जान है तो जहाँ है

दिल धक है,दिल सन्न है
दिल हैरान हैं 
स्तब्ध है
निशब्द है
मन परेशान है
ये हो नहीं सकता
आत्महत्या जैसा कदम!
सुशाँत ने उठाया!
नहीं,नहीं 
ये हो नहीं सकता 
चमक दमक के पीछे अकेलापन 
मन का सूनापन
कहते हैं जिसे' डिप्रेशन '
उससे वो  रहा था जूझ
खो गया वो अपनी सूझ-बूझ
गया वो जीवन से हार
मौत को लगाया गले
पर क्यों ?आखिर क्यों?
क्यों फैल रहा है ये जहर युवाओं में?
क्यों बनता जा रहा है,महामारी?
ना जाने कितने सितारे 
खो जाते हैं,मिट जाते हैं
जिन्दगी से जाते हैं हार
क्यों?आखिर क्यों?
ये बन गया है इक सवाल
मचा रहा है मन में बवाल
क्या जीवन है इतना सस्ता ?
क्या खुश रहना है सिर्फ इक सपना  ?
क्यों आज का युवा 
छोटी सी हार को करता नहीं 
स्वीकार,आखिर क्यों?
क्यों भीतर से अशांत हैं
इन्सान ?
क्या हुआ जो टूट गया सपना?
क्या हुआ जो पूरे नहीं हुए अरमान?
कहीं तो चूक गये हैं हम
क्या सिर्फ success का ही देता है,हर कोई मूल मन्त्र ?
क्या  कोई बताता है,

हार पर कैसे करें प्रहार?
जीवन है बस एक किस्सा
हार को मानो उसका हिस्सा 
चाहे उथल-पुथल हो चारों ओर 
चाहे धुंधला हो,जीवन,प्रतीत
चाहे सपने जाएं टूट
गिर कर उठना ना छोड़ो 
क्या कभी सिखाया हमने?
क्या कभी बताया हमने -
जीवन नहीं फूलों की सेज
इसलिए काँटों  से नाता ना तोडो
अपनो से नाता जोड़ो
निराशा का दामन ना थामों
आशा से नाता जोड़ो
क्या सिखाया हमने
चाहे जीवन का सपना कभी ना हो पूरा
चाहे हमारा लक्ष्य रहे अधूरा
 आज नहीं तो कल
मिल जायेगा हल
बस एक बात रखो याद-
जीवन की कटने ना दो डोर
क्योंकि
जान है तो जहां है
जान है तो जहां है!  

Time to ponder for every parent
Where did we go wrong?
Time to introspect for every youth
Is material success everything?

• 
  

सीख

            सीख

कुछ दिन पहले लोग कहते  थे
क्या हाल हो गए
सुरत-ए-बेहाल हो गए
Corona से नहीं
घर में कैद हो कर
बिमारों जैसे हाल हो गए
सड़कें ,बाग-बगीचे ही नहीं
हर घर के आंगन भी
वीरान हो गए
खिड़कियों से
ताकती हैं,झांकती हैं आंखें
पर मिलने से डरती हैं आंखें
बार-बार radio-T.V पर
मिलती है चेतावनी-
Corona से डरो ना
पर घर से बाहर निकलो ना
ये सुन सुन कर
डर के मारे हाल बेहाल हो गए
बच्चों का शोर हो गया गुम
पुलिस के siren आम हो गए
शादी, birthday  हो  या कोई और खुशी का मौका
बिन पार्टी  के हर दिन आम हो गये
पहले थे traffic jam
अब तो traffic ही jam हो गये
पर अब लोग कहते  हैं
आदत सी हो गयी है
अन्दर रहने की
कहीं cooking ,कहीं painting
कहीं दिन ,dancing के नाम हो गये
Webinars या zoom पे meeting के चरचे आम हो गये
Online classes ने जोड़ा
Teachers और बच्चों को
Work from home
बन गया जीने का तरीका
Corona से बचने के ये तरीके
आम हो गये
इतना ही नहीं,सीखा भी बहुत कुछ है हम ने
जान है तो जहां है
Tech savvy हैं
तो बहुत कुछ आसान है
समय बहुत बलवान है
मन्दिर,गुरुद्वारों या मस्जिद  में नहीं
हम सब के भीतर ही भगवान है!
हम सब के भीतर ही भगवान है!

BOARD CHECKING

Board Checking

Unending
Back bending
Tormenting
Torturous
Taxing
Taking toll on health
Pain in spine
Cervical all the time
Eyes popping out
Watery and tired
Tired to check any more
Still a ritual
a ritual to be followed religiously
Nothing fine
Yet all hunky dory
No excuses
No manipulation
No manifestation
Only and only
Deep and sincere
analysation,
scrutinization.
Every paper becomes a case study,
a poser
for the teacher
Posing straight into his/her eyes
What to award,
how much to deduct,
to award full or to cut,
Award for expression
Or for the content
If both are poor
What should be the score
this becomes the bone of contention
neither the child loses
nor the system rants,
rants about the checking or about the result,
Result of the children should be the supreme concern
Checking should be such that no one should repent.
At last the teacher concludes
gives an ending to the prelude
gives an autograph bemused
Because every commencement has to end

SUNDAY

Sundays are usually fun days or relaxing days for most of us.I have often seen ladies and gents basking in sun during winters devouring vitamin D .They also seem to be enjoying sound sleep under the sun trying to make up for the deficient vitamin D.
But for most of the working ladies sunday is rather more hectic, more demanding,more tiring than week days.Only relaxation is that one can get up late than usual but for Jasmine ,a teacher in a reputed private school,a mother of three children,wife of a businessman, Sunday used to be a grilling day .Getting up comparitively late, dusting,cooking breakfast,massaging oil into children's hair,washing followed by preparing husband's or children's favourite lunch,bla,bla... ...and the list was unending.
Following this   hectic schedule she got time in the evening to go out for a movie or for a short outing back to be busy in kitchen again.
During her week days also,her days were totally packed.After reaching home and having lunch,she used to help her children with their studies. In the evening she used to take them to hobby classes.And days rolled into weeks,weeks into months and months into years.....and life went on.
Her chidren grew up and were placed in big cities.She was still working in the same school but her husband,a financer,had become a busy bee.He had lots of friends with whom he preferred to spend time on sundays.Jasmine remained busy during day time but couldn't
Pass her time on Sunday evenings.This resulted in arguments between Jasmine and her husband. Every time he promised to be at home the next sunday but got busy the next time.
Sundays started giving her heebie-jeebies.Sunday evenings threw her out of her wits.
She tried every weapon to convince her husband to stay with her on sunday evenings be it an argument or crying bitterly or throwing tantrums or even threatening him for dire consequences but all in vain.

She realised how difficult was it to change anybody's mindset .One day a inspirational video by a renowned guru popped up on her whatsapp. Although she was not a habitual video watcher but that day she preferred to go through that video.It explained that one's happiness depends entirely on oneself and not on others.If one wants to be happy, one has to find ways himself or herself to be happy .This inspired her to spend her Sunday evenings in her own way and let her husband enjoy his way.That day onwards, she started being happy even on sundays .

An Evening Walk

    An Evening walk
It was aroud 6 o'clock in the evening. Vibhuti checked the refrigerator  and realised that there was enough cooked vegetable and dal for the dinner .Everybody had relished crispy tikki and swee...t  roshogulas as her mother-in-law  had the ladies kitty party at home but she controlled herself as she wanted to control her bulging tummy.Her daughter was at the coaching centre. So she  came out for an evening walk.
She took a round in her lane but nobody was visible.It seemed that everyone was
busy watching t.v wrapped in cosy quilts.She looked at the lonely park where a boy was sitting on a bench playing video games.She remembered the whatsapp message,'park me bargad aur neem murjhane lage hain
Lagta hai ghar ke bache mobile chalane lage hain.'
She took a long sigh and she went out on park Avenue road for the evening walk.As Vibhuti started moving ahead,she enjoyed watching cars passing by,the working  ladies  rushing towards their home,the guffaws of kids cycling on the road,the shopkeepers dealing with the customers,the girls returning from the gym or yoga,bla,bla,bla.....All this made her happy . she felt that life was in air.'zindgi jaise daur si rahi thi...'
Suddenly her eyes noticed a row of rehries for fast food,chinese dishes ,soup,burger and  she realised that the chain of eating joints had multiplied over a time period.
As she passed the rehri selling chaat papri,she felt the spices arising appetite but she brushed it aside and kept on moving.Next she came across a south indian rehri selling dosa,sambar and idli.chann...came the sound of splashing water and her eyes glided over the scene.Muthuswamy 's hands were working like a machine.
 Splashing water on a steaming kingsize tawa,spreading batter for so many dosas in a jiffy,stuffing, folding and serving all in one go. The aroma tickled her nostrils but she chidded herself that she was out for a walk.'No baba,no,you are here to reduce your belly not to add calories.So ....stay away from such allurations. '
She started plodding ahead.Her eyes still skamming the next stall.A beautiful, petite girl attired in smart dress was popping up the golgappas into her mouth.She tried to evade her and increase the pace of her footsteps.
'Why is the crowd gathered there?',she thought.'Oh,o,yummy ,lip smacking gulabjamuns and jalebies were being devoured complementing the weather.'Her mouth watered and her tongue flickered around her lips.She turned towards the eateries  on the right  side  like a sunflower turning its head towards glowing sun.Her gaze was fixed at  the caption displayed outside a new coffee caffe ,'Have the teddy or be without one.'She tried to understand what it meant but couldn't.Meanwhile she noticed the mushrooming restaurants all along park Avenue road.Her eyes jumped from sugandh dhaba to New way to Delhi vale ke chhole bhature to Saffron.The line was unending.She was amazed about the  increasing craze of people for the junk food .Suddenly she was about to bang into a small boy riding a bicycle .'Sorry....Sorry,'both of them said to each other.Laughing at herself  and looking at the stalls selling fast food like hot cakes ,she paraded fast towards her home,sweet home .After a wonderful evening saunter,she was back home again to be busy in the kitchen to serve the sumptuous but simple dinner .Very eagerly, she was waiting for her husband to come back.It was about 8 o'clock,time for Rajan to be back.Suddenly her mobile rang.It was Rajan's phone. 'Vibhuti,don't cook dinner ,i am going to bring chana chilli,dosa and ice cream.let's enjoy it.'Before Vibhuti could say no to Rajan,he had already ended the call.After five minutes, Rajan was at home with steaming dosas and spicy chana chilli .
All of them enjoyed the snacks heartily.Although Vibhuti pretended to show her displeasure for snacking at dinner time yet in her heart of heart she was extremely happy that her dezire had been fulfilled without even demanding for it.She thought she would diet the next day onwards and she kept on gulping big scoops of icecream .....

An ordinary girl

   An ordinary girl

'Mummy,i will definitely go to oppose CAA if such protest is held in my vicinity',declared confident and bold kirti.
'Beta,you are a grown up and have right to express your voice but as a mother i am concerned about your safety.',said Manisha ,a loving,understanding and mature mother of a 22 yr old daughter. Every time,kirti would clarify her stand on various issues,Manisha was amazed but proud of the clear vision her daughter had.'Mumma,it's study of English literature as well as your outlook towards life that has affected me and influenced my opinion', kirti would often say .Although happy to see her daughter flaunting her intellectual ideas,Manisha sometimes would doubt about the acceptability of such rational ideas by this chauvinist society but everytime she felt doubtful, she would seek blessings of God for her daughter and rested all the querries in her mind.Actually she was extremely  happy to have a very responsible and sensitive daughter. She felt satisfied that her daughter had imbibed the good values,the hu...uman values from her parents. She was happy that kirti was indeed a  generous and kindhearted human being as she used to help the needy children in studies as well as by donating her clothes or money.'Papa i need two thousand to help Meetu because her father has incurred losses and she needs help to fill her fees,'kirti said one day.'why not ,beta,you need not worry',her father said.Like father,like daughter.
Manisha remembered those days when she was a kid,nay ,an average kid with ever blowing nose,occasional migraine and IBS,'the irritable bowel 'syndrome as doctors would call it.How her heart would bleed when the children pooh-poohed her because of her irritatingly blowing nose or when she would cry for company of those who never wanted to play with her.
Manisha would try to convince the other kids to play with her but all in vain.She would then steal time from her hectic schedule to play ,run and dance with her and made it a point to try her level best to keep kirti cheerful.
'Mummy,mummy,where are you?'shouted vikky ,breaking her meditation and dragging her back to present.'Mumma,vinay is such a good friend. He always waits for me till i am done.......,'Vikky ,kirti's  younger brother kept on sharing day's events bursting into peels of laughter occasionally.
Manisha though present physically with Vickky was carried away to a world of memories where she remembered kirti being bullied by her classmates even when she grew up to be in twelth grade.
But she was always there for her.Manisha's motivation and blessing  and Kirti's  dedication landed her in one of the best colleges in Delhi.Since then kirti never looked back.
'Mumma,i am going out to play cricket',Vickky ran making  Manisha realise that it was evening,time to make preparations for dinner.She ran into the kitchen and started choppping,cutting, slicing,dicing and .....roasting .Along side she had prepared tea for herself.while the cooker  filled with water and chana dal was kept on gas stove to be boiled,she started sipping the tea.She again got lost.She remembered the day when she dropped Kirti in one of the best PGs in south Delhi .She could not notice the tears in kirti's eyes while saying goodbye to her which she regrets till date. .Although innocent and tactless,Kirti started growing up facing studious to arrogant  to distrated to cunning and clever girls but somehow never lost her aim.Manisha was just a call away and would listen to her,guide her and motivate her that hardwork results in miracles.She even flew to her the moment kirti felt depressed. The result was that kirti came out with flying colours in undergraduate classes.She even cleared the entrance for the postgraduate which so many bright students of her class couldn't.
'Shooo...',the whistle went off bringing her back to this world.She looked out of the window only to notice dark,tall and grey Palm trees swaying to the tunes of gat blowing wind.
Ding...dong.....went the mobile ring tone .It was kirti on that side.Manisha was quick to attend the phone .kirti was overflowing with happiness as she said,'O,Ma!you should be proud that i have become eligible for the post of assistant professor.I have got my NET certificate by UCC.See it on whatsapp.'Without wasting a second, Manisha checked whatsapp and lo there was the certificate declaring kirti to be eligible for the post of assistant professor in English forever in her first attempt.Her eyes  welled up with tears ,only difference was that this time they were tears of joy,joy of an average and  slow kid turning into an achiever ,all because of her relentless efforts,perseverance and never to say die attitude.

THE ELIXIR

The Elixir

A wheezing,puffing sound starts

rising slowly ,slowly into panting

like a running man,

 turns into rattling,louder & louder

like an engine,

turns into thundering,blasting sound

like a  thunderstorm

rising higher & higher,suddenly

turns into long,squeaky,sharp,whistling....

and,and...then silence rules the air for sometime....

as if no huffing,no puffing,no gasping, no ringing ,no breathing in or breathing out was there

as if he was calm as night....

The lady turning sides on the adjoining bed

feels relieved,relaxed&composed,

feels as if the calmness would act as a tranquilizer,

as if sleep would come lolling to her,

as if she would also experience the same sound,deep & satisfying slumber,

as if she would also become as silent as the man next to her.

she tries to close her eyes,

pulls her quilt over her face,

first lies straight,then turns sides,

dreaming,assuming,craving for a satisfying,sound sleep 

when.......when suddenly...

a whistle,a vibration,an uncontrolled breathing becomes 

a train of regular & loud noise,

a blaring series of reverbrating,resounding,resonating,kicking,unplugged,non-stop snores.....

the lady who is shocked,dumbstruck,aghast,stupefied

looks shockingly at the man ,

who is unaware,who is ignorant,who is clueless to whats happening 

who is enjoying a generous sleep...

she questions God,'

why this disparity,this unfairness,this bias,this prejudice?????'

'why she was devoid of this Elixir,why?????'