The God of Cricket – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

“If cricket is a religion for 125 crores Indians, then definitely Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is the GOD of this religion”, “Sachin conquered the Mount Everest of ODI Cricket”, “Sachin’s thunder on Gwalior ground”, “First man on planet to reach 200 in ODI and it is the Super-Man from India”, “Today is the day of celebration”, and amid all these news blazes on different news channels, I celebrated this eventful day with a bottle of Kingfisher Strong.

After a tensed day in office, slashing Sachin’s double century against South Africa, first ever in one international cricket, came to me as a pacifier. In light of the milestone that Sachin has achieved, nobody seemed to bother about the result of the match and so do I, but just now Headlines Today started flashing the breaking news that India has won the match by 153 runs. In addition, with this I completed my last sip of the best creation of humankind. I grew up watching Sachin hitting 6s, 4s, centuries, half centuries, winning matches for India and I really cannot envision what would happen to the followers of India’s prevalent religion when he retires. However strained you are, Sachin’s century or any match-winning inning would have always brought a smile on your face.

Being an ardent fan of Shri. Hariwansh Rai Bachchan, I got reminded of a line of his epic creation, Madhushala,

बैर बढाते मस्जिद – मंदिर मेल कराती मधुशाला |

Now I feel that it is not only Madhushala, but Sachin’s game also creates a great bonding among the citizens of this country. This man has eventually ended the era of breaking old records and has now started making new records with each passing match in both the major forms. Today in different cities of India, all the festivals appear to have advanced collectively and people have started celebrating Holi, Diwali and Eid today itself. We will always be proud of you Sachin and keep on drawing inspiration from you. You are the light Diwali, color of Holi..there is only one Shenshah in Cricket, who plays for India…… Kudos to you.

Save the tigers or let them die

I read somewhere that it was the year 1411 AD when Ahmedabad was founded by Sultan Ahmed Shah. Then around a month ago, I found another significance fact about this figure when all the news channels started flashing the menacing news that there were only 1,411 tigers left in India. And now every individual is being urged these days to do their bit in saving the life of tigers in India, in fact on earth. Be it school, college, government agencies or India Inc, overnight, ‘Save The Tigers’ campaign gave their social responsibility drive a twist. Saving the tiger became an issue of national pride suddenly.

Major reason behind the killings of tigers is probably each tiger fetches Rs. 2 crore in international market as everything from the cat’s bones to the teeth has a value. I agree that killings should be immediately stopped and Wildlife Act 1972 should be amended in a manner to include stricter punishments for poachers and this law should be vehemently implemented. But apart from spending crores of rupees on Save Tiger Project advertisement, our government should also work at the grass root level to improve the lives of tribal people who are tempted by external agents to kill tigers for a few hundreds bucks.

Project Tiger sometimes call the tiger an indicator of our ecosystem’s health. I am not very much convinced with the idea because there are many more animals that are the part of our ecosystem and ecosystem cannot lose balance if specie, 1411 in numbers, extinct. I feel that evolution is an ongoing process, and in this process many new species are formed and the others extinct. If not, we would have seen real Dinosaurs and Mammoths in the animated movies like Jurasssic Park and 10,000 BC respectively. Probably we would not have been here to see such movies if Dinosaurs still existed. Those species exited and paved way to new species like human beings otherwise could you imagine your existence with Dinosaurs, Mammoth and Archaeopteryx. If global warming, population and pollution continue to grow like this, we might also have to face the fear of extinction some day. We all have to admit that neither of the above mentioned things can be stopped completely, but we can slow down their pace and this way we can only prolong our survival. Later on someday we will go and some other specie would occupy the space vacated by us as nature is clever enough to find something to adapt to the changing environment. Every day millions of species are losing out which we have no account for. For now, it might be Tiger’s turn.

I repeat that I am against the killings of not only tigers but any other animal in the wild and it should be stopped immediately. But the way awareness is being extended for this government initiative, I never saw for any other thing in past. There are stern national issues like poverty, unemployment, child and adult education, but government of India never asked us to write blogs on those issues as it is being asked for Save The Tiger Project. Are we only and so much concerned about tigers because since time immemorial, this mammal has been considered royal and it is our national animal? Would saving life of 1,411 tigers improve the day to day life of a common man? If saving a tiger cost millions going into advertisement and generating awareness, I would rather be happy to let Tigers die and utilizing that money on other socio-economic issues.

मेरी मधुशाला

I am an ardent admirer of Shri. Harivansh Rai Bachchan and read his many poems including epics like Madhushala and Madhubala. I am highly inspired by Madhushala and believe nothing can match it’s stature ever. 

“Meri Madhushala” is a humble effort to use the instruments of Bachchan ji [madira or haala (wine), saaki (server), pyaala (cup or glass) and madhusala, madiralaya (pub/bar) ] that he used in Madhushala to explain the complexities of life. I hope I have not hurt the emotions of his fans and expect your inputs on how to improve for next versions.

 

निराकार की करते तलाश,
आ पहुँचा मैं मधुशाला को,
निःसत्व हुआ मन का प्याला,
भर दो सिरे तक साकी हाला |

आज पीऊँगा जी भर मैं,
जब तक खुली रहे ये मधुशाला |
जो सूख गई हैं धमनी मेरी,
बहने दो नसों में अब हाला |

मदिरा मदिरा कहते सब,
है विष घातक जीवन को |
मैं कहता छूने दो अधर को,
सुधा बन, कंठ में बरसे ये हाला |

आज ना रुकना साकी तुम,
ना खाली हो मेरा प्याला |
है आशा कि, अभौतिक से
मेल कराती ये मधुशाला |

पथिक

हे पथिक तू चला कहां,
विस्मित मन ले बढ़ा कहां,
कटु अनिच्छा लिए चित्त में,
विष पूर्ण प्राण अब उड़ा कहाँ |

खो चुका, जो स्वर अब तू,
कर लिया है निर्बल काया तू,
व्यक्तित्व हुआ लघु तिनके जैसा,
अकिंचन तन ले चला कहां |

क्यूँ बढ़ने को तू है विकल,
जब सामर्थ्य हुआ तेरा निर्मूल,
प्राण तो कर, तू अब स्थूल
पुनःस्थापित कर तू अपना मूल |

बहिखाता 2

कुछ फ़ुर्सत के पलों में आज,
यादों के पन्नो को पलट रहा था |
क्या मिला और क्या छूटा अब तक,
शायद हिसाब लगा रहा था |

सयुंक्त परिवार में सींचा गया,
एक स्मरणीय बचपन बीता |
प्रेम सौहार्द और एकात्मता का,
बालपन में पाठ सीखा |

एक नहीं, कुटुंभ में,
बहनें थीं पाँच,
अब भी आता है याद मुझे,
खेल वो घर-घर का आज |

अलग होती थी, वो होली तब,
होते हम सब इकट्ठे जब |
घर में आते रंग-गुलालें,
छनते रसोई में,
गुझिया और माल-पुए |
माँ बड़ी-माँ और होतीं चाची,
साथ में होते दादा-दादी |
आरंभ करते आशीर्वाद लेकर,
लौटते सांझ तले, होली खेलकर |

वो दीवाली कितनी प्रकाशवान होती,
दीपों से जब बहनें, घर को सजातीं |
घर के बड़े पटाखे जलाते,
हम छुर-छुरिया पर मोहित होते |
नये वस्त्र में लिपटे होते,
अनार चरखी देख आनंदित होते |
छोटी बहन की छुर-छुरिया छीन,
भागता जब मैं, तो वो रोती,
वो दीवाली कितनी प्रकाशवान होती |

पन्नो को बार-बार पलटा,
जाने कितने बार देखा,
कुछ खोया, या निर्गामी, दिख रहा नही था |
हाँ जीवन की इस आपा-धापी में,
उस अमुल्य बचपन से दूर अब हो रहा था,
वो अनुभव, अब यादों में परिवर्तित हो रहा था |
जब खाते में देखा हाल के दीनो की प्रविष्टि,
तो बहिखाता मेरा, बस निर्गामी दर्शा रहा था |