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Thursday, January 31, 2013

कल


कभी ये पूछा 
कभी वो सोचा 

कभी आँसू  मिले 
कभी मुस्काए 

जीवन की 
आपाधापी  में 
आज जैसे 
और भी कल होंगे 

जो कल फिर 
पिछले कहलाए  !

Monday, January 28, 2013

Memory with Tea

The crunch of life
I used to buy for two rupees
has been long lost with
the familiar poodiwalaah

the glittering signages
of multinational chains
selling international cuisines
have gobbled up
the old woman who sold
boiled eggs with rock salt
on winter eves

the benches thankfully
are still here
but vacant
the plague of social networking
has killed the time
that permitted
sitting there doing nothing
gossip,chat,observe
and soak the sun

the state library
and the church
mostly visited by 
only tourists now
have air fresheners
killing the
fragrance of nostalgia

in each of these
I have lost
the ideal of something
SHIMLA was


I delete
all the new pictures
and munch on memory
with a hot cup of tea.


* the man who sold paper cones filled with a homemade spicy mixture of nuts.


Sunday, January 27, 2013

कविता !!

जब शब्द न मिले तब  भी 
जब विचार भटकते रहें 
और चुप्पी की दीवारों से 
टकराकर लौट  आते हैं ,
तर्क सिर्फ ले जाते हैं 
क से ख तक 

तब कल्पना तूलिका  के 
एक ही झटके  से 
चित्रित करती है 
मूक संवादों के 
कई दौर 

और जन्म लेती है 
रंग-बिरंगे मोतियों से 
बनी एक अजीब सी 
कविता !!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

SHAKTI

the statues they worship
and the legends they revere
are not gratuitous

in the fabled shakti
they hide the gruesome barter
of real women
paying the price
for the devi
to be worshiped.

the crimson is rich
from the blood
of unborn daughters
and of the
millions who 
bleed every day
or die unceremoniously
for the noble cause
of irrigating the 
harsh soil
of patriarchy !

Friday, January 18, 2013

यूँ ही

निरूतर निश्वास
करते जीवन के आभास

उत्तर -प्रत्युत्तर
में उलझे एहसास

निरुत्तर निश्वास


Thursday, January 17, 2013

SOME DIFFICULT QUESTIONS

During this last one month images and voices related to the Delhi Rape,the subsequent protests and debates have flooded our lives.My daughter had a few difficult questions for me,here I try some answers.

Why does this girl hide her face?
This was a shocker,it came after she saw graphics similar to the ones mentioned in this article,which represent the woman survivor of a sexual crime as SHAMED.
But as any logic would point out shouldn't the wrongdoer be shamed instead of the victim of the wrongdoing?The worn out logic of social stigma against the survivor needs to break.

I told her she is not hiding her face,she is not ashamed,she is hurt.If we support her she will surely show us her face and smile some day.

Why did bad men kill her?
She is too young to understand what bestiality they subjected her to before attempting to kill her finally,but that doesn't lessen the impact of this query from a four year old.What kind of images of men is she forming in her mind,I wonder?
She still doesn't understand death due to violence fully yet knows killing is a bad word and a bad deed.

I told her sometimes we all are tempted to do bad,hurt others.But if you are being hurt by some one ever,speak up and if ever you are tempted to hurt some one remember its BAD and STOP.

Can I go in a bus when I am a big girl?
Wish I could say no to this.But then wouldn't I be participating in the extended conspiracy of locking-up our girls from public spaces due to fear of sexual or other exploitation?

I tell her you can but you have to be vigilant and brave,hoping that by the time she is old enough to take a bus alone things would have changed for the better for her and all us women.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

PAPA

He does not let
the decadence
cloud his eyes

his hands shake more
his blazers droop

I can feel
his labored breathing
as I hold him
his limp hands on the sides

my little one
is chattering about her dad
with gleam in her eyes

my dad
pats my shoulder
and we both know

in life and beyond
this bond shall go on !

Keywords

2019 answers anxiety apathy April Blogging challenge B-A-R barathon birthday blog Blogarhythm blogathon Book Review books BOY breasts brothers Buddha bullying cartoons chandigarh child childhood children cities colour compassion contest cosmos culture dad daughter de death death loneliness alone December delhi depression desire devi discrimination disorder diwali domestic violence dreams emily emotional abuse eyes facebook fairytale family fear feminism festival film fire first flash fiction fog freedom freeze frenemy friends GADGETS games gender gender ratio girls god grandfather grandmother grief HAIKU Hamlet happy heart hills hindi home hope husband independence day indiblogger internet jagjit singh kashmir kerouac kids lessons life life lessons light loneliness lonely longing loss love lover marriage me memories memories men menstruation mental health mind miss mom mom dad mother mother's day motherhood mythology nest new year nobody nostalgia pain pakistan panjab university papa paradoxes patriarchy periods poem poet poetry priyamvada questions random thoughts rape relationships religion remember rickshaw ritual Rumi Ruskin Bond sad sex Sexism sexual harassment sexual harrasment shimla short story silence social media soul Stream of consciousness sufi suicide summers taboo time toddlers tradition tragedy twitter valentine violence voice war winter woman women women's day Womensweb words. thoughts words.thoughts worry worship writer writing yatra yeats zen zen. बेटी माँ

COMPANIONS CALLED BOOKS

To Kill a Mockingbird
The Catcher in the Rye
Animal Farm
The Alchemist
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Romeo and Juliet
Frankenstein
The Odyssey
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Count of Monte Cristo
Eat, Pray, Love
Lolita
The Da Vinci Code
The Kite Runner
The Silence of the Lambs
The Diary of a Young Girl
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Notebook
Gone With the Wind
}

The Human Bean Cafe, Ontario

The Human Bean Cafe, Ontario
my work on display there !!!!!