Monday, November 29, 2010

Ek deewane ka janaza

Raahon ka sahara tha,
Bahon ka bahara tha.
Fir bhi kaise anjaan ho gaye,
Khud ke dil se hi baimaan ho gaye.

Tum ko paana tha,
Jaanat ke rubaru aana tha.
Kismat se to baad main ladte,
Hum to khud hi se haar gaye.

Jab khula tha darwaza,
Tab awaaz tak nahi.
Kya ye humari galti thi,
Ki tumhari yaad bhi nahi aayi.

Bichad gaye har mudatein pyaar ki,
Anjaani thi karwaten humare yaar ki.
Kaise hum khud ke zakhm bharde,
Aur kuch nahi to khud ko khatm karde.

Seedhe raaston se nata na tha,
Tedhe raaston pe chalna na tha.
Ye kambhakt dil ne hi daga diya,
Humein ishqiyan se hi rukhsaat kar diya.

Zuban pe naa aati nahi,
Fir bhi dil bekarar hai aise.
Ret pe ghata chati nahi,
Murjhaye phool ki mehek jaise.

Ab to bas yaadein hain,
Jinme humare waadein hain.
Khwabon ki aur zanjeeren nahi,
Par khushi ki bhi aur tamanna nahi.

Ab to kaafan si ban gayi zindagi,
Rahi na koi aur bandagi.
Afsaanon se bhargaye dil ke paimane,
Lo hum bhi ban gaye ek lute hue deewane.

Monday, September 20, 2010

I Await My Mother

My light of life.

I call her light,
I call her life.

The red color of my kite.
My hope,
My sun after a dark night.

My soul understands no other love.
Only the unbridled, infinite love of my mother
Satiates my soul.

O’ Mother,
Save me from me.
My life hurts.

I am afraid…..

Afraid of the darkness of Solitude,
Which haunts me.

Afraid of the glares of doubts,
My mirror throws at me.

Afraid of the pangs of desire,
That push me unto an unholy pyre.

Afraid of the insinuations of the soul,
So vulnerable against the social whole.

I know my mother,
You will save me.

As you did,
When I was frail
And had no tale.

When I was alone,
Crawling into a world unknown.

When the world cursed me with distaste,
You changed my world in such haste!

My heart kisses your feet,
O’ My Mother,
My soul bares itself before you.

My shame vanishes before you,
O’ My Mother,
My pain becomes a memory.

My dying sun breathes again,
O’ My Mother,
When you shower your love on me.

My life changes when you,
O’ My Mother,
Take it in your holy hands.

Come save me!

From the traps of this self-pity,
This undying adversity.

Before I die without a life,
With dejection burning inside me like a hot knife.

I know my Mother,
You will save me.

And then,
My sinking glory
Will give way to a new story.

My tormented soul
Will find its own goal.

I await you
My Mother,

I so await you…..

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Do you know Manju?

Who is Manju??? There is a Manju in all of us waiting to break the boundaries of self-exacted silence and safe ignorance.

I am talking of a fine bloke called Manjunath Shanmugham. Who is he you might say? He was a whistleblower who had attempted to expose the petrol mafia but was instead murdered by the petrol mafia.

Why is that the petrol mafia resorted to kill him? How did it serve them? It was intended to silence future resistance against it.

Inspite of all sympathies and support for the actions of Manju, are we prepared to die for the right? The support for him came only after his death. Sentencing criminal deaths may just dissuade their ilk to commit further crimes in the open but who will curb their criminal tendencies. They will just become shrewder to hide their crimes and come out unscathed. A one-off decision against the sinners will not bring about miracles in our thought process, the inspiration to resist crime will.

Some problems flatter to deceive. Take the example of UP where the incident had occurred. While massive investments are being made in setting up parks, museums, statues and other forms of self-loving foolishness, what has been the investment in so-called development aspects like infrastructure, health & education?

The following are the breakup of expenses for the budget 2009-10 –

1. Urban Infra – 4845 crore INR

2. Roads & Infra - 7657 crore INR

3. Energy – 9846 crore INR

4. Health – 6503 crore INR

5. Women & Child Development – 900 crore INR

6. Education – 19037 crore INR

7. And finally, Mayawati ji’s favourite pastime(memorials and statues) – more than Rs 5000 crore

The investments in Mayawati Ji’s favourite pastime forms about 4% of the total expenses (133597 crore).

Another glorifying aspect of UP politics has been the presence of around 25% politicians with criminal record in the current UP Assembly. With such unabashed backing of criminal politicians, I don’t find any reason for the murky conditions in UP to change. One positive aspect that came out of the elections was the extremely strict measures taken up by election commission whereby 640 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed to resist unfair means of carrying out elections.

Inspite of having premium schools of excellence like BHU, IIT Kanpur, IIM Lucknow & IIT Roorkee, it still lags behind in overall welfare. The schools are more a testimony of UP being the highest populated state and having a sizeable stake in the parliament rather than a credit to the rulers of the state.

For once let us forget politicians. Come down to the people who elect them, me and you. Someone has very rightly said, “People get the government they deserve”. What has been our take on ethical decisions? It’s perfectly convenient to criticise the dismal state in politics, what do we do when it comes down to a question of ethics?

How many times have you broken a traffic rule and have been ready to pay a bribe to avoid paying a higher fine, cutting a chalan or appearing before the court? How many times have you preferred to jump the queue to finish off things fast? How many times have you preferred to keep silent when an injustice is being committed by someone you are close to?

The bigger problem lies in ours not accepting our mistakes and actually going to the extent of defending it citing the excuses of time or efforts.

Why does it take an emergency to wake us up from our deep slumber? What do we do when there is a cry for help or an alarm for need? Why do we prefer to close our eyes and walk out of the situation. We are ready to help only when we feel that there will be no problems for us if we help the person. We even go the extent of stifling the voices of that one lone voice which believes in fighting against injustice.

Premier institutes like IIMs & IITs have carried out peace marches upholding the values that brave men like Manjunath stood for. But the extent to which the spirit has seeped into our souls is questionable.

When will we be ready to face the consequences for our actions? When will we start supporting the Manjus amongst us, leave alone becoming one? Far off I say....

You can learn more about Manjunath from the following link –

http://syg.com/web/mstrust/manju/scmadmin/Home.php

PS – My apologies for writing after such a long time...