टर्रम-टू

Dream came true, but no friends around… (For Motis of Motilal... )

2011-09-13T02:06:00.001+05:30

I picked up a piece of papaya from my breakfast plate, but my hand got stopped in half way.

“In those days, it was like a dream to be here” I said, looking at the ceiling of the grand dining hall.

“Hmm… now your dream came true, but there are no friends around…” my colleague responded to my feelings.

I was living the dream called, ‘Hotel Kanha Shyam’.

Yes, I was on an official trip to Allahabad for two days and was very excited as we were about to start for TeliarGanj from Civil Lines.

There were lot many obstructions on the way from NOIDA to the Main Gate of the college. The worst being the cancellation of our Delhi-Allahabad direct flight after one hour of its scheduled departure time (obviously, only Maharaja Airlines can do this). We somehow managed to get 4 seats in a SpiceJet flight to Varanasi and reached Allahabad by surface transport from there.

I was not feeling comfortable in travelling in an all-window-closed AC Innova on the roads of Allahabad. I felt like jumping off the car and catching a Vikram at Bank Road crossing. I needed to read through the wall to confirm if we are at right place when Government security force stopped us at newly constructed gate of the college campus named ‘Ganga’ at Teliarganj.

After we started our official work at Graphics Hall, I got a chance to re-visit many of those memorable things which none of the MNNITians can ever forget.

“We don’t have much time, make sure you come back in half an hour” my colleague advised me as I grabbed my camera and took along Prashant, a final year student, with me.

I wanted to live each moment of those four years once again, but I had only half an hour!

To start with, I rushed towards the main lobby on the ground floor. Big pictures of inaugural ceremony (by Pt. Nehru and Shastri Ji) have been replaced with smaller once now. There is a completely new building in front of the main building (the place where we used to line up after our evening classes for first 15 days of first year). “This is new admin block” Prashant told me.

I moved towards left. “Where is PanditJi ki canteen? It used to be here only, right?”

“Yes, but they removed it during the construction of admin building”. The other college canteen has been occupied by BikanerWala.

Design centre… Seminar Hall (venue of Historical Kavya Sandhya)… computer centre (created my first e-mail id here) … lecture hall complex… management block… gymkhana… I thought of a lecture in GS rooms after 5 minutes and started walking very fast. Prashant was almost running to match the speed. With all my thanks to Prashant for this wonderful journey, let the pictures tell rest of the story…

Allahabad Trip at Facebook

अन्ना नहीं ये आंधी है... !!!

2011-08-28T23:33:00.019+05:30

"यार मुझे गुड़गाँव जाना है। जाऊं, कुछ पंगा तो नहीं होगा?"
"पंगा? तुमने समझ क्या रखा है। बाहर वो कोई दंगाई या आतंकवादी थोड़े ही हैं, हम तुम लोग ही तो हैं!"
"नहीं वो कहीं मैट्रो वेट्रो ना बंद करा दें"
"क्या बात कर रहे हो भाई। यहाँ लोग दिल्ली में जाने कहाँ-कहाँ से [रामलीला] मैदान की फ्री बस और ऑटो सर्विसतक दे रहे हैं। उल्टा वहां तो ज्यादा से ज्यादा लोगों की जरूरत है। मैट्रो रुकने का तो सवाल ही नहीं उठता!"

रविवार (२१ अगस्त) को अन्ना के समर्थन में आयोजित महारैली में शामिल होकर जब मैं घर पंहुचा तो मेरे साथरहने वाले मेरे मित्र ने उपरोक्त संदेह व्यक्त किया। उस वक़्त तो मैंने उसकी शंका का निवारण कर दिया, लेकिन चारदिनों बाद ही मेरी बात गलत साबित हुई और सात मैट्रो स्टेशन बंद कर दिए गए। पर यहाँ मजे की बात यह थी की मैट्रोसेवा बाधित करने का काम आन्दोलनकारियों ने नहीं बल्कि खुद सरकार ने अपनी सुरक्षा के लिए किया था। सचमुच! अन्ना के आन्दोलन में ऐसा कुछ भी नहीं हुआ जिस पर कोई उंगली तक उठा सके।

"गांधी फिर से जी उठे जागा देश महान,

शान्ति अहिंसा की ताकत का फिर से मिला प्रमाण।"

मुझे याद पड़ता है कि कॉलेज के तृतीय वर्ष में वार्षिक सांस्कृतिक महोत्सव के दौरान एक वाद-विवाद प्रतियोगिता में विषय दिया गया था- 'क्या गांधी जिन्दा हैं?' बहुत ही आशावादी स्वभाव का होने के बावजूद मैंने विषय के विपक्षमें बोलने का निर्णय लिया। वर्त्तमान समय में गाँधी के सत्य-अहिंसा के सिद्धांतों की प्रासंगिकता सिद्ध करने केलिए विषय का पक्ष लेने वालों को तब काफी मेहनत करनी पड़ी थी। लेकिन अन्ना की अहिंसक क्रांति ने आज न केवल इस विषय के पक्ष में एक ठोस प्रमाण रखा है बल्कि इस वाद-विवाद को ही पूर्णतः एक तरफ़ा बना दिया है।

अन्ना के अनशन की नौवीं रात थी। मैं पानी पीने के लिए हॉल में गया लेकिन रात के साढ़े बारह बजे अन्ना को टीवी पर LIVE देखकर वहीं ठिठक कर खड़ा हो गया। खबर थी की अन्ना को आज रात पुलिस उठा कर ले जा सकती है। लेकिन अन्ना के चेहरे पर शिकन तक नहीं थी। पूरी ऊर्जा के साथ वो अभी भी जनता को अहिंसा के लिए प्रेरित कर रहे थे-"यदि वे मुझे ले जाएँ तो भी हिंसा नहीं करना। शान्ति से काम लेना। हम जेल भरेंगे लेकिन हिंसा नहीं करेंगे... ।" अन्ना ने निस्संदेह ही गाँधी और गाँधीवाद को इतिहास की किताबों और फिल्मों से निकाल कर आम जनता के बीच पुनः लाकर खड़ा कर दिया है। आज हर भारतीय की तरह मुझे भी प्रसन्नता है की मैंने ना केवल इन ऐतिहासिक पलों को जिया बल्कि इसमें सक्रिय भाग भी लिया।

सरकार के हर दांव पेंच का अन्ना और उनकी टीम ने जिस समझ बूझ के साथ जवाब दिया वो वाकई देखने लायक था। सरकार ने अपने सारे गेंदबाज और हर तरेह की गेंदबाजी करके देखी। लेकिन टीम अन्ना, मीडिया और जनता के साथ मिलकर सरकार की हर गेंद पर चौके छक्के जड़ती रही। रनों की बौछार होते देखकर दर्शकदीर्घा में बैठे विपक्ष ने भी बल्ला उठाकर सरकारी गेंदबाजों का मनोबल गिरा दिया। जब पुराने और मंझे हुए गेंदबाजों की एक ना चली तो सरकार ने अपने 'युवा' खिलाड़ी को मैदान में उतारा। लेकिन उस 'युवा' की पहली ही गेंद की टीम अन्ना, मीडिया और विपक्ष ने ऐसी धुनाई की कि गेंद स्टाम्प को छोड़ कर खुद गेंदबाज को ही अपने साथ मैदान से बाहर ले उड़ी।

उस विजयी शाम को संसद की बहस ख़त्म होने के बाद 'सरकार' को स्वयं अन्ना के मंच पर आना पड़ा। बारह दिनोंसे अन्न त्यागे अन्ना ने जिस सादगी के साथ स्वयं उठकर सरकार के प्रतिनिधियों का अभिवादन किया उसेदेखकर आँखें नम हो गईं।

अन्ना के इस आन्दोलन ने एक ओर 'आज होगा राखी का स्वयंवर/भैंस कि टांग ने शताब्दी को रोका/कलेक्टर का कुत्ता खोया' जैसी breaking news दिखाने वाले मीडिया को अपनी कर्त्तव्यनिष्ठता दिखाने का अवसर दिया। वहीं दूसरी ओर 'spy camera' के जरिये टूटते रिश्तों को देखकर fresh feel करने वाले, अपने परिवार से ज्यादा अभिषेक-ऐश्वर्या के पारिवारिक मसलों की चिंता करने वाले और दिन रात अपने laptop में code की कुछ हजार लाइनों में डूबे रहने वाले युवाओं को राष्ट्रहित के मुद्दों पर विचार करने के लिए आधार प्रदान किया है। प्रसन्नता की बात है कि दोनों ने ही इस अवसर का भरपूर सदुपयोग किया।

इतना बड़ा महायज्ञ सफलता पूर्वक संपन्न जरूर हो गया लेकिन कार्यालय, कैंटीन और सड़कों पर यहाँ वहां अभीभी ये चर्चा जारी है कि इस सब से क्या होगा। ट्रेन में काली वर्दी और चौराहे पर खाकी वर्दी क्या हरे पत्ते लेना बंद करदेगी? मेरे विचार से अन्ना के आन्दोलन ने इस प्रश्न का बखूबी जवाब दे दिया है। अन्ना ने 'इस देश का कुछ हो ही नहीं सकता' से निराश हुई जनता को एक नयी सोच दी है-'इस देश में वही होता है और वही होगा, जो हम चाहेंगे!' देखना अब ये है कि इस सोच को हम दैनिक जीवन में अपने साथ लेकर आगे बढ़ते हैं, या उसे एक सुनहरे फ्रेम में मड़वा कर घर की दीवार की सुन्दरता बढ़ाते हैं और अन्ना के अगले अनशन की प्रतीक्षा करते हैं।

अन्ना की आंधी की जयजयकार!

-- मनीष छाबड़ा

(यदि लेख में लगा रेखाचित्र किसी की भावनाएँ आहत करता हो तो क्षमा करें। )

नववर्ष की पूर्व संध्या पर...

2010-12-30T23:19:00.005+05:30

[Composed on same day... one year back]

रुको नववर्ष!
अभी मत आओ, थोड़ा रुक जाओ,
थोड़ी और मोहलत दो, अरे कुछ तो रहम खाओ।

गलती तो मेरी ही है, शायद मैं इस साल भी सोता रह गया,
दुनियाँ में खुशियाँ बाँटने के संकल्प भूलकर, अपने ही सुख के लिए रोता रह गया।
सूरज ने कहा था, "मैं रोज आऊंगा"... वो रोज आया,
ध्रुव का वादा था, "मैं यहीं मिलूँगा रोज तिमतिमाऊंगा" ... उसने भी कर दिखाया।
मेरी खिड़की के घोंसले का कबूतर का बच्चा - अपनी बातों का पक्का,
साल के आखिरी दिन ही सही, कल उसने भी उड़ दिखाया,
और तो और बरामदे की भूरी का दुधमुंहा बालक, आज उसने भी एक छोटा चूहा खुद मार के खाया।
पर ऐसा ना हो की हर बार की तरह 'मैं' अपने वादे और सपने अगले वर्ष पर टाल जाऊं,
और वादा खिलाफों की फेहरिस्त में फिर पहला नंबर पाऊं।
मैंने इस साल कागज़ बचाना था, अपनी कार का पोल्यूशन चैक कराके प्रदूषण नियंत्रण में लाना था,
लेकिन आज भी जींस की जेब से रूमाल निकालने का तकल्लुफ नहीं कर पाया,
रोज की तरह हाथ धोये - पेपर नेपकीन खींचा - हाथ पोंछे और बाहर आया।
ट्रेन में पास बैठे दद्दा की बीड़ी को मैंने क़ानून की फूंक मार दी,
पर खुद को ना बदल सका,
पाँच रुपये की मूंगफली - दाने मुँह में - छिलके फिर सीट के नीचे,
जैसे हाथ ही नहीं रुका!
ऑफिस की जल्दी ने परसों सिग्नल तुड़वाया था,
सौ रुपये जेब में डालकर मुश्किल से पीछा छुड़ाया था।
तब भी मन यही बोला था, "अबकी जाने दो, अगली बार हुआ तो छः सौ दे के पक्की रसीद कटाऊंगा"
पर हे नूतन वर्ष, तुम अभी आ गए, तो सालों पुराने ये सारे संकल्प बस कैरी फॉरवर्ड ही कर पाऊंगा।

वैसे सपने और वादे मेरे ही नहीं हजारों के अधूरे हैं,
किसी के पास घर नहीं तो किसी के पास कपड़े ही नहीं पूरे हैं।
कोई हर साल गाँव में बन चुकी कागजी सड़क पर चलने का सपना रखता है,
कोई पिछले साठ सालों से आजादी की ही राह तकता है।
मुन्नी ने अपने पांचवें जन्मदिन से आज तक सायकिल का वादा ही तोहफे में पाया है,
पर गरीब बुधिया क्या करे, गन्ने का समर्थन मूल्य बढ़ाने का सपना तो बीस साल से सरकार ने दिखाया है।
बूढ़ी खाला की आँख की रोशनी जाती रही, पर बल्ब में रोशनी इस साल भी नहीं आई,
किसी का नल आज भी पानी को प्यासा है, तो किसी के पेट को इस साल भी एक ही वक्त की रोटी मिल पायी।
चंदू कल भी बिना छत और बिना बोर्ड वाले स्कूल में पढ़ने जाएगा,
और कल्लू... वो तो ये 31 दिसंबर भी पतली चादर के साथ फुटपाथ पर मनायेगा।
अगले तीन सौ पैंसठ दिन भी इसी तरह ना निकल जाएँ इसीलिए तुम्हे टोकता हूँ,
वर्ना घर आते नए मेहमान को मैं भी नहीं रोकता हूँ।

पर हे नववर्ष, यदि तुम फिर भी आना चाहते हो तो ख़ुशी से आओ,
पर कम से कम एक वचन 'तुम' तो निभाओ,
कि हर घर के दिये के लिए थोडा सा तेल, पेट के लिए दो वक्त का भोजन और ढेरों खुशियाँ साथ लाओगे,
मुझे अपने वादे पूरे करने की ताकत दोगे,
और हर आँख का हर सपना साकार करके ही वापस जाओगे।

स्वागत नववर्ष - स्वागत!

नववर्ष की हार्दिक मंगलकामनाओं के साथ ... दिए गए कमेन्ट बॉक्स में आपके विचारों की अपेक्षा में ...
- मनीष छाबड़ा

Mysore: A wonderful outing

2010-12-05T20:56:00.011+05:30

“Oh you are back so early… must have booked a taxi from Bangalore itself?”
“No no, we went by bus”
“Achchha... so you hired a taxi after reaching there only”
“No no, didn’t hire any taxi… we travelled by bus, there as well!”
“Then you must have skipped some important places”
“Arre nahi, we visited all the three major destinations plus one extra!”

This is a part of telephonic conversation which Deepak was having with his mother today, after we came back from our fantastic one day Mysore trip last night. Thanks to Karnataka Government!

It was a little cold, rather a “cool” morning in Bangalore this Saturday when at 6 am we headed towards Majestic Bus Terminal to catch a bus to Mysore. There was no worry or doubt regarding bus availability as we had full faith in KSRTC services. After Rajkishor also reached there, we started for Mysore. It was a day of “What a timing!”.

After around 2 hours bus driver gave us a chance to break our fast with idly-vada (both having deep bath in Sambhar). The moment we finished our breakfast and went back in bus, driver appeared back and started the bus. Every North Indian knows how to eat idly-vada but I’ve learnt to eat it at appropriate speed (matching with a south Indian) as well, I realized (hehe… Chhabra joke :)

At 10:30am we reached Mysore bus stand. It seemed nothing less than an office of a multi-national IT company which forced me to click the first pic in Mysore. Not only in Mysore but in all major cities in Karnataka you will find it like that.

Our first destination Mysore Palace is at walkable distance from there. In between we had naariyal paani (It was a bit sweet and tasted better than that I’ve had in Bangalore and Hyderabad). An auto wala on the way, tried to attract us shouting “Aaj Tipu Sultan ki anniversary hai, so palace der se khulega” (did you understand the motive behind saying that? If not, call me on my cell phone, will tell you the same story which I told to Rajkishor then :).

After 5 mins walk, we were in front of royal Mysore Palace. We got to know that the original palace was destroyed in fire in late 19th century and the one in front of us was re-built in 1912. It is the second most visiting tourist place in India after Taj Mahal. It actually deserves to be!

After spending more than 2 hours in the palace we came out and queried about our next destination Chamundi Hills temple. It was more than 12 kms from there and in no time we got a Volvo AC city bus from there itself directly to the temple. Bus conductor suggested us to get a full day pass for 50/- instead of a normal ticket of 30/- upto temple. We got those passes and will you believe these 50 rupees was the only money we spent for city transport in our complete trip! As per information on the web and from the local people, there is a ticket of 20/- for normal queue (waiting time 1 hour) and 100/- for VIP queue (waiting time 10 mins) for darshanam at Chamundi Hills temple. We reached there at 2pm only to get disappointed as the temple remains closed between 2pm to 3:30pm and there were no signs of any queue meaning it was already closed. We will have to wait for one and a half hour! Having no clue of where to go and whom to ask we started roaming around and unknowingly reached the entrance gate of the temple. It was when we heard somebody shouting “jaldi jaao mandir band hota”. We took no time to get our shoes off and along with few other people around there rushed towards the gate. But Rajkishor was the only lucky to make it as police man at the gate locked the door and didn’t allow me and Deepak to enter. On a repeated request he indicated remaining people to come from the back door. Race again started. This time Deepak got the benefit of being tall and stood first. Since the crowd at the back door was blocking the people coming out, hence the policeman declared no-more-entry there as well. With the blessings of Maa Chamundeshwari, I had just entered and became the last to get the entry. After coming out we realized that the info on the web was missing third type of queue for darshanam with 0/- ticket and no waiting time (but only at 2pm, what a timing! )

Now we started discussing about where to go next as we had more than 2 hours before we go to see night beauty at Brindavan Gardens. In the options were few museums and the zoo. As usual, I was willing to visit zoo but Rajkishor and Deepak were making azeeb saa muh on that option. I started my lecture-
“Tum logo ne giraffe dekha hai?”
“nahi”
“lo to kis kaam ki hai tumhari jindagi… bataao kya muh dikhaaoge apne bachchon ko… giraffe dekhe bina hi duniya se chale jaaoge… bhagyashaali ho tum jo giraffe dekhne ka mauka bhi mil raha hai tumhe aur tum zoo nahi jana chahte…”

May be my words were not that effective as we failed to reach any conclusion and boarded a bus back to city bus stand. An AC bus was the best place to continue rest of the discussion, by this way we were utilizing our passes as well. After seeing Maharaja’s not-so –valuable belongings like kurta, shoes etc at the palace Deepak had curiosity if those guys knew in advance that someday somebody will make our museum and we should keep these things safe. I was inspired by his thought and captured my first ever bus pass in camera (no need to tell you smart people what I expect you to do with that :). We were laughing out loud talking on random topics and making fun of each other in the bus when it stopped in between. My wish to visit zoo which had got multiplied by zero suddenly got divided by zero as Rajkishor read “Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens” opposite side of the road. It was when my lecture worked. We all jumped out of the bus instantly.

We happily entered into zoo and to our disbelief, the very first thing we saw inside were 16 tall legs… wowwww… four giraffe were there to welcome us in the first enclosure itself. We kept staring at them for a minute and then started photography session. Even giraffe was very excited to see us and bent down to kiss Deepak’s head giving me a unique pose to capture. He gave me the same pose with Rajkishor as well. I would like to specially mention that the animals and birds in the zoo seemed to be very well treated and were in a very good health as compared to what I’ve seen in Gwalior, Delhi and Hyderabad Zoo. Mysore Zoo is one of the oldest zoos in India and is among the first to start animal adoption scheme. We also saw a tiger adopted by Mr. B. S. Yediyurappa Hon’ble Chief Minister, Karnataka. Nothing to mention, it was the healthiest among all.

Because of very good weather conditions all animals were in best of their mood. We saw roaring lion, a cute calf of elephant, different species of ducks having fresh fishes in their evening snacks, couple of leopard fighting for some personal issue, a chimpanzee annoyed for not having a long bamboo around to hit the people laughing at him, zebra quite satisfied with the services of zoo management, couple of stork bird (bagula) standing on single leg (depicting the famous Hindi phrase ‘bagula bhagat’), a species of kangaroo somehow managing to stand on two legs and many more. In all at each enclosure we felt, “what a timing!” It was around 5:15pm when we came out of the zoo and boarded a bus to city bus stand and another bus from there to Brindavan Gardens.

After one hour we were in front of the solid high wall of Krishnarajasagar dam built at Kavery river. The garden is adjoining to this dam. There was a huge crowd and long queues for ticket and entry outside the entrance. Garden is spread over a large area and is famous for its wonderful musical fountain. I think instead of any words, pics will be better resources to appreciate its beauty. But still, after roaming there for half an hour we couldn’t find the most exciting fountain. We were almost feeling that we have been fooled until Deepak shouted, “wo raha, what a timing!” The show of musical fountain was just started. They played few kannada songs as well as hindi songs including chak-de-india and saare jahaan se achchha at the end. Fantastic! Now we started back to the city bus station again using the same bus pass ;) and reached back to Bangalore keeping wonderful memories of a wonderful trip with us.

Visit here for more pics.

Cheers!

क्या है प्रार्थना ?

2010-10-23T22:16:00.002+05:30

मैं कभी कभी सोचता हूँ कि भगवान कि सबसे अच्छी पूजा क्या है? मंदिरों में जाकर कुछ चढ़ावा करना, दान-पेटी में पैसे खिसकाना या उसकी जगह किसी जरूरतमंद कि मदद करना? मैं भी अक्सर मंदिर जाता हूँ, कुछ भेंट भी अर्पित करता हूँ लेकिन अगर कुछ बड़ा करना हो तो भगवान के आगे पैसे रखना मेरी समझ से परे है| अपनी जिम्मेदारी से पीछा छुड़ा कर, भगवान के भरोसे बैठ जाना कहाँ कि दरियादिली है|

भक्ति अच्छी बात है, भगवान का भजन भी अच्छी बात है, लेकिन भगवान को पाने का सबसे अच्छा तरीका यह नहीं हो सकता| आप लोगो ने कई जगह पढ़ा होगा कि भगवान भी उन्ही कि मदद करता है जो अपनी मदद स्वंय करते है| अगर आप मदिरों में कुछ चढ़ावा चढ़ा कर सोचते हो कि वो धन अपने आप जरूरतमंद को पहुचेगा और इसके बाद आपकी कोई जिम्मेदारी नहीं है तो क्या होगा?

ज़रा सोचिये अगर आपका कोई बहुत बड़ा इम्तिहान हो और आप रात भर पढ़ाई करने कि जगह भगवान् का भजन करते रहे यह सोचकर कि भगवान खुद आपकी रक्षा करेगे, उसका क्या नतीजा होगा? फेल न... इसी प्रकार अगर आप सही में किसी कि मदद करना चाह रहे है तो उसकी मदद करे और किसी और तरीके से अपनी उस इच्छा कि भरपाई करने कि कोशिश न करे|

प्रश्न?

2010-10-18T10:48:00.004+05:30

Leaving all the political motives and inclinations, i think the citizen of a nation shall also be able to think independently. Independent from the melodrama, propaganda and the thoughts of political parties as well as media houses.

This generation of the ancient nation shall think for a moment, whether they have started thinking as a nation or they are happy earning a livelihood and roaming in the glittering of malls? Whether they think that the issues of national importance shall also be the part of their coffee table discussion some time?

Those, who think, that yes we do have a collective responsibility and we also need to think openly, shall read ahead otherwise you can get back to your usual work :)

The discussion I'm going to open here is the one which has been blown out of proportion by different political groups, in one or the other direction. And probably no one has discussed the real issue.

And the issue is, “what is the significance of Ram Mandir for this nation?”

Is it a temple where Hindus want to go for worship? If so, there are many more places.

Is it an agenda to win some land? I think there are many more important piece of lands that can be acquired without much hoopla.

Is it a kind of revenge from the Muslim forces, for what they had done to this nation, a few centuries ago? I think even if this is the reason, then this movement shall not be supported.

But this movement means something else than all these points. And anybody can understand this cause if he or she feels that a nation is a cultural entity rather than a mere economic one.

Each place and every nation has some integral symbols of its culture and its ideals. Now we've to think whether we still think that Shri Ram is and can be the ideal of this nation? Whether we still think that Ram-rajya is the concept of state and governance that we all wish for?

If the answer to above question is yes, then what is the symbol of this ideal of the nation? Shall we tell our next generations that here lies the ruins of the place of your ideal, which your forefathers could not save and we could not reconstruct. And now we have constructed Babri Masjid at this place. Now the child may ask, “who is Babar? We have given place to Babar in place of Ram ji, that means Babar was a better person ,and a better ruler than Ram ji. Then why you are saying that Ram ji is our ideal. Why not the great king Babar?”

This is the question of the cultural identity of a nation. Though culture lives in the thoughts of the people of any place , but there are certain symbols that constantly reminds the generations that this is the ideal for which we shall aspire. And Ram Mandir is one such epitome of this ancient nation.

There are many more things that can be said, but i am going to sum up with few lines. Please be patient, to read it in full before reaching any conclusion, and to give it an open thought. :)

(All kind of comments are welcome)

"जो कसम राम की खायी थी वो कसम अधूरी है अब तक

संस्कृति का चिन्ह बना न सके कैसी मजबूरी है अब तक

यह प्रश्न नहीं मंदिर का बन्धु यह प्रश्न आत्म सम्मान का है

आक्रांता यवनों के हाथों निज पूर्वज के अपमान का है

हैं राम सिर्फ भगवान नहीं, हैं भारत के वह नायक भी

उत्तर से दक्षिण एक किया, हैं राष्ट्र प्रेम उन्नायक भी

गजनी ने तोडा सोमनाथ हमने उसको तो बना दिया

फिर बाबर को अपने युग का नायक हमने क्यों बना दिया?

होंगे जैसे आदर्श उसी दिश में यह देश चलेगा फिर

बाबर गजनी आदर्श बने उस सांचे में ही ढलेगा फिर

कुछ मुस्लिम-जन से द्वेष नहीं वह सखा सहोदर भ्राता हैं

लेकिन रखना है याद हमे भारत ही अपनी माता हैं

जिनने भारत में जन्म लिया उन सबके नायक राम ही हैं

वह केवट, सबरी, विभीषणों हर पातक के सुख धाम ही हैं

यदि मक्का में मस्जिद टूटी तो हम मिलकर बनवाएंगे

हर आक्रांता को दलने को हम पूरा साथ निभाएंगे

यह देश समन्वय वाला है सिख,बौद्ध,जैन सब अपनाए

लेकिन क्या इनने धर्म-स्थल मंदिर ध्वंसों पर बनवाए?

यदि मस्जिद वहाँ बना भी दें, क्या लफ्ज़ अमन के गूजेंगे

क्या यवन पुत्र सरयू-तट को , मक्का जैसा ही पूजेंगे?

कुछ तलवारें ले नाम धर्म का राज्य बढ़ाती आई हैं

इराक, पर्सिया ,सिंध विजय का पाठ पढाती आयी हैं

जो राष्ट्र पुत्र भी बन न सके वह विश्व पुत्र बनना चाहें

पर-स्वार्थ सिद्धि के हेतु स्वयं निज माता को छलना चाहें

हे भारत तनिक निराश न हो हम क़र्ज़ उतारेंगे तेरा

वह राष्ट्र चिन्ह का चिर प्रतीक फिर से बनवाएंगे तेरा"

30 Sept 2010 : Khuda ki Jubaan se ...

2010-10-10T16:27:00.010+05:30

[Composed on the eve of the historical day]

कभी मस्जिद की कैद है कभी मंदिर की
अब खुले दिल में भी रख ले कोई,

इक त्रिशूल है या इक तलवार रखी हर घर में
अमन का इक परिंदा भी रख ले कोई.

आब सरयू का हो या रावी का हो, सब लाल हुआ
जामे-मोहब्बत सदा मीठा ज़रा चख ले कोई,

गीता-ग्रन्थ-कुरान बहुत लड़ते देखे हैं
इक ग़ज़ल एका की मीठी सी भी लिख दे कोई.

'अ' से अल्लाह रह गया रह गया 'ग' से गणेश
मैं तो हर लफ्ज़ - हर ज़र्रे में था, ढूंढें कोई,

अदालतें लिखती हैं मेरी भी तकदीर अब तो
खुद ख़ुदा की रज़ा मद्देनज़र रख ले कोई...

-- मनीष छाबड़ा

[ आब = पानी, रज़ा = इच्छा ]

Aaykar Madhushala

2010-10-02T21:49:00.003+05:30

hi friends.....

after a long time im writing anything...

here i hav tried comparison between Bachchan's Madhushala with Income tax and NADT (national academy of direct taxes, nagpur). some words r very peculiar to NADT. u may not fully understand that... sorry for that :-).

एक्ट बने साकी ,
section बने हाला .
रोज़ ९ से ५ बजे तक,
Faculty बिल्डिंग बनी मधुशाला .

आयकर की हाला ने,
Probationers को इतना सुखा डाला .
हर Friday की रात को,
लगती है यहाँ मधुशाला .

बुरा सदा कहलाया जग में ,
आयकर की मधुशाला .
छैल छबीला CA साकी ,
AO लिए हुए है प्याला .

बने रहे वो घाग Assessee,
टैक्स छुपाना जो जाने .
बने रहे वो शार्प AO,
टैक्स बढ़ाना जो जाने .

वेतन , घर ,व्यापार , आदि से ,
सुसज्जित आयकर मधुशाला .
वहां Assessee टैक्स बचाए ,
टैक्स पी जाये मधुशाला .

Section, clause , proviso सुन सुन ,
कर ही जब हूँ मतवाला .
क्या गति होगी जब आखों के,
नीचे आएगा आयकर प्याला.

Act मेरे पास न आना ,
मैं पागल हो जाऊँगा .
अज्ञानी ही मैं मस्त,
मुबारक तुम्हे आयकर मधुशाला .

AO- Assessing Officer

CA- Chartered Accountant

Section, clause, proviso- terms used in Income Tax act

An initiative towards social welfare

2009-07-18T20:31:00.001+05:30

Hello Readers,

I have created a survey, please spend 1 minute of your time to fill this survey. Don't worry, you need not to give any information of yours. Please be honest while taking this survey.

Once you are done with the survey please read the following intent behind it.

Click here to take the survey now

I am thinking about an initiative to create some new jobs for unemployed and under privileged people.

Objective:

A new business with minimal investment
Creating new jobs w/o eating up some other jobs
With these people's skill set, very hard to find a socially high status job w/o much investment.

Idea:

3 steps:

Collect shoes from houses
Wash/Polish those
Return back to houses (collect payment)

Since minimal initial investment, so no worries if idea fails.

Another concern is that people should not feel that they are donating their money to someone and intended employees should not look for free lunches. I am looking for this survey's result to make a call for starting this kind of service.

If you convince with the idea and want to help these guys, who generally starve 20 days a month. Please propagate this survey to your friends. It will be very helpful to get as many responses as possible.

If you think that there are better ways to fulfill the objective, please share.

Jigsaw Event

2009-07-13T10:58:00.013+05:30

The sharp Guy

The team

Start

Trying to straighten the sharp guy

Following Gandhi

Guess the size of Jigsaw

The sharpest :)

Towards K.T.P.

2009-05-07T22:19:00.003+05:30

As i m writing my first blog, i request respected readers to condone my mistakes.
You must be thinking wat is KTP ???
Well it should not be nothing new to anybody who ever studied in any college.In college there were some students who were very sincere n used to study regularly.They used to be the source of every assignments.We used to call them "Maggu" (i dont have any intention to hurt anybody's feelings.well even i used to be named like that!!!) Here as i m working in one of the Allied Service of the country, instead of calleing sincere "Probationers" (We r on probation) as "Maggu", they are called KTP- KEEN TYPE PROBATIONER
So what exactly is KTP???
KTP is a Probationer who is very sincere in training, listen every lecture carefully, prepare notes and submit assignments within time.
Well if somebody is thinking that whether that much sincere efforts are required during training??? So i will tell u something about TRAINING in NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DIRECT TAXES (NADT), Nagpur.
After i got selected in Civil Services-07, i thought my life will become easier now. But i was not able to see the one of the Toughest training ahead. After coming to NADT all my hopes of a easy life were completely shattered. Daily schedule is from morning 6 o clock to evening 5 o clock. If u are late in any class even by 1 min, u wont be allowed in the class. Some teachers even come 10 min before time and close the door at exact time!!!!
We are being taught Accountancy and Income Tax Act. This all is hell confusing.... ur normal sense of debit n credit is completly lost after preparing Profit n Loss A/c and Balance Sheet. More, there r so many things to be studied... syllabus seems to be endless.
And Income Tax Act.....wow.. u cant understand my pain untill u read it (i wonder... is it possible for a comman man to read IT Act n understand something ???) There are sections, sub sections, clause, sub clause, proviso, explanations (which will confuse u more)..alas...
Now we r having INTERNALS from 15 May and there is so much to be covered... I m really getting scared!! Even UPSC was somewhat simpler coz at least u can write something but here... no nonsense. If u write one single word extra, marks will be deducted. Oh God! For last few days I studied hard but wenever they take any practice test, they'll twist some fact and answer ki wat lag jati hai....... So even after studying, i m not able to score good marks. i m feeling so helpless.
So...... finally i hav decided.... to become a KTP
leave all enjoyments...
reduce surfing..
reduce talking on phone..
stop playing games..
stop watching IPL..
dont watch movies..
dont do dine out..
dont waste even one min...
and so on.....
i hope i'll be a good KTP and wud be able to score respectable marks in Internals.
i request respected resders to wish me Best of Luck......

Dhoondhta hoon...

2009-04-29T22:51:00.007+05:30

Mein andhero me ujale dhoondhta hoon,
dhundh me dilkash nazare dhoondhta hoon,
bin teri marzi ke kuch mumkin nahi hai,
har kadam,tere ishaare dhoondhta hoon.

In lakeeron me wo kismat dhoondhte hain,
main jehan* me wo khajaane dhoondhta hoon,
Apni marzi se likhoon apni lakeerein,
isliye ab kuch sharaare** dhoondhta hoon.

-Akash

References:
*jehan = dimaag, brain
**sharaare = chingaariyan, spark

CBI- The plank for favouratism and political vendetta....

2009-04-29T09:26:00.006+05:30

'Quattrochi' ko clean chit, 'Sen' ko dekar jail

Ram-Krishna ke desh me, Kans rahe hain khel ;

Kans rahe hain khel, ye kaisa taandav hota

'Sajjan' ban kar logon ki lashon par sota ;

Naam dhara 'Jagdish' bane hain Jag ke dushman

Dekh ise rotaa hoga Gandhi ka tan-man ;

Kab aakhir ye desh Raah sachchi pakdega?

Asli muzrim ko zanzeeron me jakdega.....

-Vikas Dwivedi

Reference:
Quattrochi= Ottavio Quattrochi
Sen= Dr. Binayak Sen
Sajjan= Sajjan kumar
Jagdish= Jagdish Tytler
Gandhi= Mahatma Gandhi (Don't confuse it with his descendants :-))

Sabhi kaviyon shaayaron ke liye.......(many are there in tarram-too itself)

2009-04-27T16:06:00.002+05:30

“कई आशिक, कई बेनाम शायर

यहाँ बैठे हैं कुछ गुमनाम शायर;

जो मेरी नज़्म सुनने आ रहे हैं

वो ही कह देंगे, है बदनाम शायर;

मेरी गज़लों को होंठों से लगा लो

कहीं रह जाये ना गुमनाम शायर;

ज़मीं पर बैठ गज़लें कह रहा है

बना कर चाँद पर दालान शायर;

ये ताज़ी नज़्म, ये बासी किताबें

यही बस है तेरा सामान शायर;

अभी कुछ देर बैठो, आँख मींचे

अभी कुछ ख्वाब हैं मेहमान शायर;

ज़मीं पर वो भी गज़लें लिख रहा है

खुदा भी है मेरा हमनाम शायर;

जुदा हो कर कहा था जान दोगे

अभी ज़िन्दा हो बे-ईमान शायर?”

- विकास द्विवेदी

Same in Roman Script:

"Kai aashiq, kai benaam shaayar
Yahaan baithe hain kuch gumnaam shaayar;

jo meri nazm sun-ne aa rahe hain
wohi keh denge, hai badnaam shaayar;

meri gazlon ko hothon se laga lo
kahin rah jaaye na gumnaam shaayar;

zamee'n par baith gazlein kah raha hai
banaa kar chaand par daalaan shaayar;

ye taazi nazm, ye baasi kitaabein
yahi bus hai tera saamaan shaayar;

Abhi kuch der baitho,aankh meeche
Abhi kuch khwaab hain mehmaan shaayar;

zamee'm par wo bhi gazlein likh raha hai

khudaa bhi hai mera humnaam shaayar;

Juda hokar kaha tha jaan doge
abhi zinda ho be-iimaan shaayar?"

-vikas dwivedi

Vo aath patte

2009-04-27T01:25:00.004+05:30

Kalrav ki madhur aawaz sunai dena shuru ho gayi thi. Kitni paas aa gaya tha Kalrav! Bas kuch din aur, aur phir wahin hasna, gaana aur din bhar masti karna :). Jaante jo, kalrav ka matlab kya hota hai? Jab bahut saare panchiyon ka samooh ek saath chehchahata haim use kehte hai kalrav. Us chehchahahat me jo meeta ehsaas hota hai, wahin kalrav kehlata hai. Shayad yahin dhayaan me rakhkar hamare college ke cultural festival ka haam "Kalrav" rakha gaya hoga. Sahi to hai, yeh Kalrav bhi kitna sukhad ehsaas de jaata hai.

Mere adhiktar mitr, jo ki us saal kalrav me participation karne ki jagah hindi sahitya ki events organize karwa rahe the. Aur isiliye, us official group ka member na hote hue bhi mein aur Goel unki help kar rahe the. Kisi bhi event ka sabse bada kaam hota hai uski publicity yani marketing, Jitni achchi matketing hoti hai utna hi achcha product bikta hai :) Aur is marketting me sabse jyada kaam karna hota hai adhikari logo ke doston ko yaahi ki mein aur Goel.

Marketing ke liye poster chipkaane ho ya kisi class-room me jaakar juniors ko batana ho, hum hamesha saath me rehte the. (Though Goel used to get some time off for some PERSONAL COMMITMENTS :P). Unhi dino ki baat hai, ki Chhabra ji ke dimaag me ek abhootpoorva (out of the box) vichaar aaya, aur vo shuru ho gaye apni 3rd class ki crafting skill ko lekar.

(Sorry, but I am very short of thought in Hindi anymore)
We got a large thermocol board, pasted a large drawing sheet over it and cut it in a shape of a large PEEPAL leaf. Then our painter boy (Verma) came in and gave life to that leaf using his painting skills. That leaf was named as "ASTADHYAYI", the name of Hindi-lit committee. It was very late in the night by then and we all have loads of work next morning and also the paint needed to dry. So we left the astadhyayi leaf in Chhabra's room and went to our beds.

Next morning, I heard some strange voices from Chhabra's room. The voice seemed to be of some new born babies mixed with the vocals of Goel and Chhabra. I and Gaurav rushed to Chhabra's room and saw that eight small peepal leaves were there around the astadhyayi leaf. And all of them were already given their names. In one corner, Chhabra was blushing and in another, Goel looked puzzled.

Though all those eight small PATTA-PUTRA served the purpose of our marketing strategy but it's still a mystery that what was done that night in Chhabra's room :P

Allah Rakkhaa passes away…

2009-04-26T00:25:00.031+05:30

All this started some 10 months back when Sandeep joined us (Tarun and me) as our new flatmate here in Hyderabad. He was the only source of entertainment for us (yes, I mean it! :P ) until two new members (each having four legs) started visiting our house very frequently and became a part of our daily life.

Sandeep always had a wish to have a puppy at home so that he will have a reason to come back early from his office (btw, you can understand what this ‘early’ means as the guy belongs to IT Industry). Though it was not a puppy but somebody else came to fulfill his wish. On a usual weekend Sandeep noticed a cat roaming around the house and thought of replacing the puppy in his wish list with this cool buddy. Now, it was not an easy task to catch and pet a matured cat but this was the point where Tarun utilized his 25 years of experience in the same field. (From his childhood, he has been doing a lot of experiments by catching, feeding and petting a wide range of species… but hey Tarun, it may not be that easy to feed and take care of your own baby! :-). In all, on day ONE, we were on the other side of window watching the cat drinking milk we had put for it and just on day THREE the cat was in our lap! Hurray! :-) After a few days, another cat accepted our friendship and today the condition is that though none of them is a permanent resident of our house but they spend most of their time playing with us. They don’t mind if we stretch their beloved tail, if we force them to walk on two legs, if we put them under water tap (what they never like) or if we try to check their sharp canine teeth by removing the upper lip with our hand (what Sandeep usually does :-). It’s really nice to hear their sweet mew-mew in the morning when they ask for milk or in the evening when they get to know we are back from office.

To add to all this joy, one day we realized that a new little guest is going to join our society. The famous search engine told us that the day shouldn’t be more than a few weeks ahead. We were waiting eagerly to see newly born kitten but the only worry was -‘what if the cat doesn’t choose our house to keep the babies?’ Anyways, it didn’t take long when Tarun and I (while leaving for the office) heard a different kind of mew-mew coming from behind the bush within our boundary wall. With high level of excitement we jumped towards that side, but it was strange to see only a single kitten there and no cat around! (Btw, I had never seen a newly born cat before. Man, it was too small, just like the size of a squirrel!) Feeling very nice, we observed it for some time as it was crying continuously and trying to creep slowly. We waited for some 20-30 mins for the cat to come back thinking if it’s ok to leave it there alone. But Instead of touching it we felt it better to leave it to his mother & the mother-nature and left for office.

Sandeep also was glad to hear the news when we all came back late evening. But now it was time to worry as the kid was still alone and crying. Finally, the most experience person among us, Tarun, went ahead and saw that one of its legs was swelling severely as it was stuck in the bush. The moment he separated it out, kid was quiet. Feeling little relaxed, we put it in a paper box in the store room where the cat used to visit regularly. Thinking, now the God only is the saver of him, I named it Allah Rakkhaa. Hey, at that point of time, I didn’t know if the same was the full name of Oscar winner AR Rahman! Actually, in olden days it was common in Muslims and Punjabis to name a child AllahRakkhaa (saved by Allah), RamDitta (given by Lord Ram), GuraanDivaya (obtained by the blessings of Gurus) etc.

After getting out of bed, next morning, we first checked – AllahRakkhaa. He was still there, breathing safely. Before leaving for office we all three sat together and tried to feed it some milk with spoon. Believe me, this job was 100 times difficult than to debug a C# code written by somebody else! The kid was too small and its eyes were not yet open. We somehow managed to put few drops of milk in his mouth as it was throwing his head here and there (what a divine experience it was! :-)

In the evening we arranged a syringe and fed it with few more drops of milk. As we realized that the kitten was now our responsibility only, we searched the web again for how to feed and take care of two days old kitten. Looking into YouTube videos we confirmed that the kitten was not an early born (which could have been a reason why its mother left it). Per day 15ml of milk was recommended for it for first week of birth. By night we felt that he was not feeling that comfortable. Based on recommendations from the web, we sat again to feed it some more milk. When we were done with one syringe of milk, Sandeep expressed his worry – “jyada naa pilaao bechara mar na jaaye” (don’t feed more, it may die). But as it was just a 2.5ml syringe (that too half went out of his mouth) we filled another one. After half an hour of hard work, we put him back in the box and went to bed praying for his good health as it was breathing fast by that time.

Next morning I woke up hearing Sandeep’s words – “ye to chala gaya!” (He is no more!). I rushed towards store room. Little kitten was lying motionless. Allah had called him back. Trying to get him moving by different ways Sandeep said – “Perhaps it died of over feeding”. After a long pause, exhaling a deep breath, I replied – “Thank God, it didn’t die of hunger!”

I can’t express how bad we felt for next few days. AllahRakkhaa came just for two days, but it made me think of a significant number of children dying every day due to lack of basic commodities. Every day, a big part of our population still goes to bed without food. We may feel proud by making big achievements in different fields but Global Hunger Index (GHI) clearly shows the alarming conditions of our country on this front (we were ranked 66 on GHI scale in year 2008). Parents are bound to see their children dying in front of their eyes in absence of proper medication facilities.

Instead of wasting time, money and power in internal politics, it’s time to come forward and think in this direction. All our hard work, progress and achievements are waste if they are just to add more luxury to our life and are not aiming towards improving these severe conditions.

…Long live Allah Rakkhaa!

About...

2009-04-24T17:14:00.002+05:30

This blog belongs to a fraternity called TARRAM-TOO originated at Malviya hostel @ MNNIT, Alahabad.

Group Members are:

Akash alias NATTU: A monkey, the most notorious member and also the president. (S/w professional)

Manish alias KATORI: A fox, most energetic, very shrewd and vice-president (S/w professional)

Gaurav alias SHABD-K****: A talking set of alphabets. Most intellectual (IRS, very likely will be an IAS)

Vikas alias *****: Uhh, he was always a permanent guest of tarram-too family. (S/w professional and poet)

Abhinav alias H****-RAJA: Always avert to be called by this name. (An MBA)

Sunil alias HISABI-CHACHA: A non-writing but very integrated member. (To be an IAS)

So guys, enjoy the ultimate mixed experience of this diverse yet unite family!