Raat Se Hui Baat!!!

Raat ayi mujse kehne ek baar, aaj neend ke badle mujse dosti karlo

Mujhe kuch kehne hai kai dino se tumse, to aj sapno se ankhe meench lo

Pehle thoda atpata laga, fir vyakul man ko ye prastav acha laga

Maine kaha chalo, ek pyali chai ke sath, baithe aur sune tumhari baat

Uski awaz ke sannate me, uske shabdon ki sachayi thi

Jo mere man ke kisi bohot veeran se kone ko kachot gayi

Jab jab wo kuch kehti, tab tab mere aise vichaar samne ate jinka mujhe kabhi abhas na hua

Uske jasbaat mere kuch aise jasbaaton ko jaga dete, jinki main kalpana bhi na karti thi

Wo prashn and uttar ka aisa chakrvyooh rachti, jisme main apne aap se hi lad baith ti

Kuch pal me hi main apne aapko koi aur pati, aur fir kuch pal me koi aur

Kabhi behad khush, kabhi kewal udas, kabhi gir gir kar hasti to kabhi foot foot kar roti

Aisa lagta jaise wo mujhe meri hi kayi anokhi shaksiyaton se pehchan karwa rahi thi

Fir kuch der hum dono hi chup ho jate, us khamoshi me jo sukoon tha

Wo neend ki gehre vadiyon me kabhi na mila

Din apne sath ujala lata hai, par us ujale me kayi cheezen chip jati hai

Din apne sath shor lata hai, jisme bohot si sachayiyon bus gum hoke reh jati hai

Din hame ek aise duniya dikhata hai jo hamne banayi hai, apne aaram ke liye

Raat ki khamoshi kuch naye raaz sunati hai, Raat ka andhera kuch naye drishya ujagar karta hai

Raat ek alag duniya dikhati hai jo hamesha rahegi, hum rahe ya na rahen, ujala rahe ya na rahe

Main apni in baton me khoyi thi jab neend ki ahat huyi

Usne kaha, chalo ab mere sath bhi do wakt bita lo, Raat tumhari humsafar to nahi

Maine palat kar dekha to Raat ja chuki thi… savera hone me bus do ghante reh gaye the

Maine guzri hui us Raat ko shukriya kaha aur sukoon se neend ki bahon me ghir gayi

Tamanna hai ki wo fir kisi roz ayegi aur fir mujhe mere kisi naye roop se milwa jaegi 

"The Sun" - A Short Poem

Someone asked me today, if being in Sun ever makes me irritated because it did trouble them. I said, I am in too much love with the Sun, so I accept that he can burn us with his heat but I can and have let him roast me a number of times while I wandered in the Hills, The Jungle, The city and the Beaches. That reminded me of this short poem I wrote for a very dear friend Chanchal, who shares my extreme love for the Life line of our System - The SUN.

Am colored in his aura at dawn and dusk,

For every breath of my life, his existence is must,
He burns himself and gives me light
If ever I can, I will hold him tight!
I will tell him that I love him more each day,
Though, he won't understand but love me his way
I will melt in his heat and still won't turn
For all his greatness, for just being The Sun!!

Why We Created our Gods!

Yes, it is a very controversial statement and I know I can be killed for killing the general wisdom; God created us, how dare I think we created them!! But before you jump your Guns and declare me an evil product of the modern ethos, hear me out. And, this is just my view; there is absolutely no intention to superimpose an idea against anyone’s beliefs.

I believe there is a creator who carved this world and is watching us advance in material, while we deteriorate in spirit. But, the Gods we worship today; I am not sure if they are our real creators or just manifestations of our definition of power.  I believe that when Human species started to evolve and form a civilization, the concept of God would have been created to unite the Human community by a single purpose, so people don’t stray, can develop camaraderie and hence, live peacefully. This would need the concept to be based on power, power to impact in case of non-adherence and power to provide, when worshiped. And probably this theory of cause and effect is easily comprehensible by Human mind. This concept would have enthralled everyone because of the enigma it created by sheer belief that someone was powerful enough to run their lives without being physically present around.

Gradually, as we spread across territories and developed individuality, we would have found different identities for ourselves and hence, started defining the Gods differently, not by his nature but by our nature and behavior, even clothing. Still, I would believe there was nothing wrong in it because when it comes to the paranormal energy that drives us each day, the theory is simple: TO EACH HIS OWN, you have your own God and I have mine. No Problem! So, where did it all go wrong – The point where the concept of God lost its purpose - instead of uniting us, it divided us! 

The problem with Human Kind is that when we attach ourselves to anything, we develop a deep urge to own it, too. So, we not only attached the Gods with our identities and idiosyncrasies, we started owning them.  Once, we owned them, we ought to make them more powerful than others’ gods and this never ending loop of superiority demonstrations lead us to where we are today. We relate to each other more by the Gods we believe in and in turn forget who we really are, that there is only one identity to us; of being Humans, and to our Gods; of being that strong, pure positive energy that can kill the evil in us. Instead, we have chosen to kill each, for those Gods, we created. Just say “In the name of God” and all your deeds will get justified, automatically.

I don’t contest the existence of that supreme force that drives us through the adventures of life; call it God, energy or invisible power, whatever. Just that I don’t find it in places of worship, where rich men pay more to see the Gods and get exclusive blessings!!!

If only we could find our real Gods, who live deep within us, in our conscience, in our positivities, outlook, kindness and selflessness. If only we could realize that just being Human is enough – If only...

So….How’s Life?

Writing a post after a really long time, but what do I do, I was busy…busy trying to solve a problem, which never was a problem; LIFE. Yes, that’s a late realization, but an important one. I thought, I needed to sort my life, give it a direction, a meaning and make it worthwhile. I thought of all the big Questions: What did I want to become? A writer, a traveler, a social worker? or just a better researcher? What is the purpose of my existence, where should I take my life? Should I gain spiritual knowledge? Yes, all big questions and mullings. I thought and planned and thought and planned and did a few things; but still life seemed too far, let alone getting any sense of direction or meaning. The higher my urge for a meaning of life, the lower was my morale and strength. WHY?

And then one day, sitting on a park bench; basking in sun's warmth, surrounded by bright coloured flowers, little children playing with their dogs and all the beauty around; I found my answer, I found LIFE. I realised that in all my efforts to sort life, I forgot to do the most basic; the most important thing; “To LIVE”. I forgot that Life never demanded me to do big things, but to live every small moment. It did not need sorting. It just needed me to accept its complexities and appreciate the beauty of its solutions, no matter how weird they are.

It did not need me to make it perfect, it only needed a belief that it was Perfect!

Life is always sorted; we just fill it with Big things and forget our small share of joys. We don’t need to create mega events; we just need to believe that every single moment and achievement is big enough. We don’t need to do anything special to make our lives meaningful; we just need to find meaning in those small frames of time that collectively make up the Album called LIFE.

I hope you are not doing the same mistake, I hope you are not missing out on Life. J

The New Moon

It is midnight and I am sitting in my balcony, where a gentle breeze is caressing my hair and the night has fallen in the lap of silence. While I look at the buildings near and far, the yellow lights, the shadows of surroundings and the stillness of the moment, my eyes catch gaze of something in the night Sky. The Big White New Moon gleaming with Sun rays. So exquisitely white that even its craters could not tarnish its purity.

A deep sigh of relief passes through me. All the thoughts of day at work, disturbances in life, an unknown tomorrow, just vanished when I saw the brightness of this beautiful natural satellite of ours. All commotion settled, tranquility prevailed and I did not know why I smiled. I am at Peace, WOW!!! But why? What did the Moon do? I could feel warmth in its appearance, proximity in its distance, a deep connection in its non-human existence. I think the very reason is this universe, the fact that we both are a part of this magnificent system, connects us with energy, so powerful, that it negates the need of words for a conversation. Right now, I can feel this energy in my eyes, which are stuck at the Moon, making it aware of its beauty, intimating it that “you have another admirer”, and thanking it for restoring my sanity & patience, for being so eloquent and for Being There, Being VISIBLE.  Meanwhile, my mind tries to capture the Moon’s light, its aura, as much as it can, so that it can treat me with the visuals, in my most tiresome times. I haven’t felt so serene in a long time. The last time was when I was in front of the Himalayas.

This just reinforces my belief in the ingenious of the creator of this universe, who would have made numerous ways in which the parts of this system could connect with each other, irrespective of living or non-living, but I guess we have  long forgotten this system, the NATURE, the originals….But this is what is true. Whenever you are disturbed, you just need to look at something that is not man-made and you will find peace and calmness. Even five minutes with the Naturals will give you so much peace that you would feel there is no need for liquor to get a high, to forget your worries. Try it next time…

My 15 minute trance with the Moon is interrupted by something and I realize that I need to sleep now or else I will miss the rise of yet another splendid creation “THE SUN”. So I am off to sleep now. Good Night!!!

Strength of Mind

In the cacophony of life, each character, when translated into an adjective, becomes a relative term. Talk about “Strength”, especially of mind, and you will know there resides different levels of it in each individual’s life. We think of having strong minds because each day we find resolve or at least try to find one for our numerous problems. Our situations and dilemmas seem so big that overcoming them, no matter how trivial they are, makes us feel proud and we proclaim of being driven by a strong mind that helped us face the situation and overcome it. TRUE - only till our vision and perspective is limited to our own life. Get out of your life, look around; and you will learn there exists a different definition of strength that can make you re-think your problems and abilities to tackle them. We feel strong enough after tackling trivial issues at work, sustaining relationships, earning a comfortable living and many other mundane things.

This is what happened the other day, when I was doing my routine work in office, cribbing about morning tea, contemplating my career, cursing my fate for making me a part of a miser company, my failure to buy a home and everything else? I took pride in the fact that I had a strong mind because, in spite of a not having all the above I could control my emotions and thoughts and do my work, thoroughly. I had to send an email to a client about a project and while thinking all this, I pressed the send button. POP - “out-of-office reply”. Taking a sigh of frustration, I was just about to close the message when my eyes read the message “I am still undergoing Breast Cancer treatment and may take time in responding to your email”. I read the message at least thrice and it shook me. Shocked and stunned, I just thought I was never going to receive a reply, just then came her email on the project scope and the way forward. This really got me thinking, how could a person struggling with death each day lead such a normal life? It is not possible. I can not work in slightest fever and cough and she is working with a cancer. How is it possible for her to carry on a normal life along with the chemotherapy? While my mind rattled off these questions, answers started pouring in too. Strength, is to live life fully amidst the imbroglio, to smile even when in pain, to walk against the wind, to hold no grudges, to forgive, to not succumb to situations but harness possessions and fight back. That’s STRENGTH redefined for me.

The Quality Conscious - Not for us

Quality – our Mission

Quality is core to the success of our company. We want to provide quality services to our clients. We are committed to quality; whether for our clients or for our employees. These are some of the mission statements made by the upcoming corporate firms in India. But, but, but when it comes to quality of work life for employees, the word Quality starts fading from the ruthless ears of the top management. Quality work-life, almost becomes an oxymoron. Its bitter, because it’s true, that each of us is appraised on the basis of the perfection with which we work in office, but when it comes to the services an organization ought to provide us, laxity conquers.

QUALITY – What is it? The cafeteria food which is worse than the food in a hostel Mess or the free of cost transport (one of the highlights used to lure potential candidates) which includes travel in rickety buses and rude drivers with rash driving skills as their forte, or the bus route which is deliberately planned to make an hour journey into two? And don’t even try talking to the management about it, because this is too small a matter for them to handle. Try going to the middle-management and you will hear only one thing - its imposed from the top. Where will you go? Your manager? Forget it. He would just say that these things are too petty for you to consider. Just concentrate on the quality of work you deliver and how the quality can be improved, you know our client has become more finicky on quality these days….blah blah blah….here baby.take the QUALITY CAPSULE yet again.