स्याही सूख गयी , कलम खामोश है
मंजर यूं है, की ज़मीर -ए -आवाम बेहोश है

सियासत बिना ऊसूलों के नयी बात नहीं
आवाम बिला उसूल जरूर। .. नयी तस्वीर है

सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना रखने वालों को भी... अब
दिल में छुपा के रखने की इज़ाज़त नहीं

वतनपरस्ती। .... अब कोई इबादत नहीं
साज़ो -सामान है। ....जिसकी नुमाइश ज़रूरी है

कोई सरफिरा बड़बड़ा रहा था। ... कोई सरफिरा बड़बड़ा रहा था
 कि सैंतालिश में आज़ाद हुए

गर आज़ाद हैं तो ये पहरे किसने बिठाये
हवा में जहर किसने घोला। ...पानी को लाल किसने किया
लहू को गुलाल किसने किया। .....इंसानियत को हलाल किसने किया

गर आदमी की पहचान उसका निवाला और कलावा है
फिर तो ये आज़ादी एक दिखावा और छलावा है

अब भी कहीं कोई दो वक़्त रोटी की कशमकश में है
ज़िन्दगी झूझती है। ...ज़िंदा रहने की हुज्जत में है

पर हमें क्या। ...पर हमें क्या
हम तरक्की शुदा मुल्क के बाशिंदे हैं। .
सोशल मीडिया पे ट्रेंडिंग हैं। ..
इंटेल्लिचुअल्ली इवॉल्वड हैं

आज फिर चार सौ कमेंट करेंगे। ..आज फिर चार सौ कमेंट करेंगे
पांच सौ लोगों को गलियां देंगे

इस कैंप या उस कैंप में बाँट जायेंगे
 अपने अधूरे देश प्रेम  का झंडा फहराएंगे
कंप्यूटर बंद करेंगे। ..और आल नाईट पार्टी में जायेंगे

bambaiyya

तो लो भैय्या,   अब हम भी हो गए बम्बैय्या
४ डिब्बे पहले हो..... कूदना , या शश श करके ....बातें करना
अब अपन का  दिन मिसळ पाव से  शुरू ....और पावभाजी पे ख़तम
चिपचिपाती गर्मी हो या ....झमझमाती बरसात
हर ान ुभव एक नया सा है

ज़िंदादिली का दूसरा नाम है मुंबई
अबकी तो मटकी भी फोड़े , बप्पा का स्वागत भी किया

कहते हैं "सिटी नेवर स्लीप्स "
सही कहते हैं
जब सपने हों  हज़ार,  तो नींद का कैसे आये विचार

सब तरफ है दौड़, हर  तरफ है दौड़,

पर ज़िन्दगी भी तो दौड़ ही है
यहाँ बस .....ज़रा तेज़ भागती है

जो हाथ सीट के लिए धक्का देते हैं ,
वही बहार लटकने पर संभाल भी लेते हैं
दिन की भगदड़ के बाद लोकल के अनजान चेहरों में
 बिना नाम की कुछ मुस्कानें सुकून देती है
कुछ दुआ सलाम होती है,

थक हार के  समंदर किनारे बैठो
तो जैसे शोर में ......एक अलग ख़ामोशी होती है
लहरें जैसे कुछ कान में चुपके से कहती हैं

मैं भी उस वक़्त  को सोच के मुस्कुरा देता  हूँ
जब शहर के साथ पहली थी मुलाकात
लगता है जैसे कल की ही हो बात
और अब कोई पुरानी दोस्ती लगती है
कुछ तो है शहर में बात, जो अजनबी को बनाये ख़ास
हर एक को अपने में समां के,     रखती है दिल के पास

तो भाई चलो .....अब आ गया मलाड  ,
बाकी की कहानी कल सुनाएंगे भैय्या
अब हम भी हो गए बम्बैय्या

27/04

India shining or losing it's sheen. Shining for whom? Truth is concealed behind so many curtains and occasionally gives it glimpse in the form of various scams, the enormity of them is horrifying. Corruption is present almost in every country but in varying degrees. In India it is eating out the moral fabric of every ethical and moral foundation of a functioning society. Collusion among big corporations, politicians, bureaucrats and now media also is creating such a dismal picture that no glimmer of hope appears at the end of the tunnel. Black money is crudest form of siphoning of resources of the country, whereas writing off of corporate taxes such as-income tax, excised duty etc. in the name of protecting workers and providing cheaper products to consumers is only a big bluff. Funds for critical infrastructure such as public health systems, educational infrastructure are never enough and whatever is made available is not utilized because of the reasons known to all. Dubbing health tax as "misery tax" and forcing government to pull it back signifies the power of freedom of expression provided in the constitution that how India responds towards it's citizens through lenses coloured with power, cartel, money etc.

What is the exact problem? It's very tough to even comprehend it in it's entirety leave alone the solution part. It appears a maze where at every other corner a hydra-headed monster is waiting.

(contd.)

accident

sunday ka din tha...tareekh? 1 Aug., good..aage bolo, blog likho...main 12 saal ki umar se chala raha hoon main chalaoonga, jyada beer nahi pi thi, aadhi-aadhi bottle only...fir pakode khane ka socha, aur gadi palat gayi, kitne mare police walon ne poochha car ki halat dekh ke,bekaar stitch, 2 din ICU , bhai aa gaya, fir mahine bhar rest...shaam tak sab kuchh sahi..pata bhi nahi chala. aur pakode khayega ,

False Economy

A book by Alan Beattie-International economy editor of the "Financial Times"

Any ready prescriptions and solutions to the economic problems of the world face imminent danger of failure in the complex environ in which (problems) they evolve. Author has carefully distanced himself from providing any such easy solutions, nevertheless his analysis is intriguing, covering vast spectrum and is written with a historical perspective.

It covers topics ranging from comparing the developments of American and Argentinian economy over a century and where they have reached starting from the same point. It clearly outlines failure of the "Import Substitution Model" adopted by Argentina and other countries around the globe in their economic history. Why India turned to this model when example of it's failure were abundant is a question. Nationalization drive, coupled with steel-frame of bureaucracy and expediency based politics only pushed the economy on inevitable path of failure.Though, course correction was achieved in Indian case in post-1991 via IMF prescribed reforms measure under the leadership of then Finance Minister. Author does not fail to recognize the failure in equitable distribution of the rewards throughout the populace. Argentina, hopelessly stuck to it and is over dependent on the borrowing.

He further highlights that how lobbying and political expediency can hinder taking up right decisions. Under the pressure of very small number of cotton farmers US is sticking to Agriculture subsidy which is jeopardizing the interests of millions of farmers in developing countries and has stalled the developments in DOHA round of negotiations under WTO.

Scanning the whole economic history of the world and extracting major lessons from it in a single volume is a very challenging task and certainly author has missed out on certain points, but the insight provided is amazing and he never claims the book to be encyclopedic in nature.

Contd...

वादा था शाम वापस आने का ..

वादा था शाम वापस आने का , सफ़र में रात हुई और राह गुम गयी

दरख़्त के नीचे दो लम्हा आँख लगी , ख़ुली तो अजनबियों के शहर में

अब ढूंढते हैं की वो राह किधर है , हम किस्मत पे वो कमबख्त हमपे हंसती है

तुम्हारे शहर में चंद लम्हों में घर की याद शिद्दत से आई है

ऊंची ईमारत ऊंचे लोग सब बहुत अच्छा है, पर मुझे मेरी छोटी बस्ती अच्छी लगती है

ये अजनबी शहर तुम्हे मुबारक, हम तो अपनी दुनिया में अच्छे थे

ये तौर तरीके इस शहर के हमसे हमीं को चुरा ले गए

वादा था शाम वापस आने का ...

what is unique about you!!!

what a ridiculous question...In this vast sea of humanity and this endless history, has there anything been left...

probably yes, my time is unique about me, my experiences are unique to me, the path which i have covered in detail is unique, but in a macro-perspective....it'll resemble in parts someone else's.

Does that take away my uniqueness or does that count as an interview answer?

I don't know.

I wonder is there anything unique about anyone in that sense, where everything is relative to something.

Our lives are measured on some parameters, where people are put on relative scale. Does that leave any scope for uniqueness?

Arguments can certainly be put forward, that everybody is unique in a certain way...then i'm unique like everybody else and that makes me even more like everybody else. So where is the uniqueness!

Will leave this here...as have something more important to do, may be some other time this reflection will continue.

Path of heroes...

पथ की बाधाओं से वो नहीं घबराते , न ही इतराते सफलताओं से

कर्म ही जीवन लक्ष्य उनका , कर्म -पथ पे चलते जाते

इतिहास साक्षी इस सफ़र का , मूक दर्शक उनके प्रण का

वो गिरे , संभले , उठे और राह को जीवन साथी बनाते

the indian renaissance

it's an appeal to modern india, to it's youth towards making india a 'superpower' not in sense of the word which has made the world a more restless,less peaceful place but towards a march of the humanity which espouses values of gender justice, sustainable development,egalitarianism,democracy and increasing indivdualism and a critical outlook towards the world which doesn't accept anything at the face-value but views it with a lens of rationality. We as a country of more than a billion people have enormous potential but poverty,exclusion,illiteracy,corruption and so on are not letting us realize our potential. modernity doesn't mean westernization because it's a mindset which is not monopolistic and more so now we have conspicously seen the lurking dangers of hedonism and neo-imperialism in the garb of so many pseudonyms-grave threat to environment due to incessant industrialization, raping the earth as it's resources are unlimited, interference in the issues of other countries which has in the process generated various protests, some constructive some even more destructive-such as fundamentalism resulting in terrorism.so it Becomes evidently obvious that somewhere modernity as preached and as practised had a wide gulf which is resulting in these disorders. India didn't witness it's renaissance though sometimes the names of stalwarts like rammohun roy, tagore,nehru and others are highlighted and their efforts had been very significant still majority still is trapped in the traditions[this is not a outright criticism of traditions but those elements which are certainly need to be discarded].the reason was lack of cognitive development of large populace which comes from modern education and with a questioning attitude.even the so called modern indians-aren't many of us just aping west in our life-style and attitudes, if not at least most of us aspire to.one thing i would like to make crystal clear that the purpose of this piece of writing is not a criticism of any particular theme, idea or anything else but to invite a constructive debate that are we truly modern and if not what is it we are lacking and how to bridge the gap?unless majority gets modernized we can't think of solving this dilemma of morals and ethics,ignorance might be a bliss but if people who are capable of thinking more so they have luxury to do so,if they choose to ignore it nothing can be more unfortunate.so this i hope will bring at least few responses, i don't hope to create an utopia but certainly a series of arguments are expected