जुगनू

खेला हूँ मैं तेरी रोशनी से बहुत,
मुट्ठियों में भी बंद करके देखा तुझे,
नेमतों में से कुदरत की तू भी तो है
एक हस्ती  कभी पर ना समझा तुझे |

क्या हुआ जो अँधेरे हैं  चारों तरफ,
रोशनी एक आती है हमको नज़र,
जुगनुओं, जाएँगी अब ये राहें गुजर
बन सको तुम अगर बस मेरे हमसफ़र |

चाँद की चांदनी पर ना मुझको यकीन,
क्या पता कब ये छुप जाएँ बादल तले,
घटते घटते ये एक रोज़ मिट जायेंगी
बढ सकूँगा अगर संग तू मेरे चले |

Perspectives in Life

Aniruddh, Manish and Ranjan  have been the best buddies at college, always ready to help each other out. It was their last day at college. They were just chilling out when Ranjan suddenly broke the silence, " Hey guys! what are you planning to do after this?"

"Of course, we are going to do some job and make a lot of money, but why did you ask this question?" answered Manish without any second thought.

" Come on Manish, money can not be the only motivation. I mean, it can be many of the rewards, but not the final destination."

"Ranjan, I don't know about you, but I definitely want to earn a lot of money and get all the luxuries that have always eluded me and have inspired me to work hard to get to this point. I want to enjoy my life. I want to have a lot of money so that I don't have to think twice before buying anything."

"But, how much money will be a lot for you? You must define it in order to draw a limit." interrupted Aniruddh, "You can never fulfill your needs if you try to satisfy your senses because they don't enjoy the same taste permanently. After a while, it becomes painful just like you can not enjoy the same sweets continuously, no matter how much favorite it is. Basically, I am not against earning money, but you must always define your needs otherwise you will never be satisfied if you just keep following your senses and social trends."

"So, what are you planning , Aniruddh?" asked Ranjan.

"I am planning to prepare for Civil Services. I want to earn respect in the society and it will also give me the power and means to improve the system."

"By the way, a rich person is as well respected as an government officer, and yes, they don't have to do 'Ji Huzuri' for those illiterate politicians." mocked Manish.
"You can control the system for a while with your power, but it will not be permanent until there is proper understanding among the people which it consists of. They have to balance the importance of money and relationship with the people in the society for an efficient system." added Ranjan.

"You started this topic, Ranjan. So now, it is your turn. Tell us what you want to do?"

"I don't know exactly what job I am going to take afterwards. When I look at my basic needs, I can certainly draw a line to my requirements. And to fulfill those needs, an average job will be good enough. But you know how misleading the definition of a successful person is in our society. You have to be either a rich person or a well known person in a particular field to get respect in the society. In fact, if someone is prosperous (having extra resources after fulfillment of his needs) and is able to fulfill his responsibilities in all relationships, he must be a successful person. May be we can work together to discuss these proposals with others and find out some new aspects to the meaning of success."

क्या पता था

ज़िन्दगी से कभी हमने माँगी न थी
शान-ओ-शौकत या के मिलकियत ख़्वाब की
क्या पता था हमें वो भी दिन आयेगा
ज़िन्दगी खुद फ़कीरों में होगी खड़ी.

सर झुका के हमेशा मैं चलता रहा
भीड़ के घुंघरुओं की मधुर ताल पर
क्या पता था नज़र ये उठी क्यों नहीं
इस जिगर में वो जिगरा भला था किधर.

जब कभी हमने पलकें उठायी भरी
हर तरफ बाँहें खोले दिखा आसमां
क्या पता था हमें इस खुली राह पर
मंजिलें ताकती होंगी हमको खड़ी.

रिश्तों की डोर होती है नाज़ुक बड़ी
आज़माइश से ही ये झटक जायेगी
क्या पता था हमें एक दिन डोर ये
पाँव की बेड़ियों में बदल जायेगी.

दिल से

हज़ारों की भीड़ में अंजान हूँ मैं,

गौर से देखो, तुम्हारी ही तरह इंसान हूँ मैं,

मौजों की लहरें इस दिल में भी उठती हैं,

दोस्त मेरे, दिल का बड़ा कदरदान हूँ मैं.

कारवाँ  ज़िन्दगी का गुजर जायेगा

ज़माने के रंगों में रंगते हुए.

रंज-ओ-ग़म ये मगर फिर रहेगा सदा,

ज़िन्दगी को कभी खुद से जी न सके.

नाम-ओ-शोहरत किसी को भी मिल जाती है,

पर, शुकूँ दिल का सबको ही मिलता नहीं.

दिल की सुनने का जज्बा है जिस वीर में,

काँटों की राह चलने से डरता नहीं.

Competition: Where it starts

I read a blog saying that excellence,  rather than distinction, should be the purpose (or limit) in every field of life because quest for distinction always gives rise to competition among ourselves which is a relative term and does not fit anywhere in co-existence while excellence is an absolute entitiy which one has to define in his own rights. What are the necessary factors for one to attain excellence in a perticular field and what gives rise to competition that one has to evaluate oneself in terms of others?

Suppose, I am doing something which I am not really convinced about and am doing it just for the sake of making money and being respectable following social trends. I know for sure that this is not the job which I really want to do. Now, it is abvious that I can not acheive excellence in this field anyway. May be sometimes, I would get recognition and respect from people because what I am doing is a reputed job by social standards. But, I am never satisfied with my performance because I am not giving my hudred percent effort. I am just surviving there. In the survival process, I have to be ahead of others and hence, I have to compete with others. Sometimes, this is just for survival and somtimes for distinction.

I always believe that everbody has more or less same abilities, it is just their interest  (or conviction) which drive them to excel in any perticular field. When someone identifies his field of interest and has enough courage to follow the path, he puts his full effort and as a consequence excellence and hence, satisfaction is acheived.

Driving Life

Sometimes going gets really tough and you start thinking whether you really belong to this place. You start feeling your limitations. Giving up the hope is always the last resort, but it is always the feeling of ' pushing a little bit and may be the solution is lying around the corner' that keeps you driving in the quest of life. It is always the human nature. He always tries to push it to his maximum limits, but sometimes this maximum may not be good enough.

It is just like a long distance race where one keeps going until he stops breathing. But, there are always some moments of testing through out the event. The race in incomplete only in two cases, either he feels tired for a moment and just gives up in that momentarily wave or he is completely finished. In the former case, there always remains a repentance of not holding on to that particular moment. It takes just a momentary disbelief in you abilities that lets you fail in your whole endeavour. And the ones who hold on to their belief till the very end, always end up on the laughing side. Win or loss does not really matter because it is always the satisfaction of hundred percent effort that makes you happy and stronger.


In life, the intensity may not be so high, but then the moments are also not so brief. I think that the direction and your conviction for that matter becomes much more important here. Sometimes these are only assumptions which lead our deeds. These assumptions may be right or wrong. You can get to the final destination following your assumptions, but once, you are stuck somewhere, it is very difficult to drive yourself unless you are convinced about your goal.

So, I would say that it is always good to find out the answers to these three questions, Why, How and How much, before setting out for any endeavor. The first one is the most important one because human beings are always motivated by the goal and if the purpose behind that is clear, one can always find the required driving force to get there. The remaining two questions are about training and you needs. Once the goal is clear, one can always find out the ways and if the needs are defined, one can always draw a line to your limitations.

The Rain

It is 11:30 in the night and raining quite heavily. I shut down my system and went to bed. I set alarm clock for the next morning and try to sleep, but somehow I can't sleep. These raindrops don't let me sleep. There is something which is disturbing me. I come out of my bed and again switch on the PC and start writing this blog having no idea of what I am going to vomit in this page. Sometimes, I feel this urge from inside to write something, but mostly I ignore it, thinking my English and writing skills are not good enough to publish. But today, this rain pourd some thoughts in my heart too or I should say made me recollect some sweet memories and I could not restrain myself from doing it.

Whenever it rains, I just feel like stop all proceedings for a while and enjoy it. Actually, the rain, in many ways, acts as a rescue force for many entities of Nature. When everyone is restless with the high temperatures of summer, all ideas in mind are covered with thick salty liquid and the tension which is already stored there can not get past this boundary, the rain comes in as a rescue to open your mind gates for some fresh ideas and washes you out. When a farmer's hopes start dying with the drying fields, the rain gives them a new ray of hope in a weather where there is no ray of Sun. For the birds who go away leaving their home for a vacation in summers, it gives them a message to come back because it is incomplete without their liveliness.

For me, the best thing about the rain has always been the sweet smell it creates when it pours on to the dusty earth. After long hot days of summer, it gives a much needed calmness to the nature. I must say, in India, we enjoy these little moments of happiness very enthusiastically in a unique way. You just sit down in the shade having a cup of hot tea and garam pakodas having chat with some friends and you can enjoy the pattering sound of raindrops. And some more enthusiastic people like to enjoy it in rain itself by feeling the energy of the drops on their body itself. Even if you are alone, you can share your happiness with the Nature in a gentle breeze of cold air.

There is no more dust in the air. The air is fresh. The tree leaves which were looking dirty are cleaned up by the rain drops. Everything is settled to its ground state. This may cause a brief interruption in a normal life, but it is just like a recharging of your body and may be soul too.