जले ये मशाल तो जले...

चलो मिलकर साथ चले, जले ये मशाल तो जले,

अन्धकार की राह में, जले ये मशाल तो जले,

अश्को की चिंगारी को, हमदर्दी के अंगारों को,

एक मंज़िल एक दिशा देती, जले ये मशाल तो जले,

 

सब्र करना सहन करना एक चूक होगी,

सहम के डर डर के जीना एक भूल होगी,

जवाब छुपा है कहीं, उन दबी आवाज़ों के तले,

लहलहाती आवाज़ों के साथ, जले ये मशाल तो जले,

 

हौसले बुलंद हो और आग में अमन हो,

लो कसम के ना किसी का अब दमन हो,

जन्नत सी इस ज़मीन पे अपनो का प्यार पले,

इंसानियत को रोशन करती, जले ये मशाल तो जले...

समझौतों का सिलसिला चलता रहा...

ज़िन्दगी य़ू ही चलती रही, यादों का शमा बंधता रहा,

कभी आने वालों का कभी जाने वालों का मेला लगता रहा,

ख़्वाबों में सजायी थी, खुशियों से भरी कायनात मैंने,

हकीक़त के पन्ने उलटते रहे, अनजान सा सफ़र चलता रहा,

समझौतों का सिलसिला चलता रहा...

वो कहते है, थके न तू रुके न तू, गति में कभी झुके न तू,

मेले के बीच गुमनामियों में, खुद को पत्थर बना न तू,

रुका नहीं थका नहीं ये तन, ना कम हुई माथे से कभी ये शिकन

लहरों को चीरता हवाओं को मोड़ता, बेबाक ये कारवां चलता रहा,

समझौतों का सिलसिला चलता रहा...

शिकवे शिकायत सुनाने को, दो पल ठहरने को दिल कराहता रहा,

खुद में खुद को ढूँढने का वक़्त, ये ज़हन तलाशता रहा,

कभी हम तो कभी वो ना थे, सुनने सुनाने वाले कभी मंज़र ना थे,

फिर भी इंतज़ार के धुंध में, बहारो का पुलिंदा बनता रहा,

समझौतों का सिलसिला चलता रहा...

नूर ए जहाँ...

नूर ए जहाँ कहाँ है तेरा आशिया,

आँखें ढूंढती है तेरी परछाईया,

ख्वाबो में रहती है तू महफूज़,

हकीक़त में करता हूँ तुमको महसूस,

ना होने की बेबसी कैसे इज़हार करूँ,

उंघती खुशियों का कैसे इश्तेहार करूँ,

जुड़ने से तेरी जुड़ी एक नायाब दास्ता,

दो पल की ज़िन्दगी, मस्ताना ये कारवां

Aiming Low Is a Crime

That is what former president and renowned scientist Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam said once. The words resounded in my ears so many times that I could not resist but post my few cents on the subject. It is needless to say that I would be hardly able to do justice to words of one of the greatest living legend, but still worth a try. After all, aiming low is a crime.

THEY say ‘don’t rise so high that it pains badly once fallen’. But then, what is the point in rising little, falling little, learning little and giving little in descending order of scheme? YOU and I are little objects in the context of universe and then if YOU and I do not dare, do not dream big, do not bring positive revolution, then who will. Imagine, Thomas Alva Edison thinking on these lines. Don’t YOU or I get the feeling that if he was not, he was committing a crime?

The point lies not in creating name or fame for self. YOU and I would do fair bit of that in entire span of 70-80 odd years – easier said than done though. The point is in answering a question on YOUR or MY deathbed – how had I inherited this beautiful world from my ancestors, what did I make of it and how have I shaped it up – shaped for the generations who are about to take over? If YOU and I dream low, aim low and try low, how would YOU or I answer this question?

Once again, THEY irritate YOU and ME and say, apprehension does not allow dreaming higher and aiming higher. Apprehension – apprehension of what? Only truth is free of fear as Gurudev Tagore conveyed craftily in one of his famous poems. Being true to the cause, motive and means is all it takes. Truth is in aiming high, striving high and not settling even once irrespective of outcomes – flat or enriching. Don’t settle, rather rejoice and relieve YOUR and MY spirits before taking off again.

THEY are around everywhere and they need YOU and ME. YOU and I truly can definitely aim high – high enough to converge THEIR and OUR efforts. Imagine the ‘Luminous Sparks’ that the ‘Ignited Minds’ (YOU, I and THEY) can generate with the ‘Wings of Fire’. His ‘Envisioning an empowered nation’ can never be an incomplete dream then! In context of this post ‘Envisioning an empowered universe’!

Come back soon, Yuvraj! We miss you!

Champions create the destiny for themselves and they do not need the so called ‘luck’ factor in order to stamp their supremacy during small or big battles in life. They more often than not make us believe that champions cannot be made – they are just born to be champs. They are the ones who inspire the whole generation; they are the ones who cross the barrier of generations due to their longevity and endurance.

This post is a tribute to one such champion who is the prince of millions of Indian hearts. The Real Yuvraj. Yuvraj Singh has once again resumed extensive training on his road back to Indian cricket team. Looking at his will power, it is hard to believe why he will not make it and why he won’t be the same. Over the course of past decade, destiny has always tested him and he had overcome all the tantrums that destiny threw at him. Life threatening cancer being the most recent and most unfortunate tantrum.

Cricket lovers would vouch for his cricketing prowess blindly and the impact that he creates in the field. More than anything else, it is his fighting spirit and the greatest of competitiveness that sets him apart in the presence of so many greats around him. It would not be exaggeration to say that Indian cricket owes so many moments of glory only to his self-belief and game changing performances. Yes, countless performances when the chips were down and a billion hopes hinged onto his shoulders.

The “pie-chucker” has revealed that he did not want to see the doctors during the world cup in 2011 when the cancer was in benign stage. All for the dreams of a billion crazy fans! The prince had revealed that he wanted to win the world cup for our little master – Sachin. All for Sachin’s kitty which somehow would not have been complete forever! I had predicted that India would win 2011 world cup. Deep within my heart I knew, ONLY IF, Yuvraj is 75% in form. They say it is a team game but in the hindsight, it is and it was hard to imagine India lifting the world cup without Yuvraj in the side.

For a true cricket lover, cricket won’t be the same without Yuvraj Singh, though the statistics may not be by his side. The sport can’t afford to loose him like that. I wish and hope that Yuvraj makes his way back to the national side soon and once again clobbers Stuart Broad for six half-dozens in as many deliveries in upcoming T20 world cup in September.

Take a bow, Yuvi. You are truly special.

The oasis of peace

In the modern world, the lifestyle seems to advance to the next level ceaselessly. This obviously leads to more prosperous and comfortable life. It does also lead to change in the way society responds to inter-personal needs – sometimes for good and sometimes for bad and finally settling for what suits it best. However, what does not change is the very basic instinct of human being of being social, being approachable and being loved.

To be social, to be approachable and to be loved isn’t an easy one for one has to be social, one has to approach and one has to love. In the middle of demanding work-life, it is all the more difficult to control fleeting thoughts. Fleeting because the world has become closer than ever. Difficult because most of the time, thoughts are pre-occupied. In the middle so much of flutters, not only one suffers mentally and emotionally, but also physically - the last being the most unfortunate.

Mental and emotional losses can get compensated over medium to long term, but how about physical loss! All those years of slogging your mind and body can take a toll which can never be cured. Physical gains need consistent intake of fresh air and activities that challenge the body progressively. Instead of being confined to the bed over long weekends (I hope I can reach out to people who burn their calories sleeping till late afternoons), one must look towards investing time in health and fitness. For instance, how about early morning walk on super Sunday, how about couple of hours sweating at a badminton court, how about skipping for few minutes!

Engaging in physical activity does not take much of efforts. It just requires will power to test your physical abilities which would ultimately result into peace of mind in the long run. Alas, it only sounds easy and comforts takes over the will power for many of us! So, if you desire for peace of mind, start testing your muscles and bones!

चिट्ठी आई है...

मिट्टी की महक तुम्हे क्या बताऊ मैं,

खुशबू से लिपटी चादर ओढाऊ कैसे मैं,

पल पल जी चाहे जिस पल को जीना,

उस पल के रूबरू कराऊ कैसे मैं...

तुम छोड़ गए थे प्यारा सा बचपन,

उन यादो के सहारे बहलता अब ये मन,

परदेसी हवाओं में घुल के रह ना जाना तू,

लहराती पछुआ आज भी करती साँसों को नम...

पल बढ़ कर चले गए तुम य़ू दूर,

आँखों की रौशनी जैसे हो गयी हो दूर,

तुम्हारी कामयाबी से चहकता है ये दिल,

पास ना होने से मचलता भी है ये दिल...

कभी तुम आओगे लेके खुशियों की बहार,

पल पल है हमें तो बस वो इंतज़ार,

पल पल जी चाहे जिस पल को जीना,

उस पल के रूबरू कराऊ कैसे मैं...

A Word Worthy of Entry in Oxford

“Somebody who has not gone through this will have only questions, not answers”

This thought is so meaningful and profound. This was a kind of perfect statement said very simply and with utmost humility. I was awestruck and it kind of resounded in my ears several times. Wow! It is very easy to point fingers and put several questions which create doubts in one’s mind as regards ability and tenacity.

Life is a journey and each one of us has our own share of pains and joys. Ifs and buts are easy to manifest and speculate but the real deal is when one is confronted in a specific situation. Sad part though is that even people who have treaded along a path of learning, difficulties and challenges end up being part of the finger pointing mass. I find it really strange.

It is within one’s right to speak his or her mind but one expect the words to be encouraging and constructive. Constructive thoughts bring answers to the table; they carry lamp of hopes and bundle of energies. It requires humility in understanding the fact that there may be turmoil behind a smiling face. It requires dignity in perceiving the fact that the turmoil may be more painful to that smiling face than anything else. It requires sentiments in realizing the fact that the turmoil needs solace and love irrespective of severity.

Plainly deriding something or criticizing someone is the easiest thing to do, especially if one has had been through critical stages of life smoothly. Overcoming such situations on the other side is the most challenging and remarkable thing to do which at the end breeds plenty of modesty and reinforces faith in ability. There is one person who has done it so many times that it is hard to look beyond him for inspiration, gentility and greatness. The aforementioned statement was made by him today in a post-match conference when asked about the questions doing rounds in media of his performance off late.

Take a bow! Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar! Someone aptly said, Microsoft word should not give grammatical error when someone types Sachin!

Randomness!

It is hard to break the rhythm and it is even harder to be back in rhythm. I wonder how past several days have passed in a flash. No thoughts there to introspect either. It has been like flowing like never before. Thankfully, finally sometime to rejoice and rejuvenate.

It has been very good busy time for media these days. One would hardly blink before the other news breaks. World is within thumb’s reach these days which is somehow occupying one corner of the mind in lives of each one of us. It is therefore very important to be with at ease with your own self once in a while. Very important. Some time to spend peacefully with people who matter in your life and who inspire you to live strongly, gleefully and cheerfully.

Imagine one sip of coffee with your dear ones at one remote café and loads of soft music aiding to the wholesomeness of the ambience. No mobile phone strictly! Imagine late night phone call with one of your close friends discussing each and every thing. No facebook status/ likes strictly! Imagine embracing your parents/ spouses for all the strength and tenderness that one needs. No diplomacy allowed in that zone! Indeed, life is made up of all those wonderful moments which often are taken for granted in the mundane daily affairs.

All I say today is:

जी लो ये ज़िन्दगी कुछ इस तरह, गुज़रते लम्हों के साए में,

कागज़ अगर कोरा भी हो तो, मुस्कुराहटो की बहार लाये,

अगर कुछ लिखा भी हो तो बेशक, दास्ताँ बन के रह जाए,

एक बार जो मिली ये ज़िन्दगी, जी लो इससे पहले हाथो से फिसल जाए!

Will-Power Can Beat The Hell

For a moment, I gladly accepted the fact that it can be beautiful without my hero. I wondered what if bodies would break. I left behind the idea of supporting either of them plainly because of nervy moments and sweating palms. But the show kept going on and on till a divine intervention made its presence felt. I say divine because it was only divine that could stop them.

Ever since I saw Roger Federer playing the game, any grand slam final without him never stirred my interest enough to catch a glimpse of the match. Somehow, I managed to watch the first few minutes of the Australian open final on Sunday which featured Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic – world no. 2 and no. 1 respectively. If there was any indication of what was in store, it could not have unfolded in a better way – majestic tennis of 353 minutes. We will leave the thought of winner and loser for some other day.

Yes, it ended 353 minutes later. I thought that the Melbourne will have to wait for Monday sunrise to decide the winner. It was a game one would seldom witness in a lifetime. Close matches and long five setters are not uncommon and time and again we have seen a few epic stuffs. But this was something special. It was not a test of technique. It was not a test of knowing each other’s game well. For that matter, there was nothing that Nole or Rafa had to prove. Ever since these guys started playing grand slam, there was writing on the wall as regards their glorious careers.

It was a test of mental toughness between the two of the mentally toughest sportspersons in this era. It was a test of overpowering every bludgeoning cross court forehands or baseline winners. There was tremendous display of high class professional tennis coupled with a will to smash each other to the extent of beating the hell out of each other. Final hour of the play had it all. Bodies were literally howling in never ending rallies. Nole almost broke his body in the longest rally of the match deep in the fifth set. Yet, it never looked like anyone of them was willing to offer a single inch of room. Each point was fought harder and harder.

The game eventually ended because it had to end. But, there was not one winner for me. If there was a rule, I could think of stopping them at some stage and declaring both of them as winners. Both of them displayed Great Spirit, Competitiveness and Will-Power to say the least. It is our fortune that there are so many great tennis players around us who play hard and fair game slam after slam. Take a bow – Nole and Rafa! You both deserved to win!

We are with you, Maahi!

For most of us, New Year means new hopes. With this very hope, we have embarked a wonderful journey of 2012. By journey, essentially I refer to the experiences – good or not so good, heartening or at times heart-breaking, jolly as well as somber. Who says life is always going to be a mattress of pink roses. And when there are thorns, there comes learning which makes one go wiser, steadier and balder ;)

Perhaps, this is what MS Dhoni meant during the post-match conference after Sydney test which India lost to Australia by unbelievable margin. Over four years of his captaincy, he has been through a golden patch which never seemed to end and people wondered at one point whether it will ever end. When India faced the ignominy in England few months back, a lot of factors were attributed to the mass failure which looked ok and sustainable to the cricket crazy nation including fans, media and experts. We not so open-heartedly accepted the defeat but eventually moved on. New Year has not changed the fortunes for Dhoni either – a master of leadership, humility and sportsmanship.

Two consecutive losses in Australia – first Melbourne and then Sydney – took the tally of test matches lost by India on foreign soil to a consecutive six. Now, there are questions being raised on the man who could never do wrong. Captain Dhoni finds himself on the firing line. Well, there may be some tactical errors which could well be one of the reasons behind such failure. And Dhoni admittedly understands the learning in the process. If you follow media, there are hundreds of other reasons that one may hear.

This post is not about getting into details of any specific reason. It may sound a voice of a sentimental cricket fan, but I tend to believe that these are the players who can deliver the results lack of which is being scrutinized to every detail. Can’t we just keep things simple and humbly accept that opposition has played better than us? May be, our preparation was not up to the mark? May be, we did not click collectively? May be, there are some issues within the team management internally?

I am sure that Dhoni knows it well within his jurisdiction and he is not the one to sit back and relax. For God sake – give him time to work through the system of test cricket amidst crazy limited overs environment (including bizarre scheduling) and ever-changing team dynamics including fitness management. Let him take a call which he is quite aware of (he openly admitted to the fact that he may not play in world cup 2015). He never expressed the responsibility that he has carried over past four years and therefore, we don’t even come close to appreciate that. Don’t write him off for he has given us every reason to smile in his short term of captaincy. If at all anyone has to be blamed, it has to be the infrastructure which has undergone radical and stupid changes due to boom-boom hitting caused by T-20 format.

I would instead admire courage of Dhoni who understands gravity of each question posed to him and answers honestly to his best. He may sound stereotype but isn’t he balanced, isn’t he calm amidst chaos, hasn’t he put his head up and sounded ready to face the next challenge and immeasurable pressure built by media. Not to forget the pressure of leading the team and working with administrators who are hell bent to transform the gentleman’s game into money-generating case study. His is the leadership we must treasure. His is the leadership we must respect. And his is the leadership which we must handle with care for his is the leadership so rare.