आटे दाल का भाव!

old ration shop

स्वर्णा चक्की फ्रेश आटे का  बीस पाउंड का बैग कब बारह डॉलर से उन्नीस का हो गया पता ही नहीं चला। यूं तो पहले भी ये दो इक डॉलर महंगा ही था औरों के मुकाबले ; पर अब सरासर चुभ रहा है! ला हम फिर भी वही रहे हैं। कोई रोटी खाना तो बंद नहीं न हो सकता! फिर ऐसे वैसे कोई भी आटा नहीं चलेगा। छोटी मोटी बातों को दिल पे लगाएंगे तो जियेंगे कैसे? यहां तो जीने के लिए बड़े बड़े गहरे दाग भी सबकी नज़र बचा के जिगर में छुपाये मुस्करा रहे है।

पर देखो अगर पेट भरा हो, सिर पर छत और बदन पे कपड़ा हो फिर भी कोई कितना लालच करे, इसकी कोई सीमा है कि नहीं। अपने पे नज़र डालूं तो कई बार कई लोगों को कभी मज़ाक़ में कभी कुछ इर्ष्या से कहते सुना है, "अरे ये तो लेक्सेस में चलते हैं"! मुझे इसमें कुछ खास बात नहीं लगती। लेक्सेस कौन सी रोल्स रॉयस है? मुझे  तो डेढ़ लाख डॉलर की मर्सिडीज जी वैगन पसंद आ रही है। तो क्या करूं इस लालच के लिए? नशा बेचना शुरू कर दूं क्या? 

यही पर मानसिक संतुलन; कमिटमेंट; मोरालिटी; सेल्फ कंट्रोल और एथिक्स की  आजमाइश शुरू होती है। मेरा मानना है कि कोई भी हर एक मोर्चा जीत नहीं पाता। लालच  और हवस की रस्ते  रस्ते रोक टोक है। पर खुद को सस्ते में पूरा का पूरा बेच डाले जो; थोड़े लालच के लिए, उसको क्या कहें! हैं कुछ लोग और मेरी बदकिस्मती से मेरी पहचान के ! वैसे इस मुद्दे पर सिर्फ वर्षों से मै ही अपना जी जला रहा हूं, वो अपना वजूद  हार के भी खुद को जीता हुआ समझते है! दूर कहीं अपनी दुनिया में खुश है! खुश रहें।

चाहे तो इसे हम एक ईश्वरीय माया कहें , चाहे सत्य,  पर सीता माता ने लक्ष्मण रेखा लांघी ! क्या हुआ? सोने का हिरण मिला? मिलता कैसे, ऐसा कुछ होता ही नहीं! फ़िर मिला क्या ? लांछन और विरह मिला! फिर धरती में समा जाने का भाग्य मिला ! कुछ सीखते हम इस कथा से पर हम हैं कि भागे चले जा रहे हैं किसी न किसी स्वर्णमृग के पीछे पीछे; हर लक्ष्मण रेखा लांघते हुए ! 

मैं ये कभी न कहूंगा कि पैसा बुरी चीज़ है। मसला यहां आता है कि कितना और कैसे। शास्त्रों ने समझाया है मनुष्य जीवन का लक्ष्य। धर्म, अर्थ, काम, मोक्ष !  आसान शब्दों में कहे तो अपना कर्म सही नियम से करके  पैसा कमाओ। उससे मौज मस्ती भी करो और प्रभु में लीन हो जन्म मरण के चक्रव्यू से मुक्त हो! तो देखा न पैसा कमाना बुरा नहीं , उसका उपयोग भी शास्त्र सम्मत है। बस धर्म अनुसार यानि नियमानुसार हो तभी तो मोक्ष भी प्राप्त होगा। वरना लालच ने तो ले डूबना है ही!

सुनो भाई अब कोई बाबर लुटेरा मंदिर लूटने फरगना से नहीं आता। हम लोग काफी हैं ! अब समझ आया क्यों 500 साल श्रीराम मंदिर नहीं बन पाया।  धोखा देने में ज़रा भी हिचक नहीं है बस अपना फायदा होना चाहिए! गद्दार बनने का कोई  मौका मिले तो सही, किसी की भी पीठ में खंजर उतार दें। मंदिर की दान पेटी से चोरी करना कौन सी बड़ी बात हो गई! हुआ क्या अगर जीवन भर का दाग लग गया? तीन मंजिला मकान तो बन गया! इज़्ज़त गई तो गई ,पैसा तो आया! ग़द्दार हुए तो क्या हुआ, अपना फायदा था लपक लिया! क्या होता है भक्तों की धार्मिक भावनाओं को चोट पहुंचाना? जाने किस बात का शोर  मचा रखा है ?

वो गाना सुना है ना ,"देते हैं भगवान को धोखा, इंसा को क्या छोड़ेंगे। कसमे वादे प्यार वफ़ा सब बातें हैं बातों का क्या। कोई किसी का नहीं है पगले...."  लानत है उनके इस जीवन पर। मंदिर के द्वार पर इज़्ज़त से जीवन यापन का सुअवसर मिला था पर उन्होंने धोखेबाज़; गद्दार; चंदा चोर बनना चुना!

मैकेंजी स्कॉट का नाम सुना होगा।  ये शायद कभी किसी मंदिर में न गई होंगी। कोई पूजा पाठ नहीं करती होंगी। कभी ऐमजॉन के संस्थापक जेफ बोज़ोस की पत्नी थी। दानवीर हैं; लेखिका हैं। अमेजन के 1.3% शेयर अभी भी इनके पास है। दुनिया की सबसे अमीर महिलाओं में से एक हैं। इनके पास लगभग 40 बिलियन अमेरिकी डालर  की संपत्ति है। साल 2025 तक अपनी संपति में से 26.2 बिलियन डॉलर दान कर चुकी थी। अभी तक रुकी नहीं हैं। कभी समय निकाल कर देखना एक बिलियन में कितने जीरो लगते हैं। और 26.2 से उसको गुणा कर देना। फिर 95 से उस रकम को गुणा करोगे तो रुपये में जो नंबर आयेगा गिन न पाओगे! मुँह खुला का खुला रह जाएगा!

कबीरदास जी कह गए हैं," साईं इतना दीजिए, जामे कुटुंब समाय। मैं भी भूखा न रहूं, साधु न भूखा जाये।। नहीं चाहिए एक इंसान को बेइन्तहा पैसा। अच्छा कर्म कमाओ। इस विदेशी महिला ने बता दिया धर्म, अर्थ , काम का क्या मतलब होता है। इन्हें मोक्ष कम से कम मुझ से तो पहले प्राप्त होगा। 

सब कुछ पैसे में तौलना बहुत महंगा पड़ता है। फिर ये हम पर निर्भर करता है कि पैसा हमे हमारी औकात दिखा देता है या कि हम पैसे को उसकी औकात बताते है। मैकेंजी स्कॉट की तरह हम भी बताएं पैसे को कि बस तुम दो रोटी की हैसियत रखते हो। आटे दाल की तरह मेरे चरित्र का भाव नहीं लगता; मेरी वफ़ा अनमोल है। मेरा वचन बाजार में नहीं बिकता! मेरा कर्म और कर्तव्य पैसे के परे है !

गाड़ियों की दुनिया का एक कॉन्सेप्ट है ,'lifetime ownership cost'. मतलब ये कि एक गाड़ी 15/ 20 साल चलती है तो कितना खर्चा खायेगी। आम तौर ये माना जाता है कि जापानी गाड़ियों का रख रखाव सबसे कम  और जर्मन गाड़ियों का खर्च सबसे अधिक होता है। टोयोटा की गाड़ी फोक्सवैगन की गाड़ी से महंगी मिलती है पर लोग फिर भी टोयोटा लेते हैं। पता है कि सालों साल जिंगा ला ला रहेगा। फोक्सवैगन आज कुछ बचवा देगी पर 2/4 साल में ही खर्चा करवाएगी और फिर बहुत खर्च करके भी मुफ्त में तंग करती रहेगी।

कर्म का भी कुछ ऐसा ही है। सद्कर्म करते समय उलझन होती है; महंगा लगता है; मुश्किल लगता है। पर ये सारा कुल जमा सबसे सस्ता पड़ता है, जीवन भर आराम से चलता भी है। दुष्कर्म बस करने में आसानी है! उस वक़्त फायदा भी दिखता है। कुछ मिलता भी है! बाद में सारी उम्र की परेशानी, निराशा और ग्लानि से निबटो!

सो स्वर्णा आटा लिया करें। महंगा जरूर है ; सब जगह मिलता भी नहीं पर सेहत के लिए बेहतर है।  एडेड शुगर  0% है। दूसरे आटे बताए बगैर 3% चीनी आपको खिलाते हैं! नमक और चीनी कम से कम रखेंगे तो सुखी रहेंगे।

सोचा आज शनिवार को आपको आटे दाल  का भाव ही बता दूं!

Isometric view!

 

"Isometric View"

Lalit Modi is a disgraced Indian Cricket Czar hiding in UK mostly.  The idea of IPL can certainly be accounted to his credit . Of course as the tournament became commercially successful several powerful entities wanted a ride on the gravy train. Some wanted a free ride to boot! That led to what can only be termed as falling out of the thieves ! 

You might remember the fiscal controversy about now defunct Kochi Tuskars  Kerala franchise & the tragic demise of its 'sweat equity' holder Sunanda Pushkar under very mysterious circumstances. Supposedly due to complications of the Lupus disease or a drug interaction; or both; or a sophisticated, hard to detect poison called polonium, traditionally used by KGB to assassinate rivals! That famous '50 crore ki girl friend' remark about Shashi Tharoor by Narendra Modi is epic. Perhaps one day I will write about it -  when I feel like a crime thriller !

For now Lalit Modi has an interesting proposition !  He proposes that One day cricket format of 50 overs variety should be abolished entirely and cricket world should focus on test cricket; which is the classical 5 day, white clothes, red ball , 2 innings per team format and T20 format which is like after dinner, evening entertainment of 120 balls for each team kind. Wildly successful and popular IPL is a T20 tournament! There is ,as expected, a stiff opposition to this idea and even a sense of dismissal out of hand by some quarters because it is 'Lalit Modi' !

 

You do not know Swapan Mitra. He was my drafts person for a very long time. He was quite a bit older than I was and he was exceptionally good at his job. It was before cad software and a plethora of AI tools had made most of the drafting skills redundant. One thing that he really excelled in was 'Isometric View'. This comes from the world of design and simply put it is a 3 dimensional representation of an object in 2 dimensions; done in scale without any foreshortening as  you would find in a perspective view. One can accurately measure all dimensions. It gives a complete view of the object as if one is looking down from above the frame. 

 

So Mitra always made an isometric view for every plan; at times he made an exploded view too. He made that decision without my input. Fact is I was able to explain my concept to clients countless times on the strength of that Isometric view. Otherwise we as designers tend to focus  primarily at the plan view. It took me some time to realize why Mitra included it in every presentation ! Well; because it is the best client centrist view! And I am not even talking about design here!

 

When we look at people, life, events, concepts, theories; ideas, whatever; we must look at an isometric view! No foreshortening; no distortion; clearly measurable dimensions on all X Y Z axis. At the same time we must  look at the entire picture from above and avoid getting into the frame. Remaining a bit distanced and staying critical will lead us to see things clearly for how they truly are!  Get complete picture & present complete information! Mitra taught me this life lesson; though he is not aware that he did!

 

Let's circle back  to cricket! It is well known that cricket originated in England. Power  and decision making stayed there for a very long time. As the game spread across British colonies like Australia; South Africa; west Indies and the Indian sub continent; that power continued to grow and stay concentrated in MCC, England. First challenge to it came from Australia as their teams started winning matches. Don Bradman , arguably the greatest batsman ever was the face of it. They have produced several great players in every generation. Jeff Thompson  was a tearaway; fastest ever according to some while Shane Warne is considered the greatest leg spinner ever! 

That challenge  to English power was managed well. Australians were white, western and subjects of the British crown. They got co-opted. The challenge turned into a great rivalry limited to the playing field. Off the field they merrily consulted and shared  power & cricketing  decision making. Moral and ethical considerations regarding their apartheid policies kept white South Africa out of the world cricket for decades. They were only readmitted after apartheid was dismantled in 1991 with a tour of India! 

There is no country called West Indies! It is a group of separate nations. Little specks somewhere in the Caribbean sea and North Atlantic ocean ; that field a joint cricket team. To my knowledge it is the only multi national team playing under one banner, in any sports anywhere in the world. Gary Sobers and Lance Gibbs are well known old stalwarts of the team. Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai, Alvin Kalicharan and batting giant Brian Lara of a later generation are noteworthy. What really propelled west Indies to firmly dominate world cricket was their legendary ' fearsome four'; express bowling attack.

Holding; Roberts; Garner and Croft established west Indies at the top during '70 and 80'. And who can forget Malcolm Marshall? An absolute delight of fierceness ; if there is even such a word! Together they pummelled every opposition in sight and left them in dust. Smaller individual cricket boards making up  West Indies gained a lot of traction over the years but the power quietly stayed with ECB - English Cricket Board.

 

Trust Pakistan to play a sly hand! They perfected the reverse swing. It is achieved by roughening one side of the cricket ball and keeping the other side shiny. The aerodynamics at high speed ensures that the ball unpredictably and unconventionally swings to the shiny side instead of the rough. They achieved that by picking the seams with fingernails and roughening one side with bottle caps and other found material. It was not illegal at the time although not exactly in line with the spirit of the game. Their quick bowlers achieved tremendous success . Imran , Akram and Waqar easily come to mind. The success was rather short lived . White nations ensured that the rules changed and 'Making' the ball became illegal as it should always have been. Pakistan never became the centre of the cricketing universe.

 

In between an  Australian media tycoon, Kerry Packer of  channel 9 designed the one day match - a short format of cricket played in the evening wearing colourful dresses and a white ball! It allowed a lot more people to watch it on TV. The cheeky tag line was, " Big Boys Play at Night"! Marketing , sponsorship and international playing talent made sure that it catches public interest. There was a lot of opposition by various cricketing boards. Several players got banned for participating in this so called circus, but the money was good; way too good ! 

Money eclipses your brain cells; blinds your eyes and softens your heart!  Eventually it makes one forget  all principles; if there were any to begin with! Short format and Long money had come to stay in cricket.

 

Money! You can not keep Indians far from money! They are like a trained bloodhound tracking a prey! Traditionally Indian teams were known for their spin bowling and some batting brilliance like Gavaskar holding the highest test run record for long and that flag bearer of his legacy , Tendulkar; who has that record now as well as the record for all time highest total runs in all formats together . You may even have heard about Suravanshi ; a young 15 year old ,that is promising to carry that baton now!

Bedi, Chadrashekhar and Prasanna are the much celebrated Indian spin trio. Indian Fast bowling was rather slow and cricket pitches, game and rules were slowly veering towards favouring quick bowling. This is when Kapil Dev rose to prominence. He was quick and he was  supremely talented. With the bat as well! He won India the short format world cup in 1983 and changed the loosing Indian mindset for ever. 1.4 billion people now have 10 fresh world class talents available for selection; to replace one retiring player. India can and at times does field more than one National team simultaneously. They can boast  of a world champion Indian women's cricket team as well!

 

It was bound to happen! With this big a market; third largest economy growing  @ 7%( highest in the world); massive popularity of cricket and visible rise in the disposable incomes; something had to give. India generates 80% of all the cricketing revenues worldwide and money talks! The Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) is very powerful to say the least. Currently even the chairmanship of International Cricket Council (ICC) is held by India as well. Who likes it ? It is complicated but the short answer is nobody! Specially people that held the reins for so long and those envious people that can never hope to do so. Who can do anything about it ? See the answer above!

 

 If India wants to relegate 50 over one day format to disuse....... the format will reach the end of the road pronto! So coming back to Lalit Modi's proposal. I think he has a point or two there. 5 day red ball, white dress, test cricket is absolutely beautiful, classical and everything good cricket is all about. Except test cricket is hard to monetize. It should receive support and funding because You can not sustain it by gate money and few sponsors  alone. People also have paucity of time to engage with it fully even when they appreciate it. Money has to come from the shorter T20 format which has the potential to engage several times more people; can be easily organized frequently ; can also have more participating teams that can qualify to play at the world stage and has shown to generate several times more advertising revenue from TV rights. Redistribution of these funds will support test cricket and make all the cricket purists like myself happy.

 

50 over format increasingly fails to fall in either the classical category or in the  revenue generating entertainment category. It can easily be retired to enable strengthening the other  two formats. 

That sounds like a good plan for cricket's future. At least that is what my isometric view shows!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Family Feast !

My grandmother Umawati died in her early forties. She had a rather short life sadly. My youngest uncle was eight. I was not going to be born for another four years and my father was a post graduate student. My youngest aunt was  yet in high school. My grand father was close to retiring from his job at the post office.

 

My grandfather had remarried as his first wife had passed  just a few years into marriage leaving behind a boy and a girl. Someday we will talk about these two but not today. This was my grandfather's one of the two major  regrets in life. His companions did not survive long enough and left him facing life alone! He confided this to my mother when she joined the household as the new daughter in law. He was not lucky in the matter of the opposite gender, should we say!  The other regret was that he could never beat 'Shav talang' in swimming as at 6'4" he was a full 2" taller than my grandfather.  Shav talang was a mockery of the name Shiv and came from raw envy of the length of his stroke; I assume!

 

If my mother is to be believed, " My grandfather was a loving, caring, intelligent  and a principled individual. He was quite broad minded as a father in law, specially for the era he lived in. He was very empathetic to the enormous responsibilities my mother as a nineteen year old young daughter in law had to shoulder from day one! A true father figure; my mother believes that his spiritual blessings are the reason we did well in life after starting with nothing in hand. 

 

Around this time of the year two stories always circle back in my mind; stories my father has told me. They are important and I' ll tell you how!

First story is from our village; Safapora. The village is on the banks of Manasbal. This is the biggest freshwater lake of India.  We all talk of this economic system and that system but our village had the perfect system. The system was fair to everyone and  this is how it worked: 

 

We had a bit of a land and grew paddy. So Rice is all we had but there  was a lot of rice. Another neighbour had no land and they worked on the lake growing lotus.  They had access to a lot of fresh succulent lotus roots.

Some others in the village had  nothing so they caught fish for a living. Some others grew oil seeds, or fresh vegetables from their little patch. Specially collard greens; hakh in Kashmiri. That is it, you get the idea. Village had everything they needed and no one needed any money or a shop to buy these items individually. A barter system was established by common consent so X amount of item 1 is equal to Y amount of item 2. It took into account fair wages for everyone and a fair price for your inputs in producing that item. You could exchange any good or service for the good you want. You wanted a haircut, just take along five lotus root stems to pay for it. If this sounds Utopian; it is. In a very good way! Nobody went hungry in the village and everyone had almost similar  plentiful nourishment. Even much later it was not uncommon to pay the teacher of your children in eggs! Society was inter dependent, cohesive and harmonious. 

 

Why I always remember this is because my father has always joked about small quantities of the menu items we have cooked for the feast after Shivratri. Herath as we call it is the biggest celebration in Kashmir Hindu society. Inviting Lord Shiva to your house; include so many other deities, bhairavs and celestial beings  and  celebrate his wedding with Ma Parvati is the height of Kashmir Shaivism. My father has always bragged about how his mother would barter 40 seers of paddy and get 8 seers of fish for the feast. Seer is close to a kilo gram, 933.10 grams to be exact.

 

There are a few theories but generally it is believed Islamic invasion of Kashmir and their ruthless barbaric rule forced the society to add meat even into the worship rituals. The society caved in and did so in order to at least save their traditions and avoid forced conversions to Islam. About 90% of the population still became victims.

Although most people today have shunned the practice of adding meat to the main worship. It is considered a serious violation of the sanctity and purity of the ritual, forced on the Hindu community by the tyrannical Islamic rule as an insult to our faith and  as a running indignity for the Hindu society. 

 

The feast afterwards  still has non vegetarian items on the menu! No matter what the logic, the fact is that Sanatan Dharma is organic. It grows and modifies as the time and place changes.  Dharma as they say is informed by the era you live in and the geographical place you are at. It is not necessary to follow a ritual that has outlived its necessity. A lot of people I know like my family no longer has any meat of any kind during the entire festival including the  big feast for friends and family afterwards. We do think we have cleaned up our spiritual karma! What do you think?

 

Anyway the whole idea was to showcase what an non exploiter, egalitarian economic system is and how these micro economic systems were  self sufficient and infinitely better than the greedy consumerist capitalism or the disaster of the socialist central planning. 

 

Remember I told you about the passing of my grandmother. It happened late evening/early night during the bitter cold months; I forgot which month ! Apparently just after Shivratri festival if my memory serves me right. First thing in the morning next day; before even  the dawn had broken out; my father being the most available young man was tasked to fetch our priest ; Guru ji, in our parlance to preside over her last rites. My father trudged through the dark, slushy, cold  downtown streets to his house. Cold frozen muck smeared his thin rubber shoes; he was shivering in the bitter cold despite him carrying coal burning clay fire pot called Kangri under his cloak called  Feran.  It was dark still so he also took a torch and a stick to ward off stray dogs.

 

Guru ji was not home. His wife told my father that he had gone to the bathing ghats for his daily morning rituals. My father was surprised ... in this cold! Anyway he made his way to the river and got the shock of his life! Guru ji was praying mid stream in the icy cold half frozen river with just a loin cloth for cover. My father looked mesmerized as Guru ji took his own  time ; finished his bath unhurriedly and completed the entire morning chants and ritual worship before he finally came out of the water and  saw my father. Why are you here son, he asked?

 

On their way home he explained a little bit about discipline and how It is his duty as brahmin to be as pure physically; mentally and spiritually as  he could. Not only for his own journey in this world but for his "yazmans" ; people that depend on him to guide them spiritually  and conduct different Dharmic rites. 

 

Imagine; can you even imagine how honest this person was ? How dedicated; how unselfish ; how responsible to his calling ? I do not care what his knowledge of scriptures was; although given his behaviour I am certain he learned them with the same unwavering focus; dedication and pure honesty.  What a shining example he set for  the young man that my father  then was.  And it was all done by his choice of actions and not by some lofty talk. When I look at my father's life I can clearly see the  reflections of that morning of lessons that our family Guru ji imparted. Honesty is measured by what you do when no one is watching!

 

Where are such people now and how  in the blazes are we not more like them ? I do not have an answer or at least and an answer that I can squarely face! 

This story comes to mind every Shivratri because as the eldest son and the fact that my wife is a  votary of the traditional value system; my parents have handed over the responsibilities of Herath and several other yearly rituals of a Kashmiri brahmin  household to us. In fact everything  has been handed over to us.

My parents are thankfully here  and it is not my turn yet.  Trouble is they are  old and I am so inadequate! Nevertheless it is my responsibility now and I have to conduct the worship myself since no guru ji is accessible here. I always remember the story of our Guru ji wistfully ! Realization that I am short on physical, mental and spiritual purity; short on the knowledge of rituals; short on honesty and pretty much every other requirement, becomes so overbearing. 

Only thing that keeps us going is that no matter what; I can't fail my parents. These old traditions that our ancestors held on to even at the cost of their life and limb during the worst of hundreds of years of Islamic tyranny, slow exodus from our homes in the valley throughout centuries; suppression, cruelties, brutality, conversions and the barbaric Hindu Holocaust of the last forty odd years; should not be allowed to  die out. People have continued to follow it when they were living in leaking tents and had nothing! They never gave up when under the Islamic tyranny they could loose their head for just worshipping. They put just three walnuts in a small bowl of water and maintained the ritual even under most trying challenges, tragedies and personal crisis! 

I won't let it go! It wont happen! Not on my watch! They have named me after Lord Shiva too! I got to honour that! Remember we are not just this individual body. We are more than our body. अहम ब्रह्मासमी. "I am the cosmos" , says a saying. We are from God and we are part of our ancestors. If you actually read Sanskrit you'll realize a number of our rituals including the worship for Shivratri includes not our direct ancestors from both mother and fathers side. It also includes your in laws. It includes nature, animal kingdom, bees and flies too. I am not kidding! Our souls are close to many and we carry them in us even when our ego fails to recognize this.

 

I will do what I can with my apologies to all Guru ji's and of course with the knowledge that God is always benevolent and forgives our acts of commission and omissions. The tradition is bigger than I am and it will live!

 

आह्वानं नैव जानामि नैवजानामि पूजनम ।

पूजा - पाठम न जानामि क्षमयातं परमेश्वर ।।

(God; sorry, I do not know how to address you! Please forgive my ignorance of the principles of the ritual worship!)

I share this Watuk Nath with  all my friends , family and strangers. If you so wish you could  pray to it too  for an abundance of peace, wisdom, piety, kindness, wealth of  true friends and good health. In fact your prayers will complete what my worship has lacked! May Lord Shiva bless you!

Herath' Poshte'!

 

 

 

Broadly Speaking!

HEIDI KLUM'S HALLOWEEN COSTUME!

Words kill;silence does too!

Amongst the most potent abilities humans developed on their evolutionary journey, speech is at the very top of the list. It certainly has made us the most powerful species on earth. We have used it to express ourselves; connect; socialize; conduct interactions; tell stories; educate, preserve and propogate ideas and knowledge  in a seamless fashion. 

As is part and parcel of the human failing, we have turned communication also into a tool of power for asserting control ;domination and manipulation.

Most of us would have experienced 'denial of communication'; even as a  child. This is where an adult, usually your own mother would stop talking to you in order to punish you for some transgression or to encourage modification in the behaviour pattern; or simply to assert authority. We quickly learn that it works! Specially were there is a strong emotional bond! We later do the same to our friends and anyone close to us. They always return the favour. Wives and significant others use this tool very commonly for emotional blackmail and oneupmanship.

You can always disagree and hold on to your point of view. I may dislike it but I respect that. However denying communication entirely is the  most cruel; selfish; heartless; rude and insulting choice that you can ever make. This only makes humans the worst behaved animal in the universe and the only one to do so. It is the quicker way to end a relationship and firmly marks a singular lack of respect for the other. Worst cut is that we proclaim love for the victim at the same time we are perpetrating this injustice. 'Human' is a synonym of hypocrisy!

Silence is a ticking time bomb! So speech must be a relief! No! Not so fast! Human depravity has no limits! It is not for nothing do they say 'silence is golden'!

It is so because human speech is largely a dishonest, self serving drivel;

if you are lucky on that day. On other days it a complete white lie meant to obfuscate; misguide and lead you to get exploited  one way or the other.

Coca Cola has long been advertised as ' refreshing'! A bottle of carbonated water with synthetic caramel coloring agent; unspecified acidic flavoring chemicals including phosphoric acid; unhealthy gas for fizz and 36 grams of sugar in one little can. Did anything amongst the ingredients sound refreshing to you?

A chocolate bar I remember was infused with ' oxygen'! Sounds pretty good doesn't it? If you guessed it is just air bubbles to inflate the volume ; you would be correct. It is meant  to make you pay more for a small amount of chocolate since it looks and feels big.

Unfortunately this practice is not limited to the commercial world. Politicians are masters of deception and double speak. In fact we encounter falsehoods everyday at every step. Unfortunately in our personal interactions too. More so in the personal realm! Gas lighting, false claims, wrong information, promises that one has no intention of keeping are so common place that by now you likely have already labelled me as some weirdo; nit picking perfectionist oldie!

Listen, I do not want to hide things; lie or unnecessarily mislead anyone. Is that such a bad thing? Many years ago I was in Mumbai for an exhibition that was getting installed on site. I was a young man and a bit older contractor kind of became friendly. One evening after he had downed a few he started praising me. Initially I thought it is the usual flattery as I was to sign his project completion certificate enabling his payments! But than he said why he liked me! I was open to respectfully discussing things ; I did not lie or ask for any kickbacks; I did exactly as I said I would  by the time  I promised!

There, that was it! Really nothing special. Everyone I thought is like that. It is later in my career I realised I would come to much grief because that is not the way of the world. 

What you say matters enough to be acted upon. Least you can do is follow through ! Tell this to Chris broad! He is a 68 years old  ex  left hand opener for England in test and ODI cricket. Mate is old enough to understand; or is he? His sports career got over 38 years ago when he was just 30 years of age. He later became a broadcaster and a cricket official. Well he has a healthy average of around 40 in both tests and ODI's. That tells me he was  pretty handy with the bat.

Apparently he would have gone far but he self sabotaged his own career by not having control at the crease. Very difficult for a leopard to change spots later in life. Most likely he has lost control again. So he has come up with a revelation recently. According to him 'someone' called him not to penalize Indian team for a slow over rate; when he was officiating as a match refree. He then somehow managed to find the 'lost' time and Indian team was not penalized. This narrative implies the  excessive clout India has in ICC and the undue advantage their teams get by obscene bullying of everyone around.

Why is he saying it now?  Attention seeking - perhaps ! Remorse - perhaps! Trying to rewrite history- perhaps! 

I read this or words to this effect that kind of sounds so true. 'Some people do not feel sorry for what they did. They just hate how it makes them look. They do not carry guilt. They carry discomfort. Instead of fixing what they did; they try to fix your version of the story. They are not sorry for the hurtful mess they caused. They are sorry they can't control how you remember it.'

If he had any morality or ethics or if Chris broad is telling the truth; maybe it is  about time he realised that as the match refree it was his duty to uphold all the laws governing the game. If he did not report  this illegal approach to the ICC; if he then went on to tweak the results in order to give undue advantage to one team over the other - he has brought the game into disrepute; shown unprofessionalism and participated in a criminal act. He is as complicit in this illegality as anyone else. He is accountable! Yes! He is! 

He should do the right thing and start by refunding the fee received for those matches where he says it happened ; because he got paid to do something and the fellow dropped the ball. Secondly he should name the person that phoned him. Aid prosecution of the culprits and recuse himself from any further cricket game official duties as a tainted candidate for the job.

We will start to believe him then! Will he do it? Your guess is as good as mine but if you guessed 'no'....... You are smart , you ' ld go far in this world!

New Quantum research reveals that time does not move forward but folds onto itself. Meaning your present actions might already be reshaping your past. Interesting; isn't it?

Make sure that you are not making  mistakes in the present that will double down on the mistakes made in the past. Remember words are powerful. Use them carefully! You will be forever held accountable for them. Silence on the other hand is way more powerful. Use it intelligently. Overuse can be devastating! Always weigh before speaking and know when staying quite is patently unjust!

Humans learned how to speak about two million years ago. Since than they have been trying to learn  when they ought to speak and when they have to keep quite! Most haven't got the hang of it yet! Maybe, if we checked back in another two million years..... Perhaps!

From the wish list!

Old Magazine style digital illustration.

I would have preferred

to wake up first thing everyday and see you.

I would have preferred 

not to spend a futile life time just looking for you!

I would have preferred

to listen, hear and trust the magic in your voice.

I would have preferred 

not to forget your face. Now that would've been nice!

I would have preferred

for you to love me more than I love myself.

I would have preferred

not to have to pick myself from the dump - myself!

 

I would have preferred

to smell that fragrance of your hair and pink paint your nails.

I would have preferred

not to wake up middle of the ocean; drifting with shredded sails! 

 

I would have preferred

for time to have stopped at a moment of my innocence.

I would have preferred

to understand your cold apathy. To me it makes no sense!  

 

I would have preferred 

for you to always prefer what I preferred. 

I would have preferred

to be the one for whom in silence you suffered!

 

I would have preferred

to have said a loving last word; though there was nothing left to say.

I would have preferred

to be wrong about you regretting your choices every day!    

 

I would have preferred

to love, hold tight, nurture,build, rise and grow old together.

I would have preferred

not to drop our head on our knees; sob & mourn each other!  

 

I would have preferred 

to have not met for my peace or ever set on you my eyes.

I would have preferred

not to be silent strangers; look blank & pray to the skies!   

 

I would have preferred

for you to communicate; be vulnerable & come home  to me. 

I would have preferred

for you to have thought wisely while I could still give 'me' entirely!

 

I would have preferred

us to be forever; graceful; generous, kind & abundantly celebrate in mirth.  

I would have preferred

not to leave everything unfinished; to the chance of another birth!   

 

I would have preferred...... 

 

  

    

 

जिन्न का चिराग!

AI generated image.

 

 किस जादू से बांध  रखा है मुझे? 

क्या न दे दूं मैं तुम्हे! बोलो क्या चाहिए?

ना जाने ये प्यार कहां से उमड़ रहा है; 

मुझे तो तुम्हे नफ़रत से देखना चाहिए!

अगला जन्म भी होता है; होना ही चाहिए!

 

सच में देने को कुछ हाथ नहीं है मेरे;

 दुआ न सलाम; मुझ जैसे को टालना चाहिए!

खिलौना जिसे तुम कब का तोड़ चुकी हो;

खास चलता नहीं है अब; क्यों चाहिए?

अगला जन्म भी होता है; होना ही चाहिए!

 

जीना मरना इंसा के वश नहीं, 

कोशिश कर ले, चाहे जितना चाहिए।

इस बार साथ बड़े कम वक्त का रहा;

 जीवन भर का ही होना चाहिए।

अगला जन्म भी होता है; होना ही चाहिए!

 

शुरू से फिर शुरू करेंगे, 

शुरू से हिसाब होना चाहिए!

क्यों जाता वो; इस जन्म गर आना होता?

 इंतज़ार करना भी क्यों चाहिए?

अगला जन्म भी होता है; होना ही चाहिए!

 

वक्त भी खास कुछ  बचा नहीं है;

  तुम्हे  क्या अब मेरी खाक चाहिए?

खूब पहचान कर भी जो अनजान बने,

 उसे कुछ कहना भी नहीं चाहिए।

अगला जन्म भी होता है; होना ही चाहिए!

 

जिसको तुम पाना चाहो;

उसको भी तुम्हे चुनना चाहिए!

अब कभी भी मिलेगा नहीं  वो;

 फिर भी राह तकते रहना चाहिए।

अगला जन्म भी होता है; होना ही चाहिए!

 

नालायक थी तमन्ना मेरी;

 शायद उसे धोखा ही खाना चाहिए!

अबके मजबूत डाली पर घोंसला बनाएंगे; 

हर तिनका सहेज के रखना चाहिए।

अगला जन्म भी होता है; होना ही चाहिए!

 

हर लालच से; अपनी खुदगर्जी से; 

सच को छलने से, बचना चाहिए।

इस बार तो तुमसे नहीं ही हुआ; 

अपने से सच बोलना चाहिए।

अगला जन्म भी होता है, होना ही चाहिए।

 

चलो करें फिर कुछ इक वादे ; 

बस तुम्हे निभाना आना चाहिए।

अगले किसी जन्म जब फिर मिलेंगे;

 तुमको मेरा हाथ पकड़ कर रखना चाहिए।

अगला जन्म भी होता है होना ही चाहिए!

 

सुनो भई, मैं कोई लफंगा नहीं हूं; 

 जिसे ब्लॉक कर ज़लील कर देना चाहिए।

 उम्र भर तुम्हे कोई आवाज़ अब न दूंगा;

 क्यों, जब तुम्हे ही नही चाहिए....

अगला जन्म भी होता है, होना ही चाहिए।

 

चाहत ने बहुत बेआबरू किया है मुझको ;

 चाहत को और कितना चाहना चाहिए?

चुपचाप वफ़ा करेंगे पहले के जैसे; 

नाकाम शख़्स को यही करना चाहिए।

अगला जन्म भी होता है, होना ही चाहिए।

 

भूल जाना चाहता हूं मैं सब कुछ  ।

 उसमें तुम्हे भी शामिल करना चाहिए?

क्या बनूं मैं भी इंसा औरों जैसा;

 क्या मुझे भी वादे भूल जाना चाहिए?

अगला जन्म भी होता है, होना ही चाहिए।

 

तोहमतें तो मैं तुम्हे बेहिसाब दे दूं;

 कोई फायदा भी होना चाहिए।

किस किस बात को रोएंगे हम; 

अब ये सब कम करना चाहिए।

अगला जन्म भी होता है, होना ही चाहिए!

 

देने को पास तुम्हारे दुनिया थी पूरी; 

सारी वैसी जैसी मुझको चाहिए।

इस बार मेरे भाग में क्या क्या आया?

 वो बात करनी ही न चाहिए!

अगला जन्म भी होता है, होना ही चाहिए!

 

बस ईश्वर तुम्हे हर सुख दे; 

 हां, भगवन् से ये  वरदान तो चाहिए!

आज़ाद नहीं जो आज मैं कुछ दे पाऊं;

   हक नही कुछ; जो तुमसे मांगना चाहिए!

अगला जन्म भी होता है, होना ही चाहिए!

 

चमकती, गुलाबी, सुनहरी रहे दुनिया तुम्हारी;

 तुम्हे खुश खुशहाल होना चाहिए।

मन में रोज दीवाली मनती रहे तुम्हारे; 

मेरे चिराग को अब बुझ जाना चाहिए!

मेरे चिराग को अब बुझ जाना चाहिए! 

  

अगला जन्म भी होता है न ?

 

 

 

Sorry; trust me, I love you!

"Hey , Look at my new skirt!"

Oil on Canvas, 1989.  H 180cm X W 120 cm. by Ashutosh Kaul

Artworks whereabouts  are unknown; believed to be destroyed !

Arguably the most misused word in the English language is ,"sorry"! Sorry to bring it to your notice though! You see how I am not sorry; not even one bit. I intended to do this all along but I am "sorry"! Most of the times we are insincere and mouth these words to mask our indifference ; guilt or a sly motive. When one is truly sorry, there is no need to say it. A sorry person makes the necessary change to correct the mistakes and that is all the sorry that is ever required.

A few  years ago Harbhajan Singh called Phil Symonds "monkey"('Bandar' in his mother tongue) in the heat of the moment  during a cricket match in Australia. The controversy became big and took racial overtones. It was eventually capped by explaining that word said was 'benchod'(f your sister) and not 'bandar' (monkey). Everyone said sorry; though  Harbhajan was guilty as sin but got a pass on  the racial slur. Sorry worked because there was no repetition of this slur again. He made the changes as required.

What happens when someone makes no change? When they knew exactly what they were doing, when they were doing it? When they are fully aware of the severe damage they are causing and continue to do it anyway. Can they ever be sorry?  Maybe for themselves but other than that....What if that unlikely remorse strikes them later in life but they have no way to make amends ? After all if you push someone down the stairs , you could get them to a hospital, give them some care and pay for the costs etc.; but if you knife someone and keep knifing till they loose their life; what on earth can you do ? Say sorry! Really ! Can you? "Sorry I screwed your life" ! What difference could it make?

"Trust me on this"; every scam , every con has trust at its core, trust me ! People go to great lengths and make great sacrifices in order to build trust in themselves. Trust is the most precious currency you can have in life. Once you fritter it away there is almost no chance of getting it back ever. It is the greatest of honours to hold someone's trust. That alone should stop people from betraying and losing their stock of trust. No, not at all! Real world does not work that way. Trust is the first currency people use to get ahead. More someone puts their belief in you, easier it is to exploit that trust. Like snatching candy from a kid! Easy peezy!

Why do bridges fail; why does a newly made road sink even before it is inaugurated? How does a criminal run his gang even while he is inside a jail? I can keep giving examples all night. The simple answer is that the  people we have placed our trust in are betraying us for their own ends without a morsel of shame or regret.

So what does one do ? How on earth can you continue if you do not trust at all? After all you need to trust the metro time table and leave home at a certain time in order to reach your place of work. You need to trust the coffee machine that once you press the brew button, your morning cup would come out hot and nice. Trust; trust indeed but remember two things. Firstly humans are the least trustworthy creatures on God's earth, period! Secondly trust demands proof ! There is no trust without it. If your machine spew out a good cup yesterday at the press of a button , you can trust it today to do likewise. It might still fail but that is not a trust issue. Humans on the other  hand need to provide proof every time by their choice of action ; not by their words or their thoughts. It is always a betrayal of the trust issue! Always; no exceptions! None.

What if someone loves you? Or the other way around. Can you trust them or yourself for that matter? I will cut the argument short but sadly the answer is 'no'! You can not and specially yourselves!

Problem lies with the concept of love. What we encounter on a day to day basis is not love. It is lust mostly, an attraction, a fancy or self love at best. People love themselves as they should but they look for others that can fill some of their own emotional, Physical, or material needs! Then they brand it 'love'!  Once the needs change love goes out of the window. They should not but love marriages fail too; don't they?

A mother always loves her children unconditionally. A father mostly. They ask nothing of you. They care despite your short comings; failings and misdemeanor. That  love qualifies as love.

For the rest of us love demands action. To find unconditional love is the rarest of the rare blessing in other people. It is so rare that we do not recognise it till it is too late. Consider it non existent for all practical purposes.

Anyway test yourself and test others constantly on the same scales. Who shows up? Who stays? Who runs away? Who cares? Who is  unbothered? Who wants to share, grow, partner and nurture? Who wants to take and take and scoot? Who will make sacrifices to keep you in their life; who will demand you to shrink to fit theirs? Who chooses you over the world every time, everyday? Who has you marked as an option? Who stays loyal despite receiving nothing? Who betrays despite receiving everything? Who is transparent; honest; secretive; communicative, closed off; lies; misinforms; grounded; calm; impulsive; ...

Love demands action. The worst lie people tell is 'I love you'! No you do not! Not until your actions say it. Stop lying to people or  to yourself. You never need to utter these three words ever when you truly love someone and someone loves you unconditionally .  Every breath you take is going to shout it ! Every breath you take belongs to your person! They  will know it instantly too!

Unconditional kind is only kind of love that is love. Other kind is just making a deal. Stop calling a  mere contract 'love'. You are only deluding yourself ! No wonder 'love' so often disappoints so comprehensively! Parties always feel short changed and deceived. Mostly they are.

Sorry; trust me, I love you! They are all meaning less combinations of the alphabet. They might soothe your ego, but will certainly bring  big trouble for you if not accompanied by the needed action.  Maybe you did not know ; now you do!