तिरंगा..

#दिलसे

तिरंगा..

सड़कों पर आज देख तिरंगा बिकता,
वतन फिर हमको याद आया है।

#दिलसे

सरज़मीं..

वतन पर हम मिट जाया करते हैं
ज़ुबाँ से इक आह भी नहीं करते,
सरज़मीं से इश्क़ क्या बला है
समझाते हैं दुश्मन को लड़ते-लड़ते।

बुलेट-ट्रेन..

एक बुलेट-ट्रेन चाहिए…

Dil Se...

एक बुलेट-ट्रेन चाहिए,
जो देहात को शहर की शक्ल दे,
गरीब को अमीरों सा बल दे,
किसान को हर साल लहलहाती फसल दे।

एक बुलेट-ट्रेन चाहिए,
जो देश से भर्ष्टाचार को ले जाये दूर,
रिश्वत देने को न हो आम आदमी मजबूर,
दो वक़्त की रोटी खा पाएं मजदूर।

एक बुलेट-ट्रेन चाहिए,
जो जाती-धर्म की नफरत को दूर छोड़ आए,
हर माँ चैन से अपने घर में सो पाए,
बहनें अब और अपनी इज्जत न लुटवाएं।

एक बुलेट- ट्रेन चाहिए,
जो गति के साथ नयी सोच का करे प्रवाह,
देश को दिखे एक नयी राह,
बस इतनी से है मेरी चाह।

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वतन..

वतन पर मर मिटने की बात करते हो,
सड़क की ख़ाक कभी छानकर देखो।
निकलो बाहर अब मकानों से अपने,
धूल को भी तो कभी फांक कर देखो।
लिखकर जताना देश से प्यार आसां है,
सियासतदानों से दो हाथ कर कभी देखो।
जताने और निभाने में फासला है काफी,
खुद को ज़मीं पर कभी आजमाकर देखो।

उबल रहा है…

कुछ बदल रहा है,
सब जल रहा है।
धर्म का धुआँ,
समाज निगल रहा है।

मैं हिन्दू हूँ,
और तू मुस्लिम।
आज हर ओर,
यही चल रहा है।

बाँट कर समाज,
फैला सांप्रदायिक उन्माद।
कुछ लोगों का,
धंधा फल रहा है।

रोज दंगों की खबर,
खौफ हर पहर।
एक बार फिर,
ये देश उबल रहा है।

हाँ मैं भी हिन्दू हूँ..

इंसान को इंसान समझता हूँ
धर्म के तराजू में तोलता नहीं,
तुम जैसी सोम्य और सभ्य
भाषा कभी बोलता नहीं।
बात-बात पर देना गाली
पर खुद को दिखाना महान,
धर्म के नाम पर बाँटना लोग
साधू-वेश में दे-दे व्याख्यान।
हाँ मैं भी हिन्दू हूँ
पर तुम्हारी परिभाषा से कोसों दूर,
मेरे दिल में भी देश बसता है
बस हूँ नहीं नशे में चूर।

बुलेट-ट्रेन..

एक बुलेट-ट्रेन चाहिए,
जो देहात को शहर की शक्ल दे,
गरीब को अमीरों सा बल दे,
किसान को हर साल लहलहाती फसल दे।

एक बुलेट-ट्रेन चाहिए,
जो देश से भर्ष्टाचार को ले जाये दूर,
रिश्वत देने को न हो आम आदमी मजबूर,
दो वक़्त की रोटी खा पाएं मजदूर।

एक बुलेट-ट्रेन चाहिए,
जो जाती-धर्म की नफरत को दूर छोड़ आए,
हर माँ चैन से अपने घर में सो पाए,
बहनें अब और अपनी इज्जत न लुटवाएं।

एक बुलेट- ट्रेन चाहिए,
जो गति के साथ नयी सोच का करे प्रवाह,
देश को दिखे एक नयी राह,
बस इतनी से है मेरी चाह।

फिर याद आया है..

ऐ देश तू आज फिर याद आया है,
हर हाथ में तिरंगा लहराया है।
साल भर जो सोते रहे लम्बी ताने,
देश-प्रेम के गाते फिर रहे हैं गाने।
भगत सिंह-राजगुरु-सुखदेव की चर्चा हर ओर,
देशभक्ति सबकी रगों में आज रही है दौड़।
हर बात से यहाँ की जिन्हे रही नफरत,
देश से आज वो भी जतला रहे मुहब्बत।
विदेशी ब्रांड ही सिर्फ जिन्हे हैं भाती,
दिखला रहे दुनिया को पहनकर आज वो खादी।
सोच ना कि प्यार उमड़ आया है,
ये तो बस दिखावा है जो सबने अपनाया है।

(समर्पित उस देश प्रेम को, जो हमे 15/अगस्त और 26/जनवरी को ही याद आता है)

अच्छे दिन – आने वाले हैं!!

सुना था अच्छे दिन आने वाले हैं,
गुजरात का मॉडल देश में अपनाने वाले हैं।
विदेशी बैंकों से वापस लायेंगे काला धन,
यमुना का साबरमती सा कर देंगे वातावरण।
देश को महंगाई की मार से बचाएंगे,
दामाद जी को सलाख़ों के पीछे पंहुचाएंगे।
होने न देंगे देश में विदेशी निवेश,
धूल में मिला देंगे पकिस्तान जैसा देश।
भ्रष्टचार हो जाएगी बात पुरानी,
नहीं बख्शा जायेगा अम्बानी हो या अदानी।
अमरीका के वीसा की जरुरत नहीं हमें,
हिंदुस्तान को ही अमरीका बनाएँगे।
बस करो 5 साल इंतज़ार,
अच्छे दिन जरूर आयेंगे।

हिंदी…

सारी दुनिया को सलाह हिंदी की,
खुद ट्विटर पे अंग्रेजी से हाले दिल बयान करते हैं।

बारिशें

अँधभक्ति का देखो कैसा है आलम,
हर किसी को भाया बस एक ही बालम।
बांधे आँख पर पट्टी भेडों की कतारें,
एक ही नाम की चीख-पुकारें।
दरकिनार कर कितने ही धुरंधर,
एक ही है यहां चौडे सीने का सिकंदर।
आलापना सिर्फ मैं-मेरा का राग,
अपने सिवा सबके माथे पर है दाग।
खुद को बेचने में करोडों फूंक डाले,
कहते हैं देश पूरा कर दो इनके हवाले।
नई सोच को झुठलाने की पुरजोर कोशिशें,
पर बादल घिर आऐ हैं तो होकर रहेंगी बारिशें।

(Inspiration – Current political situation in the country, and a huge population blindly following one man)

आम आदमी

आवाज पे तेरी उठा,
ये आम आदमी।
आगाज पे तेरे जगा,
सो रहा था जो कहीं।
आज तक सहता रहा जो सब,
कुछ ठान बैठा वो आम आदमी।
हालातों से था परेशान जो,
अब लड़ रहा वो आदमी।
दिखता ना था कुछ रास्ता जिसे,
सही राह पकड़ चुका वो आदमी।
थक चुका था गुहार लगा-लगा जो,
फैसले अब करने लगा वो आम आदमी।
एक शुरूवात जो तूने की,
आगे उसे बड़ा रहा हर आदमी।
बदलाव का जो रास्ता चुना तूने,
आगे उस पर बड़ रहा ये आदमी।
खींचने को नीचें बहुत है तैयार,
पर थामे तुझे खड़ा है आम आदमी।

(A movement which was started by Anna Hazare and taken forward by a lot of others like Arvind Kejriwal, Shashi Bhushan and more has inspired common people to believe that they can change the system themselves; which has led to discomfort in other political parties and they are playing all the dirty tricks to get back in the power. I am not a die hard fan of any particular party or leader, just hoping to see a clean and corruption free India.)

To Sir with….

Dear Sir, by now you must have read news about a young boy from Khandva scoring century on his debut for India against England. “Prithvi Patil” is his name, every newspaper has his photograph on the front page and all news channels are talking only about him for past 1 day.

This name sounds familiar. Right?

No?

That’s me Sir!!!! Prithvi, how can you forget me?

Ok, so let me help you to remember who is this “Prithvi Patil”. Like you I am also born and brought up in Khandva, and have spent most of my life there only. But unlike you, I had a dream to make it big in life and was mad about cricket ever since I remember. Cricket was my only passion and you got a taste of it when you were appointed our class teacher in 7th grade. I was already part of our district’s Under-14 team, and as coach used to say “most promising all-rounder” in the entire state.

I just needed to skip few days of school every month to play my matches & practice with team, but with the promise that I will cover up the syllabus and clear all my exams. You wanted me to be in school every day, come what may. You failed to realize my potential and didn’t agreed to my schedule. Finally my father and coach met with the school Principal to take approval for the same, which he readily granted looking at my past records. It hurt your ego sir, how could a student defeat you? You punished me a lot of times unnecessarily and used to say “Don’t waste your time on sports. It will not do any good for you, only education will help you to earn money and live a decent life”. I didn’t understand it then being a kid, but now I fail to understand how can a teacher do this? You ensured that I don’t pass my exams next year. I was upset & cried a lot for days and finally was left with no option except for enrolling in Open School. My parents hired a tutor to ensure I don’t miss on the education. I continued playing for local clubs, got selected in state team and now finally representing country. Isn’t this a proud moment? Probably not for you! I am famous and have made entire Khandva known in the world, and you are not even known in entire Khandva 🙂

Like a lot of other students, I would have loved to thank my teachers & write this letter with gratitude but you made me to write with “attitude“. Sorry!

Yours Sincerely…..

RS seats being sold. Big deal?

Lot of people have been talking of Rajya Sabha seats being sold for Rs 100 cr.

Is that really a big deal here? when lot of us are fine and ready to pay in several lakhs to secure a seat for our kids in best of the educational institutions – which starts from pre-nursery and goes till higher education. We should be very comfortable in accepting this as well!

हमारे नेता

कहीं बु्र्के की चर्चा,
कहीं निक्करों का जिक्र है।
इस देश की यारों,
इन को कहाँ फिक्र है।
रेम्बो, डम्बो की चर्चाऔं में दिनो रहे ये खोए,
जब देश के जवान रात रात भर ना सोए।
हिंदुत्व, राष्टृवादी, समाजवादी और ना जाने क्या क्या,
ये सब मिलकर दे रहे हैं देश को दगा।
आज भी दम तोड़ते बच्चों की फिक्र कहाँ,
सियासत की सिर्फ ये सेक रहे हैं रोटियाँ।
लड़ रहे जो आज,
कल एक दूजे की बाहों में नज़र आएंगे।
इन के बस में जो हो,
तो देश बेचकर खा जाऐंगे।

Stop cultural appropriation of Yoga: Yoga is all about Hinduism, albeit without the ism

Sandhu Bhamra on Finding Self

Yoga is not teaching religion.

Or is it?

A California judge has ruled that Yoga in a public school’s fitness program does not amount to teaching children religion because it is rooted in American culture.

To me, the whole debate on whether Yoga teaches religion or not, is blatant cultural appropriation of Yoga. Don’t get me wrong. I am happy that kids will be allowed to practice this blissful routine, but equally unhappy that this debate has robbed Yoga of its true origin, and meaning.

So is Yoga teaching religion or not?

To understand this, you first have to understand what is religion.

Religion from a western perspective is a set of practices and beliefs in a Higher Being, which is referred to as God. To reach God, a person needs a medium, which is outside of him or her – a separate entity. In the Indian context, to understand…

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My day when Parliament was attacked on 13 Dec 2001 !

Since morning today almost every news channel is covering stories around Afzal Guru’s hanging. And as I see all those reporters who were present in the Parliament on the day it was attacked by terrorists sharing their experiences of the day, it reminds me and brings back memories of that 13th day of December, 2001.

On that day I was about 500 metres away from Parliament, working on a project at out client UNI’s office (one of India’s leading news agency) with my colleague Phanish Patil who was in Delhi from Pune to work on the same project. Our usual time to reach UNI’s office was at around 10 am, and that day too we were there by same time and had settled down. We were working and having some discussion around project in the IT room, suddenly one of  UNI’s staff member literally shouted

“Hey, what’s this Sharma saying? Terrorist attack on Parliament”

while still looking at his chat window of their proprietary software which was also used to transmit news stories from Parliament’s media room. Every newspaper/tv channel/ news agency has their setup in Parliament’s media room (might have some other name than Media room, don’t remember clearly) to transmit all news on Parliament’s session in progress. I and Phanish were still working while our ears on the discussion happening in background. Mr Sharma was asked again what is he saying and other IT staff members started pulling his leg and their was lot of laughter around,  in which two of us also joined. That lasted for a minute or two and Mr Sharma asked everyone to switch on the television and see it for real. And the moment television was switched on everyone was shocked and couldn’t believe that it’s actually true and was glued to the screen. Then Mr Sharma called in from Parliament and said no one knows exact details about how many terrorists, what have been the casualties, where are they. After few minutes, telephone lines were disconnected in the parliament and it was not possible to talk to the UNI staff present in Parliament and get details. Mobile network around the Parliament were jammed too. While Phanish and me were busy watching live coverage of Parliament attack on television, phone rang and it was from our office. David called us up and asked where are we, as he knew UNI’s office is just too closer to the parliament. Others from our office also spoke to me and they seem to be excited, as it two of us are in middle of the attack and covering it live.

Once done with the calls we went out (within UNI’s campus) as entire area outside was barricaded by police/armed forces and no one was allowed to be out. But we could hear the sound of fire arms even from that distance for sometime till the time all of the terrorists were killed. That entire day went in just discussions, watching television, everything else but work. Our families were a little worried and they wanted us to be in UNI’s campus itself and not to roam around. As if we wanted to face the terrorists and beat them up with our hands!!

Finally in the evening, we left for the day when people were allowed to be out on the roads; of course there were lot of barricades in Central Delhi and armed forces guarding all government establishments in the area. I dropped Phanish at his hotel and reached home where I was bombarded with questions by my family and some friends about entire’s days happening. Everyone was so charged up! That’s how I still remember that entire day of 13th Dec 2001.

Just to wrap this up, I and Phanish got an opportunity to visit our Parliament after few months as visitor (courtesy UNI & member of Parliament Mr Gangwal) to watch an assembly session live. We got to see all of the places of attack and bullet marks around the walls of Parliament.

(Names have been changed to protect identities)

“ठीक है”

देश में घोटालों की भरमार है,
गूंगे – बहरों की ये सरकार है।
गुंडे और बदमाश घूम रहे सडकों पे निर्भीक हैं,
बाकी सब “ठीक है”।

उठाओगे आवाज़ तो दबा दी जाएगी,
बस चले तो ये सरकार देश को ही बेचकर खा जाएगी।
सफ़ेद झूठ बोलना इनकी रीत है,
बाकी सब “ठीक है”।

प्यादों को कुर्सी पे बिठाकर,
मचा रखा मैडम ने है ग़दर।
कुंवर साहब नदारद हैं,
बाकी सब “ठीक है”।

(“ठीक है” को समर्पित)