wisdom?... Courage? . .whatever. It worked!

These are some of the instances I have heard about, how people have acted in the smog of hatred and suspicion.

First one is of a high-school-aged boy. Those were the days of hindu-muslim riots in India. There were talks all around all the time on this issue, what should be done and what should not be done and all everything. One evening this boy returns home after his evening game of cricket and suddenly says to his mother, "These muslims, all should be sent to Pakistan!". Mother just nods, buying time to probe into him. Then she says,"Okk, if you wish so. Lets start from the ones we know well. May the first one be table maestro Zakir Hussain". The boy was shocked by the name, but quickly recollects himself and says,"No no no. Let him stay back". Mother asks,"Ok, then shall we send Bismillah Khan and stop him from playing his sanai here." Boy says,"No no, he plays wonderfully. Let him stay back". Mother continues,"Then shall we send Sharukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Katarina Kaif?". The boy errupts, "Are you mad Mom? Why should we send these people. I even have katerina's posters on my wall". This wasn't a mother who would give up easily. She persists,"So you want to send ALL the muslims that you select. Ok! Lets look for some more. How about Azaruddin or Zahir Khan". "No No No". yells the boy running out of the room. He decides it is safer to study than talk to Mom on this topic.

Again, it was time of hindu-muslim riots in Mumbai. Red hatred was overflowing all over the city. Weapon weilding mobs were moving around hunting for their prey. Many many citizens hated the hatred, but were either scared or whatever to protest. But there were folks who did muster courage and staked their lives to save many lives. These people not only saved lives right then but also doused the flames of hatred and saved many lives in future. One such person I have heard about is a famous indian cricket opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar. A saffron mob was moving around his locality hunting for prey. Sunil could not take it sitting idle. He is always known to be man of utmost courage on cricket field. Everybody knew what a player he was! But that day he showed what a mettle his character had. He walked out of the house and stood in front of the mob spreading has hands wide and preventing them to move further. The mob shouted at him to move away. He quietly told them to hold down their weapons and quietly return home. They refused and angrily started moving towards him. He was poised and stood fast there, "You will have to kill me first before moving on to anybody." He just kept on looking straight into the eyes of hatred, his wife standing next to him in horror. As had always happened in cricket field, his courage overpowered his opponents. Leader of the mob, turned his eyes down and followers turned their weapons downs. The leader gave a angry look to Sunil Gavaskar and sullenly turned back and started walking home with drooping shoulders. It is rumoured, it is said that this incidence happened. Sunil Gavaskar himself has never uttered a word about it! I wouldnt have known about it if I had not heard it. Now that I have heard it, I am writting it down so that people, who may not get to hear of it, would get to know of it.

Copenhegan

I have put ear plugs in my ears and so am immune to all the hoopla and loudspeaking at Copehegan Environmental Conference. I don’t expect anything other than complete cacophony when so many beurocrats and politicians gather together. (Huge amount of energy is wasted in keeping all of them warm in the freezing Danish winter. Isnt this ironical and representative of the way things are going! Couldn’t they have met at an environment friendly venue in a enviroment friendly way?) All of them are hassling and haggling over amounts of emission cuts without initiating any action at home, as if emission cuts are automatically fall from heaven. So I do not expect anything happening on ground whatever they agree or agree to disagree. Nothing substantive can happen from the current economic scenario which is fundamentally rooted in two notions of 'consume' and 'more'. Both these notions are diametrically opposite to emission cuts.

For too long we have let corporates tell us where our happiness lies in. Looking at the western societies we have come to realize that, beyond a certain level, material comforts do not lead to increase in happiness, rather the opposite happens. We end up loosing any meaning to our living. So if we have a fundamental relook at our lives and lifestyles then we may feel like living differently and maybe that would be immensely environfriendly way of living.
• Instead of buying, Do more (= consume less, enjoy more)
• Participate in the things in our lives (=buy less)
• Experience the joy of putting things to a newer use (=throw away less and recycle more)
• Live with nature (=have seasonal habits, use local stuff than getting things across seven seas, commute less)
• Spend more time with ourselves and with our family and friends (=enjoy the work you are doing, live close to work or find work closer to home, have time in hand to 'do' things)



WHAT DO YOU THINK? DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE? HAVE YOU TRIED THIS OUT? WANT TO TRY OUT?

जुन्या सवयी

गवत उपटून टाक्लं तरी
झाडं छाटून टाकली तरी,
तंतू दटून राहतातच
बिया लपून राहतातच,
पाण्य़ाची वाट पहात
संधीची वाट पहात,

अलगद रुजतात
सभोवार मुरतात
पुनःश्च फ़ोफ़ावतात,
म्हणून तर अनुभवी माळी म्हणतात
सतत मशागत करत रहावं लागतं
नाहीतर
बागेचा पुन्हा माळ व्हायला
वेळ नाही लागत

Wagging Love

Some babies are born with silver spoon in their mouth, some are born with golden spoon. I was born with doors of my house open. Love came in from all doors and windows. Even before I was born, at the first signs of my arrival love had started filling our house and our hearts. We welcomed it with open arms and wide smiles. So much of love started arriving that we had to break open the walls and make news widows. Wide big windows, from floor to roof. Our family was blessed with all that warmth and love. We kept on welcoming it.

We kept on welcoming it till one evening love followed me in the form of tiny woolly ball with wagging tail. We were all snoochy-moochy to receive this ball with a wagging tail and seducing squeaks. As time went on, my mother started realizing side-effects of love. With incessant slaps of wagging tail, woolly ball jumping through her legs during household chores, and cute squeaks asking for attention all through the night, she started feeling like love is sort of started overflowing for her. She had more than enough of love. She tried to keep that woolly ball out but it bounced back in. All efforts to get rid of this live ended in vain. So she did the next best thing she could do, that was to ensure no more love could come in. She closed all doors and windows and sealed them with latches and locks. Now nothing could come in. And nothing could go out either!

Woolly ball was naturally called Wuly. With no way to go out Wuly showered all her love on me. I used to be wet with love all the time. This wetness percolated inside to my heart and too became full of woolly love and I was always smiling, cheery, lovey. From Wuly I learnt to wag, I learnt to move my ears. When I entered a room I would know beforehand who were inside and who had left, merely by their smells. By their smells I would know who is happy or who is angry. I became so adept in these expressions that my family would lovingly call me Wulo. In school my antiques were looked at with some fascination, some fun and some ridicule. Some boys were called girlie or sissy, while I was called doggy. I did not mind it, rather I was enjoying all of it. It went on well till I went to high school, where I took fancy of girl. Soon she was called as girlfriend and I was called her dogfriend. Then I realized that things are going a bit too far. It was all alright about me but I would not want my girlfriend to be ridiculed, though she herself did not mind it. But now I was grown up and I have to take care of my girlfriend. I need to be a man.

It was very difficult for me. I needed to close doors and windows of myself. My feeling could no more flow out freely as and how they wanted. I had become man and feelings would have to walk out of me only in a manly way. That was the first jolt to my young and lively heart. Destiny had enabled me to learn all the nature's wonderful ways of expressing and receiving feelings, but now I would need to sacrifice all those in order to be a man! Ooooff!

In the early stages of evolution as man started reaping benefits of developed mind, its focus shifted more and more towards mind. In the process all other facets and abilities got neglected. Today we have reached such a stage that we have hardly anything to fear from the external world. The biggest threats to mankind are from its own kinds, from its own selves. So many of conflicts, so many fights arise out of misunderstandings that if man had been able to communicated better his life in turn would become a lot better. A man would not have to doubt about his girl-friend or a woman about her boyfriend. She would not need to ask him, "Do you love me?". She would know herself by his smell, his sound, his so many bodily actions. When a person is trying to feign his emotions, others would immediately know what he is really feeling. People would not need to go around uttering "I love you, dear" so many times as to make those three lovely words a cliché. Our expressions, our smell, our sounds, our touch, our actions, anything and everything would clearly speak out our love, our anger, our sulkiness.

We have reached a state where most of our basic needs are getting satisfied with minimal of efforts and time, and we have left with lots of time to do nothing. This is pushing us to contemplating, to look deeper into ourselves, to seek to find out 'why's of our actions. And what we are seeing is surprising many. Most of our seemingly rational, logical actions arise from emotional, completely irrational roots. Rationality is seeing to be inadequate to satisfy our emotional needs. And we are seeing the changes. The old time heroes with stony faces and inhuman actions maybe bygones. Today's heroes are more explicit in their expressions. We are seeing many of hard-nut sportsment openly giving out their intense emotions. We see them shout aloud, see them kiss ground, see them laugh or cry, cry both in pain of loss and in pleasure of winning. Just yesterday a young Chief Minister of an Indian state said publicly, "If I react with a bit of emotion, good. For too long, politics has been dehumanized in this country". Well said, Chief Minsiter. My whole hearted applause to you. I too am looking forward to the days when I can muster enough courage to raise my ears and to wag my tail openly and to the days when my friends too can gather courage to respond to me with wagging their tails.

Power of Places

I have been to different places for my morning workout of walking and jogging. I have been to bylanes of Dahanukar Colony, to Kothrud Hill, to Deccan Gymkhana jogging track, to other grounds, to Prabhat Road bylanes, and to Law College Hill from Kanchan Lane. (For those who are not from the western part of Pune, these names may sound unfamiliar. But they can of course google to see the places. If they are not satisfied with simple googling they can also google MSN or Yahoo!)

We Indians have this special knack of converting proper nouns into common nouns, or even into verbs. For us Xerox is not a company which makes photocopying machines. For us Xerox is everything and that. Xerox machine can be a Canon photocopying machine, to xerox is to photocopy. A yellow board with XEROX written in black paint outside a shop means a shop vendor who is offering many facilities in addition to photocopying. We have converted Cadbury chocolate into Cadbury = chocolate. So we have Amul's cadbury, Nestle's cadbury and so on. So . . . . We google Google, we google MSN, and we google many other things.

Oh, I must return to my hill, the Law College Hill, if I have to continue writing. This hill casts a sort of magical spell on me, that once I am in its shadow my mind starts acting creatively. While my feet are wandering through bushes and trees of the hill, my heart and my mind are wandering all over the world and beyond. There on that divine hill my mind often leaves this earthly world and wanders into the worlds beyond. Its wanderings and wonderings were so blessed by the hill that they not only travelled to different worlds but created newer worlds. The worlds I had never experienced in my life before, were lighting up inside me. And slowly that life started sneaking out through the thick dark wall that I had created myself. And then what happened I could not believe myself, and maybe you may not believe it either. But its true as I have experienced it. Nothing can be truer than experience. In this light of new worlds I started seeing This world differently.

Inside my house there is one such place. Its my bathroom. This place to casts it magic over my creativity. But this is a different spell than the one by my hill. This one leads me into oration, to music, and to things I don’t even utter outside of this place. In the outside world I am shit scared of public speaking. But here, I have given longest and strongest speeches with all the accompanying bodily expressions. Here, when I am describing flying I don’t only describe with words, I do actually FLY. Aah, flying inside bathroom! ! ! But yes I do, I really do fly inside my bathroom. Its such a fun. Once a friend told me that fear of public speaking is the most common of all fears. I believed him right away, without even an iota of doubt. When I enter my bathroom, there is no fear, no apprehension. A huge crowd is eagerly waiting for me to speak and I too am all eager to start. Once I start there is all smiles and laughs and claps and shouts. I am enjoying everything that’s going on inside and outside. I am in state of bliss. Be it speaking or singing, I am simply unstoppable, unbeatable. I transgress the boundaries of this world and be in a different world. Its MY world. I am the actor and I am the observer.


Women have this charm of creating such divine places near to themselves. Be they mothers or be lovers, once they take you close, you start dissolving. No more there is any body nor clothes. Your heart is in direct contact, heart to heart, heart to divinity, you to God.

Life After Death

teek--taak---teek--taak-- . . . . Pendulum goes on. Which precedes what . . . pendulum goes on.
Hen--egg--hen--egg-- . . . .cycle goes on. Which is original, which is product. . . Cycle goes on.
death--birth--death--birth-- … life goes on. Which is later, which is first. . . Life goes round.

WAIT ! ! ! Life does NOT go round like this. I KNOW, I EXPERIENCE that life does NOT go round like this. There is birth and there is death, and that is the end. I can see things travelling from birth to death. But I have not ever seen anything from death to birth. I have not seen, I have not felt, I have not experienced.

Some people say that only thing certain is death. Anything that is born must die. Some scientists say that the only certainty is vibrations, everything else is uncertainty. Vibrations, periodics, cycles go on and on. Anything that goes up comes down, up-and-down, expansion-and-compression, life-and-death! It goes on and on


If anything that is born dies, then what happens to that which dies. We are not getting buried under dead rubble. So everything that dies must be getting born again. Anything that dies is born and anything that is born dies again. Life goes on, and death goes on. What is it that dies and what is it that is born from it. Is it same or are those different? We feel that when something is born that thing goes ahead and dies. If the one that’s born and the one that dies are one and the same, wouldn’t it be same for the one that dies. The one that dies should be the same as the one that gets born. But we don't experience this. We experience that life changes, life forms change, things change when they die. Experiences of life before death and the one after death are fundamentally different. But don’t experience anything before its born. So the experiences of death before birth and after birth are different.

China And India

Economically, militarily, politically China is growing much faster than India. Its become a fashion in India to point at China and say, "What progress!"
Before I go further let me honestly state that I have a strong bias against China. I feel the political system, social hierarchy strongly exploitative. I can not call a revolution a 'social revolution' when it is rises and survives on the lives of multitude of common citizens, however noble the goal may be. I fail to call it a 'developed' or 'progressed' nation where battle tanks are rolled over young men lying on the road, protesting silently. I thank God that I dont have to feel proud of such a country as 'My Nation'. I surely wouldn't want even my enemy to have to lead a horrendous life of a chinese miner. I am sure I dont even want to be the cruel owner of such mines.
I can not count the number of time I have felt grateful to God for sending Mahatma Gandhi to my country at the time. Had he not carved and guided the philosophy and ethics of Independent India, I dont know what path we would have walked.
It surprises me no end that people and the countries preaching morality and claiming moral superiority are so silent towards the state of humanity in China. The same people are vociferous about the plight of muslim women, but dont have even a drop of tear or a bit of voice about the state of miners and industrial workers in China. Maybe they are afraid that if they speak up it may cause the wages in China to go up. That would mean rise in prices of chinese goods. If prices go up people may buy less and if people buy less then what would happen to 'economy'?
LONG LIVE ECONOMY ! ! !
Somebody noted that its probably the first time that Nobel prize for Economics has been given to a non-quanitative work. The critic went on to say that the time has come for economics to learn from its closed realtives - psychology and sociology.
I COULDN'T AGRESS LESS ! ! !

Overcapacity

As a student I would finish my studies in short time and would keep on wondering what to do for the rest of the period, how to fill the time. Later I realised that I wasn't alone. Many, rather most, people frequently feel this problem of how to fill time. Animals spend lot of their time in sleeping, searching for food, digesting food, and be wary of own safety and on lookout for threats. Remaining small time they can spend idleing, but always alert. Man has evolved much beyond that. He need to work small part of his time to make sure of his basic needs, not only in the present but for the rest of his life. He has evolved in such a way that he no longer needs to feel physically insecure, need not constantly spend his time and energy in being alert. He can afford to sleep like a log and still wake up to see light next morning.

This huge amount of idleness brings in emptiness. Earlier times religion and religious rituals etc took up quite amount of time. Even after that a lot of time remained empty. This emptiness, this hollowness, this feeling petty, worthless was countered by quest for external power. Power, control over things, animals and even fellow humans. In quest of power and control men went in fights and wars. Women spent their times in caring for families, looking better and attracting men-of-power.

In modern world today this basic human psychology is manifested differently. Religious power have weakened and corporates have taken over the reins. Men feel this power in using, consuming wildly and in wild things. This is power of money. A roaring car, designed by somebody and manufactured by somebody else, but the owner feels the pride by having spending the money to own it. This perception of power, of control, of esteem, of goodness only through monetary terms has spread so deeply into our psychology that we can not even imagine a state of well-being devoid of money. (Actually the word wealth has its roots in the word well-being. See how what it means today!)
Many of the problems individuals and societies face today may be resolved we can find ways to deal our own overcapacity.
One of the ways may be to shift our focus from doing to being. Instead of constantly looking for things to do, if we can find enjoyment or peace in whatever wherever we are then probably we can see more meaning inside, rather than futilely searching it outside

Straight Line

Line is the only straight line possible.

Is is a wonder of human mind to imagine something that does not and can not exist in reality.

How does it sound when we realize that line, such a basic concept in mathematics (geometry), is only an approximation of reality!

To imagine, to approximate, to abstractize, to hypothesize are ways with which we make sense of reality. In a way we crate a reality, albeit in our minds. This way we emulate God Himself.

No surprise then that ancient Hindu meditators have said things like
" I am He" ,
" You are nothing but He" !!!

Deeper and Wider

When I go
wider and wider
wider and wider
I can't observe
I cease to be me
I start being

When I go
deeper and deeper
deeper and deeper
I can't observe
I cease to be
I dissolve

A Miracle called Indian Elections

In a country where rules are there only to be referred to, at the most! , it is a miracle how a systimatically the huge exercise of elections is carried out. Here are some facts and figures relating to the recent elections conducted in Maharashtra, one of the Indian states:

Area of India : 3,287,363 sq. km
Population of India : more than 1,000,000,000
Literacy in India : 65.4%

Now about Maharashtra :-
Area : 307, 690 sq. km
Population : 96,752,247
Number of voters : 75,811,245
Number of constituencies : 288
Total number of candidates in fray : 3559
acndidates with criminal background : 276
women candidates in fray : 211
Number of Polling stations: 84,136
Number of electronica polling machines used : 125,000
Number of staff on polling duty : 478,000
Number of security personnel for polling security : 475,000
Government expenditure on this election : Rs. 20,000,000 ( more than $400,000)

Each voter has to identify himself/herself with a photo ID. Inside each polling a place is kept for representative of all candidates to oversee actual election process. Voting is secret voting on pressing a button on electronic voting machine. For the aid of illiterate voters candidates name is accompanied by election symbol.

Whole of electioneering machinery is governed by Election Commission, completely independent of government or any political party.

Puppy

In the wee hours of early morning a sweet cute puppy was born on a street. Next morning an equally sweet and cute young girl woke up to the cuty moans of the puppy below her window. She ran outside and at the site of the sweet ball she was so excited she immediately took it to her bosoms. She felt she knew that it was born for her, only for her. She looked up to thank God. And behold . ... . At the very moment there were sounds of bells, all sorts of bells. Jingle bells, church bells, temple bells, alarm bells. And there was God up there , smiling down on her. "Good morning", said the God. She was stunned, "Oh My God. Its YOU!", she cried. "Yes, my child. Its me, IT IS ME. I have come to tell you something very nice, something very serious. I am happy that you are taking the puppy. You will experience heaven with it, I assure you. But that heaven will be short lived. I am telling you because this puppy is my child and I don’t want to see you unhappy when it will come running to me very soon. I want you to learn happiness from it and share it and spread it". "Oh no. You are so cruel, God ! If you already knew all this, then why have you sent it to me? Why do you want me to suffer a loss of such a lovely dear one?", asked the girls with tears flowing from her eyes. God kept quiet for a while, waiting for her to get over her sudden emotions. Then he said, still smiling, "My sweet dear, I don’t want you to suffer. Rather I want you know and share what sheer, pure happiness is. If you can see, if you learn that sheer pure happiness, you will have all the answers within you." God paused a while, and continued, "But let me first tell you a small story about this puppy"

"There was a sage living on this planet. A divine soul leading a earthly life. He lived for many many years. So many years that no man has ever lived. He lead a sacred life. He did tapashcharyaa for many years. As years went by he gained in knowledge and wisdom. Seemed like he had won over nature, had won over God. His life and death had come under his own commands. He would decide when to leave. The time finally came. He felt he has learnt all that could be learnt, he had done all that could be and should be done. His purpose was completed and it was time to pass beyond this world. He was ready to achieve to achieve mokhsaa. He prepared to bid adieu. He passed on his knowledge and wisdom all that could be passed on. He left his life behind and was on his way to the ultimate. While merging with the One, he thought of looking back to see if he has missed something that he should have done or if he has left something which he should have taken with him. And Lord behold . . . . . He did see something that he had missed out on. Missed something very important that left him much less than complete. Now he would not go towards the One, moksha was rightfully for him. He stopped in his path wondering. He had left his old sage body behind and he could not go back there. But he HAD to go back and do that which he felt he had missed out on and complete his completeness. "

"He stopped midway, hanging between life and eternity. He started meditating, a bodiless soul meditating, bringing all his knowledge and wisdom together. Slowly a light emerged from nowhere. And from that light the answer came forward. He had no choice. He had to go back into life and live out whatever he had missed out on. Light stayed on but kept changing, like flowing water. It was changing every moment but still He had shared what he learnt, what he gained, what he achieved. He had shared fruits of his knowledge and wisdom. He had spread happiness and bliss. He had touched many a hearts to smile and laugh. But he had not laughed himself. He had helped many a children play , but he had not been a child himself. He had helped dissolve hatred into love, but he had not loved himself. He did not love and he was not loved. This knowledge spread like a smile into the soul. He realized that until he loves and is loved, until he smiles inside like blinking stars he is not complete with his completeness. Until he can love solely because he can not but love, until he can smile because he can not be without smile he can not be One. And this he has do in a life form."

"So he has chose this lifeform of a puppy. The fastest and purest way to love and be loved. He is a sage and will learn very very fast. But don’t worry. For his own purpose he will never make you unhappy. He will share the power of love with you. Be assured that then on you will never feel short of love, to give and to receive. It is for this reason he ahs chosen to be a puppy and nothing else."

With these words God smiled and started descending down. He kept coming down and down, and came near to her and went into the puppy in her arms. She looked down, the puppy was looking at her with its puppy-special eyes and there was a sweet wet something licking her cheek. The girl held the puppy closer, her eyes moist and her heart full.

Silence

silence speaks
words speak silence
empty words, hollow words
useless, worthless words
words aplenty, in multitude
a dense crowd, crowded crowd
without soul or a heart

I cherish this silence
i relish this culture
culture of being silent
speaking in silence

देवदेऊळ - God and his abodes - temples

Narendra - Marathi Prose - 090823 - DevDeuL

ठसे

रेतीवरती उठवत ठसे
मस्तित मी चालत असे
राहतील ठसे जसेच्या तसे
मागच्यांना दिसतील असे

पुढे मी मागे ठसे
जितकी धाव तितका फसे
नाही मी फ़क्त ठसे
मागच्यांना दिसतिल असे

हळूच लाट अलगद येते
येऊन ती निघून जाते
कोण मी कुठले ठसे
मागच्यांना काहीच नसे

श्रद्धा-अंधश्रद्धा आणि भारत-पाक

भारत आणि पाकिस्तान जुळी भावंडं. एकाच उदरातून एकाच वेळई जन्मलेली. एकाच मुशित घडलेली. एकसारखी दिसणारी, एकसारखी वागणारी, एकसारखा विचार करणारी, एकसारखॆ भाव असणारी. त्यांच्यात फ़रक करण कठीण असतं, त्याम्चा त्यांनाही. अगदी जमिनीवर सीमा काधण्यासारख्या साध्या गोष्टीतदेखील त्यांना धड फ़रक करता आलेला नाही. दोन्ही देशांमधली अर्धी सीमाच ते नीट आखू शकले आहेत.

ही दोन्मोही भावंड मोठी होता होता त्यांच्या दिशेत एका अंशाच्या एका शतांशाचा फ़रक पडला आणि पुढे जाऊन त्यांचे मार्ग
कितितरी वेगळे दिसायला लागले.

श्रद्धा आणि अंधश्राद्धा या जुळ्य़ा बहिणींबाबत हे तंतोतंत लागू होतं. मुलींमधल्या भारत पाकिस्तान. इतकं साम्य की एकीच्या ऐवजी दुसरीशी कधी बोलायला लागलो कळतं नाही. बोलता बोलता या पायावरून त्या पायावर (स्वतःच्याच) जोर दिला तरी लगेच एकीऐवजी दुसरीशी बोलण सुरू होतं इतक्या त्या जवळ जवळ असतात.

अंधश्रद्धेमधले दुर्गूण, दुर्भाव, दुर्हेतू निवडून काढून टाकून तिचं शिद्धीकरण करण्याचे प्रेयत्न शतकानुशतकं चालू आहेत पण त्याला यश आलेलं नाही. थोडी अनुकंपा, थोडी सहृदयता, थोडं प्रेम, थोडी शाश्वती मात्र खूप काही करून जातं असा मात्र अनुभव आहे.

मर्ढेकरांची कविता

शिशिरागम

शिशिरर्तुच्या पुनरागमे,
एकेक पान गळावया
का लागता मज येतसे
न कळे उगाच रडावया.
पानात जी निजली इथे
इवलीं सुकोमल पाखरे,
जातील सांग अता कुठे?
निष्पर्ण झाडिंत कांपरे!


अब्द अब्द

किती पायी लागूं तुझ्या
किती आठवूं गा तूंते;
किती शब्द बनवूं गा
अब्द अब्द मनी येते.
.
.
कधी लागेल गा नख
तुझें माझिया गळ्याला,
आणि सामर्थ्याचा स्वर
माझिया गा व्यंजनाला !

Less don't count

These're days of numbers
More the merrier,
Less don’t count
My days are numbered

Number of heads
Number of notes,
More the merrier
Less don’t count

This is democracy
Majority rules,
More the merrier
Less don’t count

More the decibles
Faster it is heard
Louder the merrier
Silence doesn’t count

I don’t shout
I am only one
One is equal to zero
New math abound

I am not heard
I am not counted
Myness is neglected
In this numbers' game

I do sow
And I so see
I be the beauty
That is me

नभ आभाळून आलं

नभ गाभाळून आलं
आली चिंचेला गोडवी
त्याच्या एकेका थेंबामधी
येत्या वरषाची थोरवी

नभ गाभाळून आलं
निळं पोट करडं झालं
फ़ुगल्या पोटामंधी
विजेचं तेज प्यालं

नभं आभाळून आलं
नभं गाभाळून आलं
पोटुश्या नभुळीला
होईल खळाळ मुलगी

ठाव

एक अनाकल हुरहूर
डोळी टपटपलेले पाणी
अंधुक अबोल हाक
समोर आठ्य़ांचे उत्तर.
मिळाली नाही तिला
दिवसाची सोबत

आरक्त डोळे, उन्मत्त शरीर
वक्षावर विसावलेली बोटं
त्यांना गारबधीर बर्फ़स्पर्श
फ़िरवलेली कूस.
मिळाला नाही त्याला
रात्रीचा संगत

मिटलेले चार डोळे
भळभळ उघडी हृदयं
एकमेक गेले लांब
उरली अश्वत्थाची सोबत
बाहेर नीरव शांतता
आत तडफ़ड तगमग कल्लोळ

पहाट झाली
चंद्रराज उगवले
प्रेमराज्याची हवाल
पहायला निघाले
हातात शुभ्रशीतल कंदील
सोबत एकतारी नारद

थकली गात्रे
चेतवू लागले
शमली आग
पेटवू लागले
मिटले डोळे
हसवू लागले

लांब दूर इथे
एकतारी सूरावट
अश्वत्थाची सळसळ
पापण्यांआड उघडे डोळे
धुमसती बर्फ़ाळ आग
फ़ुरफ़ुरणारी ज्योत

नारदाला राहवलं नाही
काडीऐवजी टाकला हिरवा कोंब
आशेने इथे उसळेल डोंब
निशाधिशाला पाहवलं नाही
मिटल्या डॊळ्यांनी शीतल नजर
प्रेमाचा पुन्हा होईल कहर


दूता देवालाही न कळे
अंतरीची ठाव
बाईच्या हो पान्ह्याला
कशी दूधाचीच आच
पोटुशीला होई पोट जड
वांझोटीला त्याचीच आस

गोडुली

इटुकली पिटुकली
पटकन्‌ टपकली

एवढीशी चिमुकली
केवढीशी धिटुकली

धाव धाव धावली
तरी नाही दमली

धपकन पडली
तरी नाही रडली

सानुली गोडुली
सायीची बाहुली

स्वप्न

आहे स्वप्न माझे,
नि्र्झर व्हायचे,
दाखवत स्पष्ट तळ,
खळखळ वहायचे

माफ़ी

मी:
मागे एकदा तुला म्हणालो होतो
"मला माफ़ कर"
तू मान फ़िरवून निघून गेलीस
एक हळवा पापा घॆऊन
माफ़ी मिळाली की नाही ते
मला कळलंच नाही


तू:
मागे एकदा तुला म्हणाले होते
"मला माफ़ कर"
तू फ़ाडकन थोबाडीत मारलीस
आवेगाने मिठीत घेतलस
माझॆच अश्रू घोट घोट पीत
मी समर्पित झाले

Alone. Lonely?

when you are alone
but dont want to be lonely
its you and you and you
that keep company
showing a lantern
to walk to sky
and light a star here
and a moon there
a moon that lights
a spark within
to light your heart
and then
whats alone
and whats company

मुकुल, . . . . . . माझा सलाम

पं. मुकुल शिवपुत्र बेपत्ता झाले आणि नंतर एका रल्वे फ़लाटावर हलाखीच्या अवस्थेत आढळून आले. या बातम्या वाचून अतिशय दुःख झाले. एका अद्वितीय कलाकाराची काय ही अवस्था ! विमनस्क अवस्थेत, विपन्न स्थितीत त्याला वावरावे लागावे. का बरं ? किती भयानक, किती दारुण ! पण काय करणार, कोण किती पुरे पडणार ?!

डोळ्यातनं ओघळलेले थेंब पुसून, मनातल्या हळहळीवर फ़ुंकर घालून मी माझ्या आखीवरेखीव समृद्ध आयुष्याकडे पुन्हा वळलो. आधीच्या घड्या सरळ करत नव्या घड्या घालायला लागलो. पण माझ्या मनावर मीच घतलेली ती फ़ुंकर विरून गेली नाही. माझ्याही नकळत तिने वावटळिचे रौद्र स्वरूप धारण केले. माझ्या आखलेल्या सरळ रेषा उधळून टाकत, नीटस इमारती उध्वस्त करत ती इतस्ततः बेभान सुटली. चोपडून बसवलेले केस तिने पूर्ण विस्कटून टाकले. गालावरचं तीट डोळ्यांवर गेलं. माझं सौंदर्य खुलवायला डोळ्यांभोवती न थांबता ते अंजन डोळ्यांत जाऊन झोंबायला लागलं. पेटाऱ्यात पार खाली दाबून ठेवलेल्या गोष्टी फ़ुर्रर्र करत वर आल्या.

समोर आलं ते जोडपं. हे जग आपल्या प्रेमाच्या योग्यतेचं नाही म्हणून हातात हात घालून कड्यावरून उडी मारणारं. मनातल्या वावटळीने त्यांना अलगद उचलून पुन्हा माझ्यासमोर आणलं. त्यांच्याशेजारी उभा राहिला. व्हॅन गॉग. मैत्रिणीने मागितला म्हणून तिला आपला कान कापून भॆट देणारा, उन्हातले तळपते रंग तसेच्या तसे कागदावर उमटावेत म्हणून तब्येतीची पर्वा न करता उन्हातान्हात चित्रे काढत डोक्यावर परिणाम होऊ देणारा. त्यांच्या मागे दूर धूसर एव्हरेस्टच्या खांद्याला खांदा लावून उभा होता कर्ण. याचकाचे खरे रूप ओळखूनही, त्याचा खरा हेतू जाणूनही आपली कवचकुंडलं दान करणारा, स्वतःच्या प्रतिज्ञेला स्मरून, आपाल्या स्वभावाला मान देऊन जीव धोक्यात टाकणारा. मनातले सारे राग, सारे अपमान गिळून टाकून कुंतीला ’तुझी पाच मुलं राहतील’ असे वचन देणारा. हा कर्णच जर नसता तर महाभारत किती अळणी झालं असतं नाही ! कदाचित मग व्यास महाभारत लिहायच्या फ़ंदातही पडले नसते.

मला भावतो तो कर्णाचा दानशूरपणा नाही तर त्याची स्वतःशी कमिटमेंट, त्याची पॅशन. इंद्राला कवचकुंडलं काढून देताना, कुंतीला वचन देताना त्याला त्याचे परिणाम पूर्ण माहित होते. तरीही तो डळमळला नाही, मागे सरला नाही. त्यानंतरही शेपूट घालून रणांगणातून पळून गेला नाही. आपल्या वृत्तिशी, आपल्या भावनांशी तो एकनिष्ठ राहिला. कशाचिही पर्वा न करता, अगदी जिवाचीही!

काय फ़रक आहे कर्ण आणि मुकुल मध्ये ?! कर्णाला दुर्योधनाने उचलून धरलं, व्यासांनी अजरामर केलं. मुकुल तर सगळ्या व्यासांपासून दूर पळतोय. आप्ल्या ऐहिक जगातली सगळीच्या सगळी बंधनं त्याने झिडकारली आहेत. पूर्ण जाणिवेने. त्याची किंमत मोजायची त्याची तयारी आहे. तो भीक मागतो ती फ़क्त फ़ुटकळ पैशाची. धनवानांचे रजगायक होण्याची निमंत्रणम त्याने नाकारली आहेत. त्यला भीक हवी आहे ती फ़क्त घासभर अन्नासाठी आणि घोटभर नशेसाठी. इतकं स्वतःच्या धुंदीत जगू शकणऱ्याला अजून वेगळी नशा का लागत असेल हे मात्र मला न उमजलेलं कोडं आहे.

नाही, यापुढे मी मुकुलच्या स्थितीची कीव करणार नाही. एक संगितप्रेमी म्हणून मला नक्कीच वाईट वाटतंय की त्याचं दैवी संगीत ऐकण्याच भाग्य आपल्या नशिबातनं दूर होतंय. पण एक माणूस म्हणून मुकुलला माझा त्रिवार सलाम. त्याच्या बेभान, बेफ़ाम, बेपर्वा वृत्तीची कणभर जरी लागण मला झाली माझं जीवन उजळून निघेल असं मला वाटतं.

आवशीची

पुनवेचं कोण कौतुक
तिच्या झिरझिर तारुण्याचं
झालच तर तारुण्यसुलभ
आसक्त चौदवीचं

पण चांदोबाळाला जन्म देऊनही
आवसेची मात्र अवदसा केलेली
तिचं तोंड काळं करून
वेशीबाहेर फ़ेकलेली

अशा आवशीची तू लेक
पुढेपुढे न करणारी
असूनही न दिसणारी
दिसूनही न दिसणारी

आपलं हासू मैत्रिणींना देऊन
फ़डफ़ड पापण्या रिझवणारी
माझ्या तप्त सूर्याशेजारून
स्निग्धहास्य पाझरणारी

Music and Mind, and Architecture

Its not often that we will find Indian classical music program being conducted open air. Indian classical music is less about percussions, beats, speed, volume and more about finety and purety of tunes and their interplay. Sound resonating from surrounding structures play an very important role in creating the whole effect. Artists would bring their instruments pre-tuned but that is only approximate tuning. Final, fine, perfect tuning is done on the spot just before singer starts singing. Many artists take emmense efforts to ensure all instruments are properly tuned, resonating with each other and with singer's onw voice. This is reflection, resonance, feedback is very important to create wholesome, harmonious effect of music.

Isn't it same with our human mind. Left by ourselves, in isolation we tend to feel disconnected, lost, confused, disinterested .... We are constantly checking for reflection, response, resonance from surrounding human structures. Sometimes we even choose a particular structure for a particular feedback.

For our mental harmony it is important that we choose and cultivate proper resonating humans structures around us. It is important that we fine tune our ability to listen and understand and respond to resonance.

For architects of human mind its a continual challange, while building a human structure, that they take immaculate care also to design surrounding human structure.

All this together makes our emotional environment, ecology, harmony or whatever word you choose to relate to such fascinating interplay.

- Naren

Imagine A Woman .... or A Man .... or A Human

This poem was shared on FB by a friend. She had tagged her woman friends. After reading this I felt, as a man, that it applies to me too. Some details may not apply but essence sure does. I reread it replacing 'woman' by 'man' and then again by 'human'. Hope you all enjoy this lovely poem.

- Naren
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Imagine a Woman by Patricia Lynn Reilly


Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is a woman.
A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories.
Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.

Imagine a woman who trusts and respects herself.
A woman who listens to her needs and desires.
Who meets them with tenderness and grace.

Imagine a woman who acknowledges the past's influence on the present.
A woman who has walked through her past.
Who has healed into the present.

Imagine a woman who authors her own life.
A woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf.
Who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and wisest voice.

Imagine a woman who names her own gods.
A woman who imagines the divine in her image and likeness.
Who designs a personal spirituality to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman in love with her own body.
A woman who believes her body is enough, just as it is.
Who celebrates its rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.

Imagine a woman who honors the body of the Goddess in her changing body.
A woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and her wisdom.
Who refuses to use her life-energy disguising the changes in her body and life.

Imagine a woman who values the women in her life.
A woman who sits in circles of women.
Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.

Imagine yourself as this woman.

मनचुंबक

दोन ध्रुव, त्यांची विरुद्ध तोंडं
एकाच शरीरात त्यांचा ३६चा आकडा
भिन्न शरीरांत अनादी आकर्षण
एका शरीरात मात्र अनंत प्रतिकर्षण
नियतीच्या मृत्यूनंतरच संपणारं

लोहपुरुष थोडा मऊ झाला
स्वभावाला मुरड घातली
मनाची सुंदर बांगडी केली
विरुद्ध ध्रुव समोर आणले
अनोखी गळाभेट आपसूक झाली

आकर्षण प्रतिकर्षण
नाण्याच्या दोन बाजू
जराशी नम्रता लवचिकता
नव्हत्याचे होते झाले
सुंदर कडे हातात आले.


- नरेन

P.S.: १) प्रतिकर्षण शब्दा्बद्द्ल खात्री नाही. I have used it as 'repulsion'. attraction x repulsion २) शब्द विस्कळीत आहेत पण मनात विचार आले ते मांडले आहे

माझी लोकशाही, तिचं इलेक्शन

महान लोकशाही झोपलीय
तिच्या बंद डोळ्यातल्य़ा
भिरभिरत्या बुबुळांमधल्या
स्वप्नांच्या गर्दीतल्या
माणसांच्या गर्दीमधला
एक माणूस मीच आहे
सगळ्यांच्या मागून
लपून, डोकावून
नाकर्त बघतोय
एखादं स्वप्न वाट्याला
येतय का माझ्या हळूच

तिच्या निद्रीस्त हृदयाचं
एक सुप्त स्पंदन
माझ्या नावचं होतं.
तिच्या जड झालेल्या
हातापायांची न झालेली
गर्भार हालचाल
माझीही होती.
तिची झोप
माझ्या पत्थ्यावर पडली हो्ती.

तिच्या झोपेमध्ये लपून
डोक्याव पांघरूण घेऊन
तिच्याकडे बोट दाखवतोय
मी.

हृदयेन अपराजितः

सुखं वा यदि दुःखं
प्रियं वा यदि अप्रियं
प्राप्तं प्राप्तं उपासिते
हृदयेन अपरजितः

- कुठेतरी वाचलेलं मनाला भावलेलं सुभाषित

फ़लाचि इच्छा न धरता कर्म करत रहा, मन सदोदीत प्रेसन्न ठेवा इत्यादी वाक्प्रचार, सल्ले आपण अगदी गीतेपासून चावत, ऐकत, सांगत असतो. पण इथे काहीतरी वेगळं भावलं. चिमण्यांच्या चिवचिवाटात दयाळाची एक शीळ अलगद येऊन हृदयाला भिडावी तसं झालं. पहिल्या दोन ओळी वाचताना वाटलं आला नेहमीसारखा एक सल्ला. मग तिसरी ऒळ आली, हळूच सुचवून गेली. काही तरी वेगळं आहे हे. नुसतं मान्य करण्याचं म्हणत नाहीये .... उपासिते !!!!!! जे येईल ते घ्या, आपलंसं करा, त्याची उपासना करा, त्याला आदर, प्रेम द्या. वाहव्वा !! आणि सगळ्यावर कळस म्हणजे शेवटची ओळ. सर्व बॅटसमनमध्ये सचिन वेगळा ठरतो ते उगाच नाही, तसंच या शेवटच्या ओळीच< आहे. हे सर्व तर कराच, पण कसं करा, हे करताना स्वतःचं काय करा.... ’हृदयेन अपरजितः’. यावर अजून पुढे काय बोलायची गरज आहे !!!!!!!!

Yog .... not Yogaa

For once I read an article where yog was granted its due pronunciation. Misbelief about yog is not restricted to its pronunciation, but engulfs its basic philosophy. Yog is taken equal to yogasana and that is equaled to physical postures for workouts or some form of aerobic exercise.

Yog word originates from Sankrut word 'yuj' which means 'to unite'. It is an experience, a methodology which helps a person to achieve oneness with with the universe. It propagates importance of being in unison. It may be seen as science which deals with harmony of body, breath, mind, soul, and ultimately, the universe.

Its bodily part or aasanaas (yogaasanaas) are important. But it should be understood that these aasanaas are not gymnastic, acrobatic or flexibility. The bodily postures need to be harmonised with breathing, concentration, meditation to evolve and harmonise and evolve our deeper self.

काय सांगायचंय मला .....

काहीतरी म्हणायचंय मला
काहीतरी सांगायचंय....

अतीव वेदना की अत्युच्च आनंद
बेभान वासना की अथांग समाधान
माहीत नाही नक्की
काय सांगायचंय मला
पण एव्हढं मात्र कळतंय
काहीतरी म्हणायचंय मला
काहीतरी सांगायचंय....


बेधुंद दग्ध कामाक्षीचा
अस्फ़ुट हळवा हंकार
प्रसूत वेदनेतून प्रसवतो
आशेचा रडता अंकूर
प्रत्ये्क जन्मासह जन्मते
मृ्त्यूची अनिवार्य घटिका
मरणामधून उमलते
नियतीची आवर्तनलतिका

जन्मलेल्याचा मृत्यू नक्की
मेलेल्याला जन्म निश्चित
जन्माआधी काय अ‌‌न‍‌
मरणानंतर काय
उघडझाप, आकुंचन प्रसरण
अनादी अनंत अविरत आवर्तन
अर्थ अनर्थ कशाला अर्थ
काहीही म्हटलं तरी
काय त्याला अर्थ
तरी एव्हढं मात्र नक्की
काहीतरी म्हणायचंय मला
काहीतरी सांगायचंय

आज जे कोमेजलंय
उद्या हिरवं उमलेल ते
आज जे बहरतंय
उद्या मान टकेल ते
काही नाही स्थिर, ना काही स्पष्ट
अद्भूतातून असा निघतो अर्थ
स्पंदनं आवर्तनं अविरत चालू
किती त्यांना पाहू आणि किती जाणू
जेव्हढं केव्हढं उमजलंय
त्याने सारं मन भारलंय
ते व्यक्त करायचंय मला
तुमच्यापर्यंत पोहोचवायचंय
माहित नाही जमलं किती
जे मला म्हणायचंय
जे मला सांगायचंय

.... तू माझा सांगाती .....

जेथे जातो तेथे
तू माझा सांगाती

भक्ताने परमेश्वराला, विठ्ठलाला हे म्हटले आहे. प्रत्येक जागेमध्ये, प्रत्येक गोष्टीमध्ये, प्रत्येक मा्णसामध्ये भक्ताला भगवंत दिसतोय. माझीही काहीशी तशीच अवस्था झालीय. पण काहीशीच. थोडा फ़रक आहे. म्हट्लं तर थोडा, म्हटलं तर मात्र अगदी मूलभूत. मला प्रत्येक देवात माणूस दिसतो. असा एकही देव मला सापडला नाही की ज्याच्या पायाला माती लागलेली नाहीय, की ज्याचा पाय कुठे कधी घसरलेलाच नाहीये, की ज्याच्य़ा देवचंद्रावर कुठे डाग पडला नाहीये.

एखाद्या महर्षीला वाकून नमस्कार करावा तर त्यांचं लक्ष पडणाऱ्या पदराकडे, अस्वस्थ मनाला आधार देण्यासाठी एका साधूकडे जावे तर तो स्वतःच इनसिक्यूअर्ड होऊन गर्दीच्या मागे लागलेला, विद्याध्यासाने गुरुसमोर बसावं तर त्यांची दृष्टी माझ्या खिशाकडे खिळलेली, मनःशांती शोधत स्पिरीच्युअल मास्टरकडे जावं तर तोच मानसोपचार तज्ञाकडून उपचार घेतोय. आदर्श म्हणून कोणाला समोर ठेवावे तर त्याची कृत्ये न कळली तरच बरे असे वाटावे. जंगजंग पछाडले पण संपूर्ण देव मला कुठे भेटलाच नाही.

माझे छोटे अनुभव व्यासांनी वैश्विक पाहिले होते. महाभा्रतभर त्यांनी देवत्वातले माणूसपण ्मांडले आहे. काही हरकत नाही, त्यांच्या समुद्रातला एक थेंब मी अनुभवतोय.

हे माणसा ....
जेथे जातो तेथे
तू माझा सांगाती.

कधी नव्हे ते हिंदू संस्कृतीचा माझा काही संबंध आहे असे वाटले. नाहीतर हिंदू संस्कृती म्हणून जे काही पहावे लागते ....

Oppressed Men

American man Mansfield Fraizer says about what happened after he heard the news of his beloved wife in a car accident, "I don’t remember much after that. I had the mental breakdown I so needed and deserved." (More about him can be found onhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-04-04/confessions-of-a-man-who-almost-went-postal/3/)

I HAD THE MENTAL BREAKDOWN THAT I SO NEEDED AND DESERVED -- what a statement! What courage a MAN would need to feel, accept and express this way.

And look at all those women complaining about oppression and all. You are lucky ladies, you can put blame on something/someone outside yourself, other than you. You would never need to realize how it feels to be frozen inside an iceberg, that is yourself. May God bless you.

Thank you Mr. Mansfield Fraizer

Faith, love and hope

A young girl met with a severe road accident. The accident was so bad that nobody expected her to survive. But she did, just enough. Just enough for doctors to make a try. Lots of tubes, lots of scopes and meters covered her. Days went by. She was on the border line, her balance all tilted towards other side. But all these devices, all these tubes, all these injections had barely managed to hold her on. Doctors had almost lost any hope, her parents too were loosing hope very fast. It was extremely painful to watch that lifeless body breathing though the ventilator, eating through those tubes and fighting through those frequent piercing injections.

The accident had occurred just at a major turning point in her life. She was engaged and was to get married in a few days. She and her fiance had made all the plans to last details. Only the auspicious ceremonies were remaining and they would enter into a new life. A life full of love, full of hope just waiting to unite. Both of them were floating in dreams of a lovely future they were to going live together.

And now, all of a sudden, all that love, all those dreams were threatened to get crushed under a stroke of destiny. The young boy seemed a man of grit, man of faith, man full of love. Everyday after his working hours he would come to the hospital and sit by her side. Touching her, looking into her closed eyes, talking to her, conversing with her. He would be there late into the night. Every night it was difficult for him to make himself retire. He would say good-bye with a gentle sqeeze of her hand, with a light kiss and a soft bye-bye and walk away calmly.

Days passed by in this routine. Her medical condition did not improve. Doctors had declared her beyond recovery. Parents had lost all hope. It was a matter of single decision. All the gadgets, devices, pricks and tubes would step aside. She would quietly float into the other side. This young man had different ideas. All through the ordeal he was calm and quiet and assured. He refused to accept the 'expert' advise, he accept to listen to the destiny. He said that I am talking to her and she has told me she is going to come back to me. Right now she is feeling confused and can not find her way back. But we are talking and she will come.



There is a Kannad poem by poet Puttappaa. Its free tranlation goes something like this:
hope hope hope ,
my soul
till you yourself become God

शोध मनाचा

विश्वाचा आदि आणि अंत यांची पूर्ण समज येऊच शकत नाही म्हणतात. आपण अगदी जवळ जवळ जाऊ शकतो, आता पोचलोच असं वाटू लागतं पण तिथे प्रत्यक्ष पोचत मात्र कधीच नाही. आदिअंताची पूर्ण ओळख, संपूर्ण समज अशक्य.कशापसून झाली जगाची उ्त्पत्ती आणि का झाली, आता झालीच आहे तर किती काळ चालणार हे, कधी संपणार, कशात संपणार, का संपणार कोणालाच सांगता येत नाही. मोठेमोठे शास्त्रज्ञ झाले, अनेक तत्ववेत्ते झाले, साधूसंत झाले पण सगळ्यांना हात टेकावे लागले. अशा अगम्य पराकोटीच्या दोन टोकांमध्ये अजून एक गोष्ट आहे की जिची पुर्ण ओळख अशक्य. आपली, आपल्या जवळची अशी ही गोष्ट आहे. ती आहे आपलं मन. जन्मापासून मृत्यपर्यंत आपण त्याच्या अगम्या क्रीडांनी रंजत असतो. कधी दुःख, कधी आनंद, कधी अहंभाव तर कधी अपमान. आयुष्यभर आपण आपल्या स्वतःबद्दल काहीतरी छातीठॊकपणे सांगत असतो, पण प्रत्यक्ष वेळ येते तेव्हा मात्र.....

त्यामुळे आपल्याच मनाचा आपणच शोध घेण्यात एक प्रकारचे रहस्यभेद असते, मनोरंजन असते, आनंद असतो तर कधी अमूळ दुःखही असते. जे समजते त्याने खूप खोल काहीतरी उमटते आणि जे समजत नाही त्याने अनंत शक्यता समोर येतात.

नरसमता

चारदोन लाथा खाऊन
शरीराचं फ़ार काही बिघडत नाही
आसवं पूर्ण आटवून टाकून
मनाचं काय होतं
कल्पना आहे का तुम्हाला

ताकदवान असणं
सुखावह असतंच असं नाही
ताकदीचंच मोठ्ठ ओझ असतं
वेताळासारखं सतत मानगुटीवर
मरेपर्यंत तिथेच

रडतोस काय मुलीसारखा
लाजतोस काय बाईसारखा
घाबरतोस काय शेळपट
मान कशी ताठ पाहिजे
डोळ्यांत सारखी जरब पाहिजे

कोणासम कोणी व्हावं
तुम्हीच पहा
मैदानातला दगड बरा की
कैदेतली स्वच्छंदी बरी
तुम्हीच ठरवा

नार बनाओ जी रसिया को . . . . .

ही एक पारंपारिक बंदिश कुमार गंधर्वांनी गायलेली आहे. शब्दांइतकीच तरलता आहे त्यांच्या गाण्यात. आजच्या पुरुषांशी बरोबरी करण्याच्या युगात गोपी कृष्णाला स्त्रीरुप धारण कराय्ला निघाल्या आहेत. त्याला अगदी लेंगा-चोळी घालून, कुंकू लावून. निर्विवाद पुरुषी वर्चस्वाच्या भारतीय लोककथांमध्ये, लोककलांमध्ये असे झळकमोती अचानक सापडून जातात.

८ मार्चच्या स्त्रीदिनी कुठल्यातरी एफ़ एम चॅनलवर जाहिरातबाजी चालू होती की मुलींनो मुलांना दाखवून द्या की तुम्हीही फ़ॉर्म्युला वन रेसमध्ये इंटरेस्ट घेऊ शकता इ. इ. छानच की बरोबरी करत करत सगळ्या मुली मुलांसारख्य़ाच वागायला लागल्या तर एकांगी जग कसं वाटेल ?!

या बंदिशीसारखं अजून एक पुस्तक सापडलं, राजस्थानी लोककथांचं. मला वाटतं विनीता सावंतांनी त्याचा मराठी अनुवाद केला आहे. ’द्वंद्व’ त्याच नाव. मी काही बोलत नाही त्यावर, प्रत्यक्ष वाचावंच

Poetic Dialogue

A freind wrote a poem on FB:

"you say i write
from the heart…

if only you saw
how hard it’s been hit
by that dart!

alas, i fail to learn
dodging –
that wonderful art
and end up simply
writing!"


I said to him:
"oh my
i threw a rose
to kiss your heart
and its one thorn
pierced in
see how now
blood is gushing out

i receive it with solemnity
for I see
that all bleeding
is not bad
specially when
its getting donated

seeing this I hope
next time I throw
a dart
you will not dodge"

अंतू बर्वा आणि प्रभात रस्ता

सकाळी प्रभात रस्त्यावरून जाताना अचानक लक्षात आल की त्या नेहमिच्या हिरव्या कोपऱ्यावर एक बंगला आहे. आज तिथली हिरवाई पूर्ण छाटूण टाकली होती. सुनसान ओकंओकं दिसत होत, एका कलेवरासारखं. खरतर आता तो बंगला उरलाच नव्हता. तिथे होतं ते त्या जुन्या बंगल्याच नुसतं कलेवर. थोड्याच वेळात मणसं जमतील, तिरडी बांधतील आणी ओंकारश्वरावर घेऊन जातील. तिथे उरेल फ़क्त एक आठवण, थोडा वेळ उदासी. माझ्यासारखे येणारे जाणारेही थोडेसे हळ्हळतील, क्वचित डोळ्यांना रुमालही लावतील.

आणि मला आठवला पुलंचा अंतू बर्वा. बेंबट्याला सांगणारा सोडून गेलेल्या सवंगड्यांच्या गोष्टी, त्यातून वाटणारी हुरहूर. भरभरून जगलॊ, मनसोक्त प्रे्म दिलं-घेतलं, अंगाखांद्यावर लोभस तान्ही खेळवली. आता परतीचा रस्ता दिसायला लागलाय, तोसुद्धा चालायला पायांत ताकद उरेल की नाही सांगवत नाही. अशी संपृक्त समृद्ध फ़ळं झाडावरून पडून गेल्यावर काय वाटत असेल त्या झाडाला! काय वाटत असेल आजूबाजूच्या फ़ांद्यांना, पानाफ़ळांना. त्यावर राहणाऱ्या, जेवणाऱ्या पक्ष्यांना.

एक घर, एक वास्तू म्हणजेही अशीच व्यक्तीच की. किती आआठवणी. तिच्या स्वतःच्या, मुलाबाळांच्या, नातवंडपणतवंडांच्या, शेजारपाजारच्या, अख्ख्या प्रभात रस्त्याच्या, एका मावळत चाललेल्या संस्कृतीच्या!

असो. आलेलं कधीतरी जाणारच. त्याचं ना दुःख, ना आनंद. पण जाणारा जाताना आपण त्याच काही ठेवून घेतोय का, घेतलं तर काय़ ठेवून घेतोय. निदान आठवणी तरी - लोणच्या-मुरंब्या सारख्या मुरलेल्या. ....

श्री / सौ - नावबदल

मुहूर्तावर लग्न लागले
कार्य फ़ार उत्तम झाले
पाहुणे रावळे खूष झाले
पंचक्रोशीत व्याह्यांचे नाव झाले

सगळं छान सुंदर होऊन
पडद्यामागे काही घडतय का
अशा आनंदी मंगल प्रसंगी
वरमातेच्या डॊळ्यात पाणी का

असं कधी घडलं नाही
असं कुणी करत नाही
राजेश रमेश पवारचा कधी
राजेश वीणा नेने होत नाही

एव्हढा याला जन्म दिला
राब राबून मोठा केला
आता हिच्या नादी लागून
आमचंच नाव पुसून टाकतोय

मुलं नाव लावणार काय
वंशाचं नाव चालणार कसं
त्यातल्या त्यात एकच बरं
हिला करंटीला मुलगा कसला होतोय

Asking a disease to give health

Bank after bank, company after company, institution after institution, industry after industry, CEO+CFO after CEO+CFO, economist after economist are shouting hoarse on fighting recession. But your focus is misplaced my friends. You want to fight symptoms. But we dont fight symptoms, we only alleviate symptoms. We treat disease.

Recession is not the disease but only a symptom. As was the preceding economic boom not a sign of good health. It was nothing but an edema, a bloating. There was nothing that had happened in real terms that indicated to such a economic boom.

USA had not allowed millions of aliens to get in and buy houses neither had it shrunk in size to suddenly make land scarce. But land and home prices rocketed through sky. GDP grew like nothing before. Oil wells did not suddenly go dry neither the poor people of Chindia started commuting by air planes. So neither the supply shrunk nor the demand rose dramatically but oil prices hexapled in less than five years. Speculation was rampant and gamblers went on rampage. And you, my friends, called it economic boom. It wasn't that you were ignorant, it wasn't that you were naive. Frankly speaking you were party to the milking of societies in the manic euphoria that had been created. Organizations got their money, speculators got their returns, governments got their votes, economists and academicians got their laurels. But where did all this money, all this welath suddenly came from. It wasnt grown in fields, it wasn't manufactured in factories, it wasnt carved by people, it wasn't mined out of earth, it wasn't absorbed from sun! It was perceived in the over inflated balloon. You, my friends, knew that some time the balloon is going to get deflated to its original size. But you did not expect that it will happen so soon, you did not expect that the balloon will burst.

So, my friends, stop feeding the disease. Instead of putting those billions into skewed concept of economy and to crooked maneuverers, give that money to those who have been victims of such euphoria, who are loosing their jobs, their daily bread-n-butter. Use that money to feed them now and to help them feed themselves in future. Instead of bailing out companies who freeze and transport fish from Sweden to China and processed cans back from China to Sweden, use that money to help both Swedes and Chinese learn feed themselves and have luxury within their own land.

Booming hospitals imply weaning health, but it increases GDP. Senseless running around is madness, but when its done in cars it increases GDP. Friends, please give us a break. Just wait, stop, close your eyes, take a deep breath, release it very very slowly. Probably a different picture is emerging in front of your closed eyes. A different concept of economy which is stable, healthy and sustainable!

Amen!

Monkey with fire

There is a saying in marathi language which means something like if a light (fire) gets into hands of a monkey then there is danger of he burning out the whole jungle. He does not know what fire is, he does not know what fire can do!

Mankind today is not far afar from such a monkey. It has developed technology, it has developed scientific tools. But do not know all the powers of those tools, do not know what all effects it may have. And he has developed tools a zillion times more powerful than the torch in the hands of a monkey.Monkey would run away from the burning forest out of shear fear. But man won't. He has much faith in his tools and believes that the same tools which has flamed the fire would somehow douse it.

Many a times man is aware of the risks and havoks his tools and actions can wreck. But he does not care. Many a times he is aware of many ways that he can put his tools to use, but does not know which way to choose. Then he does something, just for the sake of doing and he does so often and often. SO often that it becomes his habit - to do things just for the sake of doing, keep doing, more and more. He forgets why he is doing what he is doing and after a while just stops caring about this 'why'? His tools, his science, his technology can give answers only to 'how' - how things work etc. Answer to this 'why' would be his purpose. Without a purpose he his at loss, lost in the jungle confused and scared. So shoves his purpose into his tools so that using those toold, doing things by those tools becomes a purpose - by definition.

I find an interesting differentiation related to such 'why'. All the technological developement has come about by 'doing'. In a way, science is a doing culture. In comparison, in the old Indian philosophy there is a lot of thought on 'being'. Focus is less on actions and more on this 'being' that directs all its actions. There were lots of observations. Observations not in the spcialized, isolated, liners way. But observing the being of humankind, observing the interplay of all facets. Observing the exteranl and taking and digesting with internal. This cohesion of internal and external creates a sense of being which, in turn, expresses into 'purpose'.

The Other Side of Moon

The other side of moon
I feel so sad for that other side of moon
by refusing to look other way
it misses great opportunity of seeing me

As a consolation to that other side
I too reciprocate its gesture
I refuse to take those few steps
I too refuse to see the other side

So now there we are
half a moon and half a me
facing each other and refusing to see
the dark side of moon and bright side of me

स्पर्श

स्पर्श आईचा, स्पर्श ताईचा, स्पर्श बाईचा
स्पर्श वासरा गाईचा, हातास काळ्या माईचा

स्पर्श राधेस किसना, मुग्ध कानास बासुरा
स्पर्श अधरा अधीर, मनास सावळा पदर

स्पर्श कातडी जाळतो, हिची काचोळी तोडतो
स्पर्श काळजा भिडतो, ओली फ़ुंकर घालतो

स्पर्श आतून फ़ुलतो, असा फ़ुलत मुरतो
स्पर्श अंगभर फ़िरतो, हळू मनावर निजतो

"We Are The World .........."

"..... competition ....", "Survival of the fittest", "If you can not defend yourself you are not fit to live", ....... these words sound befitting in the mouth of a strong and young tiger. But when the tiger starts aging or ailing, .....

When americans were singing "We are the world ..... " many in the 'world' were amused and confused. Most of these people who were singing 'we are the world' did not even know, surely did not bother to know that there are many languages like my own mother tongue which exist in this world, those too are civilised languages. These people who constitute merely 0,5% or 5% of world populace had the audacity to call themselves 'the world' and had the arrogance to denigrate the rest as uncivilized, underdeveloped. The whole 'technological developement' which is based on senseless exploitation of natural resources (and even exploitation of human slavery in early stages) has arrogance to tell others to reduce consumption.

Most interesting part of all this is that others are buying it! I think the whole world is so blinded by the glitter of this technological developement that thay can not see life independent, independent of this mad, senseless living call 'development'

कधी नाही ते माझी निवड स्वच्छ, ठाम, पटकन झाली

गेले काही दिवस लिहायला सुचतंच नाहीये. माझ्या काही मित्रमैत्रणींप्रमाणे मला स्वतःलाच चुकल्याचुकल्यासरखं वाटतंय. ’कुछ ना कहो, कुछ भी ना कहो, ...’ असं एक हिंदी गाणं आहे. तसं मनाला विचारावंसं-सांगावंसं वाटतंय ,
कुछ तो कहो
कुछ भी तो कहो
क्या केहना है ?
या चुप्प रहना है? ..

अशी अस्वस्थ अवस्था आली ना की मी लगेच विचार करायला लागतो, कारणमीमांसा शोधायला लागतो. तर्काच्या गर्तेत मनाला एकदाचं टाकून दिलं की मी पुन्हा गप्प रहायला मोकळा. आता गपा रहाण्यात वाईट ते काय, अनेक लोकं जरा गप्प राहतील तर उपकार होतील असं वाटत असतं आणि इथे तर मीहून गप्प आहे. पण ्हे गप्प रहाण> फ़क्त शब्दांनी गप्प रहाणं नसतं. ही असते एक प्रकारची सर्वांगीण गप्पता, बधीरता, अगदी दगडासारखी. पण दगडच व्हायचं होतं तर मनुष्य जन्माला येण्याचे कष्ट कशाला घेतले. आता आलोच आहे तर जरा बो्लूनजगूनही घ्यावं ना.

परवा माझ्या स्वप्नात एक परी आली होती. सुंदर, सुबक, गोड, छान इ.इ. पण गमंत म्हणजे तिने डोळ्यांवर काळा गॉगला घातला होता, करुणानिधींसारखा. मला म्हणाली मी सर्व देवांच्या, यक्षांच्या वतीने तुला भेटायला आले आहे. "पण मग तो काळा गॉगल कशाला?", मी विचारलं. तर म्हणाली की तो गॉगल म्हणे तिला यमदूताने दिलाय. त्याने ढीग दिला पण हिने घातला कशाला. पण तिने मला गप्प केलं, "आत्ता मी तुला प्रश्न विचारायला आले आहे, तुझ्या प्रश्नाम्ची उत्तरं द्यायला नाही". मनात म्हटलं ठीकेय, ’असावे सादर’, नाहीतरी दुसरं कार करू शकणार होतो म्हणा.

तिने मला विचारलं, "समजा मी तूला दोन चॉईस दिले आणि त्यातला एकच निवडायला सांगितलं तर तुला निवड करता येईल का". मी म्हटलं, "असं कसं काही आगा की पिछा नसताना सांगणार. पण तु म्हणून सांगायचा प्रयत्न करतो. ....... सर्वसाधारणपणे नाही. मला कुठलीही निवड करायला कठीण जातं कारण हे किंवा ते या्पेक्षा हे आणि ते असंच मला आवडतं. पण तसं माझ्याबाबतीत काहीच ठामपणे सांगता येत नाही. कधी कधी मी निवड करू शकतोही, करतोही. त्यमुळे तू हवंतर प्रयत्न करून बघ."

"ठीकेय. पण खरंतर आत्ता तुला निवड करायची किंवा नाही करायची यातली निवड करायचं स्वातंत्र्य नाहीचये. पण ते असो गोडीगुलाबीत जमलं तर जबरदस्ती कशाला, नाही का?", परी म्हणाली. मला ते अगदी पटलं, "बरोबर आहे. त्यामुळे तू आधी विचारून बघ. काय होतंय ते आपण नंतर बघू."

"तुला आता, तुझ्या मृत्यू्ची निवड करायचीय. एकतर तुला क्षणार्धात, या क्षणी मृत्यू येईल. कुठल्याही वेदना नाहीत, दुःख नाहीत, एवढंच काय ही आपली प्रश्नोत्तरही तुझ्या आठवणीत राहणार नाहीत. अगदी शंत मृत्यू. आत्ता या जगात तर लेगेच त्या जगात!किंवा दुसरा चॉईस आहे तो प्रलंबित मृत्युचा. तुला पाहिजे तितका सावकाश तू कणाकणाने क्षणाक्ष्णाने मरशील. भरपूर यातना तुझ्या वाट्याला येती्ल. त्या काळात पाहिजे तितकी सुखही तू उअपभोगू शकशील. काय ती निवड तुला आता ताबडतोब करायचीय. एकदा निवडलंस की मग बदलता येणार नाही. .... बोल पटक‌न‍, मला वेळ कमी आहे".

मी म्हटलं, "अगं. एव्हढा गहन प्रश्न आणि इतक्या फ़टक‌न कसं सांगणार. मला निदान एका दिवसाची तरी मुदत लागेल. उद्या परत ये अशीच स्वप्नात. ्तेव्हा नक्की सांगतो."

"नाही, ते शक्य नाही. आज आणि उद्यामध्ये तुला काहीही फ़रक पडणार नाही. उलट तुझा गोंधळ मात्र वाढेल. अशा प्रश्नांची उत्तरं आतून स्फ़ोटासारखी एकदम स्फ़ुटतात. मी तुला डोळे उघडू देणार नाही."

म्हटलं, " बरं, थांब, सांगतो थोड्या वेळात, डोळे न उघडता, झोपेतच." इतक्यात तिचं लक्ष नसताना माझे डोळे अचानक आपोआप उघडलेच. घामाने निथळत मी जागा होऊन गादीत बसलो होतो. थोड्या वेळाने जरा कोरडा झाल्यावर मी डोळ्यांची उघडझाप करून बघितली, स्वतःलाच चिमटे काढून बघितले. मी जागा तर होतोच, पण जिवंतही होतो. जरा शाम्त झाल्यावर मनात वि्चारचक्र सुरू झालं.

इकडे तिकडॆ, खालीवर, आतबाहेर अशी अनंत हेलकावे, अनंत आवर्तनं झाली असतील, त्यातून हळूहळू एक विचारचित्र समोर दिसायला लागलं. आत्ता, या जन्मी माणूस म्हणुन जन्माला आलोय. अशी संधी पुन्हा मिळेल की नाही सांगता येत नाही. कदाचित नाहीही मिळणार, किंबहुना नाहीच ्मिळणार ही संधी पुन्हा असंच धरून चालायला हवं. मग काय दःखाच्या, वेदनेच्या भितीपोटी ही एकमेवाद्वितीय संधी हातची सोडयची म्हणजे मोठाच करंटेपण होईल. आपल्याला दुःख होतात कारण आपल्याकडे संवेदनशील मन आहे, आपण प्रेम करू शकण्याइतके भाग्यवान आहोत, आपल्याला वेदना होतात म्हणजे ते सोसण्याइतकं आपलं शरीर सक्षम आहे. ही अ्मूल्या जाणीव जर त्यातून आपल्याला मिळत असेल तर त्यपासून पाळायचं कशाला. शिवाय त्याबदल्यात बोनस म्हणून आनंद म्हणून सुख, आनंदही मिळणार आहेच की. झालं, ठरलं तर मग! माणूस म्हणून जन्माला आलोय तर माणूस म्हणूनच जगू आणि माणूस म्हणूनच मरू.

हे ठरल्यावर मन पूर्ण प्रसन्न शांत झालं. मला न कळत डोळे मिटले आणि झोपही लागली. अगदी गाढ. आत्तच थोड्यावेळपूर्वी जागही आली. तेव्हढ्या झोपेत काही ती परी पुन्हा स्वप्नात आली नाही. मजा करत हॊती की काय माझी? नाही, मला नही वाटत तसं. ्ती नक्की येईल, उद्या रात्री नक्की येईल. पण आता ती कधीही आली तरी हरकत नाही. माझं उत्तर ठरलेलं आहे !

तुम्हाला काय वाटतं, बरोबर आहे माझं उत्तर? तुमचं उत्तर हेच असतं?

Disciple and Master

After feeling bad experiences earlier night and whole of the day, a disciple was feeling very agitated. A bad day was still haunting him into a cool evening. Not able to calm himself he went to Master.
“Master, Master, why is everybody so bad to me?”, he asked Master
Master raised his eyebrows questioningly.
“The night had been very bad. A moonless night with all stars darkened by dark clouds! There was not a shade of light to see. There were cold gusty winds to accompany this total darkness. It was a night of ghosts dancing all around me. I was not allowed to sleep, not have a moment of peace. Cold night was followed by a very hot day. My well had been dried up and I had to walk a mile to get some water. The sun was so cruel that it kept on scorching my back, my face.”, said the disciple.
Master spread his eyes smilingly.
Getting more agitated by such a smile, the disciple continued, “This isn’t all. On my way back, feeling tired and hungry, I saw a mango tree. I ran to it to get some mangoes, but it had hidden all of them. There was not a single mango that it would offer a hungry, suffering man!”

Master’s smile widened. He said, “Yes, maybe I know that tree. Once I saw traveller there, full of hunger and thirst, lying underneath that tree. I ran towards him, intending to ask him to told on till I get water for him. When I reached him I was surprised. He was smiling and speaking to the tree. He was thanking the tree that it gave him shadow in his last moments. So now he could meet God with cool head and warm heart. I got him water and gave some food that I had. He thanked me, thanked the tree again, got up, bowed to the sun and walked on. He never ceased to smile.”

काळ्या सावल्या

सावल्या सानुल्या
मनासोबत राहिल्या
नवे खेळ खेळत
सुखदुखत राहिल्या

कधी पुढे कधी मागे
कधी लांब कधी छोट्या
रुप बदलत राहिल्या
साथ देत राहिल्या

कधी काळ्या कधी पांढऱ्या
कधी निळ्याही झाल्या
रंग बदलत राहिल्या
काळवंडत राहिल्या

Balance

Balance, संतुलन, मित ...... such profound words!

We can stand-up, we are active only as long as we can maintain our (physical) balance. We loose it and we start tripping, falling down. We loose our mental balance and we start going awry, astray...

We can not survive with overeating neither by going hungry. We need a balance, we need a balanced diet. We need a balance between doing and being. Our acts have no resonance if they are not rooted into solid being and a beingness which does elicit acts has no relevance. We need a balance between rationality and irrationality. Over dependence on rationality can kill our emotions and take us closer to being machines. Whereas over negligence of rationality for irrationality may make us senseless, erratic etc. Balance between passion and dispassion. We need passion to jump in and dispassion to work our way out. We need dispassion to chalk out strategies but passion to execute those.

A man or society, if it looses balance, then doomsday is not far away.

There are some who dont care for any doomsday, who dont care about being able to work their way out, who dont bother about strategies, schemas. When they feel like they simply jump. Balance is not a word for such people, for they are not from this balanced world. They rise from nothing and create their own world !

प्रश्न

त्याच्याशेजारी, त्याच्याच वाळूवर
त्याच्या खांद्यावर डोकं ठेवून
अंगभर मृद्‍स्पर्शाचा मृदुशहार
तळव्यांना मऊओली चुंबनं

त्याच्या गाजेवर आरुढ होऊन
विहरणाऱ्या मनस्वी मनाला
फ़ांद्यांवर फ़ांद्या फ़ुटत जातात
फ़ांद्या फ़ांद्या पसरत जातात

मूळ बुंधाच हरवून जातो
खालची जमीन दिसेनाशी होते
नव्या पालवीत हरवत जाऊन
मूळांचा विसर पडून जातो

तो तसाच गप्प
मी मात्र विचारत राहते
तुझ्या पाण्यामध्ये भिजू
की अलवार लाटांनी मोहोरू

Perfect

permanent peace and eternal bliss
both embracing each other
what more can one get,
changing from one perfectness
to another perfectness
how unchanging one can get!

Obama and Mahatma Gandhi

I was awed by the hope and the emotional involvement Obama managed to generate during his election campaign. Never before had I seen Americans so much involved in presidential elections. It went on increasing, quantitatively and qualitatively, as the elections neared. It reached the peak for Obama's oath taking ceremony. Some say two million people had gathered! 2 million people at one place! In America! Their face all lit up with hope and expectations. People of all races, all age, all religion, both sexes! Everybody had gathered togetherr in shared hope for the future. They had been party to a dream and they wanted to witness the dream start getting into reality. They wanted to wish their leader all the luck and wanted to extend their heartfelt support to him. Obama did not let them down. His speech touched everybody present and everybody watching in absence. Even I could not stop my dry eyes from getting wet with emotions.

In my life I had the fortune of witnessing another such happening in India. Way back in 1977 when emergency was invoked and elections were announced. The free voice suppressed during emergency expressed itself in full fervor. People were determined to reinforce their freedom.

I have heard of another movement in India. It was the independece movement by Mahatma Gandhi. He had achieved results on a much much larger scale. he was a semi god in the eyes of people. He was their hope! But he did not stop there. he did not stop at garnering hope and stirring emotions. He did not say that "I will get you independence, I will bring change, Follow me". He not only said "WE" but actually got all into commitment, into action. Millions of people sacrificed their family lives, quit their jobs and careers, went to prisons, took on police brutalities. He enabled all citizens to cross beyond the steps of emotional involvement into arena of action. He realized and communicated that nothing can happen, definitely not lost, unless people participated, contributed both by emotions and actions. He did not need paid agencies to pitch for support, paid employees to to work. He lead by example. He gave off his possible wealth, his legal career, his lifestyle and saw beyond his personal and material and short term gains. Millions and billions of ordinary people were his assets, their actions and sacrifices were the contributions he received. It wan't 'his' movement but 'their' movement. That is why more than 60 years after independence, nearly 60 years after Mahatma Gandhi passed away, his name, his deeds, his ideas are talked with respect, are looked at for reference and guidance. For many people like, who were born much after Mahatma Gandhi passed away, his movement is like a lighthouse.

Will Obama be able to emulate his idol, will he able to move away from the culture of paid compaign, will he able to reinstall 'values' other than money, will he be able to instigate participation, commitment, sacrifice from individual Americans. Can he do that with personal example..? I hope he does... and wish him success .... and wish all of us success.

Barter System

I met a poor rural guy living in the backwaters of Mulshi lake near Pune. He was saying that he was not getting kerosene from the government shop till he builds a WC of his own and stop clearing in the open. But he did not have money to build one. But he desperately needed to get kerosene. He needs kerosene to to light his home lamps (there is no electricity to his house though he lives near the lake which is built for generating electricity!) and as fuel for his cooking. These days there is hardly any forest left around and firewood is not easy to gather. He does not have money to buy material required to build a WC, neither he had money to employ a meson to actually build it. He somehow got a old WC pot from a urban relative and could uste little money buy little cement etc. Then he brokered a deal with a local meson. The meson does not get a lot of work to fully employ him as a meson. When he does not have work as meson he is employed for some petty work. So our man made a barter arrangement with the meson. When the meson is building our man's WC. our man goes to work for the meson on his petty jobs.

I find this interesting. I had heard of barter system only in terms of exchange of goods. But here manual labour and skills are being exchanged, or you can even say, traded, one skill for another, one's time for something with other's time for some other thing etc.

This could be one of the ways to reduce our over dependence of money valuation. Of course, there is nothing new in this. Such exchanges are going on all over India. There are many places where villagers share their agriculture labour by collectively working at one farm and then the next till everybody farms are worked upon. There may not be anything new in it, but whats hit me most was the direct one-to-one nature of transaction, which could possibly be collaborative undertones. e.g. our man might have helped the meson sometime earlier and so the meson was willing for the exchange for any additional returns and no apparant advantages to himself.

गम

इतना ना हसाओ हमे
के सारा गम बह जाये
इतना ना रुलाओ हमे
के पूरा होश खो जाये

इस अन्जानी जिंदगी में
गम का ही तो सहारा है
बहती हुई लाश को
समिंदर का इशारा है

आधुनिक रामायण

कवी: संगीता परांजपे
(परवानगीने पुनर्पोस्ट)>>>>>>>>>>>

कैकेईने वर मागितला, जानकिरामाला वनवासी धाडा
दशरथाचा नाइलाज झाला, जा बाबा वेगळी चूल मांडा

रानि वनि काटे कुटे, खाच, खळगे
जंगलात वेगळे काही असते का कुठे?

जानकी म्हणे वनवास हा संपणार कसा आणि कधी?
असेल का नशिबी मऊ उशी आन् पराची गादी?

तिला हवी होती मृगाची मखामली चोळी
राक्षसी वृत्तीला बळी पडली भोळी

पण जानकी जवळ होता श्रीराम
इकडे मात्र खोटा दाम

खोटा दाम चालेना
लंकेतून सुटका होईना

जटायु नाही, पवनपुत्र ही नाही
एकीकडे आड आणि दुसरीकडे खाई

आधुनिक जानकी सज्ज झाली
शक्ति युक्तिची अस्त्रे परजलि

दोनच हात, पण दशाननाशी लढली
शूर्पणखेला अद्द्ल घडवली

लंकेतून सुटली, आयोध्येला आली
संशय कल्लोळाने जखमी झाली

धोब्याचे धुपाटणे घातले त्याच्याच पाठीत
लोकांची बोलणी टाकली वाळीत

जिद्द पेटली, मनात सल
आग्निला ही बसली झळ

तडक फिरली माघारी
रामाचा अंकुर वाढे उदरि

ऋषि तुल्य पित्याने दिली साथ
जुळी बाळे जन्मजात

लव आणि कुश बारसे केले
पित्रुछत्राला पारखे झाले

लवांकुशाचे धरले हात
कर्तव्याला चुकले ते कसले हो तात?

एकले पणचे व्रत घेतले
लवांकुशाला सुसंस्कृत केले

अर्थार्जन केले, ज्ञान दिले
संगणकाचे बोधामृत पाजले

व्यवहाराचे भान दिले
जग जिंकायला तयार केले

निश्चयाने साधना केली
लवांकुश बाळे मोठी झाली

लवांकुशा नि मग घेतला वेध
जेव्हा सुटला अश्वमेध

जानकीची तपश्चर्या फळाला आली
अश्वमेधाची सांगता झाली

लवांकुशानी कार्यालय थाटले.
श्रीराम कॉंप्यटर्स नाव दिले

जानकीच्या मनी मामतेचा धागा
पण तिच्या नावाला सुद्धा नव्हती जागा

नाव वाचून पडली चाट
मनात बांधली खुणागाठ

ती म्हणे आम्ही जातो आमुच्या गावा
आमुचा राम राम घ्यावा

धरणी मातेला जोडले हात
घे म्हणाली मला पोटात

काळ्या आईने घातली समजूत
तुझे कार्य संपले नाही अजुन

बोध घ्या म्हणाव सारे जन
यालाच म्हणतात 'रामायण'.


By Sangeeta Paranjape

Mother Moon

taking in the
red angry yellow
of the raving sun,
giving us a
calm blue white
of loving warmth.

a white light
not too bright
not enough
to make it light
just enough
to remove darkness

a tiny torch
to suggest possibilities
and not to show the path,
just to remove fear
and entice adventure.
a smiling mother.

सल

कितीही केला यत्न तरी
सल काही निघत नाही
रंग गेला उडून तरी
पीळ काही सुटत नाही

सूर सगळे लागले तरी
बेसूरी आतली जात नाही
माझ्या असूरी भावांची
सुरसूरी जात नाही

निवांत शांत जंगलात
वणवा कुणी पेटवल्यावर
जंगल बेचिराख झालं तरी
जमिनीची धुमस जात नाही

आलं मळभ निघून गेलं
आकाश मोकळं स्वच्छ झालं
एक इवला मेघ मात्र
पाठ नभाची सोडत नाही

एकदा आलेला राग
पूर्ण कधी शमत नाही
कितीही केला यत्न तरी

सल काही निघत नाही

my love and pink

In the cold outside
And the warm inside
Under thick blankets
I opened my eyes.

In the bright darkness
I could clearly see
A dent on my lion
Blood in my eyes

Red blood rose
Furious and wild
That brought darkness
even under pink light

fortunately for me
and for that darkness
there was a fakir
smiling in darkness

sitting under a blue tree
eyes closed in wisdom glee
he took in my red
into his warm pink halo

as my eyes cleared
the lion melted
my fears vanished
and love flourished

the cold outside
has become warm,
the roaring inside
is smiling with warmth

I can't live without you

A lover deeply in love said to beloved, "Oh, my dear, I can't live without you".
The beloved deeply in love too, replied, "Oh, my dear, I don't want to live without you"

"I can't live without you" and "I don't want to live without you". Two sentences so similar yet so different. Two actions having same result but originating from opposite states of mind. Two expressions flowering from so opposite the emotions.

"I don't want to" owns up responsibility for your emotions. It comes from a state of well-being, state of control, state of ease, state of confidence, state of acceptance of own emotions, state of acceptance of this world. It does not say that I want to be without you but if it so happens that I have to be without you, then I don’t want to live. It does not say that I may not have to be without you. It accepts the enormous possibilities of this world and chooses a own response to one of those possibilities. There is acceptance but there is no helplessness, there is no ego, there is no blame game, there are no conditions put.

The more of our emotions flower from such a state of mind, the better it will be; for ourselves and for the whole world.

फ़ुटेलंच कधीतरी, एक कोवळी पालवी

स्वच्छ निळ्या आकाशावर
लख्ख तळपत्या सूर्यावर
त्यात बागडणाऱ्या मनावर
दूर क्षितीजावरच्या
काळ्या मळभाची सावली

नीट निरखून पहा
इवला पांढरा ठिपका
मनमोकळा विहरतोय
गर्द काळ्या पार्श्वभूमीला
आनंदाची झालर देतोय

नाही गं नाही दिसत
कोणीच दिसत नाही तिथे
नको तो प्रकाश नि ती सावली
नको ते आकाश नि ते मळभ
बसतो मी असाच

पंखांत तोंड खुपसून
किंवा शहामृग होऊन
निष्पर्ण झाड होऊन
फ़ुटेलच कधीतरी
एक कोवळी पालवी