Saturday, March 31, 2012

आप के पहलू में दिन गुज़र जाता है

आप के पहलू में दिन गुज़र जाता है
मेरा बिखरा सा दिल भी संवर जाता है

कुछ निगाहों में है आप की ऐ हुज़ूर
देख नश्तर जिगर में उतर जाता है

कैसे छोड़े भला अब मैनोशी कोई ?
आप का ज़िक्र है रिंद जिधर जाता है


The dismal picture - India not shining

The self congratulatory mood of the present day politicians, elites, and more strikingly the youth who see themselves as independent in the lifeless brick jungles of the major corporate centers, is going to push India into a muddled state in near future. 'Super power' is not what we set out to become after getting independence back in 1947 from the exploitatory regime of the imperial British empire. We were determined to uproot poverty and bring about an overall growth which would be such that the poorest of the poor will get the benefits from it. At present all we have is 1. a handful of joyous (and at the same time stressed) employees of the service sector, 2. unconcerned(and sadly in many instances incompetent as well. This may be because the government has failed in making teaching a profitable and lucrative profession) teachers/professors at the major universities (having minimal interest in their own students as education is not needed to get job these days in India, its degree that one needs to enter any organization after that communication skills and aptitude does the honors), 3. politicians with hardly any public appeal, and 4. banners of India shinning. 
  There is wide spread deprivation, poverty and unemployment (more sadly unemployable youth). We talk about increase in urbanization. I am threatened, where will our rural turned urban people fit in once that happens. In Gurgaon for instance, the next generations of landless farmers have turned into auto-ricksaw drivers and laborers. Does that mean that the governmental policies of last 25 years successful in creating profitable employment for the poor through the development in the region, which they keep reminding the nation in every speech made here and there? I don’t think so. Yes, there are farmers who got the benefits due to the fact that with the coming for foreign companies in the region and the boom in the real-estate market. But they were already affluent farmers with vast stretches of land, which they profitably sold to the DLF and UNITECH builders. Such growth is un-rully and not very useful for the country as a whole. The rich have become richer and the poor are sidelined and left to die at the fringes of the country. 
One good thing that has happened as a blessing in disguise is the fact that the reservations for the scheduled castes and tribes became an electoral issue for almost all the political parties. This made leaders like Mayawati the chief minister of state like Uttar Pradesh numerous times, thereby subliming the anger of the down trodden by some extent in the region. Otherwise, there could have been a movement in the region just like the Maoist activities in some areas of the country. The poor are silent probably because they have now got 50% reservations in various areas. Though there are people with a view point that crucial services should have not have any reservation as that threatens the country's strength in the long run. The argument that professions like medical too should not have reservations also sounds logical. But those points are debatable. Reservation has helped in silencing a major portion of the population cannot be denied. 
But where are we headed? Anna Hazare and his team has been digging their own grave by turning the ‘India against corruption’ movement into ‘India against Congress’ and I have very little hope from their movement. The corporate houses seem to have become the real power in today’s India. The politicians have been mischievous, no doubt, but more than that they seem to be helpless. I do not think that any politician will have any standing in the political arena. He/she cannot take a messianic stand for safeguarding the Indian political freedom and exercise his/her powers in building the nation in the present scenario, where the corporate powers are always ready to do the arm twisting and have can at the same time keep itself away from media. People have no one to blame except their political leaders.
The present day governments hardly spend anytime in trying and building up new democratic institutions. They are busy with reading and reviewing the “degrading” facebook “images and messages”. They are busy talking bullshit. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil ji spent Rs. 206 crore (which I guess is just and understatement of her dis concern for the country’s poor, published by the concerned authorities on the RTIs filed three years back). The governmental authorities took hours to prove the Kejriwal had been involved in some corrupt acts, when their IAC movement was brewing few months back and took three years to publish the report on presidential expenditures incurred by the country during her majesty’s foreign trips. The current allegations of the army General of India on the defense  ministry are even more disturbing for the nation. That the picture is dismal, is very clear, but what remains to be seen is that what kind of crisis India is destined to witness in the nest 30 years. Whether it will be economic, social, political or the worst of all kinds – an all in one package of a crippled nation by its own sons.
India is a Nation in building and I see ample scope of improvement in various constitutional bodies of the nation. We shall overcome, if only we first accept that we are in perils right now.

Friday, March 23, 2012

वक़्त की सलाखों से फ़रार जिंदगी

वक़्त की सलाखों से फ़रार जिंदगी
हौसलों के घोड़ों पर सवार जिंदगी


बेड़ियाँ ये पाँव की काट फेंक दो
अब उठो के है बड़ी शर्मसार जिंदगी

आके इक मकाम पे रुका था कारवाँ
चल दिए हैं चलपड़ी है यार जिंदगी

हो नसों में खौलती गर खुदी कहीं
नज़र उठा देखलो आसमाँ के पार ज़िन्दगी

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

मेरे हाल पे मुझे छोड़ दो

मेरे हाल पे मुझे छोड़ दो
ये दोस्ती भी अब तोड़ दो

न ग़ज़ल बने न खलिश पले
इन उँगलियों को मरोड़ दो

मैं जगह-जगह से टूटा हूँ
गर हो सके मुझे जोड़ दो

Friday, March 16, 2012

मैं क्या बतलाऊँ कौन हो तुम

तुम रागों में
तुम शब्दों में
तुम ज्योति में
तुम जीवन में

तुम भावों में
तुम सरिता में
तुम धड़कन में
तुम कविता में

तुम नाम नहीं
तुम काम नहीं
तुम पूजा हो
तुम कण कण में

तुम फूलों में
तुम कलियों में
तुम मंदिर में
तुम मूरत में

तुम सीपी में
तुम मोती में
तुम सागर में
तुम लहरों में

मैं कौन भला ?
मैं क्या जानूं ?
हो काव्य में तुम
तुम दर्शन में

तुम चंदा में
तुम तारों में
तुम ज्वाला में
अंगारों में

बचपन में तुम
तुम योवन में

ऋतुओं में तुम
तुम सावन में

तुलसी में तुम
रबिदास में तुम
तुम श्लोकों में
हर सांस में तुम

मैं क्या बतलाऊँ कौन हो तुम 




-ckh-
kaise bataaooN main tumhe ....mere liye tum kaun ho .....

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

यार तुम मिलो तो सही

कुछ कहूं
कुछ सुनूं
कह सकूं
सुन सकूं
दोस्त थे तुम मेरे 
मैं कभी बन सकूं
हो ये सब कुछ मगर
हाथ में हाथ हो
कोई शाम साथ हो 
यार तुम मिलो तो सही !!!

क्या कहा
क्या किया
रात दिन
सुबह शाम
चाँद से
ख्वाब में
कौन सी बात की ?
कब उठा
कब नहीं
जीता क्या 
 हारा कर
यार ये सब हुआ
और मैं ढूँढता हूँ कहीं हो जो तुम
हो गुजर रही यूँही
जिंदगी तुम्हारी भी
पर मगर
क्या करूँ सामने जो तुम नहीं
क्या कहूं
क्या करूँ
जीत में हार में
सांस की हर पुकार में
हो मगर दूर हो
यार तुम मिलो तो सही



Thursday, March 8, 2012

हमसे आबाद थी तेरी महफ़िल

हमसे आबाद थी तेरी महफ़िल, खैर तू ये समझता  नहीं है
हर घड़ी आज़माता अदम को, खुद कभी भी उलझता नहीं है

हमने सदिओं से चाहा तुझी को, पर ये वेह्शत बढ़ी जा रही है
तू अगर देखता है ये आलम, बोल फिर क्यूँ बरसता नहीं है ?

सुर्ख होटों पे भी आज गम हैं, नर्म आँखों के कोने भी नम हैं
ऐ खुदा! हाथ उठाये ये बन्दे, बोल क्यूँ तू गरजता नहीं है ?

फिर से जर जर हुयी हैं दीवारें, मेरे गाँव में कोई नहीं है
हँसते बच्चों की आवाज़ को क्या, ऐ खुदा तू तरसता नहीं है ?

फिर से वीराना सा छा  रहा है, और शम्माएं भी बुझ रही हैं
हर शहर आज ईटों का है ढेरा , कोई पंछी क्यूँ दिखता नहीं है ?


(Written in reference to the blood bath going on in Syria)

Sunday, March 4, 2012

ऐ ज़िन्दगी तू बिकुल ऐसी ही रह सकेगी क्या

ऐ ज़िन्दगी तू बिकुल ऐसी ही रह सकेगी क्या
सारे दोस्त यार बगल के कमरें में बैठे
हस्ते रहें
उनकी आवाजें मुझतक आती रहे
मैं यहाँ खामोश
अकेला
इस कमरे में
यूँही बैठा रहूँ
गर्म पलकों की सुस्त झपकी पर
कुछ सोछों
सोच कर मुस्काऊँ
ऐ ज़िन्दगी तू बिलकुल ऐसी ही रह सकेगी क्या ?
यूँही रह रह कर
कोई आता रहे जाता रहे
मेरे कमरे में
और मैं यहाँ यूँही लिखता रहूँ
सुनाता रहूँ उलझी हुई आवाजें


Thursday, March 1, 2012

I jumped

I stood at cliff of a mountain amidst few dry and thorny shrubs. There was a river underneath, flowing in the valley. I looked up and filled my hearth with the vast stretch of the endless skies. With staggering legs, I bent a little to take off my shoes. Tired of thinking and trying to figure out the answers to eternal questions, I smiles and leaped forward a little to hear the sound of the rustling river even more clearly. When the soul felt free of desires and relent, I decided in a split second and jumped into the valley from the cliff, leaving behind my shoes and cloth. A moment of despair and then total loss of control of anything and everything around me. Few moments in the air, and then came the fnal realization - its in loosing it all that one finally finds something worth a life time of pain and anguish. As I got submersed in the river, the body floated a mile or two, before they say, a fisheman found me still alive. Now I am here, all nacked and wet. It must be a new world a new life I believe. There must be a better eve a better day to come.

हमने ठुकराई है पा कर दुनिया

हमने ठुकराई है पा कर दुनिया, आप कहते हैं हम दीवाने हैं
खैर फिर भी गिला नहीं हमको, ये तो लोगों के ढब पुराने हैं

किस गली जा रहे हैं कैसे कहें, क्यूँ यहाँ एक पल गंवारा नहीं
कौन समझा है जो के समझायें, कितने वादे हमें निभाने हैं

बीतते वक़्त से न रखें रिश्ता, कल की सुबह को दुल्हन कह दें
चाँदनी खुद से ही शर्मा जाए, हम तो उस दर्जे के परवाने हैं

आज भी कमरों चंद खिड़कियाँ, कुण्डी तलास कराती हैं
अब निकलते हैं तेरी महफ़िल से, हमें कुछ दरवाज़े खट-खटाने हैं

यूँ तो उनका नहीं है कोई निशाँ, और हमको नहीं है उनकी ख़बर
फिर भी 'चक्रेश' रोज़ कहता है, तुमको कुछ रिश्ते नए बनाने हैं

ऐसे भी तो दिन आयेंगे

 ऐसे भी तो दिन आयेंगे, बिलकुल तनहा कर जाएँगे रोयेंगे हम गिर जाएँगे, ख़ामोशी में पछतायेंगे याद करेंगे बीती बातें ख़ुशियों के दिन  हँसती रातें...