मर्यादा-पुरषोत्तम

खेतों और खलिहानों  में 
छोटे -बड़े कारखानों में 
तुम जितना  ही पिसती है 

घर  में और दफ्तर में 
किस्मत की लकीरों  को 
तुम्हारी तरह ही घिसती है 

माँ का हाथ बटाते 
बचपन के सपने घुल जाते हैं 
मर्यादा का बोझ उठाते 
उसके कंधे झुक जाते हैं 

बेटी,बहेन ,पत्नी या माँ हो 
या फिर हो सहकर्मी सहपाठी 
सारा श्रेय उसके हिस्से का भी 
तुमने सहर्ष स्वीकार किया  

और मर्यादा-पुरषोत्तम होने पर  भी 
परंपरा का पूर्ण दायित्व 
उसको तुमने सौंप दिया ?

भागीदार को भार बता कर 
निरंतर जिसका अपमान किया 
केवल पत्थर की देवी बना कर 
ही जिसका सम्मान किया 

नारी रूपी मेरुदंड 
ही तुम को सशक्त बनाएगा 
नारी-सम्मान करने वाला ही 
मर्यादा-पुरषोत्तम कहलायेगा  !

This is an entry for a contest on INDUSLADIES

THE UNI-DIMENSIONAL WOMEN

I had first encountered the term BECHDEL TEST  as a literature student ,today as I am writing about  WOMEN IN MEDIA AND FILMS I incidentally happened to read about the same on another blog as well, I realize nothing much has changed in more than over a decade.So for starters the test is used to identify gender bias in all kinds of media and any piece has to pass three criteria to pass the test:

(1) It has to have at least two women in it, 

(2) who talk to each other, 

(3) about something besides a man.

Just take out two minutes and put your favorite TV serial or Hollywood/Bollywood movie to this test.There are just a handful which will make the cut.This is not just about various art forms but I am sure a lot of real life would also fail the test.

So let me enumerate some of the ways in which we depict women in MOST of our films and media:

• If she dresses the way she wants (read unconventional) she must be the vamp.Good women( read docile,obedient,chaste) dress up conventionally with a veil on their heads and more importantly their minds.
• Women who choose work or career ( read over-ambitious) are dangerous to the social fabric( read existing power structures of patriarchy) and hence need to be labelled BAD.
• Women are truly happy only when they are loved and cherished( read married or brought up to be only happily married). Divorced,separated,single-women are not the norm.
• Women who speak their mind end up lost( read humiliated,alone or worst still raped or killed).
• Only sons/husbands/fathers can protect,lead,decide.Daughters,wives and mothers do so only when men are not there due to whatever reason.
• All women have a duty to look pretty , be obedient and preserve family values( read be objectified and be SILENT.

This is an entry for this women's day contest on INDUSLADIES.

4

कभी शब्दों से 
और अक्सर शब्दों 
के अंतर में जन्मे 
कोलाहल को 
न कोई और जब स्थान मिला 

तो कभी साँसों में 
कभी आँसूं में 
घुल-घुल कर 
एक नया संवाद बने 

कुछ भूल गए 
कुछ याद बने 
ऐसे ही तिनका-तिनका 
जुड़ने से 
सब मिलकर ये ब्लॉग बने !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOG !

Blogoversary week Special - FIVE

The snapped limbs

of a rag doll,

or a lost toy

the missing piece

of a picture puzzle

or the mislaid

hair clip

from a shiny pair

Her sanguine eyes

look at me

as if I am the

goddess of her small things

However behind

my reassuring smile

I measure my 

fearful fragility

and wait for the inevitable

as she will grow up

to see my

shivering

human inability !

BLOGOVERSARY WEEK SPECIAL- FOUR

DIABOLICAL DEMONS

He goes about bragging
his male prowess
he has only sons...
no weaklings(read girls)

In his presence
his wife of almost two decades
is still only seen
not heard(read dare she?)

This man
is going today
from house to house
finding little girls (read tradition)
for tomorrow morning's Puja

Who says Kaali
had killed all the demons?
some still walk free.

BLOGOVERSARY WEEK SPECIAL- THREE

The reluctant rain

like the jilted lover

scared of revealing

too much too soon

The furious lightening

like an old spark

there and yet not there,

sometimes only sound

occasionally only light

Dear December

with companions so weird

it must be a tough

to always be the last

full of closures

and pending pain

mere memories

of spring

to warm the heart !

Blogoversary week special- TWO

Today I know for sure that Robert Frost,one of my favourite poets was wrong when he said,"Time and Tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of thirty."
Yes I am sure about this because today I am no longer 30 ,I am 31.
The 30th birthday was sure a milestone of sorts.There was a new awareness of the meaning of time,as it was my first as a mom.
I started looking at the world differently but it was not as different as it seems today.I had just stepped into the thirties and so it took a while to sink in.Now that I am 31,it has set in with an indelible impression.
Some important things I have learnt in last one year:
LET IT GO !
LIFE IS LIKE A RIVER : A RIVER NEVER PASSES THE SAME PLACE TWICE.
SOME PAGES TURNED,SOME BRIDGES BURNED,BUT ALL ARE LESSONS LEARNED.
LIFE IS DIVINE CHAOS.

this was originally posted as @31

Blogoversary week special- ONE

You taught me that

even when our eyes are closed

our minds should be open.

You taught me that

ever day is an opportunity

to live afresh and learn with zeal.

You taught me to find

joy in the little things,

to smile at the shining wrapper

even when the chocolate is finished.

You taught me new colour schemes

the need to see things the other way.

You taught me to react 

just to the moment

and have no prejudice or baggage.

You ,my daughter,my teacher

who loves to play my mamma

you have taught me life all over.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRIYAMVADA

Thanks for being such an inspiration.

You are my hero.

QUIET LOVE

A quaint cottage

on the hill,

he is just back

after a hard day

at the fields

and smitten again

watching her busy

preparing a hot meal

the clouds have come back

to embrace the snow-clad peaks

where the sun recedes

to lend them some privacy

they don't know valentines day

paper cards or roses

just every evening

the chimney smoke

spreads their quiet love

in the crisp mountain air !!

A contest this one won

क

कहानी वही हर बार 

दोराही जाती बार-बार 

कभी इतिहास ,कभी प्यार !

" Why doesn't God come to help little girls?"

It was an innocuous query from my four years old daughter,she had just watched a news report with me on TV about an abandoned girl child in a Kashmir hospital.

" Why doesn't God come to help little girls?"

I did not know the answer to that ,"maybe because.....",and I struggled for more words.

but the question has been haunting me since and I can think of so many instances when neither we as a society nor our Gods come forward for our girls.

Happy Birthday Jagjit Ji !!

incomplete

like the flavour 

of a missing ingredient

you can't pinpoint

but miss

the recipe of life

is not bad

without love

just incomplete !

PRAGAASH

A herd

shouldn't be heard

or seen

or worst

sing...

shout blasphemy

What did you say

birds also sing?

who permitted them?

irreligious,obscene acts

accelerate religious cacophony

lets strangulate

reason,logic and music.

h o p e

When I have nothing to say
do I still have a voice

when the sounds and words
are too fluid
to become rational thoughts
can I still
speak my mind

in the haze
I grope
searching for
a piece of hope.

T.I.M.E.

The blank page
stares back
the cursor blinks

waiting
for a word

and the word
lies frozen

in a moment
or a memory

waiting to be
thawed by time .