A change in the life of a dog

 

The sadhu’s phantasmagorical strike at the ever-howling dog, the sprightly sniveler, astounded it to the extent that it finally came out of its crying doctrinaires and barked for the first time. So it may be counted as a blessing by the mendicant because a dog without bark is nothing short of perfidy in the canine world. Having abandoned its frightful peculiarity, it docks its tail with a certain swagger. The dog has started barking finally. It’s a neighborhood news item.

The best liquor-lover in the locality, who sets up the most loquacious and abusive drama after getting sloshed—having plenteously pawned away most of his possessions—inadvertently struck the dog with his cycle. He was holding his cycle and reversing it. The sleeping dog was hit by the tyre as it rolled over the dog. The dog took it as a breach of honor. It must have felt like a thunder-strike to the sleeping dog because—following the momentum built after the sadhu episode—it barked.

It’s such a nice change in the street. The barking dogs are far more preferable than the howling ones. Maybe it was waiting for good reasons to bark all this time and the sadhu and the liquor-lover finally provided it one. Even though it still finds most of the issues and objects worth howling at only, but its mysterious sufferance gets a few moments of break at the sight of the liquor-lover. The other day, the liquor-lover once again bespattered the street air with his doctrinal cuss words, raising a terrible show with an abominable ravishment. As a few people gathered to shove him back to his house, the dog gave them suitable strength and company by following the party and barking all the while. He followed them and chivalrously barked as if to say, ‘Take this idiot to his house!’

By the way, there is a fat black puppy in the street. It was standing by the gate and I suddenly happened to open the gate. The sound startled it so much as if an apocalypse was unfolding. It’s an angelic little roly-poly cute thing. Almost a dark ball. A mere look at it will suffuse you with lovingness. Scared out of wits, it showed consummate skills at running. It rolled over its tiny paws and covered majority of the flight in rolling motion.

It reached a safe distance and then barked cutely, showing the embryonary canine sense in its little brain. Well, it inspires me to do the same when against a danger. Running away is a fun. It’s brave in fact. You need to be strong to run away from tricky situations and angry people.

मणिपुर की त्रासदी

 मणिपुर करीब दो महीने से जल रहा है। कम से कम 125 लोग मारे गए हैं,

हजारों घायल हुए हैं और लाखों लोग विस्थापित हुए हैं। नफरत का पंथ, बांटो

और राज करो की विचारधारा, धार्मिक, जातीय और जाति के आधार पर ध्रुवीकरण

का कीड़ा घातक कीमत लेता है समाज से।

यह बहुत दुख की बात है कि ऐसा लगता है कि इस छोटे से उत्तर-पूर्वी राज्य

को उसके भाग्य पर छोड़ दिया गया है। मैंने लंबे समय से अपने देश के उस

हिस्से के लोगों से सुना है कि दिल्ली उनके साथ सौतेला व्यवहार करती है।

अब मैं इसे होता देख रहा हूं। यह बहुत बड़ी त्रासदी है लेकिन मीडिया

कवरेज देखिए। दुनिया में कहीं और युद्धों के बारे में दिन-रात गरजने वाले

पत्रकार मणिपुर संकट के बारे में चुप हैं। यह समझ में आता है क्योंकि

मणिपुर में हमारे पास शक्तिशाली डबल-इंजन सरकार है। इसके खिलाफ कुछ भी

बोलने की उनकी हिम्मत कैसे हो सकती है। वे बस नहीं कर सकते। अशहाय हैं.

बंगाल में छिटपुट हिंसा हो या किसी अन्य विपक्षी राज्य में तब मिडिया

दिन-रात हंगामा करता है। 'अनुच्छेद 356 लागू करो। सरकार को निलंबित करो।'

राज्यपाल शासन लगाओ,' वे गरजते हैं। और मणिपुर में तबाही पे सब

चुप है।

पिछले दिनों बड़े पैमाने पर मीडिया और प्रशासनिक अभियान चलाया गया था क्योंकि एक चक्रवाती

तूफान ने भारत में सबसे पसंदीदा राज्य का रुख किया। पूरे मीडिया, पूरे

मंत्रालय को जीवन और संपत्ति के किसी भी संभावित नुकसान से बचाने के लिए

भारत के उस विशेषाधिकार प्राप्त हिस्से में भेज दिया गया था। मीडिया के

लोगों ने क्रोधित समुद्र और प्रचंड हवाएं दिखाईं। उसमें कोई बुराई नहीं

है। लेकिन एक छोटे से उत्तर-पूर्वी राज्य की उपेक्षा क्यों करें? मणिपुर में घटित

त्रासदियों की नदियाँ किसी का ध्यान नहीं खींचती हैं. सबसे पसंदीदा राज्य को केंद्र सरकार के शीर्ष नेतृत्व का

सौभाग्य प्राप्त है। इसमें अधिक सीटें हैं। गरीब मणिपुर दुनिया की सबसे

बड़ी राजनीतिक पार्टी की राजनीतिक रूप से महत्वाकांक्षी योजनाओं को क्या

प्रदान करता है? तो वहां की डबल इंजन सरकार के पूरी तरह विफल होने के

बावजूद राज्य सरकार वहां सत्ता की कुर्सी पर आज भी सुरक्षित है. अनुच्छेद

356 लागू करने का अर्थ वहां की सरकार की विफलता को स्वीकार करना होगा।

क्या आप सोच सकते हैं कि अगर किसी विपक्ष शासित राज्य में ऐसा कुछ होता

है तो क्या होगा?

मैतेई और कुकी एक दूसरे के खून के प्यासे हैं। जातीय या धार्मिक आधार पर

वही सदियों पुराना ध्रुवीकरण। सरकार को यह समझना होगा कि वे अब अपनी मूल

विचारधारा से ध्रुवीकरण के सिद्धांत को हटाने का जोखिम उठा सकती हैं

क्योंकि इसने उन्हें दो बार सत्ता दी है। लेकिन एक सीमा से आगे इसका पीछा

करना इस देश के लिए घातक है। आज मणिपुर जल रहा है। भगवान न करे, यदि

धार्मिक आधार पर बहुसंख्यक और अल्पसंख्यक के बीच ध्रुवीकरण का वही तीव्र

स्तर हमारे समाज को परेशान करता रहे, तो एक दिन ऐसा भी आ सकता है जब भारत

माता की अखंडता और संप्रभुता को चुनौती दी जा सकती है। इसलिए भगवान के

लिए विभाजनकारी और ध्रुवीकरण की रणनीति का परित्याग करें। विकास के

मुद्दों पर चुनाव लड़ने के लिए आपने काफी काम किया है। कृपया इस देश को

विभाजित और खण्डित ना करें।

राहुल गांधी को भारत के सबसे शक्तिशाली व्यक्ति के नाम पर व्यंग्य करने के लिए

तुरंत दंडित किया जाता है। उनकी संसदीय सदस्यता निलंबित कर दी जाती है,

उनका सरकारी आवास वापस ले लिया जाता है। और महिला पहलवानों के साथ

छेड़खानी करने वाले सत्ताधारी पार्टी के बाहुबली को व्यवस्थित ढंग से संरक्षण दिया जाता है।

सत्ता का यह दुरुपयोग स्पष्ट रूप से दिखता है। बिना औपचारिक चार्जशीट के

भी कुछ कॉलेज के छात्र 1000 दिनों तक जेलों में डाल दिए जाते हैं। विपक्षी नेता

शक्तिशाली राज्य एजेंसियों से भयभीत लिए जाते हैं। हमारे पास यह मानने का

हर कारण है कि सर्वशक्तिशाली नेता का शक्तिशाली पंथ इंदिरा गांधी युग का

आकार ले रहा है। बिल्कुल उसी तरह का अहंकार और सत्ता का नशा। लेकिन किसी

भी स्थिति में परिणाम फिर वही होंगे। क्योंकि अभिमान का पतन होता है।

हमेशा!

The tragedy in Manipur

 It's very sad that it seems the little north-eastern state has been left to its fate. I have long heard from the people of that part of our country that Delhi gives them stepmotherly treatment. Now I see it happening. It's a huge tragedy but look at the media coverage. The journos who are croaking day and night about wars elsewhere in the world are silent about the Manipur crisis. It's understandable because in Manipur we have the powerful double-engine sarkar. How dare they speak anything against it. They simply cannot.

Let there be sporadic violence in Bengal or any other opposition state the media croaks day and night. 'Impose Article 356. Suspend the government. Impose Governor rule,' they thunder. And all is silent as the mayhem unfolds in Manipur.

There was a massive media and administrative campaign as a cyclonic storm approached the most-preferred state in India. The entire media, the entire ministry were trooped to that privileged part of India to ward off any possible damage to life and property. Media people showed angry seas and blazing winds. Nothing wrong with that. But why ignore a little north-eastern state? The rivers of tragedies go unnoticed and unreported as they happen in Manipur. The most-preferred state is privileged to have the top leadership of the central government. It has more seats. What does poor Manipur offer to the politically ambitious plans of the world's largest political party? So despite complete failure of the double-engine government there, the state government is still safe there in the seat of power. Imposing Article 356 would mean acceptance of failure of its government there. Can you imagine what would happen if something like this happens in an opposition ruled state?

The Meiteis and the Kukis are baying for each other's blood. The very same age-old polarization along ethnic or religious lines. The government has to understand that they can now afford to drop the principle of polarization from its core ideology because it has given them power two times. But pursuing it beyond a point is fatal for this country. Today Manipur is burning. God forbid, if the very same intense level of polarization between the majority and minority along religious lines keeps haunting our society, there might be a day when integrity and sovereignty of mother India might be challenged. So for God sake abandon divisive and polarization tactics. You have enough work done to fight elections on develpmental issues. Please don't divide and break this country.

Rahul Gandhi is immediately penalized for name-shaming the most powerful man in India. His parliamentary membership is suspended, his official residence is taken back. And a muscleman who has molested female wrestlers is systematically protected. This misuse of power is glaringly self-evident. College students keep incinerated in jails for 1000 days without even a formal charge sheet. Opposition leaders get intimidated by powerful state agencies. We have every reason to believe that the powerful cult of the all-powerful leader is taking the shape of Indira Ganhi era. The very same kind of arrogance and intoxication of power. But in any case the results again would be the same. Because pride hath a fall. Always!

A practice in patience

 

If you want to hone patience into the fabric of your persona, wait for the day when your kitchen has green fenugreek leaves. Then take your offer to your mother, sister, wife, girlfriend, partner or the maid or whosoever has the task of using the said leaves. Start picking out the leaves from the thin stems. Now, this is a job you simply cannot rush through. It takes it own time.

After a while, the impatience and restlessness in you will settle down to an acceptance that picking one tiny leaf at a time from the fragile stem is an art that is its own master. A calmative sense of patience downs upon you then.

Also, if you want to drill the principles of caution into your attitude, look for an opportunity when the kitchen sink is full of precious but fragile crockery. Offer your services at washing these. You of course need to be very careful because the littlest smudge at any corner lays the entire piece waste. Caution and carefulness in handling valuable crockery will make you learn the importance of carefully handling the modern-day relations that are hundred times more fragile than the crockery set in your kitchen.

Kickstarting a dog's bark

 

The dove sits perkily on the small, flimsy nest. Two eggs are visible from below as I peep into the nest, precariously perched just a bit more than a couple of feet above my head. The cats have a dependable eyesight I have heard. Let’s see when will the cat have his nasta.

A sadhu comes knocking at the gate asking for alms. He is lucky in receiving twenty rupees over the gate but luckier still in escaping unhurt. The dog that howls only thinks it suitable to taste his calf muscles. Of course, it doesn’t growl before the intended bite. But it doesn’t howl also. However, he misses it. A tiny scrape of the sadhu’s loincloth comes in its mouth. The sadhu gives a nice strike with his stick. The dog has a sound reason to howl then. But then it barks! The first time I hear it. Well, maybe his is a reversed canine equation.

Pure volition

 My tiny Tulsi forest! The beauty about lovable volition, the bhav of love, is that it takes you above physical limitations. With pure volition of love this little group of tiny plants is as big as Amazon forest. It becomes as pure as any holy site on earth. If you can relate and feel like an ant crawling through this tiny patch of holy leaves, then you of course turn a little child wandering in a big forest. It's only about bhav beyond acts, deeds, words, scriptures, holy pilgrimages. If you are in that bhav, this little group of plants instantly turns your Gaumukh, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Jerusalem or any other holy site. Right here, this very instant. A pure unconditional bhav takes you above the limitations of space and time. Karma gets unattached from your consciousness during those moments of pure volition and you have moments of liberation. Call it samadhi, enlightenment or any other words. Words are mere pointers. As I stare into this little patch of green and with pure volition muse over a little insect going through it, I'm a pilgrim going through a deep forest. As I take bucket bath and chant Ganga Ma's name with pure heart, I'm bathing in her holy stream. I don’t have any doubt about it. As I walk by a little ancestral shrine in the countryside and bow my head I know I'm having a Darshan of Badri, Kedar, Tirupati. If you establish yourself in that unadulterated bhav, Mother Existence gets everything for you right at that very spot. But we have to walk around a lot ultimately to realise and come back into stillness and divine pause at one point, that pure volition. Then you aren't anywhere but still everywhere. Then it hardly matters where you are, what you are, what others think of you, whether you are moving or not. The small acquires mammoth proportions to inspire holy awe. The big becomes small allowing you to marvel and analyse at the level of mind. Well, that's the beauty of pure, unlimited volition.

A ceremonial feast for wilful defaulters

The story of a blind man

 

Ram Mehar is a robust 77-year-old man. He is visually challenged since birth. A big loss indeed but at the same time he gains a bit, even though it is no compensation, by being spared of the frazzled and faded travesty of the visible life around. He has an almost infallible skill at the rest of his senses minus the sense of seeing.

His main challenge is to stay updated with the changing nooks, corners and bends in the village streets. He has to keep the latest changes in his mind. To recompense him for the loss of light in his eyes, destiny has given him an ability to pronounce Hindi words almost perfectly, which is an oddity among the farmers whose hair-raising linguistic anecdotes give enough proof to the fact that theirs are the tongues especially made for slowly drooling, rumbling, intimidating, abusive sounds in Haryanvi. Chaste Hindi is farthest from the reach of their tongues. Ram Mehar speaks best Hindi in the village.

He has inherited two acres of land in his name. As per local custom and belief, marriage is mandatory to attain moksha after death. They got him a purchased bride when he was sixty or a bit more than that. A well-washed, scraped, brushed and dainty Ram Mehar led the marriage party to the poor girl’s native place in neighboring Uttar Pradesh. It was a rocking milestone in the empyrean torpor of his many decades on earth. Many farmers enjoyed sweets and cheap liquor. It cost him about one lakh rupees, out of which fifty thousand rupees were paid to the bride’s father as purchase money.

Selling girls for marriage in lieu of money is an established profession. The brides usually run away and the agents get them married again to some needy guy. It’s a lucrative business. So the bride-buyers keep a strict vigil lest they run away. People had sympathy for blind Ram Mehar, and hence many eyes kept a watch on her. As a result, she couldn’t run away.

After two months, she being not able to slip away of her own, her wards arrived to call off the marriage. The villagers demanded the money back. ‘What money?’ she snapped. ‘Only if you guys knew how did I manage! A servant would charge at least twenty thousand rupees for two months. For the rest, don’t force me to open my mouth. He is a young rascal “there”!’ she pointed at a part in his body. ‘His night funs won’t come at less than five hundred rupees per night. So that makes it another thirty thousand rupees. That settles it; we don’t owe anything to him.’

That indeed settled it as the villagers got impressed with his power and forgot about the main issue. He lost the money but got some new reputation for being very young and strong ‘there’. In fact, the people bestowed him more respect after that.

अपना फेफड़ा खुद कत्ल करने का सरल उपाय

 जो लोग गाँव में रहते हैं, उनकी धारणा है की वे शहरों की तुलना में अपेक्षाकृत स्वच्छ हवा में रहते है। लेकिन गांवों में भी चीजें बहुत तेजी से बदल रही हैं। गांवों में भी प्रति परिवार डिस्पोजेबल प्लास्टिक की मात्रा बढ़ रही है। किसान अपने घरों से कुछ दूर गोबर के ढेर रखते हैं, जिसका उपयोग वे नई फसल के मौसम की शुरुआत में खेत में खाद के रूप में करते हैं। प्लास्टिक को खेतों में जाने से रोकने के लिए वे हफ्तों तक छोटे-छोटे ढेरों में प्लास्टिक को जलाते रहते हैं। प्लास्टिक के कचरे को खेतों में भौतिक रूप में देखने के बजाय हवा में अदृश्य करने का एक बहुत ही सरल उपाय ढूँढ लिया है गाँव वालों ने। इसलिए मैं दिन में कई बार जहरीली प्लास्टिक के जलने की गंध महसूस कर सकता हूं। उन्हें इस बात का एहसास नहीं है कि वही प्लास्टिक अब दूसरे रूप में उनके फेफड़ों में चला जाता है। वह दिन दूर नहीं जब किसी गांव में बेहतर हवा में सांस लेने का काल्पनिक विचार अपनी प्रासंगिकता खो देगा। जब तक हम अपने प्लास्टिक के निपटान का बेहतर तरीका नहीं खोजेंगे, तब तक गाँव शहरों की तरह प्रदूषित हो जाएंगे। यह उतना ही सरल हो सकता है जितना कि अपने प्लास्टिक कचरे को एक बोरी में इकट्ठा करना और इसे निकटतम शहर के पास गांव के बाहर कूड़ेदान में फेंक देना। लेकिन इतना झंझट कौन उठाए। हमें इन दिनों हर चीज के लिए तुरंत समाधान चाहिए।

A simple way of destroying your own lungs

 

The ones who stay in a village may have a notion about relatively cleaner air than the cities. But things are changing very fast even in the villages. In the villages also the disposable plastic per household is on the increase. The farmers keep dung heaps, not too far from their houses, which they use as farm manure at the beginning of a new crop season. In order to avoid the plastic from going into the fields they keep burning the little heaps over the weeks. A very simplistic solution to turn the plastic rubbish invisible in the air instead of seeing it in physical form in the fields. So I can smell poisonous plastic burning multiple times a day. Little do they realize that the very same plastic now goes into their lungs in another form. The day is not far when the hypothetical solace of breathing better air in a village will lose its relevance. The villages will turn as polluted as the cities unless we find a better way to dispose our plastic. It could be as simple as collecting your plastic garbage in a sack and dump it at the dumpsite outside the village near the nearest town. But who will take that much trouble. We need quick solutions for everything these days.                                           

To kill a mocking sparrow

 

The recent trends in Indian politics are very disturbing. The present government says their goal is Congress-free India. Now can you visualize a democracy without opposition? A political system without effective opposition is as good as autocracy. Let’s try to understand it through a true story about Chinese premier Mao Zedong. The all-powerful leader ordered his subjects to kill sparrows so that they won’t eat grains in the fields and thus there would be more grains for human consumption. The people treated him as a God and on his instructions the entire Chinese human population turned enemies of poor little sparrows. So the sparrows vanished from the Chinese skies. A sparrow-free China it became. But they had forgotten that sparrows don’t eat just grains they eat pests and harmful insects as well. So with the predators gone, the pests and insects reigned supreme and chucked out entire croplands. It resulted in a terrible famine that lasted for three years. Similarly, if opposition, that is Congress, is chucked out of the system, the pests and bugs of predatory tendency to misuse and manipulate power will chuck out our democracy. A healthy opposition is a predator for the bugs and pests of autocracy. The government has to understand that Congress doesn’t merely eat their parliamentary seats, it eats the pests of autocracy as well. The government is legitimate in its efforts to come to power again in 2024 but why shout Congress-muqt Bharat. Say we will defeat Congress. If you openly declare that you want to finish the opposition, it only means you want to run this country as an autocrat.

Patriarchal fangs biting the women's sports!

 

We still have pretty solid patriarchal roots in our social soil depriving women of their well justified position in various spheres of life. Take the case of football for example. Despite best of facilities, fat pay cheques, world-class infrastructure, promotional tours, global level support staffs, the Indian men’s football team is ranked 107 in global ranking. Now consider the Indian women’s football team. Nobody talks about them because they hardly get any priority in the gaming scheme. In comparison to the men’s football team they get may be just 5% attention, resources and focus. Still they are ranked far higher than the men’s team. The Indian women’s team is ranked 60 in the world. They have been twice runners up in Asian championship. The men’s ISL league matches are played under glaring floodlights, while women footballers struggle in their league under merciless hot sun as their matches would start at 8:30 AM and 4 in the afternoon. Who would spend extra money by lighting floodlights for women’s football game? Let them play under the sun. It hardly matters.

Recently Kerala Blasters men’s football team walked off the field during a match. The club was heavily fined for this breach of sports’ ethics. Who suffered the consequences? Will you be able to believe it? To offset their financial loss the club suspended their women’s team. The women pay for the men’s folly and unwarranted conduct! Isn’t it hilarious. Patriarchy is so deeply entrenched in our system that directly indirectly women and girls have to pay when their interests clash with the males.

Take the ongoing wrestling saga where the champion daughters are fighting for justice. They are pitted against a powerful man. There are allegation of sexual harassment and severe breach of professional conduct on his part. But the system seems to be protecting him. In fact, there are thousands who are questioning the girl wrestlers themselves, asking for the proofs of molestation. As if a girl is always walking with a spy camera to present in the court as evidence. Very sad and disappointing.  

The hallmark of a true democracy

 The hallmark of a true democracy is the reach of law and ethical principles followed by the leadership that enable either the law or a leader's conscience to step down in case of infringement of duties or any other inappropriate behaviour. A lockdown-time little private party cost Boris Johnson primeministership. Can you imagine anything like this in India? Here grossest transgressions of duties and misuse of power by the politicians are treated as routine affairs. When there is no fear of the card castle falling apart in case of the slighted mischief with cards, those in power will take their positions for granted. There a lockdown time party can see a prime minister bowing out, here even serious allegations of sexual harassment won't budge a parliamentarian from his powerful seat. We have a lot of work to accomplish to be a real, strong democracy. Yes, we are a constitutional democracy on paper in every sense of the term. But in practice we are missing a lot from the great principles in our brilliant constitution. It will take some time to get a leadership that follows ethical principles and listens to conscience, and institutions and authorities independent enough to penalise even the strongest. I would say we are a work in progress as a democracy which is a good thing and far better than autocracies and pseudo democracies like Pakistan where there is a shadowy deep state pulling the strings. I firmly believe that there will be a day when we will be world's strongest democracy as well, not just the largest. The strongest democracy is the benchmark where the most powerful is under the same chance of penalisation as the weakest in case of falling off the lawful limits.

You are a winner

 Why should winning be just defined by finishing the line ahead of others? Finishing the line with your best, even if it means coming last in the list, is also a win. And beyond finishing, the will to touch the line, even if you fall on the way, is a win. And even the will to participate is a win. And if you don't participate at all and do something else that also is winning. Why talk of defeats? It's winning-winning all the way, in one form or another. Because to be alive itself is a win. Life is a winsome game in totality. Count all your disasters, tragedies and pains. Add them. However high the sum is, it will still fall short of nullifying the big positive number, life. You all are winners I tell you.

The death of a polar bear in snowless summers

 

At the current rate of global warming, we will have ice-free summers in the Arctic in the next decade. The snows are drifting away from our planet. First it disappeared from the exotic peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. The glaciers are gasping under the heat. In the same series, the summer snows will vanish from the Arctic and so will the majestic polar bear. But for those who run this world it's almost a nonissue. Who cares for vanishing snows? Especially when there are wars to pacify individual and institutional egos, when there are more territories to grab, more mines to be dug in earth’s gut to take out the still remaining things of utility.

The modern Czar has burnt down an entire country in pursuit of impearlistic dreams. Beautiful homes and lovely orchards and gardens have been charred by falling bombs and missiles. Homes have turned into rubble. Death and destruction is dancing freely in Ukraine. The ants, dogs, wild animals, homes, cities, gardens, agriculture farms all are charred to ghastly rubble of broken dreams and decaying humanity. While the Czar is going full throttle, creating present time hell to capture past glory.

Sadly, the mankind is ill-fated to live in disorder and strife. It seems to be in our genes. We abhor peace and harmony. To be human seems to be unruly, chaotic, aggressive and angry. We keep creating more and more chaos with modern inventions and discoveries. Power blocks and superpower aspirants are sharpening their swords to once again unleash blood and mayhem. Just like it's been going for thousands of years. We seem to be under the curse of this self-destructive mind that keeps spinning out fears and phobias, prompting us to guard ourselves and attack others.

Despite all scientific advancement, we have the same archaic old malady of ego, violence, selfishness, hate and anger. Earlier we killed with stones and sticks. Now the same hate can annihilate entire earth by just pushing a button. What has changed? Nothing? It’s the very same fear, agony, insecurities and discontent. Modern civilization seems a pile of dry fodder to burn at mere sparks. All ready to defend themselves and grab more clout and influence. The plague of unrelenting ambition infecting each and everything; diseasing all from individuals to groups to nations to blocks. And a dying planet helplessly watches all this. Sadly marveling at the species that got so ambitious to start chucking out its own house. A behemoth snake twisting and coiling to attack its own tail and devouring its own back from its front.  

The air we inhale is poisoned, the food we eat is full of chemicals, the people we stay among have stressed, burnt-out minds, all ready to go blasting at the slightest provocation. The seas are polluted. The sea creatures die slowly. The polar ice melts. The polar bear takes last breaths. We too will meet the same fate if the way we run this world isn't overhauled completely.

More missiles, more bombs, more jets, more hate, more anger, more greed. What will be the outcome? Destruction. Strictly calculated from the scientific equation of input and output. Out of so much systematic hate only destruction can be the logical outcome.

Pristine forests vanished, beautiful birds became extinct, majestic animals went off the scene, and so did pure air, water and peace. On this dying planet, the natural physiology of the mankind will be unsustainable within a few decades. A weird semi-human, semi-machine species equipped with artificial intelligence will replace we the real flesh and blood ones. We have to take it as the game of evolution only. Take it any way but that's how it will go.

So as one of the last lucky generations to see blue skies, forests, streams and the free seas make the most of it. Cribbing won't help. What's done is done. Mother planet has irreversible damage. So smile thou the last of real homo sapiens and make the most of what is left. Go into the forests and hug giant trees standing for centuries but won't be there for long. Swim in the streams that aren't stinking nullah yet. Inhale pure air in some solitary valley, keeping its secrets still intact somehow. Listen to the whispers of air that still has free oxygen.

And never forget to smile at people because they still are humans and would appear godly in comparison to the mechanized monsters of the next centuries. The new species will write our history then. It will be the sorry tale of a species that went extinct because of its inherent weakness to be stronger and stronger. But till then enjoy whatever little is left brothers and sisters. And let the angry leaders fight. They will fight come whatever it may be.                            

लयों भाई भेड़ बकरी की शामत आयी

 पहलवानों को डरा धमकाकर और घटितकर मामले को रफा-दफा करने के बाद अब शक्तिशाली नेतृत्व ने किसान और कामगारों का रुख किया है. शाहाबाद हरियाणा में पुलिसिया डंडे से किसानो के सर फोड़े गए हैं. गुनाह ये था की वो अपनी सूरजमुखी की फसल के उचित दाम मांग रहे थे. गोदी मीडिया में एक सनकी ऐक्ट्रिस के मकान का छज्जा तोड़ने पर हफ्तों प्रलय जैसा सीन तो बनाया जा सकता है लेकिन अपनी खून पसीने की कमाई के उचित दाम मांगने पर उनके सर फोड़ने की घटना एक मामुली घटना है जिसको इग्नोर किया जा सकता है.  अब बात करते हैं इन किसानों के गुनाह की. सूरजमुखी का MSP 6400 रुपये है. सरकारी संस्थाओं ने खरीद से मना करके किसानों को प्राइवेट buyers को बेचने के लिए मज़बूत कर दिया. वहाँ उनको दाम मिला सिर्फ 4000 रुपये प्रति क्विंटल. अब बेचारा किसान प्रदर्शन तो करेगा ही.सो गुनाह हो गया, इससे देश की शक्ति कम होगी. ये भी बोल देंगे टुकड़े टुकड़े गैंग किसान आंदोलन चला रहा है. किसान नेता गुमनाम chaduni को जैल भेज दिया और अपने प्रिय यौन शोषण आरोपित बाहुबली को खुल्ले सांड की तरह छोड़ रखा है कि जाओ मौज करो सिर्फ वोट दिलाते रहना. वोट के लिए वादा किया काया था कि 2022 तक किसानों की आय दुगनी कर दी जाएगी. खर्चा तो दुगना हो गया लेकिन आय वहीं की वहीं है. किसान और मजदूरों को तो granted ले लिया गया है कि वो तो ऐसे ही मिट्टी में खेलने और पसीना बहाने के लिए बने हैं. आप में से बहुत सारे मित्र शहरी क्षेत्र के हैं इसलिए हो सकता है खेतीबाड़ी के बारे में हकीकत का पता ना हो. में गाँव में रहता हूं और जमीनी हकीकत से वाकिफ हू. ज़्यादातर सब्जियां आपको रीटेल में लगभग उसी दाम पर मिलती हैं. लेकिन हर सीजन यहां ऐसी स्थिति उत्पन्न होती है जब टमाटर, प्याज या और कोई सब्जी मंडी में कोई नहीं लेता. सड़ जाती हैं खेत में. अभी किसान भाई टमाटर को ठिकाने लगाने के अलग अलग तरीके अपना रहे हैं. मुझ जैसा छोटा मोटा लेखक जो खेती नहीं करता वो भी एक टमाटर का किसान लगता है. आए दिन कोई न कोई किसान दरवाजे पर टमाटर रख कर चला जाता है की भाई कूडे में फेंकने से तो अच्छा है. ये दर्शाता है कि फसल वितरण प्रणाली में कितनी खामियां हैं. ये सहाब तो भारत को विश्व गुरु बनाने पे तुले है इसलिए हम जैसे किसानों का क्या महत्व है. अपने अरबपति रसूखदारों के लिए कई लाख करोड़ कर्जा माफ़ करने से यों भारत की अर्थिक व्यवस्था सुदृढ़ हो जाती है लेकिन किसानों को उनकी फसल का उचित दाम देने से भारत की इकोनॉमी मर जाएगी. ये इनकी सोच है. भारत का शीर्ष सत्ताधारी नेतृत्व एक ऐसी स्टेट से आता है जहां व्यापार और पूंजीवाद लगभग समाज का अभिन्न अंग है. इसमे कोई बुराई नहीं है. लेकिन इसका मतलब यह नहीं है कि किसान और मजदूर बस दबाने कुचलने के लिए है. अरबों खरबों के डिफाल्टरों को तो कर्जा माफ करके देश की उन्नती के सिपाही की तरह प्रस्तुत किया जाता है और किसानों को गुनाहगार. सिर्फ इक्का दुक्का चैनल ही होंगे जहां किसानों के सर फूटने की खबर चलाई गई होगी. बाकी सब तो मुह में थूक बिलों बिलों कर देश को विश्व गुरु सिद्ध करने में व्यस्त हैं.  सलीम अगर सुशीला को छेड़ दे तो हफ्तों मीडिया सनातन धर्म पे आए संकट के बादल को चिल्ला चिल्ला कर हटाने में लग जाती है और अगर एक हिन्दू बाहुबली हिन्दू ल़डकियों को परेशान करता है तो खामोशी छा जाती है. किसको पडी है, सभी व्यस्त हैं अपनी देशभक्ती सिद्ध करने में. बड़ा आसान है. धर्म नाम पर उन्माद मचाइये. विपक्ष को पप्पू पप्पू कह कर ठहाके लगाओ. कोई अगर सरकार को टोक दे तो उसे ग़द्दार गद्दार कहके नाच नाचो. बड़ा असान है आज कल इन्टरनेट देशभक्त बनना. और इन सबके बीच में जो लोग आपके लिए फल और सब्जी उगाते है अगर वो पीटे जाने हैं तो देशभक्त लोगों के लिए तो अनपढ़ gavar लोग ही तो पीटे हैं भेड़ बकरियों की तरह, क्या फर्क पड़ता है.

A sunny winter day

 

A sunny winter day and many an old bone wringing their hands in glee for being thawed by gently warm sunrays. There is some noisy, hardline rhetoric in the clump of trees. Sparrows, babblers, tailorbirds, pied starlings and the rufous treepie couple all raising very serious objections about someone. Dousing hours are shaken awake.

A cat is looking for breakfast, aptly following the trail of passion and pain in the natural scheme of mother existence. The visitor treepies have a dominating freewheeling chikr-chikr-chikr verbal pot-shots. All the local birds raise a hot rhetoric and defeat the transgressor. Cobwebs on its face, it comes back with a beaten expression. It then pauses near the latest occupant of the fragile dove nest. She has the patience to wait till the bird of peace is done with laying her eggs. As I have already said many times, the doves are extremely lazy. How do they even survive as a species on the crafty and tumultuous stage of life? It’s an incisively dug big question in my mind.

I have a self-styled bird-feed vessel. It’s a discarded clay pitcher’s mouth-ring. Put it on the wall and it turns a nice little basin to hold millets and grains for the birds. Little groups of sparrows are busy in it through the day. One sparrow loves picking little grains. But she loves scaring others even more. Let a fellow sparrow come near and she would jump and give an angry peck at its fur. When she is around, the rest of them wear a hassled look. Even a balding big male sparrow had to retreat under her chirpy attack. Then there was some noise and all of them scurried away including the quarrelsome one. Why fight with your own pals, especially when there are bigger dangers around?

One of the peacocks has a small plumage having shed its burden. It allows him surplus energy to see more of life beyond the routine obsession about impressing the peahens. It’s a free wayfarer now and takes off from one roof to the other in style. Its take off is preceded by a single, steel-straight, short and loud burst using all the vocal chords in its beautiful neck. As it flies to its destination, it goes sailing with shrieking notes of ayeoo ko-ko-ko-ko. It’s this sound that has scared away the sparrows.

Even with their unassuming dull brown color, the rockchats look at you very intelligently. The rockchat couple is really feeling at home in and around my house. They are a very comforting company for a bachelor struggling writer. Their presence is very unobtrusive. Their dull color won’t draw your attention. And despite their chatty name, they are usually very silent as they hop around the yard, garden and the verandah taking little picks of insects from the open platter of mother nature. Driven by curiosity, they give me company inside the rooms as well, as they sit on the ceiling fan and ponder over some strange things. Theirs is indeed a very friendly presence.

खूब लड़ी मर्दानी...

 गोदी मीडिया द्वारा अब एक झूठ का बवंडर उठाया जा रहा है. मुट्ठी भर भर के रेत उड़ाया जा रहा है ताकि पहलवानों के मामले का सत्य जमीन की रेत में मिल जाए और उनका बाहुबली सांसद जेल जाने से बच जाए और आने वाले चुनावों में अपने क्षेत्र से वोट दिलाए. इस मामले में दिल्ली पुलिस की कार्रवाई पहले दिन से विवादास्पद रही है. जनवरी में उन्होंने FIR दर्ज करने से ही मना कर दिया. इसके बाद मननीय सुप्रीम कोर्ट के आदेश के बाद रिपोर्ट दर्ज हुई. इसके बाद जांच के नाम पर न्याय के साथ ठगी हुई. महीनों तक दिल्ली पुलिस आरोपी को POSCO ऐक्ट से बचाती दिखी. POSCO और सैम्युअल harrasment केस में शिकायतकर्ता की पहचान गोपनीय रखी जाती है. लेकिन नाबालिग लड़की की पहचान सुनियोजित तरीके से उजागर कर दी गई. जरा सोचो एक लड़की की हालत. पूरा प्रशासन आरोपी को बचाने के लिए शिकायतकर्ता को ही आरोपी की तरह प्रस्तुत करने पर अमादा. ऊपर से समाज में तरह तरह की बातें. क्या दिल्ली पुलिस इसके लिए कौन जिम्मेदार है. तरह तरह के प्रलोभन, तरह तरह के दबाव और लास्ट में उसको बालिग सिद्ध करने की कोशिश. बहुत सारी अफवाहों का बवंडर की उस लड़की ने केस वापिस ले लिया. सत्ता से कौन लड़ सकता है? आज बजरंग पूनिया का ट्वीट आया है की मेडल को 15 रुपये का बताने वाले अब उनकी नौकरियों के पीछे पड़े हैं. क्या ये नौकरियां किसी की खैरात है? ये खून पसीने से अर्जित की गई हैं. अगर देश के सर्वोत्तम खिलाड़ियों के साथ ऐसा हो सकता है तो स्वाभाविक है आम आदमी को तो न्याय का सपना तक नहीं लेना चाहिए. न्याय मिलने में जितनी देरी होती है, झूठ की धूल बड़ी आसानी से सत्य को दबा कर उसका वध कर देती है. इस केस में भी ऐसा ही हो रहा है. मीडिया खामोश है. सिविल सोसाइटी दम दबा के देशद्रोही क़रार दिए जाने के डर से घर में दुबकी बैठी है. हर किस्म के अन्याय को देशभक्ति के आवरण से ढक दिया जाता है. प्रजा को धर्म का नशा करा के मदमस्त कर के छोड़ दिया जाता है. और न्याय के लिए महीनों से जो बेटियाँ संघर्ष कर रही थी उनको डरा धमका के पीछे हटने पर मजबूर कर दिया जाता है. मेरा एक सवाल उन महानुभावों से है जो इन आरोपों को झूठा मानते हैं. क्या अंतरराष्ट्रीय स्तर पर हमारा झंडा बुलंद करने वालीं हमारी बहन बेटियाँ ऐसा कदम उठाएंगी जिससे उनका पूरा करिअर खत्म हो जाए? क्यों वो इतने बड़े बाहुबली से सामना करके अपनी सालों की तपस्या को बर्बाद करेंगी? सत्य का तो सबको पता है लेकिन अब मुर्ख बनने की आदत सी हो गयी लगती है. मज़ा आता है अब मुर्ख बनने में. लेकिन दुख की बात है कि सत्य का एक बार फिर सत्ता ने दमन कर दिया. कम से कम में व्यक्तिगत तौर पर इस केस में जायदा आशा नहीं रखता. क्यूंकि सत्ता बहुत बलशाली है, खासकर शक्तिशाली नेतृत्व के नीचे. पुलिस का सारा फोकस किसी तरह POSCO ऐक्ट से बाहुबली को बचाने का है और मुझे विस्वास है वो इसमे सफल भी होंगे. रही बात दूसरे सैम्युअल harassment केस की तो उनकी समान्य धाराओं के तहत आरोपी को आराम से anticipatory bail मिल सकती है, वो भी जब अगर उसको गिरफतार करने की नौबत आती है तो. इसके अलावा जांच एजेंसी आरोपी को अरेस्ट ना करने का फैसला भी ले सकती हैं क्यूंकि non-posco सैम्युअल harassment केस जिसमें कारावास 7 साल से कम है वहां जांच एजेंसी सबूतों के अभाव में आरोपी को गिरफ्तार नहीं करने का फैसला कर सकती है. और होगा भी यही. ये है विश्व गुरु भारत के न्याय प्रणाली की कहानी. लेकिन मुझे गर्व है इन बहिनों पर जिन्होंने अन्याय के खिलाफ लड़ाई लड़ी. हार जीत का मामला दूसरा है.मुख्य चीज है ये बहन लड़ी तो. वर्तमान को तो दबाया जा सकता है लेकिन इतिहास कभी अन्याय नहीं करता. सच सामने आ ही जाता है.

Cat jumping on Pa's head

 

It was almost like unleashing a tiger on one’s own father. This feral cat had this bad habit of littering at all the wrong places in and around our house. It was thus ordained that she was to be taken to stick as and when seen without losing any time.

I saw her sleeping under winter sunrays on the stone slabs overlooking the inner yard. Like a supreme predator, I stealthily picked a bamboo stick and poked at it quite forcefully from the railings above. It received quite a hard poke at its ribs that sent it out of its wits. Not having much clue about what to do, it jumped down in panic.

It was a beautiful day for sunbathing. Father had a close crop of his grey hair and had given a nice oil massage to his scalp that needed attention and pampering after weeks of lying hidden under his woolen cap. The idiotic cat landed straight on his philosopher’s head. Well, the cat took revenge for its fall. Father had scratch marks on his scalp. The act turned unpardonable even with the cat’s entire set of littering crimes.

‘You are good for perpetrating a self-goal only! Why didn’t you hit her in a way so that she landed anywhere on earth except my head?’ nursing his scratch marks, Father turned serious enough to settle a score from his side.

However, he was a kind man in every sense of the term. The instantaneous flare of anger was curbed, the red flame changed to a grumbling of some words about my foolishness, then to some stoic reflection, followed by some clandula ointment on his injuries. Then a book found him well absorbed in its pages. Father would forget all individual and collective miseries, even if there was a nuclear strike, as long as there was a nice book in his hands.

The Mysterious Hawker

 

This particular hawker’s selling-call has been an enigma for months. It sounds superposed by inexpugnable traces of secrecy. I simply failed to make out what is his product or service. The drooling notes of insipid loquacity turned troublous enough to niggle at my curiosity. But by the time I would come out to check, he was gone.

In my estimation he could be anything from a trash-picker to a cloth seller. There is a dog in the neighborhood that howls in response to all moods and situations. Its character seems to be interwoven with indissoluble sinews of sadness and misery. Give him the best bone, he will howl painfully as a show of his obligation. Get him engaged to the most beautiful feline girl, he will express his gratitude through an even more piteous howling. In fact, it will howl even while at the top of a weaker dog in a fight. But it would forget its whimpering—eighth wonder—at the sounds of this hawker. Maybe the hawker’s speech leaves him confounded.

Then one fine day, I found out the secret. I was standing outside and was lucky to witness his few seconds of hawking spree before he vanished around the corner. It’s a vegetable seller pulling his rickshaw cart. There is the feeblest of auditory resemblance to aaloo, gobhi, matar, pyaj in a rumbling jumblement of jittery linguistics. I think even a Tahitian coming to the outer world for the first time in his life would do better in his first attempt at pronouncing Hindi words for vegetables.

There he was vanishing on his royal march as if the buyers have the obligation to run after and seek his blessings. I raised my hand and harked from behind. The dog that was having a break in howling to bark instead looked at me and reverted to his howling position as if complaining over something. The vegetable seller was gone without paying heed to my accost. The dog kept howling with its usual finesse.