नोट

नोट जो बरसते मंदिरों के दानपेटियों में

कुछ छुट्टे मिल जाते 

जो कुछ ज़रूरतमंद का भला कर पाते

मंदिर का आँगन , दीवार , और आलीशान करने से पहले,

कुछ पैसे कुछ अच्छे काम आ जाते,

बाहर भूखे गरीब बच्चों को खाने के 

ठंड में उनको कम्बल के

उनके स्कूल में एडमिशन के

कुछ छुट्टे मिल जाते

भगवान के ही पैसों से 

उनपर भगवान कुछ कृपा कर पाते।

नोट जो खिसकते सरकारी मेज़ों के नीचे से

या पर्दों के पीछे से

कुछ छुट्टे बच जाते

सरकारी स्कूलों के कमरे बन जाते

एक कक्षा को एक शिक्षक और किताबें नसीब हो जाती

गरीब बच्चे भी कुछ ठीक से पढ़ पाते

कुछ छुट्टे बच जाते

वह पैसे सही जगह पहुँच पाते,

अस्पाताल कुछ साफ़ नज़र आते

दवाइयाँ कुछ सस्ती मिल जाती 

गरीब की जान को भी जान समझ पाते 

वह सरकारी अस्पताल भी सबका इलाज कर पाते ।

नोट जो गरजते हैं चुनाव से पहले

काश चुनाव के बाद बरस भी पाते

बारिश भी बरसने में भेदभाव नहीं करती

नदियाँ भी बहने में पक्षपात नहीं करती,

काश इसी तरह सरकार और सभी उपरवाले,

समानता से सबका भला कर पाते ।

War

Children dying,

Mothers crying,

Fathers leaving,

Orphans screaming,

Are you listening?

Are your hearts not chilling ?

Killing innocents ?

Lands full of bloodshed,

Tears flowing everywhere,

The war full of ignorance,

Not fair, 

Totally unfair!

Fights amongst the powers,

For whatever damn reason,

Not humane to do random bomb showers,

Humanity is to coexist and stay,

Not like animals,

Where predators just hunt and kill the prey.

The kings and the braves,

Come out to talk, resolve and save,

Work for the greater good and find a way,

The ones who come to only fire and fight,

Killing the innocents,

Just to prove themselves,

Are cowards,

Not humans, nowhere near the species’ pride.

झील बनी शमशान

इतनी सुंदर , झील अनोखी,

घर से सिर्फ़ १० मिनट की दूरी,

रोज़ का था हमारा आना जाना,

लगता सृष्टि और प्रकृति का हो ख़ज़ाना,

कभी सुबह के सूर्योदय की रोशनी,

कभी शाम के सूर्यास्त की लाली,

चिड़ियों का कूदना चहकना,

बतख़ों का गोते लगाना,

मछलियों और कछुओं का लुका छुपी खेलना,

फ़ुल पौधों का हो वह जैसे राजघराना,

प्यारी सी थी वह जगह,

बसती हमारे दिल में धड़कन की तरह,

रहता मन हमारा वहाँ, 

खींचे चले जाते रोज़ उसी राह,

लेकिन एक रोज़ की है बात,

बिछाई चटाई, बैठे दोस्तों के साथ,

दिखी एक मछली थी मरी,

दुख हुआ , लगा कोई पक्षी की शिकार है हुई,

फिर देखा कईं और मछलियाँ है झील में पड़ी,

आगे चलते चलते भर आया दिल, 

लगा जैसे एक स्वर्ग सी जगह गई शहरी विकास के पापों से मिल,

पक्षी का नहीं, पूरी झील हुई unsustainable development और untreated waste की शिकार,

प्रकृति की ख़ुशबू बनी उदासी की बदबू, नम हुई आँख़ें,

पता किया तो समझ में आया इस अनहोनी का कारण,

बस एक गलती, ले डूबी प्रकृति को, बनाया सब कुछ हानिकारक,

प्रदूषित पानी जानलेवा पदार्थ लेकर मिल गया था उस झील के सुंदर पानी में,

निकला था किसी इंसानी बस्ती के नाले से, 

लगा जैसे इंसान ने बनाया खूबसूरत सृष्टि को शमशान,

दम घुटते हुए देखा , उनको जो थी सब जानें नादान,

आया ग़ुस्सा हर उस अप्राकृतिक पदार्थ पर,

जो हम इंसान बिना सोचे करते उपयोग, प्रयोग 

और फेंकते इस धरती पर,

एक एक क़दम हमारा,

दुनिया के विकास की ओर,

जितना भी हम लेते इस धरती से,

उतना ही दायित्व है हमारा,

सृष्टि की सुरक्षा की ओर,

यदि हमारी वजह से होगी यह धरती बीमार,

तो अवश्य होगा इंसान पे पलटवार,

भूकंप, अकाल, प्रदूषण, बाढ़,

सृष्टि की लीला है अपरंपार,

बनाया हमें इस सृष्टि ने , 

दिया इंसानों को दिमाग़,

बाक़ी प्राणियों की सुरक्षा के हैं हम ज़िम्मेदार,

फ़र्ज़ है हमारा इस सृष्टि का संरक्षण ,

 है यह सबसे अनमोल रतन,

आएँ हर दिन सोच समझ के बिताएँ,

इस धरती को अपनी माता कहलायें,

कि जितना लें, उससे ज़्यादा देने की कोशिश की जाये,

Reduce reuse recycle को practice में लाए ।

Independence Day!

Mongols, Afghans, Mughals,

British, French, Portugals,

Invaded so many,

Dictated for years plenty,

With courage we fought,

Some won and some lost,

Be any battle or a war anytime,

Our leaders and fighters roared every time, 

From Swords and horses,

To tanks and bullets,

The journey was a thorny road,

To this new independent India,

In which we now freely roam.

Lot thankful and full of gratitude,

For all who fought, with strength and stride,

To build this India, the flag we wear with pride,

Free with thoughts, visions and actions,

To aspire, achieve and follow our passions,

But there are new enemies now,

From who we need to get freedom now,

Let's ask ourselves how,

The ones hidden in forms of gadgets and all screens black,

The algorithms tracking and recommending us with all hidden hacks,

Influencing us to become into something they can own,

So they can sell us to the ads and earn so much more,

Moving the behaviors of masses for their own good,

Creating a world of consumerism, and all things unsustainable,

For nature and for human minds,

Where we run for happiness, artificially created by these robot minds,

Using our own , and our friends data,

To influence us, to buy what it says,

to visit what is recommended,

Everything already predicted for us,

To compare our real lives from social media,

So we get sad and become what they want,

In hidden but friendly ways,

So we don't even get to know what we would be becoming to,

The bands on hands, buds on ears,

The screens in palms, the lenses on eyes,

All luring us with their feature,

Creating false aspirations to see,

Giving us all fancy stuff and addiction in free,

Which humans would be glued to ,

So the business for them can run forever for free,

To sell us to the consumerism,

And we'd be bonded for life,

The revolution for the new freedom has to start now,

Freedom from these artificial robots , gadgets coming in as invaders on our minds,

Freedom from all thoughts regulated by technologies,

To become much more natural humans,

 That we are supposed to be,

Thinking and living freely, touched to nature,

And use the screens only for a better world,

Where the tech is the slave and we are the master,

Not the other way round, where the world is nearing a disaster.

Wondering how!

 In these crowded jungles of concrete,

Amongst fancy buildings of shining glass,

Living and working in opposite world’s hours,

Becoming high profile digital coolies,

Being around these modern world labourers elite, 

Robot like forms of humans,

With eyes constantly stuck on screens, even while walking,

Think that eye contact with co humans is awkward,

But its cool to ignore everyone and scroll reels,

Ears always packed with wires playing random songs,

Think that talking to co passengers , listening to their stories,

Is not cool enough in new ways of living,

Tonnes of petrol burnt by these automobiles of steels,

Creating polluted exhausted oxygen less streets,

All of them with three empty seats in each,

With one lonely human burning eyes,

Watching all the lights red,

All of above says emotions and connections are so dead,

Even in this wholesome virtually connected world,

We feel disconnected with the real people around our world,

Looking at these humans becoming lone working machines,

Wonder how the world will be in half a century.

Life

 The gift of life,

Wrapped in age,

The time unwraps,

For us , gives all it has,

The goods and the bads,

One by one,

Slowly and gradually,

Being kid to becoming adult,

Growing to be young,

Is all happy and good,

Excited to open up the future,

Every moment, day, month and years,

Always, getting something new,

But once the high has come,

And we keep opening up,

We find the flipsides of all,

That growing to be old,

Is all pains and colds,

As we unwrap more,

And get to the core,

Layer by layer,

Like a cabbage or an onion,

Starting to reduce in radius and sizes,

But grows in thickness and life meanings,

As we unwrap more and more,

We find the essence,

That it lies in the process,

Bruises and wrinkles,

Scars and tears,

Reality checks of lives,

Loved ones around us,

Coming and going,

In lives and in the world,

Living hard times and good as well,

Living happy times and sorrows as well,

Health and sickness,

But as we approach the end,

We find that the layers have ended,

And there’s nothing inside,

As there is no destination of life,

Its the journey of getting inside,

Layer by layer,

Touching , feeling every age and moment of life.

Oh! Dear Mountains

Oh! Dear Himalayas, our pride, the beautiful mountains,

We, humans love you so much,

But this time of every year with such rains,

Our own creations destroy you so much,

You’re the home of Lord Shiva,

And monsoon is the season to worship Shiva,

But why we only love and worship

And don’t care about the young mountains’ hardships,

Floods in such rains are inevitable,

But our own stuff is making nature’s trouble,

But water is clever, finds its way out,

If you try to build in encroachments,

It will destroy and find its way out,

So many landslides in beautiful mountains,

Feels like it’s not able to bear what humans have done to them,

Joshimath is already sinking,

Soon, a few others will as well,

Young mountains, we all love you ,

But we come every year in huge numbers and harm you,

Lord Shiva, it’s your land and its saddening,

Bless this earth with your care and blessings,

Humans, let us all be sensitive and care our pride, our Himalayas,

Build and travel sustainably, 

For betterment of both humans and nature,

to keep for the times and generations ahead, the same beautiful Himalayas.

Turquoise waters : The harsh reality beneath the beautiful blues

Turquoise blue waters,

Such beautiful natural creations,

Gushing waves, with the sunrise and sunsets,

We go and sit besides, to relax and calm ourselves,

Holidays, we plan for our leisure,

Places, to witness natural wonders, we go for our explorations,

Travel, we do for our own vacations,

Seeing myself stuck,

Between my love to explore and love for environment,

Thinking about all stuff sustainable,

Finding it difficult to answer so many questions,

Asking myself and all our fellow beings,

Are we really protecting mother earth,

Or we are just shopping around, wasting around,

Touristing around spreading chemicals to kill,

The beautiful ecosystem, under the sea,

And above,

So mesmerising, but not to harm, only to see,

The nature, mother earth, 

Is to worship, not for hardships,

But the sapiens, beings with brains,

Harming the innocent living beings turning their homes into drains,

Huge tons of diesel,

Pollution and all the infra waste in marine,

For protecting human skins,

Beautiful corals dying due to sunscreens,

Went to Maldives, once having one of the best marine lives beneath,

But now, 70 percent dead in a few couple of years,

Touched by the grief of dead corals, we didnt apply the sunscreen next day,

Got all the sunburns, for months now they would stay,

Hoping that we did our thing to save them,

But no, its already very late,

As they are already dead,

It would take so so many years to again build those lives,

Thinking about this, feels like nature is crying,

Came back after the vacation,

To read a news that a shark ate a boy in red sea in Egypt,

Wonder why did the shark visit the swim safe beach,

Probably because it’s home deep in ocean was not safe as it had earlier been?,

Or polluted and disturbed by man made things,

Ships or boats or infrastructures on islands,

Anything unsustainable thats harming their habitats,

The nature fights back, 

With more power, than humans,

And would definitely harm our next generations,

Days later, we have the news of titanic sub imploding,

Extreme tourism they say, harsh but i say suicidal tourism,

Exploring amidst huge currents, deep in the ocean,

Is no different from tossing up your life to trial,

Tourism should mean to view, nature from far,

And just appreciating the beauty, like a star,

Smiling through, carressing nature’s forehead,

Like a baby to grow up good for generations,

Exploring places is amazing, but with a bottle of water to refill,

And leaving no plastics behind,

Trying to make choices sustainable,

Be it modes of transport, food, clothes or anything in mind.

So Grateful!

Waking up seeing the sun rising,

Feels grateful, for the light shining,

Opening my eyes, seeing my family around,

Feels grateful, for the love unbound,

Walking by, hearing the lovely birds' chirping,

Feels grateful, for the beautiful nature’s music,

Being healthy, around a healthy family,

Feels grateful, to be able to have good food and water daily,

Being able to work with honesty,

Feels grateful, for the values and ideals taught to us,

Being able to see and talk to our parents and grandparents,

Feels grateful, to be able to listen to years of experience,

Watching the moon, full and new,

Feels grateful, to learn from nature, the world view, 

Having a daily routine, with life personally and at work,

Feels grateful, able to be at mental peace,

Living and finding happiness in small moments,

Feels grateful, to be happy with loved ones.

Having tea and pakodas in pyaari si baarish,

Feels grateful, to smile through life and make memories to cherish,

Not having a list of todos, or a tight schedule for weekends or weekdays, just lost in time talking with loved ones,

Feels grateful, to the most special little things that we have tonnes,

Travelling across the country and the world,

Feels grateful, to be able to experience so many adventures,

Live in diverse areas and situations,

Talk to so many cultures and people,

Listening so many languages and watching so many natural creations,

Feels grateful for everything in life,

But most importantly, mental and physical health and happiness in life!

Lets travel together

Holding your hands in my hands,

Walking through the plains, hills, mountains,

Your arms caressing my arms,

Strolling by the beach, listening to waves,

Walking through forests, rivers and caves, 

In all the mystic forms of lovely nature, 

Cuddling in winters, Dancing in rains, and enjoying the sunny summers,   

You are my moon, my shining sun and your eyes, my twinkling stars,

The loving thought in my all seconds, minutes and hours,

You are my love, my prayer, my music and my dance,

Just want to feel you in all the serene environments,

Amidst the beautful nature, staying in the arms of this lovely purest creature,

Lets set on this journey together,

To travel and explore the world,

And travel through life,

Slowly walking sometimes, flying fast sometimes,

But hands in hands,

Enjoying the journey and treating evey moment a destination,

Experiencing every moment in togetherness,

Quiet sometimes, rocking music sometimes,

But loving in each and every moment of happiness and sadness,

And anger and wierdness,

Smiling and crying,

Together with each other.

Father!! No words enough

Dear papa,

Thank you ,

For everything you have done,

To build us, grow us,

The values that you have given,

Seeing you made us realise the importance of being humble,

Seeing you made us the way we are today,

Seeing you made us how to follow one’s own ideals and values,

Watching you manage so many people and work,

Inspired us to grow and become like you,

To take ownership and responsibilities at work,

And in life,

To make decisions,

And then own them,

To analyse pros and cons,

Make a choice and own,

Every day at work, and in life,

I see you in myself,

And then do what i do,

And become everything following your footsteps,

Watching you made us being strong to our values,

Being opinionated and independent,

Being honest and grateful,

Thank you for all the learnings and experiences,

Watching you helping every person coming across,

And not thinking twice before sacrficing for others well being,

Thats what made us a person who is eager to help everyone in need,

And without any pride or prejudice,

Just working hard to earn a living,

And trying to make a difference in society,

By helping whoever is in need,

Thank you ,

No words are enough,

But thank you for making us who we are,

Our smart and intelligent and the best papa in the world.

Can write much more, so many qualities you have, 

Hopefully we can get a few of them and make this world a better place for us and everyone.

Was this believable then? Is it unbelievable now?

Was this believable then?

We pay for water now, to get it clean, 

But was polluted when it was free,

Precious and important than all other elements,,

Water was valued much more when it was in abundance,

Is it unbelievable now?

Was this thinkable then?

Rivers were gods, they were the source for everything,

Have become the drains for everything now,

Is it unbelievable now?

Was this imaginable then?

We would ask before going to friends,

Or think before believing strangers,

Everyone in the world was family then,

Trusting anyone unknown was so normal then,

But even the closest become unknowns sometimes these days,

Is it unbelievable now?

Was this believable then?

We throw dogs and push cows out of the societies now,

Agree its for safety of everyone,

But somehow its a drift in interaction of humans,

With nature, birds and animals,

We used to save rotis for dogs and cows then,

That they would come to our doorstep everyday,

Pets have become an industry these days,

So many die in transports and get sick in unhabitable environments, 

Was this believable then?

Is it unbelievable now?

Was this believable then?

We don't even offer water to delivery people,

Who get us food and all things essential,

No random people come to our homes nowadays,

The kids don't know how underprivileged were treated,

Food was saved for all, even the beggars were known,

Food and water was offered , whoever came to our homes,

Atithi devo bhava, was in the heart for everyone,

Elderly, Kids or Youngs,

Is it unbelievable now?

The way of living has become so structured and organized,

That we have lost the meaning of chaos and entropy in lives,

The standardised formalised way of living ,

Would build a very structured set of next generations,

Who won't be blessed with witnessing the diversity and randomness,

The meaning of humility and affection towards other classes,

Towards the nature, valuing and cherishing the gifts of resources, 

The real life is far from systemic, structured or organized,

It may seem at the first sight,

But its much more random, to make things better and it's on us to fix and resolve,

There lies a satisfaction to find happiness in the chaos,

That's how we grow and find goodness and stand tall amidst the uncertainties,

Structure the unstructured, find stability in inconsistencies,

That's how we learn to live a life that's full of ups and downs, 

Taking together and always helping everyone around.  

Finding and giving love and care in hard times,

Be humble and grounded towards the world at all times.

Forgiveness, the path to happiness

Forgiveness, the path to ultimate happiness,

It's as breaking the inner complexities,

As finding the simplest way to a peaceful heart,

Forgiving,

As soothing as the sound of a river flowing,

Asking for forgiveness,

As humble and pure as minds of kids and elderly,

Forgiving,

Like a big heart as the huge oceans taking it all in,

Being kind taking things as benefits of doubt,

That there might be someone’s some kind of story,

Accepting that there is and we dont know the other side of story,

Asking for forgiveness,

As pure as nature around us being,

Everything in harmony,

From trees to clouds to sky to sea to rivers to mountains,

From plants to animals to birds to humans to insects,

All coexisting,

Forgiving each other and loving each other as they are,

Forgiving and forgetting,

Lets us practice the act of moving towards enlightenment,

That everything is transient,

Nothing is permanent,

So why stress , why bother, both ourselves and others,

Lets press the button to reset,

Every night and every morning,

Live forward with a clean slate,

To write something new,

In the book of our lives,

Turn the page again,

And write something new again,

Every moment, every day,

Lets move ahead, forgive and forget,

Learn from past and present,

And just move ahead,

Without any issues in our heart and heads.

It’s unfair

 It's unfair

It's unfair when we tell the same age old stories and epics in the new world,

It's unfair when we have deep hidden footprints of patriarchy in our routine conversations,

It's unfair to tell the same story of Draupadi's cheerharan to the new gens,

Let's have Draupadi fight back on her own and become the queen in the new story,

It's unfair to tell the story of Sita giving agneepareeksha to prove her purity,

A women's purity is way above the thought of virginity,

A women's purity is to be confident, independent, opinionated,

Fighting all the norms and rules set to define her worth,

A women is a human, not an object to be questioned by methods,

It's unfair to what has happened to women historically,

Unfair on not having her own identity,

Unfair on moving her identity on marrying,

Unfair on moving from her family to some new family,

Rather we say creating her own identity,

Rather we say getting together two families,

It’s unfair,

When we say feminisim is only about financially independent women,

Rather we have a new feminisim,

Thats fighting for the homemakers,

They are the army behind the country’s workforce,

Enabling us to work full time,

A feminism that fights for the home CEOs,

Their rights, their pride, their recognition,

The efforts invaluable, unseen but with the most skills,

Logistics, inventory, operations and supply chain,

Of kitchens and homes,

Marketing, administration, 

Of their spouse and kids,

Budgeting and finance,

That takes care of us in hard times,

Project management,

In all the grand family events,

Product management,

In cooking delicacies,

Networking and coordination,

That pitches our families to a next level,

And gets our families all the opportunities,

Mentoring and training,

To live better in our lives,

And most of all,

Building the next generation,

That is grounded to roots,

But with flying colors in creation,

That has the values traditional,

But with a twist of modernism,

That sets an example for the world,

To move towards idealism,

It’s unfair

That they are not recognised well,

They deserve much more,

In money, awards and achievements,

They are rightfully entitled to have their share in the family income,

By the policy and the system, not by the ask or the needs

It would never be enough for what worth they are,

But its time now, value them, recognise them, award them,

For the precious time and invaluable efforts that they give,

They are the selfless army behind the scenes,

In building this nation,

Buidling all of us.

Its unfair,

That they feel guilty to live and spend for themselves,

That they devote for their loved ones every piece of them,

And not able to take care of themselves,

The time is passing , the world is changing,

But the concepts are same,

Its the new world,

There should be new policies,

New concepts,

In practice, not only in thoughts,

New feminism,

For the women not in the workforce, but in the real force,

Doing the real chores,

Making the homemakers financially and mentally independent,

Is the real fight for equality,

Not by giving them another job,

But by letting them feel they’re doing best full time job for the world

Void

 A phonecall,

The news comes,

That they have gone,

Gone where, somewhere,

A soul disappears,

A beautiful soul,

A selfless human being,

A great person, who we have seen all our lives,

Learnt from them, loved from them,

If we’re plants, they are our roots,

Our own family,

Like a body part, an important organ,

Just left,

Without saying anything,

Left us broken,

Incomplete ,

An event in life that changes everything,

One day we have them,

Just another day,

There’s void,

A space left in home,

A bed empty,

A room without them,

But their feeling,

Clothes that they wore,

Their slippers and toothbrush

Their tea cup, plate and the glass ,

Their medicines, specs, almirah,

The sofa corner,

Their hands giving us blessings,

Legs trembling, still walking,

Their talks of experiences through life,

The pride of their achievements,

The learnings from their happenings in life,

Their everything,

Every emotion is still there,

But it all just became void,

A void,

That can’t be filled,

We just have to live with the empty spaces,

One day we see them laughing,

Talk to them, hold them,

Just another day,

We cant even see them,

Just one feeling,

Void,

But a voice calls from within,

That they must be in peace somewhere,

We could meet them somewhere,

When we would go in the void,

We wont be alone,

We would have all of them,

Please be in peace , stay happy wherever you are,

See us , bless us , keep us in your memories,

Wherever you are,

It’s all memories that remain,

Thanks for all the smiles,

All the doings in life,

But why, why so soon,

You just went into void.

Death,

Gives us a lesson,

To live life as a blessing,

each day, every moment,

And pushes us to take risks,

Do the impossible,

Till we're here,

In this world,

But not to worry,

even if we have to go into another world,

We would meet all of them,

Have them with us,

To live another life together.