भारतीय नारी

नारी क्या है?
नारी की हस्ती क्या है?
हमारे इस महान भारत में,
नारी का वुजूद ही क्या है?
नारी वह कठपुतली है,
आदमी के हाथ में
जिसकी डोर है I
कहने को औरत
जगत-जननी है,
फिर भी उसका मूल्य क्या है?
बचपन में पिता के,
जवानी में भाई के
संरक्षण में पलती है,
शादी के बाद पति की बंदिनी,
वृधावस्था में पुत्रों की दासी है I
मरने पर, कफ़न के रूप में,
चूनर प्राप्त करके धन्य हो जाती है I

इतना नाज़ ना कर अपने पर सोच समझ

इतना नाज़ ना कर अपने पर रूप ना रहे सदैव,
कीचड़ बनती उड़ती मिट्टी जब बरसे है मेघ I

नाज़ अपनी सीमा से बढ़कर खो देता आकर्षण,
तड़ित उगा देता है नभ में मेघों का संघर्षण I

मैं अपनी सीमा में बंदी तुम भी सीमा बाँधों,
भावों की परिभाषा सीखो अर्थों को मत लाँघो I 
 

TOWARDS THE END OF THE TUNNEL

The morning breeze

the rays of sun

the humming birds

and lovely flowers

all make me believe

that there is God.

It is His nature

that we everyday cherish

It is He

who gives us an opportunity 

to see another day

Yesterday we didn't know who we were

tomorrow we will not know who we are

Still, charily we walk 

on the path of life

expecting each day to 

turn on us bright.

Let leave feelings

and expectations apart

let's move on chastily and far on the path.

Come on, lets try to find ourselves

its many a lives that we have passed.

There must be a way to get back home

so lets develop an insight onto the 

deviations on the path

Someday will surely come

when we will be back home.

ME WITHIN

Whenever I am in pain
you are there to let me out.
Whenever I am afraid
you are there to protect me.
Whenever I am dopeful
you are there to cheer me up.
Who are you?
I asked myself
with tears in my eyes.
Who are you?
So loving, so caring, so compassionate.
Someone answered from within me
"Go and look to the mirror
He is there."

THE WILL

I got up in my sleep
and talked to myself,
"What am I doing?"
I asked my inner self.
My inner self kept quiet,
calm and composed
as even he didn't have the answer.
I was amazed and astonished,
surprised and shocked
Wondering
whom should I ask and what!
If I myself cannot find the answer
who else would let me out?
And then the thought of my beloved ones
took me to the clouds
There I met God
and prayed for the answer
with a smile on His face,
He said,
"Don't worry my child!
You are obeying My Will."

EITHER WAY

Walking through the crowd 
sometime ask yourself
what have you done for others
what have you done for yourself. 
This is a world full of hatred
no one cares for anyone else,
no one has the time to think
what is bothering someone else.
If you want to be a part of the crowd
then go ahead and be a fool
but if you want to make a difference
then do at your part the best.
Give people what you can
and never expect a thing
because precious become those things
that you do not have to yourself. 

तुम और मैं

ये कैसा तिलिस्म है!
कि हुजूम में चलते हुए
जब तुम्हारा नक्श ज़हन में
उभरता है तो मैं,
और ही तरह का हो जाता हूँ I
यूँ लगने लगता है जैसे
मेरा क़द दराज़ हो गया है
और मैं,
अर्श को छूने के लिए बढ़ा जा रहा हूँ I
कहीं यह ख़ुद-फ़रेबी तो नहीं?
तुम्हारी तस्वीर ज़हन में आते ही
ऐसा क्यों लगता है कि मैं,
अपने से भी बुलंद हूँ,
बाक़ियों से भी?
क्यों लगने लगता है कि रीफ़अतें 
मेरे क़दमों से लिपटी हैं?
कहीं ऐसा तो नहीं कि तुम्हारा
ख्याल आते ही
तुम मेरे अन्दर समा जाते हो 
और हम दोनों मिलकर 'मैं' 
हो जाते हैं?
बुलन्द,
और भी बुलन्द? 

अहसासे महरूमी

तुम्हारे बाद

ये आलम है ज़ेहन का मेरे,

कभी तो चेहरा 

कभी आइना नहीं मिलता,

दुरुस्त दर पे तुम्हारे 

मुराद मिलती है,

पता बताए जो 

वो रहनुमा नहीं मिलता,

हजारों रास्ते हैं 

तुम से दूर जाने के,

जो तुम तक आता हो 

वह रास्ता नहीं मिलता, 

तुम्हारा रास्ता तकती 

हैं मेरी आँखें मगर,

कहीं तुम्हारा कोई 

नक्शे-पा नहीं मिलता I

तुम्हारे बिना

जब से तुम गए हो शहर छोड़ कर, 
अपना घर सुना सा लगता है मुझे I
हर गली, हर सड़क, हर मोड़ पर,
हर कोई अनजाना सा लगता है मुझे I
जब भी किसी सफ़र पर निकलता हूँ,
हमसफ़र कोई नहीं दिखता मुझे I
कभी दुनिया की ख़बर रहती थी मुझको,
अब ख़ुद से भी बेख़बर रहता हूँ मैं I
तुम्हारी यादों के सहारे जी तो रहा हूँ,
पर यों लगता है जैसे मुर्दा हूँ मैं I

आत्म-समर्पण

भयानकता वनों की
सूनापन सहरा का
बेचैनी समुंदर की
उदासी मौसमों की
बेनियाज़ी पर्वतों की
क्या नाम दूँ तुझको?
कभी ऊपर उठती है
कभी नीचे गिराती है
कभी हर रास्ता परिचित
कभी हर राह अनजानी
मेरी मंजिल अगर तू है
तो ले ए ज़िन्दगी
मैं बैठता हूँ
हारकर, थक कर I

ग़ज़ल

तू मेरी आवाज़ में कुछ इस तरह मुदगम हुआ I
हो सदा कोई मुझे लगती है तेरी ही सदा I
(mudgam - dissolve)

अपना चेहरा भी लगा है ग़ैर का चेहरा मुझे ,
जब कभी भी गौर से देखा है मैंने आइना I

इक कदम भी तुम जो बढ़ते मेरी जानिब जाने-जाँ ,
वस्ल की मंजिल में ढल जाता वफ़ा का रास्ता I
(vasl - milan)

क्या ज़रूरी था फरेबे-दोस्ती देना की वो ,
संगदिल था शौक था उसका दिलों को तोड़ना I

लौट कर आया है वो जब आखरी दम पर हूँ मैं ,
है निगाहे-नाज़ का पत्थर के बुत से सामना I
(nigahe-naaz - beautiful eyes)

THE VALUE OF A RUPEE

Some days back, I had gone to the BSNL office to deposit my phone bill. As customary, it was a long queue and like all normal people, I did not have a choice but to wait for my turn. There were two elderly people standing in front of me discussing all they could to pass their time and then stated a conversation to which I lent a serious ear.

The discussion was focused on the phone bill of one of them and guess the charge, it was only a rupee! The person was standing in the queue just to deposit a rupee! And the argument he was giving was pretty valid. And that was, that if I do not deposit this rupee, this one rupee would become eleven the next month!

I was wondering that in our country where a rupee seems to have lost its value, the government setup in some way was making it count. Not just because that one rupee would rise up to eleven for the gentleman but because that one rupee bill must have cost the BSNL exchequer more than that just for the generation of the bill. The printing of the bill and its delivery to the customer must be, if not more, at least ten rupees and what I was thinking was that how many such bills were being generated? Even if it has to be a small proportion, I am sure that a lot of public money is being wasted on such things and infact, our money, because it is we the citizens who pay taxes to the government exchequer.

In the meantime came the turn of the gentleman to deposit the bill and the lady sitting on the deposit counter could not control  herself and gave a laugh seeing the amount. She gently asked the gentleman that he could have deposited it with the next bill and the gentleman gave her the same argument that by then it would have become eleven for him. He explained to her that what could have been probably done was that they carried forward this one rupee to his next bill. The lady in turn replied that if they had done so, then they would have violated the rule.

Till date, I am wondering that what kind of a system we have where paying a rupee as bill is costing so much time and effort and of course, the amount wasted in its generation. I am still wondering that today when we are talking about Rs.100 losing its value, the government, wittingly or unwittingly, is making us realize that the rupee has not lost its sheen. Only if we could plug such gaps in our system, we can probably save a lot of time and money and invest the same in the development of the nation. 

A BOUNTIFUL DREAM

As I looked outside the window

lying on my bed

I saw a little puppy

shivering outside in the cold

I rushed out with a blanket

and took him in my lap

he was crying due to hunger

so I brought him a little food.

He ate the food and closed his eyes

so I thought he might have slept

and as I turned to go in

He called me by my name,

I was shocked to hear a puppy speak

so I turned to look at him.

A flash of light blinded me

And he changed into a human being.

He addressed himself as God,

I bent my head in prayer,

He took me in his arms

and said that I was imitating him.

All of a sudden the alarm bell rang

That threw me out of my slumber.

Amazed I realized

that it was just a dream

but it bestowed on me the realization

about what and how to achieve. 

पुरस्कृत क्षण

कभी उन से भी मुलाक़ात होगी

यह सोचा न था

ज़बां पर अलफ़ाज़ न होंगे

निगाहों से बात होगी

यह सोचा न था,

हमारा मिलना ख़ुदा की रज़ा होगी

यह सोचा न था,

जो भी हो अब मिले हैं तो आओ

पियें आखरी बूँद तक इस मिलन जाम को

भूल जाएँ कि मिलकर बिछुड़ना भी है

भूल जाएँ कि इस एक क्षण से परे

कोई लम्हा भी है, कोई दुनिया भी है I

TOWARDS THE END OF THE TUNNEL

The morning breeze
the rays of sun
the humming birds 
and lovely flowers
all make me believe
that there is God.
It is his nature
that we everyday cherish
It is He
who gives us an opportunity 
to see another day.
Yesterday we did not know who we were
tomorrow we will not know who we are
Still, charily we walk 
on the path of life
expecting each day to 
turn on us bright.
Lets leave feelings
and expectations apart
lets move on chastely and far on the path.
Come on, lets try to find ourselves
its many a lives that we have passed.
There must be a way to get back home
so lets develop an insight onto the 
deviations on the path
Someday will surely come
when we will be back home.  

STAND UP

Postpone search for God
to some other day.
At the moment stand up for yourself,
if sure you deserve it.
Strive for a life
that changes the world,
if confidence lies within you,
discover it and unfurl the 
power yet to be unfurled. 
Stand up for justice,
Stand up for freedom,
Stand up for the fun of living,
give your zeal a fair chance.
See, if you are worthy of this,
And if you are, prove it through action.

ग़ज़ल

कहाँ मैं अब्र सा घिरकर निकलने वाला हूँ,
मैं जल्द ही तेरे दिल में उतरने वाला हूँ।

तमाम उम्र का मुझ से हिसाब मांग की मैं,
ज़रा-सी देर में दुनिया से उठने वाला हूँ।



कहा तो होता कभी मुझ से हाले दिल ऐ दोस्त,
तुझे ख़बर थी कि मैं तुझ पे मरने वाला हूँ।



रुका हूँ मोड़ पे शायद कि तू नज़र आए,
कहाँ मैं राह कि कशाकश से डरने वाला हूँ।



मैं और कुछ नहीं 'अनुभव' हूँ तेरा ऐ हमदम,
शकर-सा आबे-मुहब्बत में घुलने वाला हूँ।

The Riddle Unsolved

The human mind is undoubtedly a restive creation of God, never satisfied with reasoning and logic.

For years and years, the search for the unknown has been haunting us and still continues to do so because every new invention unfolds a new mystery!

Despite this, the human mind and the human beings believe that mathematics is one science that is perfect – pure calculation, which cannot be wrong if the premise and consideration is correct and probably this is why it is said that two plus two can be equal to five in fiction but not in mathematics.

And believe me, so far I had no doubt about the truthfulness of this notion but the following fact came before me failing all my logic and reasoning and forcing me to rethink whether mathematics is different from fiction? Is it really a logical and correct calculation based on formulas?

A simple puzzle has shaken my faith in the correctness of mathematics, which is said to be the science of pure and simple calculations. Here is the story carrying the puzzle.

A landlord rents out one room to three persons at a rent of Rs.30/- i.e. Rs.10/- per month for each of them. When the money is actually paid to the landlord, he feels that the boys deserve a discount. He returns five rupees to them through the messenger. The messenger bamboozled at how to distribute five rupees equally among three persons decided to keep two rupees with him and returns one rupee to each of them.

In actuality each tenant having received the discount, paid Rs.9/- only as rent bringing the total amount to Rs.9x3=27. The messenger had bungled Rs.2/-, which when added to 27 makes the sum total as Rs.29/-. Where went the 30th rupee?

The proposition is as simple as that but the missing one rupee is absolutely untraceable. Could any wise man help solve?

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PARTITION

It is generally believed by the Hindus that India was partitioned in 1947 to meet the ever persisting demand of Pakistan by the Indian Muslims. The facts do not endorse this belief. It is true that the British, in pursuance of their policy of ‘divide and rule’, had successfully created a deep moat between the Hindus and the Muslims but it was not so deep a gulf that was impossible to bridge. I admit that Mohammed Ali Jinnah on the one hand and Jawahar Lal Nehru – Ballabh Bhai Patel combine on the other committed unpardanoble mistakes but the sole responsibility of the partition of India can neither be thrust on either of the two political rivals nor on both. India was partitioned under well-thought of mischevious plan of the British.

Again, the Muslim League’s Lucknow conference of 1937, under the leadership of Jinnah, is considered to be a politically path-drifting factor between the Hindus and the Muslims. But let us see that what role did Jinnah play in this conference. The fact is that Jinnah misreably failed in stearing his own agenda in this conference. Sikandar Hyat Khan of Punjab, Fazlul-Haq of Bengal and Saadulla of Assam met with unprecedented success and stole the show. Sikandar Hyat was not in favour of the partition. He made several efforts to resolve the Congress-League-divide. He met Nehru, went to Wardha to meet Gandhi ji but to no avail. Gandhi ji, instead, came out with a statement, declaring that Jinnah had chosen the path of war.

Till 1936, Jinnah failed in mustering support from the Muslims of Punjab. He worked hard to win over Sir Fazle-Husain but met with no success. Fazle-Husain told Jinnah in no uncertain terms that he was against the creation of Pakistan. He wrote to Viceroy Linlithgo that Jinnah was pursuing his own agenda of ego-massage and personal interest and was not worried about the nation and the country. Sikandar Hyat, too, had announced in the Punjab assembly in 1940 that he had nothing to do with the resolution of Pakistan. Till then, he was working hard to ensure the continuance of the Hindu-Muslim combined government in Punjab.

Even in the Lahore conference of the League, held on March 23, 1940, Jinnah did not hold the position of an unchallenged leader of the Muslims. In the resolution, adopted at this Conference, which is generally called the ‘Pakistan Resolution’, the word ‘Pakistan’ is conspicuous by its absence. It is true that Jinnah, arriving at the venue of this conference at Minto Park, was accorded a warm reception by the Nawab of Mamdot but soon Jinnah was cut to his size by over one lac participants of the conference, when they enmasse showered a rousing welcome on Fazlul-Haq by shouting ‘Sherae-Bengal Zindabad’. The resolution of a sovereign state for the Muslims, too, was not presented by Jinnah. It was presented by Fazlul Haq and was seconded by Khaliquzzaman of U.P., Zafar Ali Khan of Punjab, Aurangzeb of the frontier and Abdulla Haroon of Sind. The framers of this resolution, too, had deliberately ushered in quite a few discrepancies with a view to keep their doors open for further negotiations with the Congress to avoid Partition.

The Congress, on its part, in an effort to thwart the ‘Two Nation Theory’, proposed Lord Mountbatten to be the Common Governor-General for India and Pakistan. Prior to this, Gandhi ji had asked Nehru and Patel to hand over power to Jinnah. He also impressed upon Lord Mountbatten that the ‘Interim Government’ of free India be constituted with Jinnah as its leader. But this never suited the British. They never wanted to pack off leaving behind a strong, united India. They were itching to ensure that India remained a communally divided, riot-strifen, unstable economy after they had left.

The job of dividing India into two countries was assigned to Lord Bavell, who in turn, informed his masters in London that despite all the hue and cry neither the Hindus nor the Muslims were in favour of the partition. Irritated by the considered opinion of Lord Bavell, he was called back to London and Lord Mountbatten, the most shrewd English player of the political chess was sent to India to see the game through latest by June, 1948. Mountbatten accomplished the task much ahead of the schedule. He drafted a plan, which came to be known as ‘Demission Plan’. Under this plan the British proposed to hand over political power directly to the Congress in 8 provinces including North-West Frontier. Punjab, which was under Governor rule at that time, too, was handed over to the Congress because it had the support of the Unionists as well as the Akalis. Only two provinces were to be handed over to the Muslim League and these were Sind and Bengal, where the League was already in power. The power at the Center was to be handed over to the ‘Transit Government’, which comprised 6 representatives of the Congress, 5 of the Muslim League and again 3 Muslim sympathisers of the Congress.

Mountbatten in the first go frightened Mahatma Gandhi by the show of his cards. He warned Gandhi that if the Congress did not agree to the partition, he would implement the Demission Plan, which was bound to generate civil war, the responsibility of which would be entirely that of the Congress in general and that of Gandhi in particular. In the second round, Mountbatten called Jinnah and made things clear to him. He advised Jinnah to chose either of the two – Pakistan, as was being given to him or a shameful political death at the hands of his followers. Through this, Mountbatten successfully countered the threat posed by Jinnah through his pleadings of June 6, 1946 for a ‘United India’ under the ‘Cabinet Mission Plan’ and the Congress’s endorsement of Jinnah’s pleadings on June 25, 1946. Mountbatten accomplished his job to the entire satisfaction of his masters in London and threw hatred-ridden, blood-bathing, ever-fighting, economically unstable India and Pakistan in the lap of the Congress and the Muslim League as a reward to their century old crusade for freedom.

Dr.NARESH

GOD's OWN HOME IN MANAKPUR

            The branch of Chisti Sufis named after Hazrat Ali Ahmed Sabir is known as ‘Sabiri’ and in Punjab its teachings are believed to have spread by Shah Mira Bhik about 300 years ago. One of Mira’s favourite followers was Hazrat Shah Alam. After him, the work of preaching Islam was taken over by his disciple, Hazrat Shah Salam, and by establishing his durgah in the Ropar district of Punjab, he promoted the Sabri cult in the area in a big way.

            Soon, a young man born in Behlolpur (Ludhiana district), immersed in God’s love, came over to Ropar. After he received spiritual advice from Hazrat Shah Salam, he lost interest in worldly matters and started towards the jungles. Returning to his pir after years of sadhana, he was given the order to develop his own Khanqah (House of Muslim mystics or Sufis). This man’s name was Hafiz Mohammed Musa, who has been one of the greatest saints of the ‘Sabri-Chisti Silsila’.

            On the orders of his pir, Hafiz Musa moved from Ropar and came over to a village known as Majri Nasi. The Rajputs of the village, devotees of another saint, did not want him there. Sialwa, the headman of the village, who was deeply devoted to Hazrat Musa, presented him 100 bighas of land in Manakpur (on the Mullahpur-Kurali road) and appealed to him to go and stay there. Musa then moved there and started living in the mosque of the Rawals – next to which the plot was located. Today, an exquisite durgah stands there.

            In a short span, reverence for Hazrat Musa spread from Manakpur to distant places. It is said that a general from the royal family of Hyderabad, Muhammed Shah, became a staunch devotee of Musa. From his life’s savings he established the dargah and became a faqir. A pond, dug about 200 years ago, still remains there.

            When Shehzada Moin-ud-din was born in the royal family of Hyderabad, his mother took him to Ajmer, from where she ws directed to go to Manakpur. There, she handed over the child to Musa, and the little one grew up to be the great Sufi saint Shah Khamosh. A garden was laid out on some land Shah Khamosh’s mother had bought and till date, it is still known as ‘Dakhniyon ka bagh’.

            A mosque was built by Shah Khamosh within the durgah in 1864. The main gate to this mosque is magnificient. This rare monument, which depicts so wide a range of the Mughal art, remains sadly neglected now.

The Fall of Education

With changing times everything has changed. Nothing is permanent but change and fortunately or unfortunately, change is something that always keeps changing. It is now my fifth year of association with students on various indoor workshops and outdoor adventure camps. Recently, I had the experience of being on an excursion trip with the students of a prestigious school of Chandigarh. Though the way the trip was organized was not upto the mark, yet I expected that the students will be well behaved and cultured as they, in addition to studying in a good school, belonged to good families of Chandigarh. Even before we had reached the venue, I could sense that it was not to be so. I had an instant feeling that the education system has degraded badly, something that probably all of us know. I could make out that the students as well as the teachers are no more the same as they were ten years back; let us not go much into the past. The trends have changed and education has become a profession and has definitely become sub-standard. Out of the one hundred and fifty odd kids I was with, I could not even point out a handful that I could say were well behaved. The abusive language they were using astonished me. I wondered if I knew all these words and their meanings when I was their age. I was just trying to get over this fact when I spotted a bunch of them destroying the plantation at the venue and overheard one of them saying, “How does it make a difference, we have paid for it.” I was astonished to know their belief that they have the capacity to pay for the ill done to nature. Soon after, it was time for lunch and all the kids were provided with a bottle of mineral water and disposable plates etc. By the time lunch got over, I could see that the place had been transformed into garbage bin with litter all around the place though the arrangement for dustbins had been made there. Perturbed, I decided to take a stroll around the place and I could see numerous half filled mineral water bottles al around the place and it was not even half an hour later that the kids started making a hue and cry about more drinking water. I wondered what made these kids waste so much water when majority population of our country does not even get to drink water, what to talk of mineral water. To add to this all, I had also seen almost all of them washing hands with it despite the fact that public water supply taps were available at the venue. The instructors and organizers at the venue were feeling helpless too as the teachers seemed to be a party to all this. A child took two bottles of water from me stating that the teachers needed them and five minutes later, I had another one of them with the same reason standing next to me. I enquired about this from my accompanying colleagues and I was flabbergasted to know that they were storing the water bottles. We all felt so helpless, the kids, the teachers as well as the organizers, though for different reasons altogether. The kids and their teachers were unhappy about the way it was organized, or probably more so because the teachers did not get tea till afternoon and also about the unavailability of things they had demanded. We, the organizers felt so because we had realized by now that probably it was a wrong choice all together but I had another reason to be upset. I was helpless and annoyed to see the cultural values that the new generation has inherited. I was helpless to see the way they were treating the “Mother Nature” and the sense of carelessness that they have developed. I am a teacher myself and I have been into a dilemma since then thinking that where are we heading to. Is it we the teachers, who have forgotten to inculcate moral values amongst our students, or the parents who have made them believe that money can buy anything, or have they developed a world of their own with passing time where values and culture have no place. Whatever the reason may be, one thing is for sure that in today’s date, our education system has deteriorated drastically and if corrective measures are not taken at the earliest, it seems we will have no option but to reinforce the age old saying that we have been inculcating into every Indian since the time of the British that, “Bharat Bhagya Vidhata.”

बँटवारा

न जाने क्यों हमने अपने को

लकीरे खींचकर जुदा कर लिया

न जाने क्यों जात पात का

जाल अपने गिर्द बुन लिया

हम सब का खून भी लाल है

और पसीना भी खरा पानी ,

फिर भी रहते हैं जुदा

कहते हैं अपने को हिन्दुस्तानी पाकिस्तानी,

अज़ान यहाँ भी होती है

आरती वहां भी

फिर भी दामन छुड़ाए बैठे हैं,

हिंदू भी मुसलमान भी

रात का अंधकार भी वही है

सूरज का तेज भी

पर फिर भी रहते हैं जुदा

हम नासमझ हर घड़ी

न खुशीआं बाँटते हैं

न ग़म

पर खुदा को बाँट रखा है हमने

यहाँ भी और वहां भी।

NATURE

Who is the one who created nature?
Man or God?
Who has created the lovely flowers,
And the huge rain showers?
The beautiful birds flying in the open sky
And the lovely little roses standing by.
The big trees standing by the roadside,
The small nests in them create a beautiful sight.
The wind blowing, the stars shining,
Day after night and night after day.
What is this you hear?
Its nature my dear!

TECHNOLOGY THREATENS

Technology Threatens

Today, we are obsessed with becoming not man but machines. With T.V.s and computers at our command, we are losing the command of the natural resources within us which are lost ultimately, wasted because of our ignorance. The knowledge that we get from the T.V. and computer is fragmentary, plasticized and something that does not smell good. We are losing involvement in life, involvement with the living species.

Technology has bombarded the cellars of human consciousness. Irresistible as its charm has proved to be that man has become a willing victim of its magic and an unquestioning slave of his own unruly passions. Technology can bring about physical and material prosperity, but it cannot elevate the human mind, purify it or enrich it with nobler thoughts. Technology may have created very complicated machines which startle common intelligence, yet the feelings which a sunset scene inspires in the heart of man cannot be paralleled with visual media.

The onrush of technology has overwhelmed man to the extent that he has lost human perspective. Man, thinking of his future, is experimenting with technology, spacecraft and genetic engineering but these very explorations are turning him into an inhuman species, for the direction of this research is diabolical, demonic.

Man in his progress towards the next century, has lost the vital direction of his attempt. He has undertaken a voyage on the ship of technology which will ultimately blast itself.

We have denatured our existence; we live an artificial life of tele-adventures. We spurn social life as we are seduced by the relative unsociality of the T.V. We are depending so much on technology, machines and science today that we cannot imagine any life outside them in the same intense way as it would not be possible without oxygen. Such attachment with technology is bound to prove suicidal for man.

How can we reverse this drift which is dangerous to the extent that man can survive only if he is stripped of his humanity? For an answer, we need not go far beyond. Let us consult our scriptures. Let us consult our heroes that we or our parents have seen in flesh and blood.

At present, the most urgent need is to give a human direction to the forces of technology. Up till now, and if we do not accept the horrific reality, human history has been nothing but a trudge from Adam to atom, from universe to miniverse, a fall which has been hastened by technology. Let us step further our research, switch back and try to retrace the point at which the human thread was lost. If technology gets a spiritual dimension, if it loses the aura of a deadening force, and if it subserves, not subverts human interest and remains a servant, then, with this very technology, we can end our problems on the earth which so far have resisted all solutions.

How can the nervous system be rebuilt? Surely, not through T.V. and certainly, not without it. T.V. is an instrument which, if not given a constructive direction, will go on to destroy everything that is fine in man.

Anything that cuts at the human interest must be cut short. Every idea which engages man against man should be torn away from human mind. If we just do this, all the missiles of the world shall become irrelevant overnight, making irrelevant the direction of human progress up till now, and thereby making poor the ‘amirs’ of yesterday. If this shift in human attitude takes place, the already produced nuclear power would be sufficient to light up even the darkness of the Hell.

THE BLACK BEAUTY

On a cold winter evening, seventeen years ago, my elder sister and brother got home a Labrador pup cuddled into the jacket of my brother. My father was strictly against keeping a pet and we guys really wanted to keep this one. So now began the process of chalking out ways to make her stay. None of us had the courage to tell dad about it or to ask him if we could keep a pet but now the issue was that we had brought one and now where to keep it!

We made a bed for her in a corner of the washroom attached to my sisters’ room. Every now and then when we moved out from home, we would take her along cuddled in our pullover or jacket. But it had to come out someday. One night, while we were all asleep, dad heard some whooping sound upstairs. Wondering what it could be, dad went upstairs and followed the sound to the washroom and there she was, looking at him with her face turning all around.

Next morning when we got up and went to the washroom to fetch her, she was not to be found! We could smell what would have happened and went downstairs terrified. Sheeba was sitting next to my father. Yes, that’s what my mother had named her eventually as she was black in colour, our black beauty, though this all was after we got a good scolding from our father. That was the day when Sheeba became a part of our family.

Sheeba soon caught the attention of all our friends and people in the neighborhood. People might forget to enquire about how we were, but they would never forget to enquire about her. Though she was an animal but she definitely had a real sharp brain. She would understand whatever we said, never had a formal training, could express herself, the only difference being that she could not speak. Her sixth sense was such that whenever I used to come home from work or play, I would find her wagging her tail at the door even before I could open the gate of the house.

My father, who was initially not willing to let us keep her, would take her out for a walk every morning and it was he whom she never disobeyed. If she was scared of someone, it was my father and obviously so, we all were! 

Sheeba stayed with us for fourteen long years. During these years, she meant family to us. Wherever we used to go, she would go along. Whatever we ate, she would eat the same. She would climb onto our beds or to the sofa and spend the whole night tucked in and the moment dad got up in the morning, she would cautiously move back to her bed.

She was really fond of non-vegetarian food, as all dogs probably are, but there was something she was more fond of than that too, and that was raw potatoes and maggi! Every now and then she would go into the kitchen and pick up a potato. There were times when one of us would come home in a bad mood, or we would have a fight at home, and then Sheeba would come up and stand in front and it all used to vanish. The very sight of her made us forget all our blues and we would move out to the lawn and start playing.

Three years back she died of cancer, but, to this day, when I reach home, especially when I am feeling low, I wish her to be there at the door, to receive me and to make me forget my melancholy, and my craving remains so till date though I know it will not happen. The night she bled to death due to her tumors haunts us all, deep within, till date.

It was no less than a mourning at home for days and days. Until then, I had heard that love and attachment can change your life, this was when I experienced it. Now I have endless number of dogs outside my home to whom I feed but Sheeba was for sure much more than a pet.

LEARNING TO LIVE

It was time for the summer vacations. One fine morning, reading through the newspaper, I came across an advertisement regarding ‘Summer Adventure Camps’ with a tag line underneath, “Gift your child the 3 C’s to last a lifetime – Courage, Confidence & Character’. The very moment it occurred to me, this is what I am looking for! Now the problem was to make my parents agree to send me for one. I called at the number given in the advertisement and told them about my desire to be on the camp. They took my address and contact details and said that they would send across the details soon.

Next morning, I had just had breakfast and gone back to my room that mom shouted, “Karan, come downstairs!” I could sense that something must be terribly wrong but could not make out what. I could see through the grill of the staircase that someone was sitting next to mom waiting for me perhaps. The moment I reached downstairs, mom said, “Did you call them regarding the summer camp?” I responded nervously, “Yes m… ma…… mama.” Mom looked towards the gentleman and said, “See, he cannot even respond properly to the query he made. You really think he would be able to go for the camp?” The gentleman responded, “Madam, give us a chance to serve you. I assure you that he would be a different boy once he returns. To make you aware of the things we do, I will take you through a brief presentation if you so permit.” Mom nodded and the gentleman opened his laptop and played a video. After watching the video, mom asked me if I wanted to go. I said, “Yes.” In the meantime, my father arrived as well and after listening to the entire conversation he said, “Let him go if he wants. You cannot keep him tied to you all the time. He needs to learn how to be independent.” He asked the gentleman about the formalities, filled the form, paid the charges and went to his room. The gentleman got up and walked towards the door to leave. At the door he turned back and said, “Karan! See you at the camp.” He smiled and left. As soon as the door closed, I jumped in excitement, “Yesss!”.

A week later it was time to leave for the camp. I packed my stuff as per the list given by the organizers and waited for the pick-up van to come. Mom was telling me what to do and what not to, what all she had kept for me to eat, to wear etc. The car came and when I was about to leave I told my mother, “Mamma, don’t worry, I will be fine.” I could see the love through the tears in my mother’s eyes as this was the first time I was going somewhere on my own and believe me, I was scared.

We reached the camp site after a 3 hours drive from Chandigarh. There were around 40 children along with me at the camp. Our instructors briefed us the moment we reached about what to do around and what not to. After an introductory session we were taught how to pitch tents and divided into groups for the activities. I was excited but nervous too. The fear within of being alone and away from home was catching up on me. To my bad luck, the same person who visited my place and was one of our instructors sensed that out and told me that I will be leading my group during the activities, the first of which was a night trek in the woods. I felt like running away form the site, back to home, onto my bed and cover myself up as if I would not be visible to anyone. Just as we were about to begin the same instructor called me and said to me holding me by my hand, “Look, we all have some hidden fears but to move ahead in life, we need to overcome them. The same place where we roam around freely during day scares us as it gets dark because we fear darkness as we cannot see things around. We fear the unknown. It is your perception of things that makes you afraid. We all have two options in life, either to fear from our fears or to make them fear us.”

I was wondering what he told me but now it was a question of ego that how could someone think that I cannot do something! I started leading my group into the woods and suddenly I heard another child scream. I started to shiver. I was actually scared now. Our instructors told us to stand still and not to make noise. After a while they led us back to the camp site. After dinner, I walked down to the instructor who had told me what I mentioned above and asked him if I could talk. He said, “Yes, of course.” I asked him what happened in the woods. He calmly responded that there were just some wild animals around. I shouted, “What? Wild animals!” He could sense from my voice that I was terrified at the very thought. He said, “Karan, I told you earlier. Do not fear things because its these inherent fears that would never let you grow up in life. If you fear something, you would hesitate to do it. This hesitation would soon make you avoid things and you would start loosing your self-confidence and at the end you would realize that I have been nothing but a loser.” I told him that this was the first time I was out from home, away from my parents and how scared I was. He said, “All I want you to do is to keep in mind what I have told you and do the activities with courage even if you fear some.” I said yes though I was not sure if I would be able to do all that I had seen in the video.

The activities began and I could see the myriad expressions on the faces of the children while doing the activities and soon it was my turn. I looked towards my instructor. I thought that he is right It is going to be now, or never. While coming down the rock, I could feel the butterflies in my stomach and the shivering of my hands but I soon realized midway that they were gone! I then did all the other activities during the remaining three days of the camp and I do not remember looking back towards the instructor even once. At the end of the camp, I could not control myself and went and touched the feet of my instructor. He hugged me and said, “Always remember what you have learned and never forget that fears are your own creation.”

On reaching back home I told my mother and father of all the things that I did and the friends I made and what I learned. I was visibly excited. Father told mother, “He seems to have grown up in 4 days!” I walked towards dad, held his hand and said, “No Papa, I have just learnt how to face myself.” Mom and dad hugged me and said, “That’s our boy”.

What I wondered to be my bad luck once, ironically, turned out to be the best I could ever come across.