक भटकते हुए हवाई जहाज़ कि जलती बुझती रौशनी। आज इस बड़े शहर में तो अपने हिस्से का आसमान देखना मुश्किल होता है तो कहाँ कोई तारे और धूमकेतु देखे, हाँ हर दूसरे घंटे पर हवाई जहाज़ की रौशनी अदृश्य तारों की कमी का एहसास ज़रूर करा जाता है।

कृष्णागिरी बना पांडिचेरी

हमारा पहला रोड ट्रिप - अगर आप हमें बचपन से जानते हैं (नहीं भी जानते हों, तो आपने कुछ ज्यादा मिस नहीं किया है), तो ये बात तो तय है की आप इस बात पर हसेंगे - बिकाश, बुलबुल पर, पांडिचेरी - असंभव, अनहोनी!!!

लेकिन हाँ एक शनिवार की सुनहरी दोपहरी (जी हाँ हमारे क्रेडिट कार्ड के किस्सों के बाद हमने योजनाबद्ध सफ़र कम कर दिया है), हम अपने मित्रों के साथ निकल पड़े। सच पूछिए तो हमने पांडिचेरी का प्लान ही नहीं बनाया था। प्लान यूँ था की कृष्णागिरी (जिनको दूरी ज्ञात नहीं उनके लिए - कृष्णागिरी और पांडिचेरी के बीच का फासला प्रारंभिक योजना से करीब तीन गुना है) मे कॉफ़ी पीयेंगे और शाम तक लौट आएंगे। अब कुछ "मतवाले" नौजवान (हमारी संख्या थी ४ लोग गाडी मे और मैं अपनी बुलबुल पर सवार) जब ऐसी प्लानिंग करें और मौसम भी मतवाला हो जाये, तो ऐसे तारतम्य को कभी नकारना नहीं चाहिए। और हमने भी वही किया - राह चलते हमारे मित्र ने अपना लम्बा हाथ बाहर निकाला (अगर आपने भारतीय राजमार्ग पर सफ़र किया है तो हाथ दिखाने का मतलब - धीमे जाएँ, मैं मुड़ रहा हूँ, तू तेरा देख, तेरी ^&$% की - जैसा कुछ भी हो सकता है)। लेकिन क्यूंकि मित्रों की शालीनता उस वक्त बरक़रार थी, उसके कहने का मतलब था आगे रुको (जी हाँ, एक मुद्रा और कई अर्थ - भारतीय हैं, हाथ दिखाने के और भी मतलब निकाल सकते हैं )।

हम कृष्णागिरी के बहुत पास थे और उस वक्त रुकने का कोई मतलब नहीं बनता था। लेकिन ४ पहिये अगर २ पहिये को रुकने कहे तो रुक जाने में भलाई है। कच्ची सड़क पर उतरते ही पता चला की ४ पहियों की सवारी ने पांडिचेरी जाने का मन बना लिया है। २ प्रतिक्रियां हो सकती थी - या तो हम बिलकुल मना कर देते या ख़ुशी से फूलते हुए निकल पड़ते। पर यहाँ पर हम सकते में आ गए और हमारे मुँह से निकला - "पागल हो क्या"। ऐसे सवाल जिनके जवाब आपको पता हों, या जिनके जवाब न हों, उन्हें अंग्रेजी मे rhetoric कहते हैं, हमारा सवाल ऐसा ही कुछ था। क्यूंकि उस स्थल पर हम छहों (बुलबुल मे भी दिल है) को पता था की उसका जवाब क्या है। बस अब निर्णय ये लेना था की हम हमारी बुलबुल पर (आधे खुले हेलमेट के साथ, सर्विसिंग को तरसती बुलबुल लेकर) जायें या नहीं। और चूँकि प्रारंभिक योजना कॉफ़ी पीने की थी, तो वही करते हुए हम सब तैयार हो गए (तैयार तो थे ही सब लेकिन बस दिल को बहलाना था) ।

अब जब हम कृष्णागिरी के पास बायें लेते हुए चेन्नई राजमार्ग पर आये तो सड़क देख कर आँखें चमक गयी। लेकिन ये हमारा रास्ता नहीं था (पहले सफ़र कर चुके होने के कुछ फायदे होते हैं - एक तो ये की आप पथ भ्रष्ट नहीं होते), हमें राज्यमार्ग (स्टेट हाई वे) लेना था। और मुड़ते ही हम समझ गए की भारतीय पथ निर्माण संघ (आप उसको कई और नाम से बुला सकते हैं) के अधिकारी इतनी धनाड्य क्यूँ और कैसे होते हैं। अगले १०० किमी तक हमने उन अधिकारीयों के परिवार के प्रियजनों को याद किया (निस्संदेह चुनिन्दा दुर्वचनो के साथ) । इस ट्रिप को अगर देखें तो हमारी पहली १०० और आखिरी के करीब १०० किमी की यात्रा काफ़ी आरामदेह थी (धनवानों को भी थोडा काम करना होता है) । सड़क काफ़ी सुडौल, सुन्दर, सुसज्जित थी - अब इससे ज्यादा में राजमार्ग की बड़ाई नहीं कर सकता, लेकिन ये बीच के करीब ६०-७० किमी का वर्णन शब्दों में नहीं कर सकते - उस ६०-७० किमी के सफ़र ने हमारी जान नहीं ली, बाकी सब ले लिया।

खैर सारे खतरों को दरकिनार करते हुए, छोटे-छोटे विराम लेते हुए हम पांडिचेरी पहुँच ही गए। और फिर जैसा की तय हुआ था (रस्ते भर में एक अच्छा प्लान जो हमने किया था वो ये था), हम Ginger Hotel में रुके। उस होटल की इतिहास में ऐसा पहली बार हुआ होगा की ६ लोंगो (बुलबुल का तब भी दिल था) ने चेक इन किया हो, और एक भी सामान नहीं। हमारी योजनायें ऐसी ही होती हैं - सामान लेकर क्यूँ लोड बढ़ाना था - और वैसे भी हम तो कृष्णागिरी के लिए निकले थे। शुक्र है की होटल वालों को इस बात से कोई परेशानी नहीं थी और हमने एक बहुत सुकून भरी रात वहां गुजारी । वापसी का सफ़र तो बस यूँ कट गया की उसके लिए कोई अलग ब्लॉग लिखना भी न पड़े ( हाँ पथ निर्माण अधिकारीयों के प्रियजनों के लिए चुनिन्दा दुर्वचन कुछ और चुनिन्दा भले ही हो गए - शायद उसके लिए ब्लॉग की ज़रुरत पड़े- लेकिन वो फिर कभी) और अब sun tan और रस्ते की परेशानियाँ यहाँ लिखना उचित नहीं होगा, ख़ास कर तब जब आप अपने पहले रोड ट्रिप से इतना लगाव रखते हों ।

अक्स

यूँ पैर पसारे बिस्तर पर
विचारों के घोड़े जब दौडते हैं
कुछ अधपके ख्याल जब आते हैं
कुछ मधुर सोच जब फबते हैं.
मंद-मंद मुस्कान भरे
जब नींद के झोंके आते हैं
उनका चेहरा क्यूँ बनता ही नहीं,
जब कई चेहरे पटल पर छप जाते हैं.

कुछ श्वेत-श्याम जुड़-तुड़कर
शकल मूरत तो बन जाते हैं
पर वो ख़ुशी कहाँ दिखती उनमे
वो चमक कहाँ खिलती उनमे.
कभी ऐसा ख्याल भी आता है
दिल से बस देखा...अच्छा था
आँखों से गर देखता उनको
ये शब्द यूँ नहीं बुनते शायद
एक काव्य प्रसंग बनता शायद!!

Bike Ride to Ooty - 1

Slowly pulling myself up from the bed cursing "the plan", I squinted at the watch. It was 3am and Friday - if you can call that early as day - and it was a long weekend...manna for the working class!! Not for us, we had planned for a bike ride to Ooty and back in three days. It had rained the previous night, which had mellowed down the mood a wee bit but a few text exchanges and very soon we were pretty upbeat about the ride. One text even mentioned - come rain or sunshine we are going to make it, which sounded just short of the Obama "we can" propaganda.

The interesting thing about our group was all of us knew at the max two people. A group of six is not a large group but not knowing each other can be little intimidating, especially if you are taking a ride of around 300 kms. I guess it was the magic of the SMSes doing the rounds in the group and a few ego-massaging mails that we were all geared up by around 4 in the morning. The group gathered strength and form, as we made a stop for fuel refill and then at "Udupi Garden", BTM, which is known more as a rendezvous point than for its food. By the time we reached NICE Road (the road connecting Bangalore-Mysore, which is in fact nice) toll gate it had started raining. The design of NICE road is a conspiracy, trust me, it just eggs you to move on as there are very little (in fact none) shelters to save you against the elements. And so we moved on, drenched to the soul, or sole, equally applicable.

The wheels intro - Kawasaki Ninja, Yamaha R15, Electra 350, Honda Unicorn and Pulsar - not arranged necessarily according to power but nevertheless an assorted group. It was fun as the bikes used to race ahead, overtaking the lesser mortals and being further embarrassed by the nagging thump - as if struck by lightning and then put to rest by a sledge hammer.We stuffed ourselves with a sumptuous South Indian breakfast at Kamath restaurant on Mysore Road, drying ourselves at the same time. The Rain God, meanwhile, took a break and completely conned us to move ahead with our plan and showed His true colors as we were crossing the McDonald's drive-thru joint. We had to make an unscheduled stop to restore our nerves and warm our senses at McD, to be fooled by rain again. As the cloud gave way to a bright sunshine, we were enthused to move on. The stretch to Mysore from that point was pretty normal, interspersed with a few villages and the usual Indian jaywalkers. The racers energized by the warm sun tested their money's worth on this stretch and everyone touched the respective wheel's max speeds. We were at Mysore bypass at around noon and could see our destination marked in almost all the hoardings - signs, no!!! Divine con-man working overtime and we needed just that.

After talking to few people on the road and confirming the route, we moved ahead towards Bandipur (the national forest reserve). Though there was a sea of dark cloud on the horizon, it didn't stop us from stopping for a few snaps. As we posed for the snaps, the sun did the same, hiding behind the cloud, waving and winking "you will need all the luck to reach there Dudes!!". Unperturbed by THE posture, we moved ahead and were soon draped in a thunderstorm. Any physics student, worth his salt, would not stand under a tree in a thunderstorm but once you are drenched (not to the sole/soul yet) who cares for a darn lesson. However, one lightening and a crackling thunder and we sped like fools to reach a bus shade (mind you it was supposed to be a bus-stop). The good thing about Bangalore (or we were in TN already!!) rains is they don't last very long. Soon we were on our way crossing the very beautiful Bandipur National Forest, only to realize at the check-post that we had our first casualty. It was a bag which our friend on R15 had left at the bus stop and though we (R15 and electra350) went back to check, we were not shocked at not getting the bag or for that matter any soul at that bus stop (East or West, India is the best!!). Cursing our luck we just returned back with a second round of heavy shower as our company.

The serene Bandipur (and Mudumalai stretch on TN side) is the most beautiful ride in this part of the world. And we were lucky to have the rain and sun sprinkled in equal measure on that stretch. At a pace which can be best termed as leisurely, we crossed the Mudumalai forest and within a few kilometers we were at a place called Masinagudi. There in front of us was the majestic sight of a green mountain, capped by white cloud approaching us at snail's pace, or so it seemed. Before we could gasp, the rain gave us a purifying shower and welcomed us to the 36 hairpin bends which was our route to Ooty. As we started (marked by a 1/36 on the first bend), we realized that the bends are not only pretty sharp but also steep (road banking - more physics lessons revised!!). Praying that fractions be simplified (4/36 = 1/9, isn't it primary maths) we could feel the gradual dip in the temperature. And as we crossed a few more bends the visuals became heavenly - we made our way through the clouds, saw the mist rising off the road, could feel the rain drops floating in air!!! By the time we crossed all the 36 hairpin bends (the number is of course important here), our fingers and toes had gone numb. You see the rain was a constant companion in our errand and be it rising off the road or floating in the air - the drops were freezing (naah, f*****) cold!!! In fact even holding hot coffee in our palms didn't immediately help us regain our senses.

Lakeside View hotel was our destination in Ooty and it was marked all over the place (probably the divine con-man was on our side still). We reached the place and booked two cottages and also asked for two heaters - we badly needed them to dry our clothes, soaked in rain water!! After a quick round of snacks (we had skipped lunch thanks to rain) some of us dropped dead on the comfortable beds, while a few updated ourselves with IPL scores and planned for the night.

दुनिया

खुशबू निचोड़े भरे जामों की दुनिया, ये दुनिया...
कहकहे लगाते अश्लीलों की दुनिया
ढोंग मे लिप्त बेशर्मों की दुनिया,
रंग भरे फीके रूहों की दुनिया,
खोखले ख्यालों के वाचालों की दुनिया, ये दुनिया
दिखावटी, ओछे भंगियों की दुनिया
फायदों को जोडती, ओहदे टटोलती,
नेकी की कब्र खोदती ये दुनिया
ये दुनिया अगर मिल भी जाये तो क्या है !!!


Sahir, Piyush Mishra...my two cents

रंगरेज

नील नदी के पानी मे
एक ग़ज़ब सा उबाल उठ आया है
टूनिसिया की गलियों से लेकर
मिस्र का तहरीर उबल आया है।
अल्गेरिया, येमेन सब हुए हैं शामिल,
रुकना लगता है अब मुश्किल...
ये क्रांति तो फिजा बदलने आया है।

हमारे वतन का मौसम देखिये,
सर्द माहौल यूँ छाया है,
लूट-खसोट की हवा है बहती -
घोटाला, भ्रष्टाचार गहन घिर आया है...
लेकिन यहाँ कैसे हो क्रांति,
कैसे आये वो उबाल,
जब विचार ही अपना अँधा है...
उबले पानी भी कैसे,
जब नील नहीं यहाँ -
कावेरी, गोदावरी, ब्रह्मपुत्र, यमुना...गंगा है।

इतवार की दोपहरी

इतवार की दोपहरी, हमने सोने का जब प्लान किया
आसपडोस के बच्चों ने भी उसी वक्त खेलना आरम्भ किया,

बल्ले-गेंद के शोर मे,
जब क्रिकेट स्टेडियम का माहौल खड़ा किया,
उसी चिल्लम-चिल्ली मे, नींदिया हमारी हुई खफा,
उखड, बिगड़कर आखिर उसने भी पलकों का साथ छोड़ दिया।

इस पर भी हमने नहीं छोड़ी हिम्मत,
जोर से बंद कर आँखें, कानोंको भी बंद किया,
मनमोहक दृश्य याद करके,
निंदिया रानी का आह्वाहन किया...
हस रही थी कोने मे छुपकर,
मेरी हरकतों ने जैसे उसे झकझोर दिया -
अलसायी सी उठी वो किस्मत,
मेरी हारी सी हालत पर आखरी वार किया।
उसी के इशारे पर जैसे
हमारा फोन अनायास ही बज उठा,
लोन की दुहाई देती एक महिला के स्वर ने,
रहा-सहा कसर भी पूरा कर दिया।
हाय री किस्मत!! तू बड़ी सयानी ,
उठ-बैठकर, आखिरकार हमने भी स्वीकार किया।

गिलौरी का ज्ञान

गिलौरी का जब जिक्र चला
जोश हमारा परवान चढ़ा -
सुपाड़ी, तम्बाकू का ज्ञान नहीं
मीठे का ही बस शौक रखते हैं,
पर शब्दों के जब बाण चढ़ें
तो अर्थ-शून्य शास्त्रार्थ का भी हुनर रखते हैं ।

फिर वाकयुद्ध के इस समर मे
खोखली श्रेष्ठता का बाण हमने ताना
कहा - ज्ञान जहाँ है ही नहीं
वहां बेतुक, बेख़ौफ़ बोलते निकल जायेंगे
बिन बाधा, अवरोध बिना
एकाकी राज बजाते बढ़ जायेंगे ।

इस वजनदार संवाद का हम
अभी आनंद भी न उठा पाए थे -
की भीमकाय उपहास भरे शब्दों से
हुआ हमारा काम तमाम ।
सच ही कहा था किसी संत फकीर ने -
गिलौरी खाया कर गुलफाम,
जुबां पर रखा करती है लगाम ।

इख़्तियार

रु-ब-रु होकर उनसे हुई बातें दो-चार
शब्द कुछ फंसे रह गए
कुछ बुनने मे हो गए बेकार ।
कंठ ने साथ न दिया या शब्द थे हैरान
बेखुद से, ठगे से रह गए,
भीढ़ हुई धुआं और दिमाग वीरान ।

यूँ ऐसे न प्रकट हुआ करो
हमारी नहीं तो धडकनों का ही ख्याल करो ;
तराशने का वक्त दो,
या गिनकर लम्हे भेज दो
खुशबू उनमे पीरो लूँगा,
कुछ नहीं तो लम्हे ही संजो लूँगा ।

कसूर

ह्रदय विदारक दृश्य न था,
ग्लानी क्यों थी फिर?
गोद में वो बिलखता भी तो न था,
मुँह फेर लिया बस,
ज़िम्मेदारी मेरी क्यूँ हो?

चेहरा बनावटी था -
हाँ बनावटी ही तो था,
आंसू सूखे होते तो
कोई चिन्ह तो होता ही ।

हमारा ही बोझ होगा,
नज़रें झुकी ही रह गयी,
कोशिश हमारी क्यों रहती,
उनके कर्म हैं, दोष हम क्यों लें?

नुस्ख़ा

अठन्नी भर हुनर,
चवन्नी भर विश्वास,
सेर भर किस्मत,
छटांक भर मेहनत
जुड़ी-तुड़ी हिम्मत,
मुट्ठी भर हौसला ।

हलकी सी आशा,
स्वादानुसार बनावट
छिटपुट इमानदारी,
बहुधा ढोंग,
पाव भर चातुर्य,
बोरी भर योजना,
एक इत्मीनान भरा दिल,
बस तैयार हो गयी हमारी बेस्वाद ज़िन्दगी ।

India Unbound : A book for every Indian

Book: India Unbound

Author: Gurcharan Das

Publisher: Penguin Books

India Unbound is an amazing book written by Gurcharan Das. Das has an interesting style of interweaving his personal experiences with the Indian economic scene. Though not autobiographical, the book delves in his growing up years and his tryst with Simla high society.

The book is on India's economic struggle and the liberation of our markets from the Nehruvian socialism. Das says that he has grown with India and has seen her rise in the global world. Starting his life with socialism and appreciating Nehru's ideologies, Das changes camp after the economic liberalization of 1991. In his words, India attained true freedom only after 1991. Das also talks about his personal experiences of selling "Vicks" to the common Indian people, where he learnt about marketing strategies and his future growth - seeds of which were sown when he joined the Mumbai (then Bombay) office.

India Unbound is a book full of facts. Not eating up words while criticizing Nehru's ideas and loading up all praise on the new democratic capitalism (nice term), introduced by Dr Manmohan Singh in 1991. Though Das also points out that there was little choice at the time since India's economy was in dire straits.

The book also has a new chapter added in its latest edition which talks about the new India and further rise of the economy. Das seems pretty optimistic about our growth and foresees democratic capitalism as the new way for major economies of the world. As the title of the blog says this is one book which every Indian should read. In a nutshell the book is on the economic history of India, which arouses your interest in economics.

अप्रमेय

खुशबू है,
स्वाद है
कुछ चीज़ें, पैमाने से परे हैं ।

सोच है -
किसी ने नापा नहीं
तौला नहीं
मूल नहीं पर अस्तित्व है,
अगाध नहीं, असंख्य नहीं
बस पैमाने से परे हैं ।

Dog-eared

I find it very difficult to categorize myself in terms of my reading habits. I can not be an avid reader, though initially when this affair with books had started I was under the impression that I can read any book under the sun. Then one day my friend L sent me a book on Istanbul.

I started the book with all gusto but then slowly, I believe, it was my lack of travel which caught up with me and I stopped after having read a few chapters of the book. This event changed the perspective of my reading habits. It was then that I thought about writing a new set of blogs under the label "Dog-eared". This label will have blogs dedicated to books I have read. In the recent past the books which have made great impression upon me are - India Unbound, The Difficulty of Being Good (both by Gurcharan Das) and iCon. So hopefully my next dog-eared labelled blogs would have renderings on these books.

I have two more books on my shelf (not a shelf per se but why would one talk about a shabby looking table top when a shelf would sound more neat), which look impressive. Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" and "Start-up Nation" by Dan Stenor and Saul Singer. I guess I will start the books simultaneously. So long...

The Bet

A long queue for lunch is a common site in software industry in Bangalore (or shall I say chop shops as the US senator has so inadvertently pointed out).
And you do not expect much action in such a queue, what with pot-bellied people and equally innocuous other-gender species, moving as set pieces in the queue. Such a sight, at least gives you a sample of how seriously we take our health or appearance for that matter.

"So you are not a South Indian?", this was a query directed at me in that dreary queue.Well the queue is not as lifeless as I had mentioned earlier. And to top it all it was a girl who was asking me this. I replied back, "No".

"Yes, we had guessed it anyways". OK, thank you very much that at least by looks I don't look a South Indian. Some North Indian egoism in play here. And "We"!!! Who the hell are "we" and why are "we" discussing about my ethnicity?

"I am from Bihar", yes I could not control my eagerness to know why are people discussing me.

"Oh", yes the usual shock...am used to this.

"We had a bet and I lost". "We" again!!!!
And betting on me. What the $%^&!!! Do I look some kinda @#$%^&?

"Oh on me!!!", it was a sincere shock, no iota of overacting (which people say that I often do).

"It was nothing....just that Aasha was sure that you are not a South Indian...You had put 9XM yesterday and we were just trying to guess, which region you belonged to!!"

What a stupid bet...channel surfing, a credential to determine one's ethnicity!!! To cut a long story short, we have a TV in our cafeteria and that is the only source of our entertainment during lunch. (If you don't count the meaningless manager jokes people crack). And an airtel set-top box connected which very few people dare to touch. The reason being we don't have a remote and all channel surfing has to be done manually. And this I came to know recently that people dread to walk up to the set-top box and change channels. Why - try changing channels in full public glare and you'll know.

Now since I don't care about what people say and reviews in general, I am you can say the entertainment man of my cafeteria.

And next day I see Aasha in the lift. Excerpts:
"You"
"Yes am not a South Indian"
"Then"
"From Bihar"
"Oh"
"Won the bet anyways!!"
"Great"

And a very experienced colleague of mine (you can never doubt his analysis of married status of ladies), seeing all this said "Wow man!!! Even married women are talking about you these days. And what was that bet all about?"

"What!!!! They are married!!!!"
"We" are married - All charm, all effort gone down the drain...as 9XM jingle says - "Ban gaya mein Bheegi billi"!!!

दर्पण

स्वप्निल,
डूबे,
कहीं खोए हुए से ।

धुंधले,
संकीर्ण,
सुलझाते कोई उलझन ।

उल्लासित ,
झिलमिलाते,
जगे, खिले हुए ।

छुपाते,
सहमे हुए से
ढके हुए, खामोश ।

मन-दर्पण
आँखें ।

रोज़ाना

हाथ की नहीं
यूँ कहें की धड़कनों की दूरी है

छू जाती हैं
पर हवाओं को भी रुख़ बदलना होता है
करीबी अवरोध बन गयी हैं

इतने पास होते तो हम उनके भी न थे
शिक़वे होकर भी न हो सकते हैं

रोज़ मिल ही जाते हैं
कभी कुछ पूछते नहीं एक दूसरे से
शायद नियति है

सोच कर बस दम भर लेते हैं
अब तो सगी सी लगती है...बैंगलोर ट्रैफिक !

पुरानी जीन्स

मूंछों की पतली धार में
लहराती हुई उस चाल में
बातों के उस ग़ुबार में
वो अजीब सी मासूमियत
क्या ग़ज़ब का टशन

सहमते, लजाते हुए उनसे दो बात
झुकती आँखों की शर्म
"तेरी भाभी है" का भ्रम
दो बातों को बनाकर चार -
किस्से आसमानी
असल में एक तरफ़ा प्यार।

बेख़ौफ़, बेपरवाह से
हर कदम में जीत
हर ठोकर में दुनिया
हर जिरह में ज़िद
हर बात पर शर्त।

"देख लेंगे" था अभेद हथियार
"रुख़ बदल देंगे" था अकथ विश्वास।
बातें पिछले जनम की ?
या यादें धुंधली हो चली हैं।
शायद फ़र्क़ इतना है -
तब उम्र बीस की थी
अब तीस की हो चली है।  

हम, हमारी बुलबुल और वो...

सालों तक उस "डूग-डूग" आवाज़ का पीछा, महीनों तक निहारते रहने और कई सप्ताह के इंतज़ार के बाद हमने भी एक रॉयल एनफील्ड खरीद ही ली। और पहले ही दिन जब हम उनको शो रूम से लेकर निकले, दिल में बहुत कुछ हुआ (हाँ बहुत-कुछ, क्यूंकि कुछ-कुछ तो बस खान साब को होता है) । दिल हिचकोले खा रहा था और दिमाग दिल को समझा रहा था - "हाँ पगले, इसी को प्यार कहते हैं" । हमारे लिए ये शब्द नया नहीं है, क्यूंकि हमारे "फोसले"पन के किस्से चर्चा में रहते हैं। लेकिन उस दिन हमने जाना की सच्चा प्यार क्या होता है - सुना था जब प्यार होता है तो हवाएं चलने लगती है ज़िन्दगी स्लो मोशन में चलने लगती है...हमारे साथ यही हुआ था।

अब चूँकि आर्टिकल ३७७ को हमारे संविधान ने स्वीकृति दे दी है, इसलिए सारे भ्रम को दरकिनार कर हमने उनका नाम रखा "बुलबुल"। नामांकरण होना नहीं था की हमारी चाल में उछाल और आँखों में चमक आ गयी। और जब रस्ते पर लोग पलट पलट कर हमारी ही सवारी देखते थे - इस बात का तो हमें इल्म ही नहीं था की वो हमारी डील को देख हँसते थे और शिष्टता का प्रसार करते हुए बस आँखों से मुस्कुरा देते थे - तो हमारी तो जैसे बांछें खिल जाती थी।

पहले ही सप्ताह में एक ट्रैफिक सिग्नल पर हमसे एक महानुभाव ने पूछ लिया - "कितना पड़ा?" । हमने सीना चौड़ा करते हुए अपनी तर्जनी को उठा कर इशारा किया की १ लग गया। उनका चौंकना लाजमी था लेकिन फिर उनके अगले सवाल - "तेल कितना पीता है?" से हमारे तन बदन में आग लग गयी। मन तो हुआ की उनसे पूछें की साहब आप अपनी बीवी से ये पूछते हैं की वो कितना खाती है । लेकिन उनकी किस्मत अच्छी थी की सिग्नल हो गया और उनके दांपत्य जीवन की खिल्ली नहीं उड़ी।

फिर एक दिन हमारे एक दोस्त ने हमें दावत पर आमंत्रित किया (दोस्त क्या सुदूरवर्ती रिश्तेदार ही थे) । हम हमारी बुलबुल के साथ उनके यहाँ धमक गए। अब उनसे ये दृश्य शायद हज़म नहीं हुआ और उन्होंने वो सवाल पूछ लिया जिसको पूछने से दुनिया शर्माती थी - "संभाल लेते हो?"। झेंपते हुए हमने कहा हाँ हाँ बिलकुल। उनका अगला सवाल - "जिम ज्वाइन किया है क्या?"। हमारे तो जैसे सब्र का बाँध ही टूट जाता उस वक्त की महाशय हम इसे धक्का देकर नहीं चलाते, ये भी अन्य दो-पहियों की तरह इंजीन से ही चलता है। लेकिन फिर वही शिष्टता की बात आ गयी और बस किसी तरह बात को हमने रफा दफा कर दिया।

अब आये दिन ऐसी छोटी मोटी घटनाएं होती रहती हैं - जब कभी हमारा सीना चौड़ा हो जाता है और कभी हम शर्मसार होकर किसी तरह दिल को समझा लेते हैं। लेकिन प्यार मोहब्बत की जो पारस्परिक प्रथा है वो हमें अब जाकर समझ आयी है । इसमें कोई दो राय नहीं है की हमारी बुलबुल हम पर उतना ही जान छिड़कती है जितना हम उनपर!!!

शादी कब कर रहे हो?

"शादी कब कर रहे हो?" एक उमर ऐसी भी आती है जब ये सवाल आपसे हर कोई करता है - चाहे वो आपके बचपन का मित्र, जिसने शादी कर भी ली और उसके बाद ऑरकुट पर अपनी सुहाग रात को छोड़ सारी तस्वीरें लगा दीं , या आपके रिश्तेदार( भारत में रिश्तेदारों का ये मनपसंद आखेट होता है) , या वो राह चलता आदमी जो रुकता तो है आपसे समय पूछने को और पहुँच जाता है ऐसे सवाल तक। और हाँ कभी कभी तो लोग आपको फ़ोन करके आपको "हेल्लो" कहने से पहले यही पूछ बैठते हैं।

कुछ दिनों तक तो हमने इस सवाल को टाला, लेकिन जब एक दिन में २ राहगीरों ने इस सवाल को दोहराया , (दूसरे ने पारिभाषिक रूप से तो सवाल नही किया, मगर कभी कभी निगाहें भी पता नही कितना कुछ कह जाती हैं - इसके लिए कभी दूसरा ब्लॉग) तो ऐसा लगा की ज़िन्दगी में कुछ अचूक सवाल होते हैं जिनका कोई अचूक जवाब नही होता । और जब आप यूँ तनहा वीकेंड में घर पर पडे रहते हैं, या कहीं कूप अंधियारे में भटक रहे होते हैं तो ऐसे ही सवाल आपके मन में खटकते हैं ।

एक वीकेंड हम भी ऐसी ही अवस्था में थे - तनहा , फुर्सत में, तस्सवुर-ए-जाना किए हुए । वैसे हमने अपनी ज़िन्दगी में बहुत रेयरली ही किसी चीज़ के लिए लोड लिया है। इसकी कई वजह दे तो सकता हूँ पर आपने अगर हमारी माशा अल्लाह डील देखी है तो आप ख़ुद समझ जायेंगे। मगर उस नवम्बर महीने के मनहूस वीकेंड ने हमारी डील को अनदेखा कर हमें लोड लेने पर मजबूर कर दिया। हुआ यूँ की हमारे तीन मित्रों ने शादी कर ली थी और वही किया था जिसके बारे में हमने पहले परिच्छेद में लिखा है। खुशी तो बहुत हुई हमें लेकिन उसके असली प्रभाव ने हमारे जेहन में धीरे धीरे रंग पकड़ा ।

पीयर प्रेशर का सही अर्थ, अगर सच कहें तो हमें इस दिन समझ आया । अब ऐसा हो गया है की हमारे मित्रों में पौने लोंगो ने तो शादी कर ली है। खुशी तो बहुत होती है की जिनके साथ निक्कर पहन कर भटका करते थे उन्हें अब उस स्वरुप में कोई और ही देखेगा :D
हाँ बस डर इस बात का है की कहीं उनका कॉल न आए और उनका पहला सवाल ये न हो - "शादी कब कर रहे हो?"

मेरा सिटी बैंक क्रेडिट कार्ड: जय हो !!!

सन २००९, इतिहास में ऐसे साल के नाम से जाना जाना चाहिए, जिसमे हमारे घूमने की योजनायें तो बहुधा बनी लेकिन कार्यान्वित एक भी नही हुई। अब हुआ यूँ की हमने अपने भाइयों और कुछ दोस्तों के साथ लदाख देखने की योजना बनाई थी । शुरुआती जोश कहिये या कुछ और हमने ताबड़ तोड़ तय्यारी कर ली। एक रे-बैन का नया चश्मा, कुछ नए कपड़े (गर्म कपड़े) और एक नया बैग। इससे हमारे क्रेडिट कार्ड का बिल थोड़ा सर से ऊपर निकल गया। आजकल के नौजवान कहाँ चादर की फिक्र करते हैं। अब जब पैर लंबे हो जायें तो चादर ही बदल लेते हैं, फ़िर जितना पैर पसारना है पसारें । और जब सिटी बैंक का प्लैटिनम कार्ड हो तो उधार की चादर अनंत से भी लम्बी लगती है ।

और हुआ वही जिसका अंदेशा भी नही था - हमारे हिन्दी सफर की योजना अंग्रेज़ी सफर बन गयी। किसी कारणवश हम लदाख न जा सके और अगले २ महीने तक हमने उस बिल का भुगतान किया। जी हाँ दुनिया की क्रेडिट क्राइसिस में जो भी थोड़ी बहुत राहत दिखी है वो हमसे ही है।

इस बीच हमारी कंपनी ने भी हमे आयरलैंड भेजने की योजना बनाई । हमसे कहा गया था की एक दिन की नोटिस पर सफर के लिए तैयार रहे। अब ऐसे नोटिस अगर बीवी दे तो आपके हाथ पैर बंध जाते हैं (ऐसा सुना है, क्यूंकि भगवन की कृपा से हम अभी भी कुंवारे हैं ) और आप भीगी बिल्ली बन मोहतरमा की आज्ञा का इंतज़ार करते हैं। लेकिन अब ऐसी नोटिस कंपनी की हो और वो भी विदेश जाने की तो कुछ बाहर जाने का जोश और कुछ तो शौपिंग करने का बहाना आपको अपने क्रेडिट कार्ड से दूर नही रख सकता । हमने फ़िर ताबड़ तोड़ खरीदारी की और एक क्या आधे दिन के नोटिस पर जाने के लिए तैयार हो गया। पर कहते हैं न की किस्मत में हो "@#$%" तो कैसे मिलेंगे पकौड़े। जी हाँ ये योजना भी हमें और हमारी कार्ड को धता बता कर हवा हो गयी ।

फ़िर एक योजना बनाई पांडिचेरी देखने की। इस बार हमने अपने दोस्त का क्रेडिट अकाउंट का इस्तेमाल किया। बस उधारी के पैसों में पूरा शहर देखा। लौटते वक्त जैसे हमारी उधार की ज़िन्दगी का भार ऊपर वाले को ज़रा हल्का लगा और उन्होंने हमारे वाहनको मटिया मेट कर दिया। बस एक दुर्घटना - अब छोटी कहें या बड़ी, ये यहाँ पर कहना उचित नही होगा - और हमारी क्रेडिट की दुनिया में १-२ सितारे और जुड़ गए।

अब जब इतना कुछ हो जाना था तो गोवा का प्लान क्यूँ पीछे रहे? नवम्बर का महिना आया नही की हमने बड़ा दिन गोवा में मनाने का प्लान बनाया। सारे दोस्त फ़िर से तैयार और हम तो उनसे २ कदम आगे ही। उड्डयन उद्योग भी हम जैसे बेवकूफों के लिए आँखें बिछाए बैठा रहता है। तो हम क्यूँ अपने को कम आंकने दें - झटके में रिटर्न टिकट बुक कर लिया और गोवा के मनमोहक बीच के सपने देखने लगा। लेकिन चूँकि सन २००९ में सफर बस ख्यालों में लिखा था इसलिए हमारा गोवा का प्लान भी बस वहीँ भष्म हो गया। और हुज़ूर जब योजना भष्म हो गयी तो साथ में कुछ चढ़ावा तो लगना ही था। जी हाँ हमारे क्रेडिट कार्ड का बिल एक बार फ़िर अमर जवान ज्योति में सुलगते हुए लौ की मानीन्द दहक उठा। आज आलम ये है की हम महीने की तनखाह को देखते हैं और कभी अपने क्रेडिट कार्ड के बिल को। और कसम है हमे उस कार्ड दिलाने वाले की जो कभी कार्ड को बंद करवाने का ख्याल जेहन में आया हो ।

Rise or fall?

Ferocity in the veins
Puffing up the dust
Better than them all!!!

Crushing the bones
cracking it with
lil more vigor
With a speed quicker than them all

Attacking n retorting
in equal measure
with equal sighs of gasp n awe
Can't remain the same
Flattered by one's own power
For better or worse...
Lion among the wolves??

क्या बदला??

फ़िर से कहाँ बह चले ----
बहाव में विचार भी जैसे घिस गए ।
उन पुराने पन्नों में ---
वो मोड़ फ़िर दिखे,
जहाँ कभी हम टूट गए,
जहाँ मूल्य भी सब छूट गए ।
उस चमकदार रौशनी में
शायद हम ही भटक गए।
उन मोड़ पर क्या बदला ?
शायद हम या
शायद हालात बदल गए।

दुनिया

शूल बिछाया,
जाल फैलाया,
फुसलाया-धमकाया,
लालच भी रखा साथ में,
हैफ की ना आया वो हाथ में!!

खेले सारे दांव पे दांव,
कई इक्के,
कितने गुलाम;
आँखें बिछाए,
घुटने टिकाये
गिरा रहा बस सामने
हैफ की न आया वो हाथ में!!

व्यग्र जब न रह सके,
मूल अर्थ समझ,
पृथक पड़े;
दक्ष बन -
भीगते ज्ञान की बरसात में,
हैफ की अब क्यूँ आया हाथ में!!!

हैफ कि हम अनदेखों में रह गए

हैफ कि हम अनदेखों में रह गए

कभी उधर जाने का दिल ही नही था

कभी कुछ दूर चलकर मुड़ गए।

वो देखते पर्वत हैं

और कहते की पर्वत है ही नहीं ।

हमने रुख किया उधर

कुछ दूर चढ़े और नजारों के कायल हो गए।

सोज़ कहीं, तो

कहीं साज़ की कमी रह गयी ।

कभी कोशिश की रस में बह गए

हैफ कि हम अनदेखों में रह गए!!!

Close encounters of first kind!!

To start on a disappointing note for Spielperg fans this blog is not about aliens!!! But then what is it about...read on:

Some people have a way with the words. Our GM is one of them. He is bestowed with the lucidity of usage of words and the way he uses them seems to be directly picked out of some bestseller, the only difference being they are his words. But this blog is not about him either ;-)

This piece is about cultures and people. I recently had an encounter of first kind with some Irish people. This was my first instance of such a prolonged interaction with the people from the west. Though they are as human as we are, certain traits which they had were too funny to ignore and certainly needed a blog. Read this and no prizes for guessing which character is not Indian.

Instance 1:

"What the f#$k have you done to your machine?

Sorry?

I mean why did you restart the system? Where did you see that step?

Release notes...

Release notes!!Oh you must be kidding!!!Developers are God, do you think they care about release notes...that bloody doc is as old as me. Use the goddamn doc I gave you."

Instance 2:

"We use a lot of "ish" in Ireland for our timings. As in if we plan to meet someone at 9:30, we would say we will meet 9:30ish. But it is strange to see that Indians also have a very informal "ish" which though they do not mention is pretty evident from the way they turn up for formal trainings as well.

Hehehe...on this note we shall take a break for 10 minutes and should return back 11:15 iisssssssssssssss....hehehe"

Instance 3:

"She seems to have hollow legs!!

There is some problem with her legs??

No...I mean she can drink a lot and with all that alcohol not having any effect, we just deduced that she must be having hollow legs!!"

Instance 4:

"How urgent are top priority bugs?"

"Well critical bugs need to be resolved yesterday"

Instance 5:

"I tell you if you fix this I will buy you a beer"

"No I don't drink. Thank you"

Instance 6:

"Since most of the servers we have there are doing nothing but SFA...well you must have guessed it...just call it Sweet Fanny Adams ;-)"

मेह

नीर पिपासु धमनियों में
विद्युत का संचार हुआ,
धरती के वक्ष में जब
बारिश का प्रहार हुआ।

घटाओं के शोर में
हर्ष का प्रचार हुआ,
बूंदों के होड़ में
रंज का संहार हुआ।

सृष्टि जैसे धुल गयी
रंग नए भर गए,
प्रीत की ओट में
उष्ण भी लाचार हुआ।

मेह के बहाव में
दृश्य भी निखर गयी,
सुशुप्त चेतना हुई बेचैन
समग्र सीमाओं का विस्तार हुआ;
नीर रंजित बाण से
आर्द्र का प्रवाह हुआ॥

Love story and other conversations - 2

ACT -2: (Please refer last post for a short introduction of the characters and ignore Sr Engineer's grammar)

Sr Er: You studying in Bangalore?
Er: No I am working.
Sr Er: Which company?
Er: Oracle.
Sr Er: Oh! I am working in i-Trust technologies. So how long you been staying there at Bangalore?
Er: Close to 8 years now. I had done my engineering from Bangalore Institute of Technology and then got placed at Infosys.
Sr Er: But you said Oracle?
Er: Last September I left Infy and joined Oracle.
Sr Er: Hmmm...You know with time these things becomes pretty boring. Doing the same job again and again. I have people in my team who has been doing this for 7-8 years now. They remember most of the stuff and now we solve bugs in a matter of minutes. By the way, I am Parimal Dham.
Er: I am Vinayak Shukla. You are in a maintenance project?
Sr Er: Not exactly. We have development as well. We do it in Java which is like working with needle and haystack.
Er: Finding needle in haystack!!
Sr Er: Yeah!! Exactly. Working with Java is more finding the correct API which someone must has already written. Just google it and if you doesn't get it you are doomed.
Oracle has taken over Sun right?
Er: Yes for some 8 billion dollars I think.
Sr Er: What are they going to do with it?
Er: He he...nothing they can not anyway touch Java because it has become such a huge name now, needles and haystack notwithstanding.
Sr Er: He he!!
After a pause,
There is one department in IT industry which is redundant.
Er: HR??
Sr Er: Perfect guess!! See anyway they don't have any control over the annual assessment of employees since it is the engineer's boss who can override any comment which the HR provide. However there are people in my team who are trying maskofying these HR people. Strange!!
Er: And does it help?
Sr Er: Don't know. Because the people I am talking about have their own groups.
Er: You mean regional grouping?
Sr Er: Yes. They work together, as in I have seen they doing each other's work. Once we were talking about a design of a certain function. I ask one guy about it. He is clueless. Then I give him a hint, start with the number and type of input parameters. He is looking at me as I am talking French and the next day he gave me the complete code. I was appreciative initially but then when I try digging into it I see that he seem to have just copied it from somewhere or someone else have done it for him.
Er: Strange. How do such people survive in the industry?
Sr Er: Only such people survive and become your boss. Such boss has no idea how things are to be done. What they are concerned about is deadlines and meetings with clients.
Er: I had seen such species when I was working at Infosys.
Sr Er: There are hordes in such big companies. And what do these people talk in meetings?
Prasoon, you have not shaved. What is that you are wearing, Sheela? I want people to come in formals. What you guys wear is not formals but business casuals.
I had this business head who joined us from some manufacturing company. He used to talk such stuff since he has no idea about the software industry.
Er: He he...I know of this manager who talks to engineers about how girls are there just for encouragement and keep the guys in the team happy. Ridiculous!!
Sr Er: Ha ha...And I bet he did not know a thing about how exactly the work needs to be done.
Er: Yes. He used to call his sub-ordinates to the meetings with clients to give updates regarding the project.
Sr Er: There are such people in Oracle as well!!
Er: No I was talking about my experience at Infosys.
Sr Er: Which project you were working on?
Er: I was in the telecom project and was working for Nortel.
Sr Er: And this manager you are talking about. What was his name?
Er: Shyamal Dham!!
Silence,
I mean the guy was good.........
End of conversation.

Love story and other conversations-1

Let me first attract every one's attention. There is a universal law, which any bachelor who has travelled on a train, or any public mode of transport for that matter, would vouch for. The law has been termed by yours truly as "Universal law of Beauty and the Berth", which states that:
"Probability of a girl occupying a berth next to you on a train is inversely proportional to her beauty".

Now that I have your attention let me tell the reader that this blog is a frail attempt at writing a play (not the Shakespearean style, laden with various figures of speech but pretty normal without anything about the characters mindset).

The characters:
Engineer(Er): A traveller and a SW engineer.

High School Teacher (HST): Teacher and the lover.

Sr Engineer(SEr): Another senior SW engineer who has seen all and still clinging on.
Housewives(Hw): There are at least three, with at least one being a Bengali.
An would-be engineer(Wb): All passionate about the big bad world and may be a little about engineering as well.

This is going to be just a series of dialogues hence the ambience and the costume is left to the imagination of the reader. Though the setting is essentially a typical Indian Rail compartment.

ACT 1:

HST: You must be my junior...let me tell you that the world is really tough. By the way which year did you do your 10th?
Er: 1997
HST: Oh that makes you my senior by an year. May be I have seen world better than you.
Er: How old are you?
HST: I am 26 and work as a High School Teacher. I had gone on an election duty to a place called Akhripur.
Er: Where is the place?
HST: 25 kms before Jasidih. The place was amazing, surrounded by hills and hardly any living being around.
Er: Naxal belt?
HST: Yes. Thankfully I experienced all this before my marriage.
Er: Yes it would have been tough for your wife to stay at such a place.
HST: No the government doesn't provide accomodation for spouse. Besides it was just a 2-day duty.
Er: So your folks are thinking of your engagement now?
HST: God knows what they are thinking. They are seeing a few girls but not exactly keen on one which I like.
After a pause,
The thing is I like the girl and whoever has seen her photo has told me she is the best one for me. She is very beautiful but my parents are asking for a dowry of 4 lacs. Her folks have very limted means and I don't think they can arrange for it.
Er: Oh!!
HST: Anyway I talk to her on phone and try consoling her.
Er: What is your name?
HST: I am Rajeev Kumar Bhardwaj.
Er: I am Vinayak Shukla.
HST: Brahmin?
Er: Yes.
HST: Have you ever heard a story which starts as "Once upon a time lived a poor Rajput", it is always "Once upon a time lived a poor Brahmin".
Er: Hehe...True.
HST: Once she had called me to Deoghar and asked me to meet her near that Naulakha Mandir. Since she has not seen me she has that urge. You know what, in cases of marriage only if the girl's side has money you can make demands that you want to see the guy before proceeding with other formalities.
Er: So did you go?
HST: No I didn't. You see it could have been bad for both her and me. If someone from her end had seen me it would have created some problem for my family and if her friends or relatives had come to know about it her character would have been maligned. There is another family who is ready to give me 5 lacs and a bike but am not interested in that girl. But my family seems to be more than interested.
Er: So what are you thinking now?
HST: I seldom call her now thinking that we might end up getting a bad name for our respective families.
After a long pause,
However in my last call I have told her to be ready. I would take her away to some place and we will marry.
Er: Gandharva vivah!!

पाखंडों की दुनिया में हम
द्वेश्दर्शी बन गए,
हाथ में लेकर परचम
बडबडाते चल दिए।

ना कूदेंगे मैदान में हम
श्रेष्ठता सिर मौर लिए,
वाक्-योधा बन के हम
दूर से ही हंस लिए।

आपके ही मौन से
ये बिलखता कौन है?
आँखें ऊपर को टिका
वर्तमान कुचलते चल दिए।

चलना उस पथ हैं नही
दिशाओं के अर्थ गुल किए,
टिप्पणियों की वर्षा से फ़क़त
मुद्दा ही हल्का कर गए।

Gulaal -- Khushki ke rang!!

Anurag Kashyap - the maverick!!! This is another amazing movie from him and is perfect release after Dev D...Kind of complements Dev D.
Like his last movie, Anurag Kashyap's Gulaal is colorful but political!!
Few scenes which remained with me even after the movie:

1) "Motorcycle hai aur kya hai...gaadi hai, bangla hai....mere paas ma hai!!", and a desi katta makes an appearance. This is the best spoof of the hackneyed "Mere paas ma hai" jokes I remember.
2) Piyush Mishra ( I read he was in contention to play Salman Khan's character in Maine Pyaar Kiya) singing:
"Oh re Bismil kaash aate aaj tum Hindustaan ..Dekhte ki mulk saara kya tashan, kya chill mein hai ...Aaj ka launda yeh kehta hum to bismil thak gaye ...Apni aazaadi to bhaiya laundiya ke til mein hai...Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna ab humaarey dil main hai"
-- Cynicism thy name is Piyush Mishra!!!
3) Ransa driving his bullet with army wala helmet -- Too Good!!!

Anurag Kashyap has given a regal twist to political movies (Haasil was the last one, on the same wavelength, that I remember). Rananjay's entry in the movie is another scene which etches its own space in your psyche. His character enters with a bang and its end is equally intriguing but the impact is perfect.

You can never miss Prithvi bana (Piyush Mishra) and his cynical songs. In his world even John Lennon is a Rajput, with a moustache to complete the look.
The movie can be described as one with a serious message: Anger needs a direction and an anger on detour is the best weapon in politics!!

Aarambh is the theme song of the movie and has an earthy feel to it. Loud musical words with that Dinkarish touch in it. Probably Piyush Mishra's words are the perfect match for Anurag Kashyap's madness. The duo if stick around for long can give us some real wonderful movies and I would give my right hand to watch this gathjod shine.

शब्द

अभिमान की वो झलकियाँ
भंजन हो या कोप का
शब्दों की लड़ियों में
प्रकट करो, बखान दो।

प्रकाश के अभाव में
जो ख़याल दब गए
संकोच को दशमांश कर
आज उनको कंठ दो।

मूर्खों की अज्ञानता में
शब्द यूँ ही बह गए
प्रज्ञ के मौन से
प्रकाष्ठ कितने खुल गए।

शब्दों की भीढ़ में
निशब्द का भी अर्थ है
ढाल है किसी की तो
कभी आधिपत्य का प्रमाण है;
निशब्द की कतार में
थाम लो, बाँध लो
शब्दों की लड़ियों में
प्रकट करो, बखान दो ।

गुज़रा जमाना याद आता है

मेरा उसको कनखियों से देखना बार बार
और उसका वो मुस्कुराना याद आता है

मेरी उठती गिरती सी साँस
और उसका हवाओं की तरह इतराना याद आता है

कस्तूरी जैसे दिन महकते थे
मेरी रातों का गुनगुनाना याद आता है

आंखों का वो बेपरवाह मिल जाना
और उनका अनायास ही झुक जाना याद आता है

रातों को तनहा याद में किसीकी
धुआं उडाता एक दीवाना याद आता है

जो कह न सके वो फ़साना याद आता है
गुज़रा हुआ दिलकश ज़माना याद आता है

PS: Inspired ;)

मन

तुम गगन, तुम्ही क्षितिज
गर्त तुम, अन्धकार तुम
ज्ञान के प्रकाष्ठ तुम

तुम्ही साहस, भय तुम
तुम्ही छल, पाप तुम

तुम विरोध, अवलंब तुम
तुम त्याग, प्रलोभन तुम

तुम विशाल, तुम प्रगाढ़
सूक्ष्म तुम, संकीर्ण तुम

तुम मंथन, शिथिल तुम
तुम लगाव, विरह तुम

तुम इर्ष्या, अवरोध तुम
तुम्ही मोड़, राह तुम
अन्जाम तुम

हे मानव मन -
जीवन सागर की अथाह में
तुम अमृत, विष भी तुम ।।

अवरोध

वो अडिग, अटल चट्टान खड़ा

लहरों के बीच अडा;

चंचला चपला लहरों की -

अठखेलियों को देख हँसा

होड़ में वो उठ आती हैं,

बस चरण निर्मल कर जाती हैं ।

लहरों को भान हमेशा है

सामंजस्य नीयमशीलता ही उनका पेशा है ।

चट्टान मंद-मंद मुस्काता है,

अपनी उत्कृष्टता पर इठलाता है ।

व्यर्थ उसका अभिमान है,

जीवन चक्र से लगता अनजान है ।

अनभिज्ञ चट्टान के विचारों से

लहरें अविरत कर्म में लगी रहती हैं ।


रुकने का जब नाम न हो
चट्टानों को भी झुकना पड़ता है,
अलंकार रहित, अविरल इस दृढ़ जीवन की
अपनी ही सुन्दरता है ।।

चरमान्त

आज इस चरमान्त पर
सोचता हूँ मैं खड़ा

कैसे पहुंचा यहाँ तक
गुमाँ भी ना हो सका

धुंध पीछे दिख रही बस
सब कुछ उसमे है दबा

आगे दिखता क्यूँ नहीं कुछ
विचारों में क्यूँ द्वंद्व हुआ

एक अदना सी ज़िन्दगी से
हर किसी को यही डर है

पलट कर देखें उसे हम
और शून्य का एहसास है!!

Rediscovering My Religion- Tendulkar still my God!!!

Though I have always been a spiritual person I have never considered myself religious. My religion and God were chosen by my conscience when the world saw the rise of Sachin Tendulkar. It is tough, rather blasphemous, to place someone at such a pedestal, for in a country like India every town has its own Godman, the supposed incarnation of God. But not every Godman has the humility and the skills which sways an entire nation.And this God doesn't use His tongue to converse but it His divine skills with the willow that does most of the talking.

With God in His last leg of an illustrious career I was almost losing my religion but then IPL infused a new life into my beliefs. The God has not been replaced though, how would He be God if He is replaced, yet the beliefs have been redefined. IPL has provided the much needed shot-in-the-arm to the ailing cricket following, which was on borrowed oxygen. And it has refurbished my faith.

Cricket in India became a passion shortly after the win at Lord's by Kapil's devils. Though I was too young to understand the quantum attached to such a win, when I see the toothy smile of Kapil Dev holding aloft the Prudential Cup at Lord's in those archived videos, it gives me a strange nostalgic feeling.

1989 was the year when Tendulkar made his debut against Pakistan. I do not remember anything of that tour even. I just remember my elder cousins, who were avid cricketers themselves, talking about a certain Waqar Younis and his bloody - no metaphor this - bouncer. It was in 1992 that I could understand why most of the Indians decided to adopt a new religion, Cricket and our God, Sachin Tendulkar. The world cup was never a memorable affair for India, save the Prudential Cup. But it was Tendulkar's Cup and so were the future versions. What pains me is God wished to bring back the Cup home and it seems the elements are all conspiring against Him. So far they have been fooling themselves cos it is just God's human side and 2011 is not far away!!

Dev D - The Emosanal Atyachar!!!

Dev D is not for hypocrites!!For people who love to do cover-ups and push things under the carpet, this movie is a serious NO!!! You want to face the reality and not crib whenever faced with it then you are welcome to Mr Anurag Kashyap's real world.

My original review, just after the movie, would have been very different but it is after one week that the movie seems to be growing upon me. I have used the terms - breezy, wild and explicit for the movie and that is exactly what I felt when I saw this movie. But love it or loathe it you can never ignore Dev D. It is in your face real world and very different from the hypocritical mushy love stories that Karan Johar is so adept at showing.

The film is set in colorful Punjab and would be disappointing for Sharat Chandra fans as there is no element of Bengal in this modern avatar of the eternal lover or loser (it is just a swap of a letter but with a drastic change in meaning or are they same......who cares!!). My friends said that Sharat Chandra must be turning in his grave on such an interpretation. But this piece is not credited to Sharat Chandra so why should he care, in fact even the story is different.

Abhay Deol is not Abhay Deol in this movie. He is Dev D, frustrated to hilt with no one to blame for his own mistakes. And finally knowing the difference between lust and love to choose the right one. Dare I say that Abhay Deol has surpassed most of the able actors in depicting the frustration, the pain that Dev D goes through. An outstanding performance.

All the characters are well developed. The three main characters have even tracks dedicated to them.
Chanda - Yehi meri zindagi hai!!
Paro - Payalia!!
Dev D - Duniya, Aankh micholi, Saali Khushi, Nayan Tarse!!

Yes Dev D is the protagonist, he needs more songs. The music is amazing, awesome and very "Dev D"ish. Each song is very different yet with the same soul. And with so many instruments used for the effect that you are taken to Dev D's world if you listen to them, lyrics just apt for the situations, words carefully chosen, even Patna ke Presley's "Emosanal Atyachar" sounds good and last heard was already a rage in colleges!!!

The most interesting characters are the "Twilight Players". They are in most of the scenes where Dev D is washing down his frustration with alcohol. Suited-booted as gentlemen, though they can be placed in the dark underbelly of any metro of India. Some artistic twist here which my brain could not decipher but surely interesting.

This is Anurag Kashyap's first movie which I have seen. And he has done great work to captain such a cast, which boasts of two new comers as main leads. If you carefully watch the movie you see a lot of reference being made to Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas. Was that intentional or Kashyap's way to make light of Bhansali's version is something which only Kashyap can answer.

युगांतर या युगांत

बहुत संजो कर कुछ साहस रखा था
थोडी हलकी-फुल्की आशा भी
आज कोई उसे छल रहा है

आशा तो पवन की संगिनी लगती है
उसी के रुख पर थिरकती है
और साहस सहमा सा एक बचपन
झिड़क के डर से कोने में दुबका हुआ

युगांतर का अनुभव है ये--
या युगांत का...

रात मुझे भी टटोलने लगा अँधेरा

रात मुझे भी टटोलने लगा अँधेरा
क्यूँ विचारों के रंग उस जैसे लगते हैं
झिझक क्यूँ अब भी रहती है ?

क्यूँ वो आशा मन को स्थिर नही करती
इतना कोलाहल क्यूँ हर जगह कायम है?
ज़िन्दगी कईयों की क्यूँ पथभ्रष्ट लगती है?

रात मुझे भी टटोलने लगा अँधेरा
ये जूनून सा मन में कैसे जग जाता है?
कैसे मौत का खौफ धुआं हो जाता है?

वस्फ़* की टोकरी क्यूँ तिरस्कृत पड़ी रहती है ?
अन्तर-द्वंद अब बस विचारों में क्यूँ है?
रात मुझे भी टटोलने लगा अँधेरा...

*वस्फ़- merit

मैंने इन्ही आंखों से मौसम को बदलते देखा है...

मैंने इन्ही आंखों से मौसम को बदलते देखा है
ग्रीष्म की वो तपती धूप देखी है
आलस्य से लिप्त जाड़े की दोपहर को देखा है
बरसात की भीगी मनमोहक मिटटी देखी है

मैंने इन्ही आंखों से मौसम को बदलते देखा है
तपते शब्दों में मुरझाये हुए जोश को देखा है
छिपाई हुई सूखी मुस्कान देखी है
मरासिम के गहन पेंचों को देखा है

मैंने इन्ही आंखों से मौसम को बदलते देखा है
बेरस जिंदगी में रसभरा बदलाव देखा है
नरम शब्दों में सोज़ का इज़हार देखा है
छीटों से रंगों का निखार देखा है

मैंने इन्ही आंखों से मौसम को बदलते देखा है....

You can not just quit Mr. Patil!!!!

Like most of the Indians I woke up today with a sense of frustration. The morning news had a few words from our elected representatives and thankfully so. As I switched on my TV there was a breaking news that Shivraj Patil had offered to quit during one of the high-level meetings of the union ministers.

You can not do that Mr. Patil!!!!! We elected you and your dear Madam offered you our caretaker's post. After this horrendous act by the terrorists you can not just shun your responsibilities and offer resignation. The best rather the only thing you can do is re-order our house before you leave. You can not leave a mess and think that someone else will take this responsibility. You were not offered this responsibility to maintain your gelled look, even though from your eventful tenure it seems you did only that.

My mind was raging with such thoughts. May be I was also thinking of sending a postal mail to Mr. Patil that my call-bell rang. My chain of thought was broken but that sense of frustration never subsided. As I opened the door I saw a face which poured the proverbial oxygen on my already infuriated mind. He was our vehicle cleaner who like most of our politicians had been doing a horrible job, since last week. And I did exactly what an average person would have done - Vented all my ire on him till his eyes changed from a shocking wide to a pleading wide.

"Sir sorry sir!! Given it to a friend sir...was not well...not good sir...will do it myself now sir" he offered his usual excuses in Kanglish. Yes that is the language which some people try to communicate in Bangalore and if you are a software engineer you are bound to get a bountiful of that.

"See we pay you for a service...at least make yourself worthy of that money" isn't it a typical software engineer response. We always tend to think in terms of assets, worth, issues et al.

"Next week leaving for native sir...not coming back!!!" he threw another shock.

So he had only come for his money. Isn't he another Mr. Patil? No care, not answerable for the callous act of his. Aren't we all someway similar to our home minister (he still is, at least till the time I publish this post)?

Do we care for our work being done without any callousness? Everyday I see people not caring for rules, be it the imposed traffic rules or the non-imposed civic ones. Is it some kind of Indianness that binds us or better still is it that elusive national integration that those old fellas used to talk about?

But still Mr. Patil this is not in support of you. You can not just pass the buck by resigning.

I had another thoughtful round which has resulted in the following random thoughts:

1) We are a billion-strong nation, but why is there a shortage of staff? Be it in government offices or our government undertakings or army for that matter. I know to get into army one needs special skills but who says we can not mould ourselves
2) Why can not politicians be made answerable? Public memory is so short that by the time we go for another round of elections our memory loss helps us in forgiving the erring elected representatives.
3) Why can not we have an year of compulsory military training and another of compulsory service (as a friend suggested)? Besides instilling discipline, it will help us in understanding our role as responsible citizens.

PS: As I complete this blog, I hear Mr. Patil has resigned. So you turned out to be another mere mortal, after all!!! Taking the path of least resistance.

Truth will Find its Way!!!

Dumped in the sleaze,
Twisted by many mindless noughts
Shrouded under thick layers
Made complicated by multiple thoughts
Ignored by the ubiquitous "Who cares?"

Lost in a corner
Of the humongous space-time curve
Put in the literal back-burner
By the agitated nerve.

Though cowards just chicken out and fear to say
But Truth will for sure find its way!!

Welcome to Sajjanpur-My experience!!

There are very few things in this world which throw you into a sea of nostalgia. Take for instance the smell of jasmine on a moonlit night. It surely reminds one of the good old days of careless wanderings in the pre-pubescent age where most of the things are mysteries to the small undeveloped brain.

For me it was the dialogues of "Welcome to Sajjanpur", besides the visual rendering of some of the scenes in the movie by the director par-excellence, Shyam Benegal, that made me almost drown in that sea.

"Welcome to Sajjanpur hai yaar...just 130 bucks!!! Chalna hai", I shouted from my room to my roommate who was busy with one of his bang-bang games.

"Le lo!!! It is damn cheap yaar". 130 bucks per ticket is cheap cos we have spent many a night watching some real dabba movies and even paying 250 per head for some real ludicrous ones. These multiplexes have changed the way one used to watch a movie.
Night show it was!!

Cursing our luck and the Bangalore traffic we reached our destination just in time but directly headed towards McDonald's to cater to our famished tummies. Our plate was full of aloo and its variants as is the norm there and as we gorged our teeth into the McD's veg tikki, we heard this, "Abhishek Bachhan looks like an overgrown aloo tikki man and his look is taken from...".
I am not an avid gamer so I dont remember the last syllable that was uttered but it is sure that he had used the name of some very popular game. Besides that thing about aloo tikki almost killed our apetite.

Semblance or no semblance to Abhishek Bachhan, we removed that thread of thought and finished our stuff to rush towards our screen. I was shocked to see many people hurrying for the Sajjanpur show. The screen next to ours was playing "Drona" the Abhishek-Priyanka mythological superhero movie, a unique concept or so they had thought. So this is what they were comparing to an overgrown tikki - may be McD can pool in AB for their promos - simple reason being people can, and may I say do, find resemblance to the stuff that McD sells.

As the movie started I was taken to a different world altogether. The story was based in a small village and each character was so well written that they looked real to me. I was almost like "This is Tiwari Chachi, munna bhaiya, pappu, jhaji...I know them all". For me bred in a small town, identifying with the characters was never a problem but then even the events and dilaogues. It was almost surreal.

How many people, save the Biharis and eastern UPradeshis, would understand "gai bihayee hai"? It was one of the few dialogues which made "Welcome to Sajjanpur" pretty unique. There were some dialogues which were "apparently" obscene but for the chaste hindi used to nullify the effect. And the best part was only a few understood it.

For me the movie was not a fictional story of some village in some remote part of the country, it was almost like the story of my own village. Not to mention I loved the experience better than Aloo tikki and its twin brother.

विरोधाभास

भंवर है, उत्पात है
जलन है, विरह है
राख है ,धूल है
विकीर्ण है, वृहद् है
शोर है, विस्फोट है

सुन्दरता है, जोश है
सदाचार है, परोपकार है
खुशबू है, रंग है
प्रीत है, दया है
इच्छा है, सोच है
जज़्बा है, उमंग है
प्रकाश है और आशा है

शायद इसलिए ज़िन्दगी है

Few conversations and a Freak Accident

"Here is your Citibank envelope, Sir and the account number is your log-in and a special password is provided in the envelope for internet banking", he went on in his business like tone.

What!!!! Was I dreaming? I had filled the form just ten minutes back. Is this guy serious? 

He had not even cross-verified whatever I had filled. I could not keep my poker-faced expression for long and accepted this as another pleasant shock.

I should have had adjusted to these efficient ways, now that I had started my third day in the new company and especially after having experienced some real professionalism. I had come to open my salary account at the Citibank helpdesk on 6th floor of the building. Having an awful experience at such things in my last company, I was under the impression that the account docs will reach me in another week or so. And it might take another week to activate my account. 

But lo and behold!!! I was clutching on to my Citibank packet, like that was my dearest possession on the planet and walking back to my cubicle. All this in a record time of just 15 minutes. 

Do they have an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records? 

The Citibank representative had also stated that the account will be active in two days once the finance department of the company clears the verification. What else does one need? 

Thank you Mr.? - And I didn’t even ask his name. Shall I say hangover of my last company’s behavioral traits.

The building where my new company is located is oval shaped with a huge atrium at the centre which is well bounded by parapets. After seeing the building plan on the intranet, I had thought of just having a dekko at the atrium. Curiosity had the better of me and there I was, moving towards that passage which opened there. Walking next to the parapet, I looked down and the sight was good enough to give me weak knees. 

It was like I was gazing down a deep pit of around seventy feet - I never knew that I had fear of heights until that day! I tried controlling myself and under the duress pushed the nearest door that opened into the oval hall surrounding the atrium. I almost ran towards the stairs and reached my cubicle on the 4th floor. Was my head reeling? May be I am acrophobic.

"Accident!!”, I was almost startled! 

It was an employee who was standing at the window near my cubicle and was just seeing the vehicular movement on the road. People here, as I have noticed, have peculiar ways of killing time. Some make "dhin-chak" drum sounds from their mouth while gazing at their computer screens, some play the good old Pac man on their laptops and yes there is a group of cricketers as well. Every afternoon they play cricket in their cubicle and pretty energetically, with appeals and all. And then there was this man who loves roads (rather one road) and vehicles!

There is a small passage next to my cubicle and after the passage is a row of windows with blinds. This row of windows opens towards the Langford Road side of the building. The road-lover had pulled up the blinds and was satiating his visual urges. No sooner had he shouted, he was joined by his co-workers.  The CUG (close-user-group), a dedicated group of friends who are ever ready to join each other under any circumstances, had herded around road-lover to get a glimpse of the action!

"Oh it is that i10 and it has knocked off that bike!!” this guy wanted everyone to know about his observation skills.

"Oho it has scraped that Indica as well", the same guy. He must be the Harsha Bhogle of this floor. With thick curly hair and thicker glasses, his looks were a far cry though.

"Taewwonnn…Tding...tiding”, this was supposed to be the background music. Bollywood has drastically altered an average Indian’s dramatic skills.

“Hehe…Shankar you should join Rangashankara!!!” Yes, the guy surely will fit back stage, with such superior skills and a nerdy face, who needs a synthesizer for background score?

“You see that lady. Look she is coming out now. She will not accept her mistake”, Harsha was on, unmindful of the praise his accomplice was getting.

“See I told you, the Indica guy is gone now. May be he should surrender. You can not win in an argument with a LADY DRIVER”. Our commentator was as undiplomatic as they come!

“Hey see that guy running from the other end of the road?” This was a person who looked pretty confused with all commotion but still, it seemed, had a better observation than our commentator.

“Yes!! Saw that? He was unbuttoning his shirt cufflinks…hahaha is he going to beat up that lady?” Our Harsha is not bad and with finer details like unbuttoning of cuffs - is he in a wrong profession?

“It seems no one has any job…see such a small accident and there’s a crowd already”. How true? Incidentally, there was one some 50 ft above the place of action as well. And Mr. Manager (he can not be anyone else) was unaware that he too was doing the same thing. This is true anywhere in India. You have a freak accident and a crowd will surround you, not to help but to see what has happened. May be everyone is so bored of the saas-bahu serials on TV!!!

“I think we should call the TV guys to cover this”, another media influence and we should thank channels like AajTak for this. From a child rescued from under a deep sewage hole to the lost-and-found story of a commissioner’s dog, they can make anything prime time news. After all it has a reputation to mach.

This AajTak fan commented and made a move towards his cubicle. Walking past me he gave a smile and I smirked back not at him but his taste for news channels. The mob-mentality was in place and without any second thoughts all of them started moving towards their respective places.

Phew!! So much for one i10 and one Indica. There was one more casualty (was it a bike!!) but I was busy with my project document and never thought about it.

At that time my group admin turned up and I was informed about the procedure to collect my ID. As instructed I went to the ground floor of the building and posed for a photograph. The lady there informed that in another 20 min the ID will be dispatched to the 4th floor reception and I can collect it from there. Another instance of efficiency!!

After I came back I saw our commentator coming back to the window.

“Hey guys!!! It is still on” Wow!!! How long can you argue over two cars - and one bike? And how long can you have an interest in that?

“No!! The Indica driver is not giving up. Man!! The guy is resolute.”

“Shankar!! See that lady. She is going now with the Indica man. Thank God, peace at last”. May be the lady was taking the Indica guy to police station. Watch carefully you moron!! Someone has to pay for the repairs.

Shankar also joined our commentator but from their looks it was clear that the action was over. I got a call from 4th Floor reception that the ID card was ready and I can collect it from them.

I hurriedly moved out with all my belongings. It was already five o’clock and after collecting the ID I decided to leave for the day. There is no doubt that the day was eventful but the repercussions of the events were still waiting for me. 

As I reached the parking I got the first shock. It was my bike which was knocked off by the LADY DRIVER. One rear view mirror was broken and as I kick-started my bike I heard a crackling sound. This was the icing on the cake, the sound was emanating from the chain box as the chain after falling off the axle had got stuck in it. It was a pretty bad fall for my poor bike.

How I wish instead of being the holier-than-thou idiot, I had joined the motley group to catch a glimpse!!! This is what is called “Khaya peeya kuch nahin glass phoda 12 aana”.

PS: Well there is another more explicit saying in Hindi for this situation but it can not be put on this blog.

A few Conversations and a train journey - 2

Naini is the first stop which is hardly any distance from Allahabad. We were joined by a group of local people who were going to Mughal Sarai, a place more known for its railway station than any other thing. Some more commotion followed but thankfully no more jostling for any seat. My restlessness was pretty obvious to people around but why would anyone care.

“Going to Patna, beta?” a deep baritone in chaste English without any trace of accent surprised me. I turned to find it was the old man in kurta-pajama who was eager to know my destination.

“No Bhagalpur”, I blurted, knowing for sure that at least in UP, my home-town is not as renowned as Patna.

“Oho another six hours from there”, this man sure knew his “time and distance” stuff and obviously geography.

I was in no mood for any conversation but in the Hindi heartland if someone starts off in English, without any local accent, it generates a sense of curiosity. And that too in SL class of Indian Railways. Did someone say “India shining”?

“I am going to Patna”.

Wow!! Even this train is going to Patna!!! Not interested can’t you read SIR.

I have never been to any foreign country - being a software engineer for more than three years and not touching overseas shore is a shameful act, at least in India (anyway who gives a rat’s arse) – but I am pretty sure this conversing with uninterested people is prevalent only in India.

“You are from Bihar?” We, Indians, are good in converting an assertion into a question by just changing the tone. I was just trying to appreciate his effort for conversation and this is what came out of me.

The man gave me a toothy smile and I could see it was a false teeth set, not fitting his aged jaw line. “No”, the baritone responded. So he is well traveled at least to know the timings to various stations or may be he has some connections.

Was he smiling on my wrong guess or was it my English?

“You see, I feel more like an Indian than belonging to any particular state.” Impressive words, suits the baritone.

The man who was sitting on my side of the window started making some movement. He squat on the ground and started pulling out his luggage from beneath the berth.

Oh great!!! - Another encroacher of seats. He has no reservation and still was occupying the window seat.

A few conversations and a train journey

“It is because of the rains, bhai sahib”, I heard the most ubiquitous explanation for the oppressive humidity as I was checking my berth number. It was an August morning and as I glanced across I saw quite a few grimacing faces, thanks to the humidity.

The journey between Allahabad and Patna is not too long (if you are lucky and the God of karma - they call Him Vishwakarma - is on your side then it takes around eight hours). However, the heat in these regions makes it really unbearable in the summer months. August is not exactly summer but more than the temperature it is the rains (me too!!!) that makes the journey very tiresome. And if you have a booking in the SL class, which is equivalent to general class in this part of the country, you are in the heat of things, literally.

I had a booking for the middle berth and as it was a day journey there was very little chance of me occupying my place. Asking for an excuse I joined the motley group which, though didn't exchange smile, had made enough movements to make me feel comfortable.

Colours were very vivid on the berth opposite to the one I had just occupied. On the far end towards the window sat an elderly man in flowing white hair and matching kurta-pajama. No facial hair made him look younger than he actually was. Next to him sat a sadhu and in complete contrast to the previous occupant had every part of his face covered with hair. He was wearing a saffron robe, which is quite common attire of sadhus in the northern states of India. Three other people had also somehow fixed themselves to the berth and even though each one of them was not very comfortable, none of them was giving an inch to the other. It was more than a war and everyone knew an inch is more than a kilometer in war.

To be contd...

आज फिर...

आज फ़िर ज़िन्दगी ने दी पटखनी
आज फिर कंधो पर बोझ का एहसास हुआ;

आज फिर प्रयास में हाथ गंदे हुए
पर किसी उपलब्धि की कमी खली;

आज फिर सपनों की लड़ी बिखरी
आज फिर उन्हें संजोने का मन बनाया

आज फिर आसमान अपरिमित लगा
आज फिर डर ने साहस को खदेड़ दिया;

आज फिर एक शोर विचारों पर आच्छादित हुआ
आज फिर सुर ने धुन का साथ छोड़ा;

आज फिर उम्मीद का दीपक बुझता हुआ सा लगा
आज फिर तमस प्रकाश पर हावी हुआ।

उम्मीद

थकी हुई इन लाल आंखों में
मैं आशा की किरण देखता हूँ

कहीं विचारों का सैलाब
कहीं अनकहे शब्दों की कतार देखता हूँ

अनछुए सपनों को मुष्टिगत करने की चाह
तो कहीं और ऊंची उडान देखता हूँ

अश्रुपूर्ण इन लाल आंखों में
मैं उम्मीद की मोड़ देखता हूँ

दबी बिछड़ी इच्छाओं को -
उछल कर पकड़ने का जोश देखता हूँ