HUMAN OR BEAST?

Childhood is considered as the only sacred and innocent stage of life. “ If one wish to find God in simple efforts, then one must visit a child’s face “, we accept this long held belief, without any amendment but in the course of time, we have also accepted the various forms of atrocities against this Godly existence on earth –“the child”.

Just recently, a very grievous case of a two –year-old girl child came into existence. She was battered, her head was smashed, arms were broken, her face was branded with hot iron and several marks of human bite were shamelessly refuting our sophisticated but hollow belief that we are the human and not the beast.

In such horrendous circumstances, she is still fighting for her life. And even if she would survive, she will have to face unimaginable oddities by carrying her inflicted body. Her real culprits are yet to be traced, and unsurprisingly, they will be. But such cruel incident of utter ferociousness with a baby who was yet to realize her human form, was given a grueling signature by one of us, that it was not going to be easy for her  against their inherent animal.

 Unfortunately, such incidents re-occur with their extended degree of atrocity against those who are vulnerable and feeble. Ironically, with the same intensity, our submissive attitude for such tragedies is growing as well. Our law can prevent such happenings partially, but even today it has no permission to enter the gate of any home, where the heart of the matter lies. Most of the cases of child- abuse somewhere link to the family and relation. For a child; the line between normal and ill- intentional behavior becomes subtle. As a result, they often receive such treatment, which in nobles society is termed as –“gutter”.

Fortunately, this two- year-old baby, quite lately but is now admitted in the premium hospital-AIIMS, and under surveillance of most experienced doctors but lucklessly, she is still critical and in ICU. Though being unconscious, she is asking one blameless question to us very consciously that who we are-human or beast?........................can we answer?.........

YOU ARE MY SHADOW AND I AM JUST YOURS!!

YOU ARE MY SHADOW...

AND I AM JUST YOURS.
AND BEYOND THIS,

O MY LOVE!

ENVISAGE! 

JUST FOR ONCE,

THAT-

THERE WILL NEVER BE

ANY SHADOW

AND NO GLOOM........

BUT, ONE SINGLE SOUL

OF OUR SHARED LOVE..

LIKE YOUR SMILE,

LIKE YOUR CHARM.
OUR LOVE!

IS BLESSED, ONLY TO BLOOM...

IN THE AFFINITY OF SPRING

AND IN THE SEPARATION OF AUTUMN...

WE WILL-
FLOURISH A GARDEN..

WHICH SHALL  STAY HERE,

TO EMBRACE,

MANY MORE WINTERS

LIKE MINE.

INTO HERSELF,

LIKE YOU...

IT WILL HAPPEN-

ONE DAY,

BECAUSE, I KNOW-

THAT,

YOU ARE MY SHADOW,

AND I AM JUST YOURS..............................

WHERE PATRIOTISM NEED NOT TO KNOW ANY LANGUAGE!!!!

where patriotism need no voice!!!

In The Name of Love!!!!

What could be the extreme possibilities of- “love and its artless expression”, especially, when it becomes impossible to convey through ordinary worldly customs?. Whenever this amusing and romanticized subject tries to occupy my mind, I recall, the two beautiful short stories, which I had read during my school time.

First, “The Gift of the Magi”, by O.Henry, unveils the unpretending love, loyalty and more importantly, the trust between a husband and a wife along with their bounded source of living. The second one is-“the Nightingale and the Rose”, by Oscar Wilde, which, however, ends at a poignant end, yet showcases –the horizon-less trust of the Nightingale in the very  delicate virtue, which we call-“love or affection”.

   The Gift of Magie”, is a story of a husband and wife-Jim and Della, who wanted to celebrate “Christmas –Eve”, by gifting very unique stuff to each other despite knowing their deprived and limited conditions. Della was blessed with her beautiful shiny long hair, for which she had great love and care. She wanted to buy a platinum fob chain for her husband, but the meager sum of money was coming on her way. At this point, she decided to lose her invaluable possession- her long shiny hair, against which, she could buy the fob chain for him. On the other hand, Jim sold his watch to get the money to buy combs for the beautiful hair of his wife.

Finally, they landed in a situation, where, their gifts for each other became worthless for a while. Fob chain without the watch of Jim and combs without long hair of Della. But at this very moment, they had gifted something, to each other, which was just priceless- their trust, love, and loyalty for each other or simply- “their love with their artless expression”.

The other one is –"The Nightingale and the Roses". This was the story of a schoolboy who was in love with a girl in her class. But he was sad because the girl had put the condition to dance with him only if he would bring red rose for her. But it was not possible as there was no red rose in his garden or elsewhere in near locality. His plight was noticed by a nightingale in his garden. She knew the real worth of true love and devotion for it. For this reason, she flew to every possible place where she could find a red rose for that poor boy. But all it went in vain. Finally, she found a rose but it was white. But a tree said to her that white rose would turn into the red if she stains it with her heart’s blood. It was terrible but out of her immense faith in the value of love, she didn’t hang back but put her heart against the thorn and sang her final song till the last drop was snatched by thorn to turn the white rose into a red one. The voice of nightingale grew fainter and fainter and rose had turned its color into the red one. But, for her faith in love, the nightingale had to let go of her sweet voice and finally her life.
.

Though, later, the girl took off her promise and went with other well-to-do boy and that poor boy lost his faith and threw that red rose, yet the faith of nightingale prevailed forever.

However, the above said, are mere love stories, but its underlying message embraces all possible Human relations. 

 We can give the real essence to our relations and subsequently to our life, if we are ready to desert our most beloved personal possession for that supreme reason- which we simply call and yell -"love".

let me tell you a story

a story that never ends
 ..

let me tell you a story

a story that never began

let me tell you a story

that was there when God found himself

and will still be there when God

forgets who he is

let me tell you a story

a story of love.................COURTESY- Shekhar Kapur



Note :  Part/s of narration used in Stories was directly taken as it is from the original stories for illustration purpose.

JAIPUR LITERATURE FESTVAL-2012

For last two days, I was surrounded by an elite crowd, some winsome personalities, and of course a felicitous ambiance at Jaipur literature festival – 2012. Though I could attend only two days out of five, yet it was quite wholesome sojourn to be there.

Right from the beginning, this fest came into focal point, courtesy- Salman Rushdie.  Which in turn, made it quite equivalent to an academy award ceremony. Well, indeed, the whole gathering couldn’t be said less than the academy award ceremony. This year I was spellbound, by the magnified presence of JLF-2012 in itself unlike previous years, because of its widespread eminence across the world as- “the greatest literary show on earth”, termed by Tina brown.

 Also, as in previous years we could go in without any hustle-bustle and without any registration. This year, it stepped up in terms of entry to the venue (because all possible entry was through online registration) and gathering places, where all discussions were to be held.

 Despite of, handling the overcrowded and extremely avid crowd, the entire event was going on with its extreme feasibility.  Where one could find oneself quite in proximity of their most worshipped writers, poets and celebrities.  And being the part of the same crowd, I could easily understand the  stark difference of seeing and listening their views on  idiot box( television) and interacting with them live, no matter whether  you are  at  considerable distance from them.

Here I would like to share what I saw, enjoyed and most importantly learned in these two days, being there-

JANUARY-21:

 Well ! as I entered the venue, I could see and hear the discussions which were on full swing. Before I could get the real mood of the entire milieu, Gulzar was waving his hand from the terrace, to make an informal interaction with his fervent fans. My feet refused to take any further steps, just for the fact that my eyes could see a legendry whose songs, poetry, dialogues gave the real soul to our cinema. Further, as the event went on I attended his unique session on-“love story”, shared by Prasoon Joshi, who was an eminent personality in himself.

The entire session was quite enthralling as Gulzar and Prasson Joshi poured all the eternal romance of life through their Nazm ( A poem fully dealing with a single subject or thought)And one of them recited by Prasoon Joshi was as-

Babul jiya mora ghabraye,

Bin bole raha na jaye.

Bin bole raha na jaye.

Babul jiya mora ghabraye,

Mohe , sunaar (goldsmith) ke ghar na deejo,

Mohe , gahne na bhayen,

Babul jiya mora ghabraye.

Mohe lohar (blacksmith) ke ghar deejo,

Jo mere janjeeren( iron bar) pighlaye..

Babul jiya mora ghabraye…

As, this poem ended with its last beautifully sung-note, the entire audience offered an unmatchable applause to both legendry duo.

After this, I attended few more sessions which were carrying the utter seriousness. Candidly if I say,, I  had exploited my entire intelligence and wit to grasp the entire dialogues by intellectuals, but I just landed in no -man’s- land, which perplexed me up to an extent.  But, despite of my limited level of understanding, I succeeded in getting their meta-message, behind their discussion which was-“your work speaks itself effectively, without bothering the beauty of speech”. Finally the day ended leaving a unique experience for me.

JANUARY-22

Again, I was ready to attend one more day at JLF-2012, but with some delay, as I reached to the venue quite late. Therefore, I missed one important session of

O’prah Winfray. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to the two substantial sessions; first one was the discussion on- “survival strategies in the age of tweetering”. Which was discoursed by-Shashi Tharoor, Sohail Seth and Chetan Bhagat? The entire premise was overly jam-packed and no one was in the mood to withdraw his presence from there, .I was well versed with the invincible style of speech of Shashi Tharoor, but was listening first time to Chetan bhagat and Sohail Seth live. The session  had carried all possible wit and humor by speakers.


ANUPAM KHER AT HIS BEST:-

But, beyond this, I was waiting for the most awaited session. A book launch of Anupam Kher-“the best thing about you is you”. By the evening the entire front lawn, where the said event was to be held, packed itself  to hear one more wizard of film industry.

Finally, as he proceeded towards stage, along with Shashi Tharoor, the audience couldn’t resist itself to give a warm welcome to him. Formal dialogues, ended soon. And he delivered what it makes him special as a well known distinct face in industry. In the context of promoting his book, he shared his personal experience to his mesmerized audience which was as-

“My father was a Clark in forest department in Simla, and he had to take care of 14 members of his family.  For, once in a six month we used to go to a most expensive restaurant for having our patent food.

When I was in my 10^th standard, I got failed, to which I was unaware of initially. My father took me to the same costly restaurant. And I asked him why now?, he said,” you have failed in you exam”. I was shocked because, if I was failed then why  had he  brought me here,  where we used to go for once in a six months. He replied,” I just wanted to make you understand that whenever you fail in your life for any reason, do not get afraid of it”

.

“This was the priceless lesson given to his son by an ordinary father who was just a Clark in forest department”, said Anupam Kher to his listeners.

“ When a middle class person from small city  opt his way to big city, one feels inferior and smaller before the gaudy glitz and excellence of big city, so what more important , is to keep true belief  in oneself. I am a B.A.  38% pass guy who is now considered as an author and his book became bestselling book”, he said. He enlightened his audience in best possible manner and  in short and concise words.

 For me, it was something virtual which was turning out to be real, as I never saw any celebrity in real, let alone to hear some words of wisdom from them.

Shekhar kapur, Kabir Bedi, and many more were listening to him attentively. It was almost the end of the day for event and it grew darker, which reminded me to get back to my work place.

By and large, such events reminds us that there exist, one more dimension of human nature which is far more creative and real if we give a break to our superficial way of living , which entirely resort to profit and loss.

Mark Twain quoted it immaculately, “the person, who can read but does not read good books, has no advantage over the person who cannot read”.

 

ENJOY…..

ONE MORE TIME!!

ITS NOT TOO LATE -

TO LIVE ONE MORE TIME,

THE TIME WE RELISHED,

SOMEHOW, LEFT FAR BEHIND.

"LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL",

 WE USED TO SING SO MANY TIMES.

AND  WE SHARED IT 

AS A GIFT OF DIVINE.

ITS NOT TOO LATE,

TO BRING ONE MORE TIME

 THE SMILE WE WERE ENDOWED WITH,

  BUT,TRIED TO BURY  SO MANY TIMES.

ALL IT CAN BE VANISHED 

IN THE NICK OF TIME.

THE SEPARATION OF PASSION

  JUST BY LOOKING BEHIND. 

ITS NOT TOO LATE ,

TO SAY, ONE MORE TIME

 THAT YOU ARE MY ANGEL,

LET US  MEET,  FOR ONE MORE TIME.

ILLUSION!!!!

BEAUTIFUL CAN BE A DESERT

UGLY CAN BE A GARDEN.

PLEASURE MAY SOMETIMES BE PAINFUL.

ECSTASY MAY BE IN ,

 SOMETIMES, REMAINING DISHEARTEN.

IT COULD BE TRACED -

THE EVER FLOWING RIVER,

BENEATH THE ICE.

BUT  CELEBRATION WAS CONTINUED.

OVER A  PASSING   MARVEL.

THIS WINTER WOULD'NT BE

VICTIM OF ITS OWN VIRTUE,

IF SOME MEMORIES

 COULD BE EMBRACED ,

WITH THE  WARMTH OF LOVING HEAVEN. .  

THIS DAY IS HOLDING A SUN

 AND SHINING ITS OWN SPLENDOR.

 BUT, WHO WILL PRAISE THE SILENT NIGHT ?

 RAISES DESPAIRED STARS, 

 JUST,BY BEING PROFOUNDLY DARKEN........

ENJOY$$

WHY NOT TO CELEBRATE SIMPLICITY!!!

The only impetus for me, to write again, are some mesmerizing and utterly arresting images and videos of earth, captured by NASA, by its most powerful satellites. And it can surely be taken for granted that the moment we watch such things out of our inquisitiveness, we discover one thing in common-“the abysmal positive silence of a giant heavenly body: our earth, although, so mighty, yet so benign to all living-non living species to bear on herself. But beyond such poetic explanation of the ‘ beauty and virtue’ of our home planet, my sole  purpose is to set an amusing but consuming analogy between the concealed nature of our mother earth and of those (human), who finds their home for peace, a city for identity and a country to proud on, just upon the same planet.

 .

 Hundreds of kilometers from above, one can obviously estimate the very simple-balanced equation of simplicity and serenity below on earth. But as we go down, the same balanced equation of seemingly- quietness, gets unbalanced, and a very vague chaos emerges, in the form of geographical processes above and beneath the surface .In addition, some natural happenings like rain, storms, low tides, high tides in ocean and some other roaring activities occurs quite frequently which might be just impossible to see and imagine from the top without those mighty vision of satellites.

And how interesting it is, to understand that such equation of superficial serenity and simplicity of earth, seen from some 350 km above, is  just synchronized with the nature of human gesture.

.

Like, seen from above, all it seems quite uniform and in sync on earth unless we go down. Same it is, with many faces today: ‘all it seems quite spontaneous and easy going in first impression unless we down into their real face cum unexpressed expressions cloistered beneath the skin of artificial gestures through their eyes.

 Timeless storms of anger, terrible tides of emotions, rain of disappointments and drizzles of pleasures keep happening beneath, without any possible trace of display, which can only be unearthed with the same mighty vision as of satellite from someone else. Though it is the natural and inevitable virtue of our planet, but is it so natural and damn necessary, for us too?. Of course not! in any possible form.

 With the course of time, such artificial gestures and dual nature of our behavior, has emerged silently along with our overly ambitious desires to remain ahead in all arena. And, we have prevailed over such desires, and turned them into reality, but in such topsy-turvy efforts, we lost one proven reality of ours:- “ to keep  things simple in our behavior. Or in other expression: “the great friendship of our words with real thoughts and feelings”. Now if such thing happens, then there will be no need to choose among what to hide and what to say. As a result, we find ourselves in some other world of joy with suffice mental peace, which I think, every one yearn for throughout ones life.

We can execute  delicate as well as daunting task without any further need of making our life and  its expression more intricate  through our dual manner of behavior, especially when, all it can be outperformed by none other than but our own charming simplicity.

Let’s learn this great lesson from our own planet, which has been taking care of us for an eternity, without bringing self-made confusion anymore.

Enjoy!!

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS

http://vimeo.com/michaelkoenig/earth...

COURTESY- INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION.

$$