Busy...

Eyes on target, mouth's but a straight line;
Body and heart and soul all alike unwound.
Busy is the world as it goes,
For riches, and success, and pursuits abound.

"Friends, and love...and life, o' wait!
I'm headed for the stars, be back in no time.
Friends, and love...and life, o' wait!
Will see you here, when I touch the ground"

Busy is the world for it goes around.
To riches, and success, and pursuits abound.

क्या होगा जो...

लगता तेरा कारवाँ कुछ उठता हुआ सा है, मुझको।
तुझको है इंकार मग़र...
तुझसे बढ़कर शायद, अब मैं जान गया हूँ तुझको।

नदी, हवाएं, पँछी  और बादल, कब रोके से रुकते हैं

सैलानी तुझ से ये सारे, भोर भए चल उठते हैं;

न आह कोई, और न कोई आँसू रोक तुझे अब पायेगा।

बस इतना वादा देते जाना, न लौट इधर फिर आएगा।

न आँसू मेरे, और न ये बाहें, बस अब बढ़कर रोकेंगे तुझको;

लगता तेरा कारवाँ कुछ उठता हुआ सा है, मुझको।

क्या होगा जो फिर एक बार चला तू जाएगा;

कुछ यादें नई नई सी, कुछ कविताएँ दे जाएगा।

ख्वाब था शायद, ख्वाब ही होगा

यादोँ के उस मौसम से,
कोई आया, मेरे पास में बैठा।
एक पुराना गीत वो लाया, और वही पुरवाई भी,
नज़र को थामे नज़रो से उसने, बीती बातें दोहराईं भी।

साँझ की बेला, और हम दोनोँ,
और मन में वही शहनाई सी।
मेरी बात सुनी भी उसने, अपनी बात सुनाई भी।

यादोँ के उस मौसम से,

कोई आया,मेरे पास में बैठा! 

आज पुराना यादोँ का मौसम, बरसा, मैं मुस्काई भी।
आँख झपकते मैनें पाया फिर वही तनहाई  थी!

ख़ाली था घर का हर कोना, और

वही ग़म की घटा सी छाई थी। 

वक्त  के शीशे से गर्द सी उड़कर 

याद चली कोई आयी थी!

ख्वाब था शायद, ख्वाब ही होगा

यादोँ के उस मौसम से,

कोई आया, मेरे पास में बैठा।

एक ज़माना था कुछ ऐसा दिल में बजी शहनाई थी

यादोँ के उस मौसम में ,

कोई आया था, मेरे पास था बैठा

नज़र को थामे नज़रो से उसने, दिल की बात सुनाई थी

नज़र को थामे नज़रो से उसने, दिल को राह दिखाई थी।

ख्वाब था शायद, ख्वाब ही होगा

यादोँ के उस मौसम से,

कोई आया, मेरे पास में बैठा।

With atrocities to women taking alarming proportions, who wants to lose peace of mind and sleep and what not, in the name of having daughters?

 A 23 year old here, a 10 year old there...a five year old, a 50 year old, a spy suspect, a war prisoner...I wonder where and what we're headed to, and where the stop is! If there is one, of course.

There have been talks and condemnation of female infanticide and foeticide over and over, time and again, Their being associated to family honour and so on too sees the disapproving eye with "why associate them with family honour?".

"Well, why not?!"


With atrocities to women taking alarming proportions, would people want to lose peace of mind and sleep and what not, in the name of having daughters?

What is the man supposed to do? Go out to earn his family's livelihood, or sit guard on his womenfolk? And, if he sits guarding them, who gets the bread home?!

Those that have and bring up daughters live constantly through the hell called 'the fear (the trauma) of the daughter being assaulted, violated any minute'! Some come out unscathed, others end up being not so lucky.

And what next?
Marry her off to some brute who'll beat her for more dowry...burn her alive?!

 OR

Die of shame if she was violated, for there's no groom to ever wed her (or even her sister/s), there's no neighbourhood that will let you and her be, that will let you and her heal--so there's no 'normal' life for them, if there can be one, that is.

Where lie the roots of female infanticide/foeticide, then? And their association with family honour? It is high time we think hard on this one!

No, this is no justification for female infanticide/foeticide. These are atrocities too, and call for condemnation big time! These could serve as excuses...even reasons though.
...the thought process?



We have to make the world safe for women (age no bar)!

"Yea, so what's new in this? Don't we all already know this?" You'd want to say.

"Sure! You surely do! This isn't new(s) of course! Okay, so give us the new/s--what is your bit in helping make the world safe for women?

...As safe as it is for men, to begin with."

Dare I say?

Why do movies with item numbers make a bigger dent on the box office? Why does an item number always make it, even if the movie bombs? Why do movies 'have' item numbers, to begin with?
Right! We all have the answer...

There's no denying that we are a country of the masses, and are we talking masses around, these days?

Well, ours is a closed society, a closed culture, where most of the population still is far far from the 'urban' world. Here most families still have their daughters clad from head to toe, tucked into the deeper recesses of their homes--literate or not...sheltered, 'protected'!

Yes, ours is a closed society, a closed culture, but the fabric isn't sturdy as new anymore! It's not without peep holes!

What's all this here, about?

Well, aren't there guys that say why they 'enjoy' women's tennis games on TV? Or that they find dogs better off for their just whenever...with just 'whoever' advantage?

Oh yea! We are a closed society, a closed culture still, but not without these peep holes--the tennis in shortest of short skirts, the item numbers...the count just begins here!

It's the beginning of transition...a journey that's never easy! We have cities with their upcoming urbans juxtaposed with the 'not urban yet', still...and there have to be consequences!


Just the other day there was report of some north Indian states having a high ratio of crimes with a sexual orientation, and a low women to men ratio. Well, isn't the picture clear then? Do we need everything said out loud and clear?!


A closed patriarchal society, with members among the masses who excite at the sight of mere mini skirts in a game of tennis, teased by the likes of item numbers and left to fend for themselves...

Oh yea, there's people being heard saying girls have to be more clad, and not instigate crimes against them...and there's ridicule of it! But let's look at it. It's not all baseless! Yes, there are such crimes against fully clad women, and even little girls, then aren't the less clad ones easier targets, given that they would excite fancies easier?! No! We definitely aren't talking 'rights' here!

Ours has been a land of segregation, of purdah (veil) for many a century, and it's bound to enrage the the guardians of such a society, to see the purdahs being discarded...well, have we ever thought why this purdah even came into being, in the first place? No, I'm no advocate of it...of anything, nor a critic!

Well, why did women start 'jauhars'? Oh yea, they did it on their own...the cause, the reason not being 'their own' of course!

If we come to asking questions, there would be no end to it! Did we ever think, 'when it's between kings and kingdoms, why do the women of the overtaken almost always have to pay the price with their honour'? Be it a holocaust, an army siege...no matter what!

Well, for that matter, why do some countries need extreme punishments such as stoning to death/hanging for crimes against women?

It all needs to be thought through, and thought well...

Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer: A Review

Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A heart-wrenching saga of a people trapped between layers upon layers of bureaucracy, politics, systems, processes and the like, in the name of, for the sake of independence, religion, justice. A saga that leaves one chilled to the very bones, yet warmed to their immense faith and hope, in the face of all adversities and sheer atrocities they breathe every breath through, in the name of 'life', in the hope of 'life'.

They are all trapped--the locals, the militants, the soldiers, the paramilitaries--in processes, in being parts of processes...all of them dead, either in bodies or in souls, having to bury and cremate the individuals they had once been, as the author puts it.

Leaves me compelled to reach out to the people so like us, yet rendered so different at the hands of the strife!

View all my reviews

On a journey...

On a journey  to far away,
nothing to hold on to, Ah! No crutch!

Somewhere out there to perch,
beyond all reach and of touch.

View what befalls the sight,
too far to see, or say much.

On a journey  to far away,
beyond all reach and of touch.

Embark, head on to,
no step to fall in with, no hand to clutch.

Somewhere out there to perch,
too far to be seen, or to touch.

On a journey  to far away,
nothing to hold on to, Ah! No crutch!

ये घटा नहीं बरस पाएगी...

आज फिर, लगता है, ये घटा नहीं बरस पाएगी...
आज फिर ये हवा साथ इसको ले जायेगी!
रोज़ ही, कुछ दिन से यूँ घटा छाती है,
रोज़ ही मगर, बिना बरसे चली जाती है.
रोज़ ही दिल में एक उम्मीद सी होते ही जवाँ,
मन मसोस, खड़ी देखती रह जाती है.
कि जो छाती है घटा उम्मीद के निशाँ लेकर,
वो कहीं और जाकर बरस जाती है!
 

aaj phir, lagta hai, ye ghata nahin baras paayegi...
aaj phir ye havaa saath isko lejaayegi!
roz hi, kuchh din se yuun ghataa chaatii hai,
roz hii magar, binaa barse chalii jaatii hai.
roz hii dil mein ek ummiid sii hote hii javaa.n,
mann masos, khadii dekhtii rah jaatii hai.
ki jo chaatii hai ghataa ummiid ke nishaa.n lekar,
vo kahii.n aur jaakar baras jaatii hai!