Building a new India..India of our dreams

I just finished reading an article by a leading French journalist (based in India), Francois Gautier, India’s self denial. In his article he has praised the tolerance of the Indians and he says that he has noticed a striking similarity in the Indian people, their tolerance. He has praised our nation for it’s glorious past and the ancient wisdom. But according to him (and as it is quite visible today to us too) our people (we Indians) lack a sense of pride and we tend to feel belittled when we compare our country’s present situation with the developed western nations. We have started feeling that the system here is rotten, corrupt and incompetent.
I do not disagree with the author for most of what he has written. I feel he is quite right when he says that Indians keep judging themselves by the western standards and western wisdom. The main reason, as he too points out, is our poverty. We are a poor nation (now don’t tell me that the GDP is 7.4 today), and we feel this is because of our inefficiency.
25 million Indians died in 100 years due to famine during British rule (according to British statistics. In actuality the numbers were surely much more than this). India was a prosperous nation. People here lived in peace and longed nothing but spiritual happiness of their souls. Never has India tried to expand its borders or tried to plunder other nations. But our country has seen many greedy invaders and tyrant rulers. After the battle of Buxar there was such a huge scale plunder by the Britishers that loot became an English word (language of Wordsworth and Milton today recognises this word as Goods or money obtained illegally). During this time only the industrial revolution gained its full momentum in Britain. The point is that we will have to understand and realise that if today we praise the richness of some western country then we must take this into consideration that they are well of today and that is visible to us but the millions of people who died due to famine in India and many more in other countries of Asia and Africa in past. We must feel proud of our ancient wisdom that prohibited us from torturing others and that never asked us to spread our religion forcefully. Our forefathers have believed in peace and harmony.
Today we are having many problems and the youth of today when sees the western nations he is so much blinded by their development that he concludes that this nation is rotting and its no use staying here and wasting his career(most of the IITians either leave India or aspire to leave and get settled abroad) . Today, as the author of this article has pointed out, the main reason of our miseries is the flaw in our constitution. The flaw that allows the political parties to collect funds for their election campaigns. No one can aspire to become a political leader in this country on sheer talent and desire to work for the nation. Politics needs black money, black money brings criminals in politics, crimanalization of politics takes place and then politicisation of criminals.
The biggest nation party in this biggest democracy of the world, the INC, itself is the clutches of Sonia Gandhi today, who as per the author knows nothing about India. But the Indians just ignore it and rather have accepted her by now, here comes the tolerance of Indians.
Every nation has its own problems, but no problem can be so huge that the people of that nation cannot tackle. If anything is needed then it is the self acceptance. Accept that you are an Indian and feel proud about it(and don’t just say it). Work for the betterment of the society(that’s what The Holy Baagwad Geeta say is the karma of every individual). Stop comparing our nation with the western nations and look forward to build a new India that cherishes the wisdom of our ancient gurus and sanyasis.
I found the article thought provoking and thus shared here with you. I hope with time, more and more people (especially youth) will start accepting that its their duty to build a new India .

जीवन एक कविता ही तो है ....( एक और प्रयास )

(मैंने एक ही कविता को चार अलग अलग तरह से लिखने का प्रयास किया है....)



१
जीवन एक कविता ही तो है
हूँ किसी पंक्ति का एक शब्द मात्र मैं
इन मात्राओं का उन मात्राओं से मेल है जीवन
कुछ छंदों की लय ताल का खेल है जीवन
मैं न होता पर्याय भी कोई मेरा यदि कविता में होता
तो भी अर्थ कविता का शायद लेश मात्र भी न खोता
पर मैं हूँ इन छंदों में क्यूंकि
उन छंदों में साथी तुम हो
लय ताल कविता की हमसे
फिर क्यूँ आज तुम गुमसुम हो ?
जीवन एक कविता ही तो है
२
जीवन एक कविता ही तो है
है भावों का एक पावन मेला

कल कल करता निर्मल जल हो
या हो कोयल का मीठा गीत
मंदिर से आता स्वर घंटी का
या हो गीता का चिर संगीत
जीवन एक कविता ही तो है

३
जीवन एक कविता ही तो है
रंगों छंदों का सुन्दर संगम

भीनी गंध गीली मिट्टी की
हैं खेतों में फसलें लहरातीं
तितलियाँ उड़ती पंक पसार
कैसे कलि कलि मंडरातीं
जीवन एक कविता ही तो है

४
जीवन एक कविता ही तो है
रिश्ते नातों का ताना बाना

माँ बेटे का प्यार कहीं है
पिता का कहीं है लाड-दुलार
बहन-भाई का एक धागे का रिश्ता
कहीं पति में पत्नी का पूरा संसार
जीवन एक कविता ही तो है

जीवन एक कविता ही तो ह

जीवन एक कविता ही तो है
और हूँ किसी पंक्ति का एक शब्द मात्र मैं
इन मात्राओं का उन मात्राओं से मेल है जीवन
कुछ छंदों की लय ताल का खेल है जीवन
मैं न होता पर्याय भी कोई मेरा यदि कविता में होता
तो भी अर्थ कविता का शायद लेश मात्र भी न खोता
पर मैं हूँ इन छंदों में क्यूंकि
उन छंदों में साथी तुम हो
लय ताल कविता की हमसे
फिर क्यूँ आज तुम गुमसुम हो ?
जीवन एक कविता ही तो है

adhoori kavita

मैंने हर इक पहलू को उलट पलट कर देखा है
जीवन मेरा और कुछ नहीं हाथ की अविरल रेखा है

कौन कहता है समय ये चलता है चलता जाता है
....................kuch samajh nahi aata hai .........hahahahha

NOthiNGneSS

A glass top shinning table in front of me on which my laptop is resting right now and cool air from the new Samsung air conditioner has chilled the air around me. I am sitting on this cosy couch with my legs stretched and I’m looking at the books arranged so well in front of me in those wooden shelves. Yes, this is it! This is the room I always dreamt of. I have seen a life where I used to live with my parents in small rented rooms. I have seen tough days and now we have this big house of our own. What else do I want I have a job in hand, I have graduated from a top engineering institute of India. How do I feel? Do you want to hear? I feel NOTHING. See I didn’t put an exclamatory mark after the one word answer. It’s not that the feeling of nothingness came to me like a sudden shock, but it’s there for a long time now. I live with this feeling and I am now so much accustomed to it that I do not even notice it’s presence. I am with my family today, after such a long time and I do not feel like talking to them. They keep complaining about my behaviour and feel nothing. I keep constantly looking at these books behind the glass planes in those shelves. Communication Engineering by Haykins, Operating Systems by Galvin, Number theory, Networks, books on history, public administration, literature and books God and poetry. Why was I reading so much for so long if everything had to end up this way? A job in some firm, some package some post? Didn’t I know this was going to be the end the day I started my journey? Whom was I playing game with and whom was I trying to cheat? I do not know how to feel but feel nothing. What do I want today? ..break off, set myself free.....FREEDOM ..... huh.....so much to ask for.......freedom from what...constant need for desiring something and constant compulsion of setting some aims and proving oneself again and again, till one meets his death. I guess I ask for too much and I guess things are going to get even worse with time.....

क्या देखा है तुमने कभी

शाखों से गिरते पत्तों को क्या देखा है तुमने कभी,
एक गिरता है फिर अक और भी
एकदम वैसे ही...
बारिश में बींगते बच्चों को क्या देखा है तुमने कभी
माँ दौड़ती है उनके पीछे
और भींगती है एकदम वैसे ही
प्याली में राखी चाय को ठंडी होते क्या देखा है तुमने कभी
भाप उठती है और खो जाती है हवा में
एकदम उठते है
मेरी प्याली खाली क्यूँ है अब तक
माँ नहीं दौड़ती मेरे पीछे क्यूँ
क्यूँ बारिश की बूँदें नहीं भिंगोतीं मुझको अब
किस पत्ते के गिरने की राह देख रहा हूँ मैं

एक चलती आकृति

भावनाओं का अनुसरण करती मेरी समझ
आ पहुचती है बार बार इक पड़ाव पे
जहाँ धुंधले आसमान में
एक चलती आकृति
स्वेत साडी में लिपटी ,
आँचल लहराती
जाने कबसे क्या दूंढ रही है
हाथ आगे बड़ा कर चाहता हूँ छूना उसको मैं
चाहता हूँ साथ बिठा कर पूछना,
उसकी अनवरत यायावरी का उद्देश्य
पर न जाने क्यूँ वो दूर भागती है मुझसे
एक शून्य में,
एक अँधेरी काली भयावह गुफा की ओर