एक और दिसंबर बीत गया..

Sun Rise or Sun Set? Clicked it in Pondicherry, Bay of Bengal

एक और दिसंबर बीत गया

अभी तो सूरज निकला ही था
और झट में फिर वो डूब गया
एक और दिसंबर बीत गया

अभी बसंत की हुई थी दस्तक
पर अब, पत्ता पत्ता सूख गया
एक और दिसंबर बीत गया

जनवरी में कई कस्में खायी थी हमने
पर अगणित बार वो टूट गया
एक और दिसंबर बीत गया

लाख कोशिशें कर उन्हें मनाया था हमने
पर एक नादानी से वो, हरपल के लिए रूठ गया
एक और दिसंबर बीत गया

हार की कई गाथाएं लिख दी इसने
पर आशाओं के कई पन्नों को भी जोड़ गया
एक और दिसंबर बीत गया

सोचा शाश्वत सा यह पल है
पर बारह किश्तों में ही पीछा छूट गया
एक और दिसंबर बीत गया

स्मृति पटल पर कुछ धुंधले चेहरे
और कई नई छवि को जोड़ गया
एक और दिसंबर बीत गया

स्थिरता मरण, गति जीवन है
शायद से वो, चीख-चीख कर बोल गया
एक और दिसंबर बीत गया

………अभय ………

 

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सुलगती ज्वाला

सुलगती ज्वाला

सुलगती ज्वाला, जन जन के मन में
और तुम उसे ढकने चले
वो भी, सूखे घास और पत्तों से
नमी रहित कागज के टुकड़ों से
फेकीं गयी कपड़ों के चिथड़ों से
सूखे आम की डालों से
शुष्क सागवान की छालों से

उस दहकते अंगारों को ढक कर
निश्चिंत होकर तुम बैठ गए

अरे!!! ढकने से वो नहीं बुझेगा
हाँ! कुछ पल किंचित वो अवश्य छिपेगा
करना ही है तो, जड़ से खत्म करो उसको
अनवरत उसपर पर पानी डालो
वह तभी थमेगा, तभी बुझेगा

और कहीं रौद्र रूप जो धारण किया उसने
फिर दावानल में परिणत होगा
त्रिनेत्र खुलेंगे, तांडव होगा
फिर तेरे प्राणाहुति पर ही वो तुष्ट होगा
फिर कहीं जाकर बुझेगा

…..अभय…..

P.S. Our politicians and bureaucrats generally come up with the temporary patch up works, when it comes to addressing the problems faced by the general public. Be it annual flood in Assam, Bihar, Air Pollution in Delhi-NCR, drainage and sanitation concern in many cities around the country etc etc. Temporary work gives them incentive to again collect their share from the rework done by contractors through corrupt practices. This Poetry is dedicated to them and cautioning them that  the patience of general mass with temporary solutions is fading up quickly. They must come up with the more enduring solutions.

We, the animal

Today, I went to a park purposefully and the rationale for going there was certainly not the recreation, rather to have contemplation one specific subject. Since I knew, I may stay there for hours; hence I had some snacks and a bottle of water in my bag pack.

Half an hour would have been passed, but I was not able to concentrate on the subject and hence started looking towards surrounding, listened the chirps of the birds and felt the cool gentle breeze of December.

Since I hadn’t had my breakfast, soon I started feeling hungry. I unpacked the snack (a Haldiram product precisely ;-)) and started consuming it. Suddenly a squirrel came very close to me. It was very adorable! I thought I will take few pictures of it. But when I was positioning myself to click some photos, due to my abrupt movement, it got scared and ran away. I was not able to click. But tiny creature had already captured my attention. Then I tried to use a ploy, which generally hunters or a trappers uses, even my intention was same as them, to capture that tiny little creature, but only through my mobile phone camera.

I scattered some of the snacks which I was having, while sitting on the floor of the stoned wall. The same squirrel got lured by it and started enjoying it. It came very near to me on several occasions. It came so close and surrounding being very calm that I could hear it’s nibbling sound.  I clicked few images of it with great difficulties, as it behaved in the exactly in same fashion which I also behaved, when I was told by my elders to sit at a place for having study for even an hour 😉

After a few minute, to my amusement, one more squirrel came to the party and then one more. But the sad part was that I had almost finished the snacks, hence I couldn’t able to scatter more. But whatever was dispersed there, they were having it. They all were erratic and frantic due to my presence. So I decided to move from that place.

But as soon as I moved to other place and sat down on a public chair, few Myna Birds landed there and they tried to usurp whatever little I had distributed there. Squirrels,  being timid, soon backed off the scene. But then another twist came in the story. Two crow, who might have also watching all these events from branch of the trees, came to the picture. This time Myna birds were helpless in front of the size and supremacy of their adversary. Crows evicted the Myna birds from that place and established complete control over the possession. I was watching all these happenings from a distant and felt, as long as I was there, squirrels were eating what was meant for them. But as I left the place, more powerful, dominant and superior species usurped their share.

 

Then spontaneously I recalled the doctrine of “Rule of Law” and its importance in our society. The event which surfaced there was equally comparable to our human social order also. Government allots various goods and services for the common people, but as its supervisory function is weak and sometime absent, those having muscle power/ money power, deprives the weaker section from their dues and captures their shares for self consumption through corrupt practices. But when “Rule of Law” prevails, then rule itself becomes the protector of the weak and maim and even the weakest enjoys their life with dignity and happiness.

रेस्टोरेंट का खाना ..

उम्र 13-14 की होगी. नीचे से उसके शर्ट के दो-तीन बटन टूटे हुए थे, जब वह दौड़ कर अपने पिताजी की तरफ़ आ रहा था तो हवा में उसकी शर्ट फैलने लगी, ऐसा लग रहा था जैसे आकाश में कोई विशालकाय पक्षी अपना पंख फैलाये उड़ रहा हो. पावों में चप्पलें तो थी, पर मटमैली सी,पुरानी और घिसी हुई..पर चेहरे के हँसी और ख़ुशी में कोई घिसावट नहीं. एकदम निश्छल, स्वछंद और आत्मविश्वास से भरी हुई..

रौशन के पिताजी ने उसके चेहरे के भावों को पढ़ लिया और ख़ुशी से पूछा “पास हो गए दसवीं?” रौशन ने कहा “पपा, दसवीं में हम जिले में तीसरे नंबर पर आएं हैं”. पिताजी, जो शहर के बाहरी छोड़ पर हो रहे निर्माण स्थल           (कंस्ट्रक्शन साइट) पर एक दिन में 200 रुपये की मजदूरी कर, वहां से 12 किलोमीटर दूर साइकिल चलाकरअपने छोटे से घर में दिन भर की थकान से चूर बैठे थे, अनायास ही उनकी सभी थकावटें जाती रही और उन्होंने भावविभोर होकर बोले “शाबाश, बेटा!!!”
साइकिल से अपने कार्य स्थल पर जाते हुए एक बहुत खूबसूरत रेस्टोरेंट को रौशन के पापा रोज देखते थे, और सोचते थे इसमें साहब लोग अपने दोस्तों, परिवार के सदस्यों के संग खाने को आते होंगे और यह भी सोचते थे कि किसी ख़ुशी वाले दिन वो भी अपने लोगों को लेकर इस होटल में जरूर आएंगे. पर उनके मन में संदेह रहता था कि क्या वहां का खर्च वो वहन कर पाएंगे, उनकी आमद ही कितनी ? यदि महीने के तीसो दिन काम करें तो भी 30 गुणे 200 मतलब 6000 के महीने. पर आज उनकी ख़ुशी का ठिकाना नहीं था और उन्होंने रौशन से कहा कि चलो आज तुम्हे ऐसा खाना खिलाएंगे कि तुमने खाया नहीं होगा. रोशन भी बहुत खुश, अपने पिता की ख़ुशी देख उसका सीना गर्व से प्रफुल्लित था.रौशन के पिता ने सोचा कि कितना महँगा होगा खाना, अपने दो दिन की कमाई को उन्होंने जेब में रख लिया और सोचा कि भले ही पूरी रकम खत्म भी ही जाये तो आज गम नहीं है

दोनों रेस्टोरेंट के गेट पर पहुंचे, गेट पर खड़े चौकीदार ने संदेह भरे आँखों से देखा, पर दरवाजा खोल दिया. रेस्टोरेंट को देख रौशन के मन में संदेह हुआ कि यह तो बहुत महँगा होगा और उसने अपने आशंका पिताजी को बताई, उसके पापा ने बोला कि आज ख़ुशी का मौका भी तो है, रौशन मुस्कुराया.

सामान्य लोग पहले किसी वास्तु का मूल्य पूछते हैं फिर चीजों को पसंद करते हैं, पर जो संपन्न होते हैं वो पहले चीजों को पसंद करते हैं फिर उसका मूल्य जानते हैं.
इसी प्रवृति का परिचय देते हुए कि कहीं खाने के बाद शर्मिंदगी न झेलनी पड़े इसलिए उसके पापा ने पहले खाने का दाम पूछना उचित समझा और रेस्टोरेंट के किसी कर्मचारी को बुलाकर उन्होंने ने जानकारी लेनी चाही..वेटर ने कहा एक प्लेट खाने की सबसे कम कीमत 500 रुपये! पिताजी के होश ही उड़ गए. उनके जेब में दो दिन की पूरी कमाई 400 रुपये थे, पर वह एक व्यक्ति के लिए एक वक़्त के खाने के लिए भी कम हो रहे थे. रौशन ने उनके चेहरे के बदलते हुए भाव को बख़ूबी पढ़ लिया. उसने बचपन से ही भावों को पढ़ना सीख लिया था. वेटर वहां से किसी और ग्राहक के पास चला गया .. रौशन ने अपने पापा से कहा “पपा, चलिए यहाँ से चलते हैं” पापा ने बोला “तुम कहीं नहीं जाओगे, यहाँ थोड़ी देर रुको, मैं घर से 100 रुपये लेकर आता हूँ, कम से कम तुम तो खा लोगे, मैं तुम्हें इतने शौक़ से लाया हूँ, भूखे नहीं जाने दूंगा” रौशन ने कहा “पपा, आपको लगता है हम ऐसा करेंगे? आप नहीं खाएंगे और हम यहाँ खा पाएंगे ?” पिताजी के आँखों में आँशु के कुछ बूंदें गहरी होने लगी थीं , और फिर उनके बेटे ने कहा कि “वैसे भी मुझे यहाँ का खाना अच्छा नहीं लगेगा, चलिए यहाँ से “. जो आँशु घने बादल के समान आँखों में मंडरा रही थी, अब उसने आँखों में उसने धार का रूप ले लिया था.. दोनों निकल ही रहे थे की वेटर ने पूछा “सर, आपलोग कुछ लेंगे नहीं?” रौशन ने कहा “आज नहीं, फिर कभी आएंगे”

Prove your charge

“Presumption of Innocence” is a widely accepted doctrine in Justice System applicable in many parts of the world, which says that “A person should be considered as Innocent unless proven Guilty”. The same doctrine also states that it is the duty of the prosecution to collect the evidences to prove his/her charges against the accused and if reasonable doubt remains, then the person must be acquitted. It is also a Human Right under United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

So, if someone accuses you and ask you to prove your innocence, just tell them to refer to this doctrine. 🙂

(P.S. Do you recall a scene from the Bahubali 2: The Conlusion, where Bhallal Dev asks Devsena exactly opposite to the stated theory? That is why she terms it as a barbaric and heinous law. Sometime Bollywood does make sense, oh! wait, it wasn’t a Bollywood movie though 😛 ).

चक्रवात..

Credit: Google Image

चक्रवात

ये जो तेरी यादों का समंदर है
लगे जैसे कोई बवंडर है
मैं ज्यों ही करता इनपे दृष्टिपात
मन में उठता कोई भीषण चक्रवात
मैं बीच बवंडर के आ जाता हूँ
और क्षत विछत हो जाता हूँ
इसमें चक्रवात का क्या जाता है
वह तो तांडव को ही आता है
अपने हिस्से की तबाही मचा कर
वह जाने कहाँ खो जाता है
मैं तिनका-तिनका जुटाता हूँ
और फिर से खड़ा हो जाता हूँ
पर, तेरी यादों की है इतनी आदत
ए चक्रवात ! तुम्हारा फिर से स्वागत

……अभय…..

 

Who is responsible?

Technology has shaped the human civilization in a way that it seems an irreversible process now. Many of the technological tools such as mobile phones or televisions have become necessary in modern time and they are no longer construed as luxury and rightly so. Few of us can even ignore hunger for a day, but can’t suppress the urge to check the notifications of various applications of our cell phone(s).

Technology has helped us immensely and made our life much easier than ever before. We can definitely say that our present human civilization has been the most comfortable society in materialistic terms in compare to any of the past societies.  (I am not saying that, at present, we are the happiest of all as comfort and happiness are altogether different phenomena). But at times technology shows its other side, which may not be pleasant at all.

Embed from Getty Images

Few days ago, I had a trip to Bangalore or Bengaluru as now they call it. During my stay, I used its public transport system “the Namma Metro” on quite few occasions. It was overall a good experience except for one instance and that one instance was not inside the metro but at one of its stations. In whichever cosmopolitan city of India you would be in, one aspect will always remain common and that is huge crowd in all the public places. Banglore is also no exception to it and neither was its metro system.

So on that day when I was entering to one its station, like many others, I also preferred to use a “technological tool” called “escalator” or the moving staircase to get down. You would presume that what is special about it, it is so common these days. But I have mentioned it with a reason here. The reason is that it was overcrowded on that place and it deviated from its usual performance. Have you ever thought or experienced what will happen when a moving stair case would abruptly stop? If you never experienced, don’t wish for it. Because, experiencing the Newton’s First Law i.e. “Law of Inertia” on escalator may not be pleasing one for sure.

So on that day, when I was unprepared like others, the escalator suddenly stopped unexpectedly. The experience was just like as someone has applied a power brake in your car on seeing a possibility of collision. But we are generally prepared for the brakes in vehicle but remain casual on escalators and never expect a brake.  Everybody on board became shaky and some even fall over. I was fortunately holding the side railing which prevented me from tumbling. But suddenly someone from back fell over me. When I turned back, it was a young beautiful lady! I saved her from falling on the rugged staircase, I was proud of my achievement.

But, she was embarrassed, ashamed and whispered “I am sorry”. Without thinking too much I said “Thank You!!!”  She became puzzled and retorted “What? What did you say?” Sensing here unease, I quipped “You have made a wrong choice of words, instead of saying sorry, you should say me thanks as it was not your fault and since I have saved your beautiful face from getting defaced, I might be obliged by a Thanks rather than a Sorry”. She smiled. I thought my sense of humor worked and there was an instant reward for it. She asked “What’s your name?” But before I could have answered her there were huge uproar on the ground. Few people were shouting vehemently in a language that I hardly could have understood, but I could sense their anguish. There was a hurdle there and in mid of the hurdle a lady in her mid 30s was crying profusely. Taking the advantage of my height, I tried to peep in the hurdle, but since the language was alien to me,  I couldn’t understood what was going on there. I thought she also might have fallen from the escalator, but there were no visible mark of injury no blood on the floor, no mark of scratches on her face. Then few minute later, someone from the crowd spoke the language which I could have discerned. He said that the lady was pregnant and due to abrupt stoppage of the escalator she fell off from three or four steps atop and now she is agonized about her wellbeing of her impending child. I saw a lot of people were consoling her, but she was incessantly crying. This is probably one pain which half of the population could not have understood.. I realized, only signs of scar are not the sole representation of the pain, some pains are too heavy that scars can’t depict it. Since I had a preoccupied schedule, I had to leave that place. But few question kept hitting me?

Who should be held responsible, if something mishap had happened to the child, who is still not in the world?

1. Government?
2. Metro Authority?
3. Operating Staff?
4. Manufacturer of the Escalator?
5. Technology itself?
6. The lady herself, as she was not holding the side railing as precautionary measure
7. The Karma of the Child, as Sanatan Philosophy says that one’s fate is also decided by its karma in past life.
8. Or, combination of all these factors

I didn’t find the answer of the question, even after pondering it over and again. I reached my accommodation at night after having an eventful day, through the same metro route and via same station where the incident has happened. I was checking the notifications on my phone  and then suddenly remembered something “Someone had asked my name today!!!”

 

Note: Needless to say to my readers that I some time write fiction, inspired by some real events. You are free to Judge which event was real in this story and which one was my fictitious narration.

विडंबना..

Embed from Getty Images

वो झूठ था
मैं जानता था
पर, सच को न जानने की
ढोंग मैं करता रहा
काश! मेरे उस ढोंग को
तुम जान लेते
मेरे हर झूठे हँसी में छिपे
आह को , तुम पहचान लेते
और अब जब कि
वर्षों बाद तुमने ये जान लिया है
कि मैं वो सच जानता था
तो विडंबना ऐसी कि आरोप हमहीं पर है
कि मैं ही झूठा हूँ !!!
कि सब जानते हुए भी मैंने
हँसता हुआ मुखौटा क्यों पहना?
ख़ैर कोई नहीं .
उस दिन का आपका  वो झूठ भी सही
आज का आपका ये आरोप भी सही

……..अभय ……..