Why Gandhi ??

While paying at the juice counter yesterday, I suddenly asked my friend, "Why do we have Gandhiji's picture on our currency notes?"

The possible answer that I expect from the majority is that he is the Father of our nation.

He didn't believe in industrialization, market or economy. Then, why his photo on the currency notes? If that's the reason then, instead of respecting him, I think we are doing the opposite. We are using his picture on that paper, to which he didn't give much importance. Haven't we forcefully placed him there?

Many of us revere Gandhiji . I too have used "ji" just for the reason that I have been taught to do so since childhood, what not made any other freedom fighter deserve a "ji"?  Anyways, not delving into this particular intricacy of our respect for him, I feel that many of us have placed him too high on the honor scale without knowing much about him. This is simply because from the day we are born, we are conditioned to look at him as a Mahatma.

I feel, we were never told the full story about him.

कुछ टूटी हुई लकीरें ....

कुछ टूटी हुई लकीरें जिन्हें हम जोड़ना चाहते थे,

कुछ बचकानी ख्वाइशे जिन्हें हम छोड़ना नहीं चाहते थे!

एक अधूरी तस्वीर जिसमे हम रंग भरना चाहते थे,

एक टूटी हुई कलम जिससे हम लिखना चाहते थे!

हर आइय्ने में परछाई को भी हमने छूना चाहा , 

हर ख्वाब बिखर जाने पे भी हमने ज़िन्दगी को पूरी तमक से चाहा !

The unwanted intuitions ..

Sometimes, I feel why do we get a hint of things which are about to happen.
You don't want to feel in advance, how you will feel when it would actually happen but you still have the intuition. It makes you brood.
You are sitting and suddenly you have an inkling of some random thing that might take place either with you or with your acquaintance at some uncertain time. So vague, but still uncomfortable to feel... It might not be related to your routine but it suddenly dawns upon you out of nowhere. Then you are like, Oh God! Please, please , don't let that happen ( in case you have a negative intuition, which is often). You feel restless because many of your intuitions have proven to be correct. They might be a result of mere co-incidences but still you worry because that's human nature. Then, of course, you are left with the jitters.Your logic will tell you, "Common, don't be stupid, it hasn't happened yet, what's the point of worrying?"

That's what is even worse, everything, every time, doesn't go by logic. You can't control your thoughts but at times you just wish that it shouldn't have come to your mind.

When you forget everything!

There are times when you pick up a book, look at the cover page, start flipping through the pages and even before you know, you are reading that book. You eventually land up reading half of the book and then you realize, "Oh! two hours have passed." You suddenly notice that your eyes are red, you are tired, you need sleep but you just can't put the book down.
You hadn't picked up the book to read but just to have a look at it while you were idling about the room.

That's the charm of writing. The text which doesn't let the reader put down the book. You would want to turn the pages and at times the excitement is so much that you even have to hide the text so as not to jump to the last line to end your avidity. You have a different feeling while reading, may be it's nostalgia mixed with excitement, something you really can't put into words but experience.

When a writer is able to engross you to the extent that you forget your environs, I call that writer a skillful architect, who has constructed a whole world of his perceived reality for you by his words. He is a painter in the true sense who has painted his vision right in front of your eyes.

Jhumpa Lahiri is one such writer.

Interpreter of Maladies... simply stupendous!

The double standards!

He kept a pistol on the head of the horse and pressed the trigger. The horse immediately fell to the ground. He cut its throat with a sharp knife and blood came rushing. Its skin and all other parts, including the intestine, were taken off. Somewhat similar things were done to sheep, calves, and bulls. All would be utilized for human-purpose.

It's the description of Blood of the Beasts (Le Sang des bêtes), a 1949 short French documentary film. I could see people flinch while watching it. They were pitying the poor animals.

One thing, I failed to understand was why people were behaving that way. Most of them are non-vegetarians. Don't they realize that the same process would have been followed before the food kept on their plate was prepared? Many of them use products made of leather. Don't they think that the leather has come out in a similar way?

Why are we such hypocrites? I could watch the documentary without any flinching or pitying. I am, anyways, considered as the heartless person! But , those who supposedly have a heart and are emotional beings, were quite disturbed at the sight of dead animals. Many didn't even watch it.

I couldn't help but smirk at their double standards.

Trapped in relationships!

There are times in life when we don't want to face the truth especially when it comes to relationships.

We know what the reality is, our brain has got it but our heart won't ever accept it. I am not talking of only the relationship between lovers but of all those relationships which we start and are not the blood relations.

Common ,let's face it! By just tying a Rakhi, no one becomes your brother, saying I love you does not make the other person your lover, calling some one a "friend" is not friendship, you actually have to feel it. That makes the difference, faking does not. Once you feel that you did a mistake: accept it. We get so emotional that we just can't put the reality into words even when we find that continuing the relationship is futile. We think that it might hurt the other person and we just can't let it go!

Mind you, you will be called the most unemotional person, you will be the person who has a heart made of stone, you will become the worst person on this earth , even the worst thing in whole of the universe, if you tell the other person what the truth is. Try and you will be blamed for not understanding the meaning if a relationship.

It's good to enter into relationships but they should not be dragged on even if we feel suffocated in them. We should be able to severe ties when the relationship is no more than just in words. There is no point in fooling ourselves when we know the truth.

Motivational books: Worth reading??

One thing I have always failed to understand is why people read motivational or self-help books. Especially, the Robin Sharma kind of books.
Common, think for once. Why do we need someone else's experience to learn the lessons of our life. We all know that some or the other day life will teach us. Still we need to learn in advance how to handle difficult circumstances. That's like killing the adventure of living a "life". It's our life, not a motivational writer's, who has to tell us to act in a particular way to achieve our goal. It might have worked for him, how does it guarantee that it will work for others. The writer should understand that he/she has learnt by his/her good or bad experiences, now it's our turn to analyze our own experiences in whichever way we want. We should reflect upon our actions, why let somebody else influence it!

In a nutshell, for me, the sole purpose of writing and reading any book of this kind is a sheer waste of time.

           The unexamined life is not worth living- Socrates

P.S.- no offence meant to the readers and writers of such books.

शायरी की शुरआत..

हम येहाँ  उनके इंतज़ार की घड़ियाँ गिन रहे थे,

और वो वहां किसी और के इश्क की वफ़ा कर रहे थे!

हम येहाँ उनके ख्वाबो में डूबे हुए थे,

और वो वहां किसी और की निगाहों में खोये हुए थे!

हैरान हैं हम आज भी , ऐसी क्या खता हुई हमसे,

जो उन्होंने हमारा साथ छोड़कर किसी और का हाथ थाम लिया!

किसी और को वो दिल कैसे लेने दिया, जो सिर्फ हमारी अमानत थी,

किसी और को इतना करीब कैसे आने दिया, जिस एहसास पर बस हमारा ही हक था!

वो हमसे बेवफाई कर लें, ये हम मान नहीं सकते,

पर आज हम उनकी वफ़ा पर यकीन भी नहीं कर सकते!

Everyone has lost it!

When Rahul Gandhi fractured his leg and when Varun Gandhi married Yamini, one of the leading English newspapers in India published this "news" on the front page. You must have read it. If not, then please do because this is "news" for our media. This is necessary for the public to know. Oops! I missed something.. it is necessary for the public to know what is happening in the Gandhi family.

What I could infer from this: either there is nothing important happening in the country or the media is too obsessed with the Gandhi family. Certainly, the die is rolled in the favor of the latter. You see, it's the contacts and the tie-ups which matter in the media industry, even if it includes sycophancy. 

MPs got a 300% hike in their salary and they still want more! After all, a glutton is a glutton, however and whatever you feed him, he wants more. How does it even matter if thousands of us spent whole of our lives in just hoping to get a promotion or a pay hike? They should get enough...Enough to wear a garland of rupees 2-5 crores on their birthdays.

See, this is politics.... either get into the mud yourself or you will be splashed with it!