Wednesday, July 29, 2009

तकदीर

गर रोने से ही
बदल सकती तकदीर
तो यह ज़मीं बस
सैलाब होती
गर अश्क बहाने से
ही होती
हेर गम की तदबीर
यह नम आँखें
कभी बे आब
न होती















i








Wednesday, July 22, 2009

किरदार

वक्त के लंबे सफ़र मैं
किरदार यूँ बदल जाते हैं
वो जो कल
चला करते थे
थामे अंगुली हमारी
वही आज आगे बढ़
हमें राह दिखाते हैं

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

BIASED

HE WILL BE BLAMED
FOR BEING BIASED
IF HE WON'T EVER
MAKE ME SUFFER
I AM ALSO
A SEGMENT OF
HIS CREATION
A PASSENGER OF
SAME CARAVAN
WHERE ALL
MOVE FORWARD
IN SHADE OF
PINK N BLUE
OF LIFE
IF I REMAIN
UNAFFECTED BY
TREND OF THIS WORLD
WON'T THE FRAMER
OF MY DESTINY
BE DEFAMED
FOR BEING BIASED

Friday, July 17, 2009

SPEECHLESS

THOUSAND SPEECHES
WON'T TEMPT ME
I CAN SPEAK
BUT I AM MUM

Thursday, July 16, 2009

रेत की दीवार

ज़िन्दगी रेत की दीवार
ज़माने मैं
आँधियों की भेरमार
जाने कब
गिर जाए यह सतही दीवार
फिर क्यों ज़िन्दगी से
इतना प्यार




Thursday, July 9, 2009

?

O!MOTHER
CONFINED IN YOUR WOMB
SCARED OF MY
INTERROGATIVE EXISTENCE
I BESEECH YOU TO
ANSWER MY QUESTION.

COZ I AM A GIRL
I HAVE BECOME UNWANTED?
ARE YOU ASHAMED OF
BRINGING ME INTO THIS UNIVERSE?
YOU WOULD HAVE HELD YOUR HEAD HIGH
AND FELT PRESTIGIOUS IN SOCIETY
BY GIVING BIRTH TO A GUY?

I AM A SEGMENT OF YOU
WON'T THE VERY THOUGHT
OF EXTINCTING ME
MAKE U STIR N SIGH?

I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO
BEAUTIFY YOUR ORCHID LIKE ROSE
DEMANDING SPECIAL ATTENTION
I WILL FLOURISH LIKE'MARFGO'
GROWING UNCARED
WITHOUR CAUSING ANY TENSION
BEARING LIFE'S UPS AND DOWNS
WON'T CAUSE ME FROWNS.

WITHOUT ME,WHO WILL APPRECIATE
CONSANGUINITY OF BROTHER N SISTER?
WITHOUT ME WHO WILL CELEBTATE
RAKHI N BHAIYA DOOJ, FESTIVALS GREAT

HOW WILL DURGA,LAXMI AND SARASWATI
INCARNATE ON THIS EARTH?
AND WITHOUT ME,THE EARTH'S PRIDE
HOW WILL GROOM GET BRIDE?

MOVED BY INVOKING QUESTION OF
ENTITY OF THE WOMB
MOTHER TRIED TO PROVIDE HER SOLACE
CONVINCING HER WITH MOTHERLY GRACE.

OH!MY YET TO BE BORN
DARLING DAUGHTER
I CAN SENSE YOUT BREATH
YOUR MOVEMENTS,YOUR SENSATION
I M YOUR MOTHER
YOU ARE MY FASCINATION.

IT IS MY SACRED DUTY TO GENERATE YOU
I KNOW ONLY ONE GIST OG LIFE
NURTURED ON SELFLESS SELF
WHETHER IT BE A GIRL OR BOY
BOTH ARE EQUAL IN MOTHER'S EYES

YOU ALIGHT IN THIS WORLD
SAFE N HEALTHY
IS MY CHIEF CONCERN
INCARNATION OF CREATION,POWER N ENERGY
YOU FLOURISH IN THE DENSE SHADE OF AFFECTION
I NOURISH YOU AS FIRM FOUNDATION.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

दिल के मौसम

होती है कभी
फूलों से काँटों सी चुभन
कभी काँटों मैं
फूल खिला करते हैं

बहार मैं वीराना
कभी
वीराने मैं
बहार का एहसास 

यह दिल के मौसम
यूँ बेमौसम
बदला करते हैं

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

TEACHINGS

WHEN MOTHER
WENT TO
HER VILLAGE
I REMAINED
AT HOME
PERFORMED ALL
THE CHORES
CLEANING UTENSILS
SWEEPING,COOKING.
WHEN MOTHER
WAS BED STICKEN
I GOT READY
MY YOUNGER
BROTHERS N SISTERS
GIVING THEM BATH
WASHING THEIR CLOTHES.
FOR SENDING THEM SCHOOL
ARRANGED THEIR BAGS
SEARCHING FOR THEIR
RUBBER,PENCIL
AND GEOMETRY BOX
STANDING WAYSIDE
WAITING FOR THEIR
SCHOOL BUS,RICKSHAW

THUS,MY MOTHER
IN HER ABSENCE
TAUGHT ME
HOW TO BE
A MOTHER
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THE POEMS "RECALL'N 'TEACHINGS'HAVE BEEN ORIGINALLY COMPOSED IN RAJASTHANI BY SMT.SANTOSH MAYA MOHAN N TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY MYSELF RAJNI CHHABRA

RECALL

LYING UNOCCUPIED
ARE YOUR
ALL THE SEVEN CHAMBERS
FROM SUNDAY TO SATURDAY
BECAUSE
IN EACH AND
EVERY CHAMBER
YOU LEAVE
IMPRESSION OF
KUMKUM SMEARED FEET.
WITHOUT HALTING
MOVE AWAY
ON YOUR
FURTHER JOURNEY
MY ONLY TREASURE IS
RECALL OF YOUR
RISING N SETTING
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Monday, July 6, 2009

HANDKERCHIEF

I got this handkerchief three years ago.I kiss it delicately,as if it won't be able to bear even a little bit of roughness and if I treated it roughly,won't be able to hold itself together.A long lost sacred fragrance started twitching in my blood again.
It wa a moment of departure.A Maruti car decorated wid flowers was standing behind the bus,hired for a marriage party.Ahead a crowd of ladies,crying n shedding tears.Shuchi was woalking towards the car,her head hung low.She was walking in the footsteps of her bridegroom.The bridegroom was holding her "pallu',tied in a knot n thrown over his right shoulder.The other end was tied to the border of Shuchi's dupatta
Shuchi was pulled along by this knot.I was standing, hiding my face,at the other end, alongwith Shuchi's Ji Sa(father).Just at that moment,amall girl came running and said,"Do you have a handkerchief? Didi needs it for wiping her tears.
Within a flash,I took out my milky white handkerchief n handed it over to her.Then,I beheld Shuchi,gently touching hankie to her eyes.She was least concious of the fact that her face would forever be embossed in the hankie for me.Before she alighted the car,the same youngster came running and handed the kerchief back to me
.I hastily folded it and slipped into my pocket.It is still lying with me since,unwashed, and still glowing,smudged with tears and inked with 'kajal' and the first vermilion applied on Shuchi's forehead.
Who is Shuchi to me?There is a small story need to be mentioned.My family and I arrived in the town,in which Shuchi was born and brought up,some years ago.As is customary in small towns,very soon, we made our acquaintance with her father.By and by, we got to know the entire family.Our families grew close.There was a considerable age gap, between Shuchi;s father and me.He was tghe father of a grown up daughter like Shuchi,while my only son was not yet of school going age.Although, each and every member of that family,showered tremenduous affection on my family,yet Shichi's affection for my son knew no bounds.She used to say,''He is absolutely like you."
Shuchi was very soft spoken.Was that the secret of her beauty? I thought about this a lot.She used to wear a very little make-up, but it was always so perfect that the beauty of any other glamorous woman in a gathering would pale before her serene, simple charm.She hardly talked to me.It was limited to exchanging greetings or little querries.Of course, she chatted a lot with my son.Thus, we stayed for many years.Years later,after we had settled down in Calcutta,the invitation arrived.
From a practical point of view,my wife did not deem it fit to travel so far, to attend the wedding.In her opinion,sending a nice wedding gift would suffice..But, i had to attend Shuchi's wedding.Other than close family ties,the reasons why i had to attend the wedding was purely personal.Though, the reasons were insignificant, almost unaccounted for.
Actually, both the families had very good relations.Nothing was hidden from anyone.There was only one single incident that Shuchi and I had kept secret from the others and it still remains one, till this day.Such incidents don't happen just like that,and at the time, i had nrver expected it.I remember in the beginning,when such a longing ,arose in me, I lulled it.Then, all of a sudden, one day, Shuchi knocked at my door.
I was alone at home those days.I was preparing for some employment examination..Shucji's Ji Sa insisted that,I shift to his home.He insisted that I should stay with them n study till my wife returned.I used to get up at 3a.m.to study in those days.But God knows what change came over me and I started sleeping so soundly that even the sound of amn alarm clock couldn't wake me up.Ultimately, it was decided that Shuchi would keep the alarm clock with her and would come to wake me up every morning.This worked perfectly.Shuchi herself would come n call out,"Get up, uncle, it is time to study."
Upon hearing Shuchi's voice,I would wake up.After serving me tea, she would go back to sleep.I never noticed that she didn't ever touch me until, i received that chit of paper from her one morning.It was just a small note.But, it was like a wake up call.The letter shuchi had written on a piece of white paper and folded into four.i found it in the pocket of my kurta.Shuchi had asked,"Can I wake you up by touching you?'
"Yes,"I added my reply to her letter and handed it back to her.
The incident happened in the morning.The same evening, my better half returned.i shifted back to my house.After that,I never got a chance of staying at Shuchi's place.When I moved to Calcutta,negotiations for Shuchi's marriage were on.I got this invitation in Calcutta n came to attend the wedding.Smearing my handkerchief with her kaajal-stained tears and the maiden vermilion from her forehead,she alighted the car.Three years have elapsed.I have no letter from her.No news is good news.I think,she must be well settled now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a Rajasthani story orignally written by Sh.Malchand Tiwari n translated into English by myself..Rajni Chhabra.

BLISS

BLISSFUL IS LIFE
WHEN MINDS CONNECT
CARING N SHARING
LEAVES DEEP IMPACT
CREATING EVERLASTING EFFECT
MAKING U FEEL SO PERFECT
GIVING NEW INTERPRETETION
TO UR LIFE
PUTTING AN END
TO UR SOLITARY STRIFE

Thursday, July 2, 2009

WANDERING CLOUD

A WANDERING CLOUD
THAT HAD HALTED
IN MY COUTRYARD
FOR A WHILE
SHOWERING ITS
BLISSFUL SHADE AND
PROTECTIVE AFFECTION
GOD ONLY KNOWS
WHERE HAD IT
BEEN SWAYED
BY MERCILESS
WINDS OF TIME
A PANG STIRS
MY MIND
OH THAT I COULD OWN
A FISTFUL SKY
TO GRAB THAT CLOUD
INSTEAD OF
SCORCHED COUTYARD
I WOULD HAVE BREATHED
SANDAL SMEARED BREEZE
IN MY COURTYARD.

CAGE

 CAGE

It was a big zoo.I was strolling in front of a cage on which hung a board proclaiming Extremely Violent Beast'. These cages had a strange design;at some places, they were high walled,at some , the walls were low,at some places ,they jut out, at some places, they receded and some had the walls on the left side,while others had it on the right. The cages that are high,have a staircase alongside.these stairs lead you to a long verandah,having many small cages,all in a straight line.

I came across him here,holding a canister. His fingers were stained with bits of flesh.He was not an animal,but a human being. Picking pieces of flesh from the canister, he was throwing them into the cages for the animals. Suddenly, my attention was captured.Though, some flesh might be still left in the canister, on his own body, there was no flesh visible at all, think about it. In the given situation, is it not the limit of irony. I was even more surprised when that bony figure, laughing with a carefree swagger, said to me,"Have you come from downstairs? I left a cage open there.The very stairs that you came up by,t he lion might come up too."

I started bleating like a goat.I thought that if a goat were listening to me, it might feel jealous of my goat like tendency to bleat. In my fright,I had even surpassed a goat.

I could hear thumping sounds on the stairs. I was staring at the staircase, aghast. Some animals were shrieking in their cages, some were twittering, chirping; but all of them were safe, because they were in their cages. Suddenly, I felt, all I needed at this moment. was an empty cage, but there was no empty cage in sight, no cage to run into.Wasn't there a deeper irony of fate that I had been confronted with.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a short story in Rajasthani, by Sh.Malchand Tiwari, translated into English by me.

MORTGAGED

IN THE PALATIAL CORRIDRS
WITH RAYS OF LIGHT
SCATTERING PROFUSELY
THROUGH JHAROKHAS
LIKE A BONDED SLAVE
YOU WERE STANDING
WITH FOLDED HANDS
CLOSE TO YOUR PAINTING
DEPICTING LIMITLESS SKY
AND BIRDS LONGING
TO TOUCH THE HORIZON
WHEN THE PATRON
WAS BEHOLDING IT
YOU STOOD STILL
AS IF YOU WERE
NOT THE BREATH
BEHIND THIS BEAUTY
YOUR WINGS COULD
NOT FLUTTER
CLIPPED N MORTGAGED
TO THE PATRON
WERE YOUR REVERIES
INSPIRATION AND VISION.