Kya Bhooloo.n, Kya Yaad Rakhoo.n

कुछ भीगी भीगी सी बातें, क्या भूलूँ क्या याद रखूँ
वो सीली सीली सी बरसातें, क्या भूलूँ क्या याद रखूँ

ठंडी बौछारें हलकी फुहारें, मिट्टी की सोंधी ख़ुशबू
तपती दोपहरें, ठिठुरती रातें, क्या भूलूँ क्या याद रखूँ

खनक हँसी की बहती हवा सी, गहरे ठहरे सन्नाटे
वक़्त ने दीं क्या सौगातें, क्या भूलूँ क्या याद रखू

तन्हाई गुनगुनाती थी कोई उदासी भरी ग़ज़ल
गुमसुम खामोश मुलाकातें, क्या भूलूँ क्या याद रखूँ

कभी रहते पलकों पे ख्वाबों के जुगनू, छुपी कभी

आँखों में अश्कों की बारातें, क्या भूलूँ क्या याद रखूँ

Main tumhari maun karuna ka sahara chahta hoon

I had read this beautiful poem in school, but like many such gems, it was lost. I had been looking this poem for a long time, and finally re-discovered it around a year back.

मैं तुम्हारी मौन करुणा का सहारा चाहता हूँ

  - रामकुमार वर्मा 

मैं तुम्हारी मौन करुणा का सहारा चाहता हूँ

जानता हूँ इस जगत में फूल की है आयु कितनी,
और यौवन की उभरती साँस में है वायु कितनी,
इसलिए आकाश का विस्तार सारा चाहता हूँ,
मैं तुम्हारी मौन करुणा का सहारा चाहता हूँ,

प्रश्न-चिह्नों में उठी हैं भाग्य सागर की हिलोरें,
आँसुओं से रहित होंगी क्या नयन की नामित कोरें,
जो तुम्हें कर दे द्रवित वह अश्रु धारा चाहता हूँ,
मैं तुम्हारी मौन करुणा का सहारा चाहता हूँ,

जोड़ कर कण-कण कृपण आकाश ने तारे सजाये,
जो कि उज्ज्वल हैं सही पर क्या किसी के काम आये?
प्राण! मैं तो मार्गदर्शक एक तारा चाहता हूँ,
मैं तुम्हारी मौन करुणा का सहारा चाहता हूँ,

यह उठा कैसा प्रभंजन जुड़ गयी जैसे दिशायें,
एक तरणी एक नाविक और कितनी आपदाएँ,
क्या कहूँ मँझधार में ही मैं किनारा चाहता हूँ,
मैं तुम्हारी मौन करुणा का सहारा चाहता हूँ,

Raat ke shaane se

Another one from archives (Oct 2010) ...

रात के शाने से आँचल नींदों के ढलक जायेंगे
गिरते सँभलते यूँ ही जबीं-ए-सहर तलक जायेंगे

दर आँखों के बंद कर लो कि ये एहसास छुपे रहें

पलकें अगर खुलीं तो ये दर्द छलक जायेंगे

ख्वाब फिरते हैं हकीक़त के शहर में बंजारे से

सफ़र पे निकले तो ये मुसाफिर दूर तलक जायेंगे

तमन्नाओं के बेबस पंछी बैठे ज़मीं पर तकते हैं

मिले अगर परवाज़ तो फिर बाम-ए-फलक जायेंगे

बेफिक्र सी हंसी पर कभी गौर भी तुम करना

इस मद्धम सी धार में तूफान झलक जायेंगे

 

The Immortals of Meluha

The Immortals of Meluha - Amish Tripathi

I read/heard a lot of raves and recommendations on 'The Shiva Trilogy', from friends (though in all honesty, I think the news reached me only after the second book had been published). I love to read fiction based in mythology (Mrityunjay and Yajnaseni are amongst my favorites). So, the "description" of Amish Tripathi's book(s) - a radically new interpretation of life and times of Lord Shiva - interested me a lot, specially because of the fact that it presented a different perspective altogether of what we understand from mythology.

The story is set in 1900 BC, and is centered on the premise that Shiva was an ordinary mortal, who came to be revered as a God, acquired the title of 'Mahadev', through his actions. It continuously takes references from mythology, as well as from history, but it is essentially a work of fiction.

The first book in the series, "Immortals of Meluha", focuses on details and sets the context for the story. Shiva is the leader of a small Tibetan tribe, fraught with a struggle for day-to-day existence. He accepts the invitation of the Suryavanshis, who are the descendants of Lord Rama, to settle in their country, Meluha (what we now know as the Indus Valley Civilization). The immigrants are amazed by the prosperity of the country, which is due to the extreme stability and planning of the society, based on strict rules and regulations (believed to be proposed by Lord Rama himself). Though over the times some of the rules have been bent and diluted (by and for, who else, but the nobility - the people in power). This seems to be an ideal society, an Utopia, except for a few rules that Shiva finds unfair. The country is however on an edge, feeling the presence and power of strong evil, and Shiva is soon recognized as Neelkanth, the savior from the evil.

The people believe, and convince Shiva, that the evil is represented by Chandravanshis, who live in the opposite side of Indian subcontinent, in the area between Ganges and Brahamputra rivers, which also includes Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama. There also is an indication of presence of the Nagas, people who are physically deformed, and believed to be evil and sinful beyond redemption, and therefore held in extreme dread. Although the Suryvanshis find it impossible to believe, it appears to them that Chandravanshis have enlisted the help of Nagas to launch surprise attacks against them. This belief leads Shiva to lead Suryavanshis in a difficult war against Chandravanshis' much larger army, on an unfavorable ground. With their skill, organization and will, the Suryvanshis manage to win the war. And then comes the intriguing part - the Chandravanshis also believe in the legend of Neelkanth, and have also been awaiting deliverance from evil!

The book offers very interesting, imaginative views on the origin of some of the aspects of mythology - the invocation of "Har Har Mahadev", Shiva's Trishul, the role of Shiva as the destroyer (of evil). The credibility of the story is built through elements like gradual development of Shiva from a brave warrior who is uncertain of the faith that is entrusted in him, to the confident leader. Adding to the flavor is quintessential struggle to identify good and evil, and the mutual disbelief of two complimentary powers in their ignorance.

 

One significant jarring note for me was the language - a little too modern for the era the story is capturing - with use of terms like Immigration department, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Radiowave communication, etc. But it was not big enough a deterrent to enjoying the story. Also, it was a little slow, but I guess that is to be expected, as being the first book, it has the onus of creating the background. In all, I liked the book, with all its premises and imagination, though not to the extent the reviews extolled it, but enough to go for the sequel(s).

On coding and Debugging

It's such a pain to ship my code -
It runs very well in the debug mode.
But when I give a demo and hope to make a splash,
All it does is throw up a crash.
And the customer consigns it to the trash!


* This one's from the archives (Sep 2010) .... thought of sharing the few things I have written in this long absence, on the blog. Will post more over time ...

I want to ...

... have my cake and eat it too!!

One evening Sid was asking for a chocolate, but we were not too keen on giving him one. Now, he, as all other children, loves lollypops, but they are quite a rare treat for him. So, I considered giving him a lollypop instead. Not a very good option, I admit, but given the relative size, I think it is the lesser of the two evils. 

As I placed the lollypop in his hands, he was very excited and overjoyed! Hugged me, said thank you (ever so sweetly), and kept repeating this for next 20 minutes or so, while he kept licking his treat, and we took a walk in the park. As we were coming back, we told him that it was finished, and he needed to throw it. He replied, "Nahin, dekho abhi laga hua hai ye orange sa, dekho!", and showed us the candy still left on the stick - the size of a grain! Finally, he licked off every single molecule, and only then gave up the stick, and let his face be washed.

And then, he came up to me, stood with his hands on his hips, and asked -

"Aapne mujhe chocolate kyun nahin di, jab maine chocolate maangi thi ?!!!!"

[Why didn't you give me chocolate, when I had asked for chocolate?!]

Random thoughts and rethoughts

After almost 3 months of activity, which I had hoped to increase, my blog is unfortunately back to lean times. The culprits are mostly the usual ones - a long-due break, holiday season, and hectic routine. And inertia, with me, is great as usual. I never make any new year resolutions, but one thing I really want to do is revive my blogs this year. :-)

A few local and out-station trips, and my new-found interest in photography, have given me ample matter to revive my travelogue. The good thing about travel (and nature) blog is that I dont feel the need to maintain a "continuity" there. The bad part is that the inertia is still there :-) And its a bit of work, to select photos to post, from a mound of them.

In last few years, I have only managed to read while traveling - alone, of course (and which is rather rare). On one such journey, I was finally able to start with Amish Tripathi's Shiva trilogy series. I only got the first book for this journey, but I liked it a lot, and was compelled to buy the second one - which turned out to be really engrossing (more about it later, hopefully, some time soon). Pity that the third part wont be coming for another few months. Anyway, its been a while since I read the first two, and I should write the "review" soon, before it completely fades away - as a colleague recently quoted, memory is the most unreliable organ of human body!