खुशी

खुशी की आवाज
जब छलकती हुई कानों पर पड़ती है,
खुशी का साज
जब हृदय के द्वार पर पहुँचता है,
मेरे होँठ स्वयं ही फ़ैल जाते हैं।
जैसे खुशी के स्वागत के लिए
मोतियों की माला यौवन चरम पे हो।
जैसे मेरी बाहें खुलने को आतुर हों
खुशी समेटकर उसे फैलाने के लिए।
इस आवाज का ये रूपहला अंदाज
मन में भीगा भीगा सा ये अहसास
बस यूँ ही गुदगुदा जाता है
पल कुछ और खुशियों के दे जाता है।

- नीरज मठपाल
मार्च २५, २००८

Strangers

We all are, in a way, strangers in this life. If somebody tries to talk to me or looks at me, I'll first think "Do I know this guy" or "Do I know this girl"? And at the same time, the vice versa, "Does he (or she) know me"? Answer comes most of the times as "No". Then next question comes in mind "Are we linked in some way? Do we have something in common? Can we be linked in some way?" And most of the times, answer comes as "Yes" and sometimes a new relation starts, although ratio is very less. We are no more strangers.

Few days back, I was watching a movie "Strangers". That time again, same thought came to mind that perhaps no one is a stranger, or perhaps everybody is. Family and friends are not strangers, but at some point of time, when this all started, they were strangers. I was a stranger to this world, when I came to life. A small baby who tried to understand the simplicity of relations and at the same time, the intricacies of life. Then that baby grew up and said, "it's my life". All who are or were linked said, "it's our life" and the journey was on.

Not only people but any thing, in start, looks like something strange. With time and with experience, it automatically mingles with life and we feel like we used to know about it for a long time, it is no more a strange thing. It is a friend. I found a number of books strange, when I see hundreds of pages in that book, it really scares. When we start, it's a slow process to be an acquaintance of that book. But when we start going past first couple of hundreds of pages, it becomes a friend for some time. If book is worthy enough, a life lasting relationship starts. This hope is always there that we would have lots of nice strangers in the form of written or unwritten books of life. Knowingly or unknowingly, it happens.

To end this short tidbit, I would recite a line from a hindi movie song. "Ajnabee, tum jaane pahchaane se lagte ho..."

- Neeraj Mathpal
March 23, 2008

Spring

With the spring arriving with full colors, nature seems to coming back to life. Although there is inherent beauty in nature after fall season, but nothing seems to be more beautiful than these new leaves and flowers of spring. Many poets have written a lot about spring. So I thought of googling a bit and refresh memories of spring with these nice poems.

Kalidasa's famous RITUSAMHARAN (the gathering of seasons) has six cantos (written in Sanskrit), in which he writes about 6 seasons. Here is the translated abstract for Spring.

..
..
Sprays of full blown mango blossoms – his sharp arrows,
honey-bees in rows- the humming bowstring;
warrior-Spring set to break the hearts
of Love’s devotees, is now approaching, my love.
..
..

Glancing at the amarnath’s blossoming sprays
glowing in exquisite loveliness, just-revealed,
-loveliness that rightly belongs to the beloved’s face-
how can a sensitive heart not flutter in panic
stung by proud Love’s flying arrows, my love?
..
..

Lost already to beautiful girls,
are not young men’s hearts pounded to bits
by Kimsuke blossoms bright as parrots’ beaks?
Are they not already burnt
by the golden champa’s brilliant blooms?
And now, the cuckoo with its honey-sweet notes
sounds their death knell.
..
..
- This translation of verses is taken from Penguin classics : "Kalidasa - The Loom of Time" By Chandra Rajan.

***********************

...
...
I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.
...
...

- William Wordsworth (1798)

**************************
...
...
When daisies pied, and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver-white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he:
“Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo!” O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.
...
...

- William Shakespeare (1598) Song from Act V, Scene 2 of Love's Labors Lost

***************************

In India, spring is known as "Basant Ritu", the Ritu-Raj - King of all six seasons. Kites start flying in the sky, children playing with lots of energy and a festival to welcome all this - "Basant Panchami", which comes with yellow color at it's best to spread the joy. I am not able to paste one of them here because of copyright act, but you can see a nice poem here - http://www.anubhuti-hindi.org/dishantar/s/sumanghei/kaisivasant.htm

To quote a great Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib,

The Spring came with such abandon
That the sun and the moon became mere spectators.

****************************
We are grateful to be descendants of these great poets. I hope one fine day, I'll also try my hand to write a poem about Spring. Our sincere thanks to the great poets / writers and following Web Sources :

http://www.geocities.com
http://poetry.about.com
http://www.anubhuti-hindi.org
http://indiasaijikiworlkhaiku.blogspot.com

And last, but not the least, three cheers for great search engine http://www.google.com ]

- Neeraj Mathpal
March 20, 2008

Do you care?

Ah, I know even before starting, this can be controversial and will lead to separation of opinions, but I have no intention of starting a debate here. I was impressed with views of Michael Crichton on global warming. His fiction "state of fear" clearly suggests no effects of global warming on life. Moreover, he refuses the concept as "unknowns are unknowns". I won't go into details of this. If you really want to go through a number of graphics and manipulated data, help yourself with "state of fear" from a book shop. Remember, it is a fiction, which gives an impression of scientific authority.

This leads me to one more question about extinction of rare animals, to be specific extinction of "Tiger". What if I say I don't care. What if I say that I don't care if I'll never ever see great Indian Tiger in my life again. Should I care? Do I care? What if I say that in another 20 years there will be no tigers. Do I care? Of the 8 species, there are only 5 left. Why should not I care? But am I the right person to care about them? With approximately 2000 tigers remaining, we are about to loose this magnificent species. We say, once upon a time, there was one Dinosaur era. What is the problem in saying in future that once upon a time, there used to be a great animal named tiger. These wild life organizations like WWF ( http://www.worldwildlife.org ) are doing their job, hats off to them. There are laws made by governments, hats off to them. But it's only about delaying the inevitable. Delay it as much as we can. But do I care if it happens today or tomorrow?

Yes, this question created some confusion, I'm not sure about. That was a cruel joke to not care about anything. Are we human, if we don't care about our surroundings, if we don't care about our forests? Being a nature lover, and specially a jungle lover, I should have said, I do care for it. But again in reality, I don't. Did I try to save some of the trees? Answer is no, so do I have any moral right to say, "Jungle bachao, Duniya bachao" (save forests, save world). No.
But in fact, it matters. Though actions are louder than talks, but awareness has a strong history of making miracles happen.

Now, what about the evolution? if we are loosing something, we are gaining as well. There are new species arriving almost everyday. Who can stop this evolution. Are we? We ourselves, the human beings, will be human beings after 10000 years? Who knows, tell me why should we have helix, antihelix, lobule and crest of helix, the outer parts of ear? Are they worth? No, we don't need them. They are just hanging there for no reason. Reason will prevail. These outer ears will disappear. That time dimension is definitely waiting somewhere for us. So, is loosing some spices not part of evolution? Is loosing trees also not part of evolution?

These developed countries are making too much noise about global warming, species, water and blah blah. But if they lost something for good, how does it matter? If, now, they are seeking some kind of redemption, why should developing countries help them. They also have to try for better infrastructure, better facilities. For that, obviously, they will have to loose something, some of their forests. May be with proper planning, we can reduce adverse affects, but the future is always about rising, whatever it takes. Human races will develop automatically, they will know to adjust with changing environments. With brains getting powerful, rest of the body will have to take the declining curve with open hands. There is hardly any choice in that.

I do love this greenery. I do love a sight of tigers. I do love earth. I would love to help in having more and more trees, but I don't care if we loose something for better. Do you?


- Neeraj Mathpal
March 18, 2008

किस्सा आम है

आज एक विचित्र सा ख्याल आया। आपने कभी सरिता, मेरी सहेली, गृह शोभा जैसी महिला
पत्रिकाएँ पड़ीं या देखी होंगी। आज सोचा की कुछ वैसा ही लिखा जाए। इन पत्रिकाओं की अपने अंदाज में टांग खींची जाए। तो फ़िर सुनाते हैं आपको एक किस्सा।

ये किस्सा है दिल्ली में रहने वाली एक गृहणी का। दक्षिणी दिल्ली के गोविन्दपुरी इलाके में रहने वाली मालती की शादी को अभी एक ही साल हुआ था। उसके पति विभोर एक सरकारी हस्पताल में कम्पाउन्डर थे। वैसे तो मालती एक हंसमुख मिजाज महिला थी, पर उसको पिछले कुछ समय से एक अजीब सा शौक लग गया था। डब्बे रखने का शौक। वैसे तो ये किसी भी मध्यम वर्गीय घर के लिए अनोखी बात नहीं। रसोई में हर चीज तो डब्बों के अन्दर आजादी की चाह में घुलती रहती है। पर मालती के दोनों कमरे तो जैसे डब्बों से ही भरे हुए थे। मिठाई के डब्बे, कपड़ों के डब्बे, चूड़ी बिंदी के डब्बे, सामानों के छोटे छोटे डब्बे, चाय पत्ती के पुराने डब्बे। जैसे डब्बों के लिए " इनकमिंग " सेवा तो अकूत हो, पर " आउटगोइंग " सेवा बंद पड़ीं हो। विभोर जब शाम को घर लौटते तो उन्हें सख्त हिदायत थी कि कोई भी डब्बा इधर से उधर नहीं होना चाहिए वरना उस दिन खाना ही नहीं बनेगा।

विभोर का मन इससे हमेशा उखड़ा उखड़ा सा रहने लगा था।

आज उनकी सालगिरह थी। मालती ने सोचा कि आज कुछ " गिफ्ट " खरीद के लाया जाए, जिससे पतिदेव खुश हो जायें और सारे गिले शिकवे मिट जाएं। बस निकल चली मालती की सवारी बाजार की तरफ़। पहले वो गयी फूलों की दुकान में, उसने सोचा फूल ले जाउंगी, घर को सजाउंगी। पर जब दुकानदार थैली में डालकर फूल देने लगा, आप समझ ही सकते हैं कि मालती उन्हें एक सुंदर से डब्बे में अच्छे से पैक करवा कर आगे बढी। फ़िर आगे जाकर विभोर के मनपसंद रंग की कमीज खरीदी और उसे शानदार डब्बे में पैक करवा के अगली दुकान की तरफ़ चली। वो जो भी लेती, हर जगह डब्बों में पैक करवाने का ख्याल उसका पीछा करता रहता।

जब वह घर पहुँचने वाली थी तो उसे अहसास हुआ कि क्यों आजकल विभोर उखड़े उखड़े रहते हैं, तो उसने इन नए डब्बों से सामान निकलकर डब्बों को कूड़ेदान में डाल दिया। इस सब के बाद वह उदास और हताश घर पहुँची। उसे डब्बों के न होने का दुःख तो था, पर वह खुश भी थी कि अब ये डब्बे उसके जीवन मे कलेश पैदा नहीं करेंगे।

अब आप सोच रहे होंगे कि इस किस्से में ख़ास क्या था। चलिए आप को शाम की बात भी बता देते हैं। शाम को विभोर भी मालती के लिए " गिफ्ट " लेकर आए, तो मालती अपना सर पकड़ कर रह गयी। विभोर की तरफ़ से सालगिरह का ये शानदार उपहार था - तीन बड़े बड़े डब्बे।

आशा है आपको गृह शोभा टाइप का ये किस्सा पसंद आया होगा। नहीं आया तो कोई परेशानी नहीं, आप इन महिला पत्रिकाओं के पाठक बन जाइए, फ़िर आने लगेगा।

- नीरज मठपाल
मार्च १५, २००८

An Ultimate Race

I was in second year of my college. You know hostel life, it makes many people lazy like anything. I was no exception.

I used to love running in my school days, though never participated in a competition. Then after these many years, there came a college competition. After almost one year, I ran that day and that too for a trial and it was good enough to show my talent as a racer. I got a chance to represent my house in 200 meter heat. But when I started my sprint, I felt like somebody has caught my feet. Somehow I managed to complete the race with fourth position. Nothing strange, because only four runners were there in that heat.

But my batch-mates had full confidence on me. I was supposed to run in a 800 meter heat a little later. My friends were saying that I'm not meant for these sprints. I'm a horse for long races, so 800 meters is definitely mine. Even I was trying to pump up myself and wanted to win it with my will power. I used to tell my friends that in school days I used to walk / run daily in the morning for half an hour. How fast? I never told them. Was it just a jog? I never told them. Somehow expectations were set for me and they were real high expectations. They were saying to everybody that I'm going to win this race easily.

Then the race started. Everybody was there to cheer me up. There was so much ga-ga about this horse of long races. Then I was gearing up for my ultimate race, my shoes were there at the line with all sharpness. Of course, I was having my fingers and ankles trying to fight with my shoes to come out. I heard the whistle and I started with all my courage.

Oh, again I felt like somebody has caught my feet. Was there a ghost somewhere? A ghost running with me? Whatever I tried, I couldn't catch up with the pace of others. Forget others, I was not even able to catch up with my best. But then there were my friends among spectators. They thought that it is my strategy, I've started slowly because I'll gain speed later with more energy than others. Alas, only I knew the truth and I couldn't go out to tell that it's not strategy. So I ran with the same speed from start to end. There were four laps to complete this race. I was running alone for last lap. my friends were laughing like anything and cursing me. I was little embarrassed, but I also had my share of laughters. I was not tired at all, perhaps I could have run 10 more laps, but with the same speed. Anyway, history was written.

Now, there is nothing much in this race. But what makes it ultimate is aftermath of that race. It's a part of folk lore in my friend circle. We don't talk about the race, which one of our friends won; it was a 100 meters sprint; but we always remember my race, we make a lot of fun of it.

Well, to be honest, my friends make a lot of fun, not me. They do lots of leg pulling for it, whenever we talk about any sporting heroics of our friends. Probably, this comes at second place in our memorable moments of college sporting life. First one will always be a cricket final match, when playing first, we scored 216 runs in 16 overs and won it.

To conclude, I've three points :

First advice is : If you are out of practice and want to run in a competition, think five times before it and keep your mouth shut.

Second advice is : Even if you are regular in running, think three times before going for a competition, evaluate your abilities as a runner first and keep your mouth shut.

Third advice is : If you have a friend like me and he is running in a competition, keep your mouth open and laugh as much as you can. Thank you.

- Neeraj Mathpal
March 14, 2008

Funny things happen in life ...

I was about 9 years old that time. I was on the verge of becoming a member of senior most class of my school. Ya, you got it right. I'm talking about 5th class. This was a Sunday. It used to come with lots of happiness. After six days of 50 minutes on television (20 minutes news and 30 minutes a serial), Sunday used to come with a bang with a nice morning of three hour television, a late grand lunch. Of course time to leave bed was the same. 5 in the morning. Five. Huh. Now I can't even imagine to get up at 5.

Well, so on one Sunday afternoon, My Iza (mom) gave my elder brother 1 Rs and said, "dono log devsigh field jao, patang lekar udaao wahaan" (go to devsingh field and enjoy playing with kites). We started but on the way to that field, we saw one shining packet with a very attractive name on it - "Santoor". It was a sada pan masala without any tobacco in it. So we had a little discussion of one minute whether to go to field with a problematic kite or try this Santoor thing. With one coin of a single rupee, we didn't have the luxury to go for both. Then came the historical decision - Santoor pan masala. wah santoor wah. Fine we bought it, but when we tasted it, yukk. It was so bad, we couldn't even have one single supari of it.

That dream of having delicious pan masala was gone and we still laugh when we see kites flying in the sky, because we went on to never learn the art of flying kites. But yes, I can say I've read the Kite Runner, the tale of two afaganee kids. May be some day, with some kids, I'll at least try to be a kite runner for few minutes. You never know, funny things really happen in life.

- - - - -

Then there was one "Daabri" system. We used to live in Purani Bajar (in Pithoragarh city) first and then in Dhungkhani. There is a village "Daabri", some 8-9 kilometers from our place. Me and my elder brother used to have a great chemistry. Lots of fights, play and all fun. I used to refuse to go anywhere (to my relative's homes etc) without my brother. At the same time, If he has to go somewhere alone, I would also go. So even if my mom needs me or him for some other work, or want one of us to stay at home, it was just not possible. It's as simple as that - If he is going to Daabri (one of my nani used to live there), I'll also go. If I've been asked to go alone, I won't go. This attitude of mine inserted this phrase in our life - "Daabri System". It was not that I was afraid of going alone to a place. It was just that whenever possible, we have to be together because then we shall have more fun.

Now, I feel so happy about so many moments, we have enjoyed. Even one second of such thought gives tons of pleasure. Life is funny you know, now we meet once or twice in a year.

- - - - -

In our school, I used to like Kho Kho and Kabaddi a lot. You can say Kabaddi was my specialization area (thanks to R.S.S. for that and their nice evening shakhas). Although, I never represented my school team in Kabaddi, but I was in reservers. Simple reason, I was not allowed in playing seven, was my participation in other important events which were more precious for our school and which had nothing to do with sports. Back to kabaddi, I remember one semifinal game specially. I was in 8th class and had to play for my house. Ours was a team of thin guys and to be honest, to be even in semifinals was a strong performance by our team. Then came the semifinal, our principal was also there to watch that match. Our opposition was very strong. If you have seen some big guys in your school days, all of them were in the team of opposition. First pali, we fought hard. After few minutes, I was the only person still there in our team and there were three on the other side of line waiting to catch me alive. But with some will power and bull type style, we won that pali with one point. Second, we lost by a good margin and the game was over. But pleased with our performance, our principal asked for one more pali. We lost like brave fighters. We, the slim trim guys, were there with bruises and pumping hearts and fought till the last second. Memories of it is a real treat for me. Although we ended the competition with a bronze, but our real prize was those pats on our shoulders.

Now, I feel like playing Kabaddi sometimes, but can not get some enthusiastic friends to play that. Life is funny! Right.

- Neeraj Mathpal
March 13, 2008

Rock Star - Part 3 (Last Part)

वैलेंटाइन के जन्म दिन के उपलक्ष्य में हम आप लोगों के सामने रॉक स्टार की आखिरी किश्त लेकर हाजिर हुए हैं। संक्षेप में पहले इन दो विभूतियों का परिचय दूँ फ़िर आपको इनका एक वार्तालाप सुनाता हूँ।
पहली विभूती तो साक्षात चिंगारी है। नन्ही सी जान और चतुरता चतुर सिंह सी।
दूसरी विभूती की नॉएडा में हलवाई की दुकान है, इनकी मिठाइयों के पास मक्खियाँ तो खूब भिनभिनाती हैं, पर लड़की आज तक कोई नहीं फटकी।
चिंगारी अभी अभी लन्दन का एक राउंड मार के लौटा था, दिन १४ फरवरी का था तो वो पहुँच जाता है अपने हलवाई की दुकान में, कि क्या पता आज कुछ चमत्कार हो जाए। जैसे ही वह दुकान पर पहुंचता है तो देखता है कि जोरों से गाना लगा हुआ है -

"अजी रूठ कर अब कहाँ जाइयेगा,
जहाँ जाइयेगा, हमें पाइयेगा"

अब हम आपको इनका सीधा वार्तालाप सुनाने ले चलते हैं सीधे नोइडा कि उसी दुकान पर:

चिंगारी : अरे हलवाई क्या रे ऐसे ही जिंदगी बिगाड़ता रहेगा? पंजाब बैंक में पोस्ट निकली हैं । में तो भर रहा हूँ।
हलवाई : (मन ही मन में सोचता है) बहुत सयाना है। मुझसे ऐसा कह कह के ३-४ फार्म भरवा चुका है। पेपर के दिन ही पता चलता है वो तो सो रहा है आराम से। आज तो इसे ऎसी कड़वी जलेबी खिलाऊंगा की याद रखेगा।

चिंगारी : अबे किस सोच में डूब गया। सामने देख कस्टमर आयी है। ज्यादा मिठाई देना उसे।
हलवाई : (देखकर कस्टमर को सोचता है - हाय जालिम, काश में ख़ुद ही मिठाई होता, आज इनके थोड़ा नजदीक तो जाता। मेरे कानो में तो अब वायलिन भी बजने लगा है। दिन भी अच्छा है)

कस्टमर : अरे भाई साहब, कहाँ सोये हो? मिठाई तो आज ही दोगे न?
(बच्चा उर्फ़ चिंगारी जोर जोर से हँसने लगता है, हलवाई खिसिया जाता है)

हलवाई : (सोचता है - कसम से आज तो दुकान बंद करके स्मार्ट बन कर अपनी बाइक पर निकल जाना चाहिए किसी यूनिवर्सिटी कैम्पस में। और इस बच्चे को भी ले चलते हैं गिटार के साथ, क्या पता इस नमूने की पोज देखकर ही कोई आ जाए)

चिंगारी : (गाली देता है) आज दिन भर सोचता ही रहेगा या कुछ करेगा भी? आज तो तेरी मिठाई ना बिकेगी ज्यादा। ये दिन तो आइसक्रीम, फूलों और कार्ड्स का है। चल कहीं और चलें।

हलवाई : (तैयार होने लगता है पर फ़िर सोचता है - गधा घास से दोस्ती करेगा तो खायेगा क्या)
चिंगारी : इतना तो आशुतोष ने भी नहीं सोचा होगा जोधा अकबर बनाते समय, जितना तू सोच रहा है। क्या तेरा खून पानी हो गया है? क्या तुझे खानपुर कि गायों का दूध नहीं पिलाया गया बचपन में? क्या भारत की धरती ने सपूतों को जन्म देना बंद कर दिया है?

हलवाई : (इतना सुनकर जोश में आ जाता है, और दोनों निकल पड़ते हैं अपने वेलेंटाइन कि खोज में)

- नीरज मठपाल

फरवरी १५, २००८

पुनश्च : हम आपको बता दें कि आज फरवरी खत्म होने वाली है और आज भी ये दोनों लाल किले के पास डेरा लगा कर बैठे हुए हैं किसी के इंतजार में। ये थोड़ा अलग तरह के रॉक स्टार हैं। कोई बारिश , कोई तूफान इन्हें वहाँ से हिला नहीं सकता। हलवाई आज भी सिर्फ़ सोचता है, और बाकी तो चिंगारी साथ है ही ना।