उड़ान ~~~

A Poem from Bollywood Film Udaan..

जो लहरों से आगे नजर देख पाती,
तो तुम जान लेते मैं क्या सोंचता हूँ.

वो आवाज तुमको भी जो भेद जाती,
तो तुम जान लेते मैं क्या सोंचता हूँ.

जिद का तुम्हारे जो पर्दा सरकता,
खिडकियों से आगे भी तुम देख पाते.
आँखों से आदतों की जो पलकें हटाते,
तो तुम जान लेते मैं क्या सोंचता हूँ.

मेरी तरह होता अगर खुद पर जरा भरोसा,
तो कुछ दूर तुम भी साथ साथ आते.

रंग मेरी आँखों का बाँटते ज़रा सा,
तो कुछ दूर तुम भी साथ साथ आते.

नशा आसमान का जो चूमता तुम्हे,
हसरतें तुम्हारी नया जन्म पातीं,
खुद दूसरे जन्म में मेरी उड़ान छूने,
कुछ दूर तुम भी साथ साथ आते…

A Message from GOD

One sunny morning 3 people were having stormy discussion and suddenly started fighting. One of God’s messenger was watching this and he decided to resolve the matter..
Messenger went down and asked them what was the matter?

1st person: “I am Mr. A XYZ.. I am trying to say that, GOD loves me more because I follow XYZ religion. Also…”
2nd Person: Interrupting 1st Person, “I am Mr. B UVW.. My religion is better than yours and So GOD loves me more..”
Suddenly 3rd person started shouting at both of them.. “Long live MNO…..” He was Mr. C MNO.

Messenger got worried and asked.. “What’s this XYZ, UVW, MNO?”
All said .. “It’s Our Religion..”
Messenger asked again.. “And what does that mean?”
1st said: “Going to temples and praying to God’ Idol and acknowledging His Supremacy.”
2nd said : “ Going to Mosque and praying Namaj and thanking Him for everything He gave me.”
3rd Said : “Going to Church for Mass and adoring Him and getting His blessings..”

Messenger Asked again.. “Then what’s the difference there. What’s Point of argument? You all have a common goal of praying to GOD and getting God’s blessings.. right?”
They said in Chorus.. “But we go to different places to pray.. Our methods are different and My method is better…… ”

Suddenly the tension started building.. Sparks started flying..

Messenger Calmed them down and said.. “So the problem is Method of prayers and Shape of building.. Do you think Almighty needs these buildings built by you tiny immortals? Don’t you know He is Omnipresent and He is the one who is controlling this whole universe.. and you fool think you can give Him a nice place to Stay..”
All kept silent..

Messenger went on.. “When you want to go from your home to office what mode of transport you use?”
1st One : I use my CAR.
2nd One : I use public transport.
3rd One : I go via Private Cabs.

Messenger : So.. does this make any difference where you reach at the end of journey?
All: No….

Messenger said politely again : “So.. it’s the destination which matters not the medium.. Your religions are like Medium to Reach to GOD and all are Good…”
Messenger asked now.. “Do you know What’s God’s Religion?”
Everyone in eagerness: Tell me.. Tell me….?
Messenger: He has no Religion which divide people…. “He is almighty and he treats all of His Children equally.. Irrespective of their Names or Surnames – which are created by you human beings only.. He loves all of his Children, whatever name the Child call Him.. Allah, Jesus, Ram.. He never differentiate.”
All 3 had their eyes down with guilt feeling..

Messenger asked again… “Have you ever seen a River refusing someone to take water from it.. ? Sun not providing light to certain areas as they follow Religion XYZ or UVW or MNO? Rain asking people what’s your surname before sprinkling the Raindrops of Joy? ”
All in Chorus of Unity.. “NO…..”

Messenger: So how can you humans ask such questions and say you believe in God.. Please don’t Let this Religion come in between you..

All Nodded positively and embraced each other… then said.. “We agree to Follow God’s Religion of Love, Harmony, Togetherness and Kindness..”

Messenger went happily.. and saw GOD smiling….. :)

Religion : The tool to divide GOD

A nation gripped in tension, fear of some unforeseen event, a day before high court verdict on much awaited, overstretched and over hyped case of Ayodhya Ram Janmbhoomi title suite. Security forces were on high alert, Govts were appealing for peace and harmony and common man was extremely worried as the verdict would have been recipe for communal violence and unrest across the nation. Even though people of Ayodhya are tired of this whole exercise. But some organisation have fueled it just for their political agenda.

This one instance has challenged India's image of a secular nation. Even though we flaunt ourselves to be a secular nation, Tensions are raising high on an issue which decides which party will have right on a land which might be used later for building a Temple or a Mosque and people were not willing to share the place for last 60 years.. Some court also ordered that both Mandir and Masjid should not be in close proximity on disputed land but there should at least be a distance of 10 kms between them to avoid any kind of communal unrest.

If a nation can't have two religious structure in close proximity, how can it be called a Secular nation. Unfortunately i have to say that we are a religion frenzy nation, where it's very easy to instigate violence on the name of religion and God. There is no tolerance in their definition of religion. Religion has become a tool to divide people and I am 100% sure the Almighty watching over there would be very sad on this. People say GOD is everywhere and then they are fighting for a piece of land saying Ram was born on this particular piece of earth. They have restricted God's existence to a specific place. If their faith says HE was born in Ayodhya, then HIS existence is everywhere there and all across the universe. Why to fight for a specific place? GOD HIMSELF has no religion and it's We the most intelligent creature on earth who created religion and divided GOD.

As I always believed that Religion or Faith is just a medium to praise the Almighty and two religions might use different methods but ultimate Goal is same for all of them. This little difference is just like the difference we have in our work, behaviour, dressing sense, eating habits but eventually everyone wants a happy life. So, there can't be any difference in some one calling HIM Ram, Allah, Christ or anything else.. All are same. This divisive nature of religion has forced me to call religion a tool to divide GOD. And that's why a world free of Religion or people free of religious bias are needed to keep humanity in peace and harmony.

धर्मग्रन्थ सब जला चुकी है, जिसके अंतर की ज्वाला,

मंदिर, मसजिद, गिरिजे, सब को तोड़ चुका जो मतवाला,

पंडित, मोमिन, पादिरयों के फंदों को जो काट चुका,

कर सकती है आज उसी का स्वागत मेरी मधुशाला।

Please don't divide HIM and humanity on HIS name. That's why i feel religion is the most powerful threat to humanity unless it's true meaning is rediscovered. In today's environment below lines from Madhushala are really meaningful..

मुसलमान औ' हिन्दू है दो, एक, मगर, उनका प्याला,

एक, मगर, उनका मदिरालय, एक, मगर, उनकी हाला,

दोनों रहते एक न जब तक मस्जिद मन्दिर में जाते,

बैर बढ़ाते मस्जिद मन्दिर मेल कराती मधुशाला!

सपने...

Below lines from my Old diary.. 2nd of the 3 poems which i have written way back in 2005.

कुछ ख्वाब देखे थे मैंने बचपन में ,
खुद से बातें करते हुए दर्पण में ।
चाहा था मैंने बुलंदियों तक ही जाना,
कुछ ऐसा करना जिसे देखे सारा जमाना ।
लेकिन वे सपने पूरे न हो सके,
हम बुलंदियों को हमेशा छू न सके ।
फिर भी मुझे कुछ गम नहीं है,
जो मैंने पाया वो कम नहीं है ।
चाहा था मैंने चाँद तारों तक जाना,
पर अभी बादलों पर ही है ठिकाना ।
चाँद और तारे ज़रूर रौशनी बिखेरते हैं,
पर बादल भी नन्हीं बूंदों से मुस्कुराते हैं ।
देखकर बादल को मोर नाचते हैं,
बच्चे झूम झूम जाते हैं ।
ख़ुशी है इस बात की, ऊंचाई मुझे मिली है इतनी,
की अभी और ऊपर की ओर निहार सकता हूँ
और धरती पर खुशियाँ बिखार सकता हूँ
हूँ इतनी ऊंचाई पर की धरती लगती है अभी भी अपनी ।

A Teacher's Day Dedication to My first Teacher

I would dedicate below lines to My First Teacher... or i would say First Teacher of every creature on earth.. One's very own MOTHER.

अभी उफनती हुई नदी हो, अभी नदी का उतार हो माँ
रहो किसी भी दशा दिशा में, तुम अपने बच्चों का प्यार हो माँ
चला मैं जिस नाँव को यूँ ही लेकर,
उस नैया की तुम्ही तो पतवार हो माँ
पहुंचा हूँ आज जिन बुलंदियों पर,
तुम्ही तो उस इमारत का आधार हो माँ
चला मैं जिस राह पर मंजिलों तक,
तुम्ही तो उस पथ का द्वार हो माँ
जब जब मैं यूँ ही मुस्कुराया,
तुम्ही तो हंसी की फुहार हो माँ
चोट जब भी लगी है मुझको,
तो दर्द के आंसूअन की धार हो माँ
जब छाये निराशा की बदरी,
तुम ही तो सुनहरी विहान हो माँ
तुम ही हो मेरे काबा और काशी,
तुम ही तो मेरे सब धाम हो माँ
अर्पण है तुम्हे ये सारा जीवन,
करता हूँ शत शत प्रणाम लो माँ..

Freedom!!! The Unfinished dream...

As we celebrate 64th independence day, the day of Freedom from 190 year old British rule, Thought that do we have really achieved freedom in true sense is disturbing my mind..
So i want to explore and try to answer this...
The definition from Oxford dictionary defines freedom in many ways but i found below the most significant once...
"absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government "
"the power or right to act , speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.."
"the power of self-determination attributed to the will; the quality of being independent of fate or necessity"
India got freedom as per first definition as British left India and Created India & Pakistan (unfortunately) dominion.
If we take second definition, our constitution has given this right to all our citizens as preamble of Indian Constitution states...

"WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;"

Third definition also very much part of Indian Constitution and it was a dream of our great Freedom fighters, as reflected in the famous Tryst with destiny speech given by our first prime minister Jawahar lal Nehru ji on Aug 15th 1947..

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. .... The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over......."

As you can see, our freedom fighters and political leaders had the dream of India full of smiles without suffering. They wanted Indians to have freedom to express their thoughts, get Justice and every Indian to have equal opportunity to grow and work towards development of India.Our Constitution has many provisions and laws to elaborate the spirit of it's preamble and Judiciary and Govts. have to follow this spirit. But unfortunately, our political class seems to have deviated from the visions of our great freedom fighters as they are busy gaining strength and money for their own welfare and they least think about the poorest before making any policy, which was the dream and vision of Independent India. People from all walks of life fought together for the freedom of our motherland from foreign rule for Swarajya. The people of India would have expected that now that country is free from British rule and we have a free nation governed by it's Own people there will be no more injustice, no more ban on expression of thought, no more discrimination in job opportunity, no more attack on one's individual dignity.There would have been a sense of Joy and pride in the minds of Indians from all class and creed, Rich or poor as they were now Part of Free India and India would have cerebrated the most Significant day in her History.

But all that Joy, belief, dreams seems to be faded away slowly and slowly in these last 63 years. Now the Justice for poor seems to be nowhere in country, as we see cases pending for 2-3 decades and we get nothing.. Bhopal Gas tragedy, 84 Sikh riots, Nitish Katara Murder case, Ruchika Gehrotra case, Jessica Lal Case, Babri Masjid, Bombay Blast93, and many other scams by our politicians are just a few examples of this long list of Cases pending..Though our Constitution promised Justice and Justice might have been given in some of these cases but that was too late and as there is saying Justice delayed is justice denied and that's what happened in all these cases. Corruption seems to have become a way of life for our bureaucrats and politicians and unfortunately seldom any cases against any of top politician or bureaucrats get to it's justified end. Police forces, whose main Job is to maintain law and order and protect poor and weaker section of society have become symbol of fear and terror in minds of people. They have become puppet of Rich and Powerful mafias. It looks like that The dream of wiping out tears from every eye is lost as the cruel reality is almost 45% of our population lives with an income of 20 Rs. per day. Farmer suicide has become a trend. Untouchability and cast divide is still a bitter reality of our society. Brides are still being torched for dowry, Women still don't feel safe in workplaces and in markets, Honor killings are being glorified and justified. Few people with power don't really care about common man and they have the feelings that they can do whatever they want and get away with it quite easily.

Common man don't have belief in system as they don't feel safe as terrorist, Maoist are striking almost at will and our govts are helpless about it.They are even having threat even with it's own people (police, mafia and politician trio). It looks like we got freedom only from Foreign nationals and those faces have been replaced with our own nationals, the soul of Cruel British rulers is still alive in bodies of Politicians, bureaucrats and everyone wants to exploit poor common man.

The picture is really gloomy.. But there is silver lining in this cloudy atmosphere.. India have become nuclear power capable nation. We have sent moon mission.Our economy is one of the fastest growing economy. Rate of literacy have increased quite radially. India have become Information technology outsourcing hub.Child Mortality rate has reduced significantly to show our progress in health sector. There have been some path breaking improvements in governance as well as we still have some good and dedicated leaders in country. RTI (Right to Information), RTE (Right to Education) and Food Security Acts are few really good initiative at govt part but implementation of these acts need to be monitored well. Most importantly, we have almost 50% population below 25 Year of age and 30% of population at the age 10-24. That's a huge plus point if the creativity of this population is channelized in a proper way and this generation can change all the issues shown above as they are the future politicians, Police officers and bureaucrats.We need to make sure all of this population gets a quality education and they are inculcated with ethical, moral and nationalist values, so that the next generation can eradicate all these problems of corruption and misuse of power making India a better place to live and that's where RTE can really do wonders. RTI has been able to curtail the corruption in bureaucracy as it is making governance more transparent and accessible to common man. Responsible Journalism can also help in achieving goal of RTE act.

We can't change the past but we have great opportunity to make our future beautiful. The responsibility is on our generation to bring about positive changes to make India a better place to live. It's WE THE YOUTH OF INDIA, who can realize the dreams of our Great Freedom fighters and Spread Smiles all over..
I have India of My dreams as dreamt by RabindraNath Tagore in below lines..

WHERE the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

I am confident that this dream will surely come true one day and True Freedom will be achieved.. Let the Journey begin... :)

Heaven in Gloom

गर फिरदौस बर रुए ज़मीनस्त। अमीअस्तो, अमिअस्तो, अमीअस्त....

i.e. If there is Heaven anywhere on earth, it's here, it's here, it's here..

These are the beautiful lines written in praise of Kashmir by famous poet Firdous from Mughal India. These simple lines completely describes the beauty of the Kashmir Valley lying in the lap of the ever shining Himalaya. Though i have never been there but just by reading these lines and watching some beautiful scenes, i could imagine the grace of nature there..

But unfortunately this heavenly place is paying the price of being located at a strategically important location for 3 countries, India - because it's ethnic roots lied as part of undivided India - dated back to 4th century. China - Just because of it's nature of old Landlord - who tries to capture and expand it's land base. Pakistan - because of religious reasons, obviously as it was originated out of two nation theory based on Religion, which i feel was the biggest blunder in the history of India, as Nations should never be built out of Religions -Which are nothing but various ways to show our gratitude towards almighty. So as you can see India has the most genuine reason, But in spite of it's ethnic and cultural closeness, India failed to win the hearts and minds of the people of valley even after 62 years of independence.

It hurts when I see kids of Kashmir shouting slogan against Indian State when they should have been in schools and reciting sweet poems and playing games. Youth of Kashmir is getting indulge in stone pelting at armed forces and defying the order of state to maintain law and order, while these young Kashmiris should have been in Colleges pursuing higher eduction and chasing their dreams just like rest of the Indian youths..

We Indians specially policy makers need to do some soul searching to find out reasons behind this... Though there are some very clear reasons, such as excessive army out there in streets of Kashmir, even though it's there to stop the terror exported from neighbouring nation, Pakistan. Other reason seems to be failure of India to accept and have faith in Kashmiri people, the people of Kashmir are still seen with suspicious eyes outside valley. We failed to integrate people of Kashmir in the growth glory of India and most importantly we failed to adopt them in our hearts and minds.. and Kashmir also failed to connect herself with India, as Pro PAK, Pro Azadi seperatist were able to guide people there... But we still call Kashmir as Integral Part of India...

Though sentiments in the valley seems to be favoring आज़ादी. The people of Kashmir should take this decision very carefully and govt of India should come up with solutions to problems there.

Aazadi is not going to provide the instant solution to all their problems, as there lies bigger challenges of fighting Taliban terror exported from Pakistan and Greedy Chinese Dragon.

This Beautiful place deserves peace and happiness. I as a human being, can just pray and hope that everything gets back to normal in Valley of Kashmir and it again flourish like a Heaven..

अब तो करिश्मा दिखा दे कोई

के नफरतो की लौ जला न डाले इस जन्नत को

ए खुदा! चरागे अमन जगा तू कोई...