Few conversations and a bus ride (Part-3)

“Even we had a training and test before we joined and this test thing that they have started has made it a very serious affair” , Aman said.

“I think it is like clearing another semester exam. By the way, when have you joined ?” , Priya queried.

“I joined in January last year, it is almost two years now!!” , Aman said.

“Where are you from?”, Priya was getting inquisitive.

“I am from the badland of Bihar”, Aman responded.

Aha!! There is a connection. But the qualifier used by Aman was pricking me, so much so that I felt like turning and hitting him hard on his face.

“Badland!! Well…”, even Priya seemed amused and though she didn’t express it, her feelings about Bihar were clear.

“Well matlab what?”

“Nahin, I mean why badland?” , Priya asked.

“That is the general impression of people about Bihar.” , Aman said.

“And you beg to differ” , Priya said.

“I would rather say that people don’t know the real Bihar. We used to be the most civilized people, the old universities of Nalanda and Vikramshila, stand testimonial to that. But I won’t be denying the fact that all that has been lost and the current state of affairs is really pathetic.” Whoosh!!! “Never judge a book by its cover!!” This guy, it seems, has debated quite a lot on this topic.

“Aath baj kar teen minute ho gaya hai aur ee hai Bangalore ka phavorite radio station, Radio City” that was RJ Vasanthi’s voice with a very unfamiliar feel to it.(She just freaks out if someone calls her Basanti, as in ‘Basanti, in kutton ke saamney mat nachna’).

There are a few things which I like about our driver and one of those things is this radio which he keeps on till we reach EC. This for sure makes our “pain-in-ass” journey a bit less painful.

And that strange twang in Vasanthi’s accent!!! That made me feel as if today was Bihar day. What else can one feel when a few centimeters from me there is a discussion going on about Bihar’s rich culture and someone a few kilometers away renders words alien to her?

“At least someone believes your words”, Priya gave a chuckle.
I tried hard to hear Aman’s response but it was drowned in a loud honk - everyone seems to loose their cool once we reach Hosur road.

Too much honking had already left my mood sour, as is the case everyday. Besides, there was a beautiful number being played on Radio City currently. I was lost in the rhythm when I heard Priya say,

“You see Gujjus are more into spicy things.”

“Even we have our share of spice. Haven’t you heard of Litti?”, Aman said.

“Yes I think I have heard of that, made of sattu or something.”

This is great!! Now they are discussing about the cuisines from east and west. May be Priya has a Gujju connection. If she has, then this is what I call a salubrious instance of national integration – A guy from East India and a girl from South India (with a Gujju connection) discussing about their respective cuisines on a boring morning in South India.

“Wow!! You seem to know quite a bit about Litti!!”, Aman was amazed.

“My boy friend is from Bihar and it is from him that I came to know this.”

Kaboooooooommmm!!!! That was a royal crash for Aman.
And "HE" stays in Sanjaynagar, Aswathnagar(to be precise), was my guess. I knew it from the time Priya had talked about Vaibhav theater.

“Great!! Is he a software engineer?”, the waver had crept in Aman’s voice. It was obvious how heart broken he was. Poor chap!!
But Casanovas surely have heart of steel. It would have been tough for an ordinary guy to regain composure and utter something so sensible as Aman did.

“Yes, he works for Microsoft.”

I almost chortled. Didn’t it all start with the MS thing?

सामर्थ्य

बूँद व्यर्थ विकट विचार लिए था पड़ा,
क्यूँ है वो बांकियों सा?

रंग वही --
तरल बन जुड़ा सभी सा।

आप से विमुख --
वेगरहित मुरझाया मृदुल सा।
क्यूँ पहचान होती उसकी
सागर की लहरों से?

गहराई-ऊँचाई का ज्ञान उसे भी
पर क्यूँ नहीं माप वो उन्हें सका अकेला?

व्यथित क्यूँ है वो पड़ा उद्विग्न सा?
ज्ञान क्यूँ नहीं उसे अपने ही सामर्थ्य का?

लहर बनती उस जैसे बूँद से ही,
छिन्न-भिन्न हो बूँद अगर तो क्या अस्तित्व है लहर का?

मसीहा

गुदडी में समेटे तन को
सत्य का पाठ पढाने आया था।

चल कर दिखाया तूने उस राह पर
दिखाया बहुतों ने, पर दुर्गम उसे बताया था।

पृथक पड़ी थी बुध की वाणी
तूने उसे अपनाया था

गुदडी में समेटे...

हजारों साल की उस संस्कृति पर
तूने विश्वास फिर जगाया था।

रक्तविहीन ये कैसा रण था
जिससे आजादी तू छीन लाया था।

जिंदगी ने तेरी तो किया ही था विस्मित
पर मौत ने भी एक सैलाब उठाया था।

बंद हो गयी थी नफरत की आंधी
अश्रुधार ही बस एक सहारा था।

स्मृति तेरी अभी भी है सजीव
पर गुदडी की दशा पर तरस आता है

नमूनों को ढक कर बड़ी बेशर्मी से
वही गुदडी करोड़ों में बिक जाता है।

Few Conversations and a bus ride (Part-2)

Priya never responded to those high sounding words or may be she did which I lost, partly due to our over-ambitious driver (who can take on anyone in the world, or so he thinks) and partly due to the heavy traffic and the usual honking that accompanies it. Nothing has changed in Bangalore even though we have been almost rebuked by the PoI.

“Where are you put up?” Priya asked.

I have found that this is a common way of asking people as to which part of the city they stay in. And this is more common among people in software industry.

“Sanjaynagar, Aswathnagar to be precise, I hope you have heard about it” replied Aman.

Priya had boarded the bus near Indian Express(Bangalore's centre, almost) so I thought she might not know about the northern boundary of Bangalore.

“I think I have heard about the place, isn’t Vaibhav theater in that area?” she really amazed me with her sense of geography and with landmark and all – she surely had been to Sanjaynagar,Aswathnagar(to be precise).

“Yeah!! Vaibhav is in Sanjaynagar. You seem to have quite good knowledge about Bangalore”

“I am a ‘localite’, was born here and did my schooling and engineering from here” I should have guessed it but I was more concerned about that word which has somehow crept into local lingo. I am not sure whether it finds mention in leading English dictionaries but now that ‘samosa’ has been added ‘localite’, ‘native place’ and other very commonly used words may soon see the light of the day.

“Oh! Great”, Aman exclaimed (he didn’t mean it).

Though Priya was a ‘localite’, to know about a theater in one corner of the city requires more than one connection and I thought even Aman would have guessed that connection. But Casanovas are people who don’t give up unless the word flows from the horse’s mouth and they don’t believe in deduction from subtle hints either. Besides, our hero was no ordinary one; he belonged to that “the” class of people.

“You seem to have joined here recently” Aman said (this is not the way Aman, make it interrogative).

“Yeah, I joined in the first week of November and had to attend some training”

“But I never saw you in this bus” this guy surely knows a thing or two about conversing, sentence formation notwithstanding.

“I had the training in Madivala office and have a test today in EC so had to take this bus” Priya replied. (EC- Electronics City)

By this time we had crossed Kormangala and were near the St John’s Hospital. There is an unofficial bus stop near that junction and I was not able to hold my smile when I saw a lady, at the bus stop, rubbing her finger nails against each other. This is a very common sight these days, thanks to Swami Ramdev and to his spiritual sorties on some not so spiritual TV channels and to his twisting skills which has convinced people of the power of Hath Yoga.

To be continued...

Few Conversations and a bus ride

“Bill Gates is opening a research n development centre in Bangalore”, this was a voice, bit feminine but with enough hints to guess the gender. I didn’t turn back to squint at the source but could feel the excitement and a bit of exasperation in the words. So much so that I almost guessed the next statement, “I hope he is not thinking of some site near Electronics city.” It was too early for any discussion these comments escalate to especially when I had just started feeling the warmth of my seat. Traveling to Hosur Road from North Bangalore in a company bus (generally full of people looking overloaded) is comparable to any of the-pain-in-the-ass things one can think of.

“Well it would bring fame to Bangalore, besides opportunities for the engineers passing out from here”, this comment was definitely feminine and seemed more like a self-assuring one rather than a response.

“Oh hi!! But I think it will surely add to chaos here”. Nice opening line dude!!
I must have heard or read about thousands of opening lines to converse with a lady-
“It seems I have seen you somewhere” or “Are you such and such”, better still “You look very similar to …” - but I must admit this was the most straightforward and the most awkward way of starting it.

“I am Aman”, my guess about the gender was perfect.

“Myself Priya”, was the response, much softer.

Now all my plans of a serene Thursday morning were waning. Thursdays are great- so near yet so far, weekend seems to be just round the corner separated by just one more day to kill.

“You see if this R&D centre opens up we can easily finish almost all bestsellers of the year, thanks to the idle commuting time”.

“Huh!!”

Such a sound would have discouraged any die-heard flirt worth his salt but our hero was worth much more than a humble lump of salt or so he thought. And he continued, “I hope you have heard about KPO, Knowledge Process Outsourcing. This is something new for India but with this initiative by Microsoft I think people world over would notice for sure”.
Impressive words, the guy is either too concerned about the state of engineers in India or he is just showing-off.

May be that “Huh” has hit where it hurts the most.

Though it seemed like a harangue for me when it all started yet now I was all ears to this never-say-die Casanova and a girl, about whom I was still oblivious but for her name.

It was a typical December morning in Bangalore. We were moving from northern part of the city towards the southern most regions, our destination being Electronics City. It is quite strange that so many people stay almost at a missile’s throw distance from the beautiful and serene North Bangalore and have no qualms about spending couple of hours on a 50-seater (3-by-2, no pushback!) just idling and some even snoring away their morning blues!


To be contd....

समंदर

भव्य समंदर-
विस्मित कर
समेटे कितने प्राणों को।
विकराल कोई, खूंखार कोई
तैयार निगलने सब कुछ को।

प्रीत भरा वो मीन बचाता
ख़ुद को उन जलचर से
रहे जो तैयार सदा
हर चीज़ लाल रंगाने को।

भय उसे जल से परे भी,
झिझक नहीं जिन्हें मौत का -
दे लालच जो रहे ताक में,
उसे धर दबोच चबाने को।

प्रयास करे कोई कितना भी,
रंग सागर का बदलने को,
लाल भी हो जाए विफ़ल,
यह परिवर्तन लाने को ।
बना समंदर क्यूंकि -
एक ही रंग में रह जाने को।

सेनापति

थक कर गिर जायेंगे सभी,
अंधकार आंखों में छा जाएगा,
मन अंग से पृथक होकर,
कहीं कोने में दुबक जाएगा।

आँखें मूँद लेंगे सभी,
डर, हर मन में घर बना -
और सशक्त हो जाएगा।
दिशाहीन - दिग्भ्रमित होकर
पथ बिना पग बढ़ जाएगा।

भय - अनिर्णय की ज़ंजीर तोड़कर,
किसी को आगे आना होगा,
तभी शब्द बाँध बह पायेगा,
दोष - आरोप के इस जाल को
उसी का बल क्षीण कर पायेगा।

उठो पार्थ !! गांडीव संभालो,
प्रत्युत्तर से तमस ढह जाएगा,
साहस तुम्हीं से मिलेगी सबको,
इतिहास तुम्हे स्वर्णिम कह जाएगा।

दो बूँद

कहीं कोने में दो बूँद आंसू के
सूखे पड़े थे, आज निकल पड़े..
इस निष्ठुर जीवन के गवाह थे वो आंसू
जाने आज कैसे निकल पड़े ?
कहीं लालच तो कहीं घृणित कर्मों -
ने मचाया था उफान;
फिर भी जाने क्यूँ थे सूखे हुए?
किसी के शब्दों ने भेदा था मन
कभी मर्म स्पर्श ने भरा कमान
तो कहीं उल्लास ने भरा रंग
संकुचित परम्परा ने रोका था कभी..
जाने आज कैसे निकल पड़े?
आकाँक्षाओं और अरमानों के बोझ ने
क्षीण किया था विश्वास,
कहीं छुपे-कहीं दबे हुए थे दो बूँद
जाने आज कैसे निकल पड़े?