छोटे लोग

“अनिल झाड़ू पोछा हो जाये तो दरवाजा बंद कर के चले जाना।”, मैंने घर पर काम करने वाले लड़के को यह कहा, पांव में चप्पल डाली, और बाल कटवाने निकल गया।

मेरा मित्र सुरेश अक्सर इस पर गुस्सा होता था, “तूं कैसे इन पर इतना भरोसा कर लेता है? जाने किस जगह से है, कैसा है यह लड़का? छोटे जात का है, किसी दिन कोई गड़बड़ ना कर जाए।”

मेरा जबाब होता – “छोड़ ना यार क्या रखा है घर में खोने को?”

पर उस दिन बाल कटवाते हुए अचानक ख्याल आया कि वॉलेट से पांच सौ के चार नोट निकालें फिर उन्हें बेड पर ही भूल आया था।

कलेजा हलक को आ गया।

हालांकि दो हजार बहुत बड़ी रकम नहीं होती, पर ईमान भटकाने के लिए तो काफी ही है।

जल्दी-जल्दी जैसे-तैसे बाल कटवाए, पैसे दिए और घर की ओर भागा।

धड़कते दिल से बाहर का गेट खोल कर जैसे अंदर आया कि चौंक गया।

अनिल बरामदे में ही खड़ा था।

“ओय, तूं गया नहीं अब तक?”

“नहीं साब, दरवाजा खुला था, इसलिए गया नहीं, ऐसा ठीक नहीं है ना इस कर के।”

मैं बिना कुछ बोले अंदर बेडरूम की ओर भागा।

चार कड़कते पांच सौ के नोट बेड पर पड़े थें।

उस दिन खिड़की के शीशे से बाहर ग्लानी से सर झुका कर काफी देर तक पता नहीं क्या देखता – सोचता रहा।

तुम्हारे लौटने तक..

मैं झूठ नहीं कहूँगा।
सब कुछ हमेशा अच्छा नहीं होता।
सभी साथ देने वाले नहीं मिलतें।
सभी तमन्नाएं पूरी नहीं होतीं।
सारे हिसाब सही-सही नहीं बैठते हैं।
मगर क्या और कौन कितना रहेगा यह हम खुद तय कर सकतें हैं।
हर रौशनी के साथ एक साया भी आता है।
तुम रौशनी के साथ रहोगे या साये की ही फिक्र करते रहोगे, यह तुम पर निर्भर करता है।
बची हुई उम्र में कुछ करने का जज्बा साथ होगा या सिर्फ बीती हुई उम्र का अफसोस, यह चुनाव तुम करोगे।
जो तुम्हारे दिल में नहीं बसते, पर तुम्हारे दिमाग में उथल-पुथल मचाते हैं, वह तुम्हारी इजाजत से ही होता है।
पर, तुम खुद से दूर जाते रहोगे या हाथ बढ़ा कर रोक लोगे खुद को, यह मैं तुम पर छोड़ता हूँ।
वक्त ज्यादा नहीं है, पर मैं इंतजार करुँगा – तुम्हारे विवेक के लौटने का, तुम्हारे लौटने का, तुम तक।✍🏻😊

The Paradox of Our Times..

The paradox of our time in history is that..

we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers;
wider free-ways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more, but have less;
we buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees, but less sense;
more knowledge, but less judgement;
more experts, yet more problems;
more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much,
smoke too much,
spend too recklessly,
laugh too little,
drive too fast,
get angry too quickly,
stay up too late,
get up too tired,
read too little,
watch TV too much,
and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life.
If you added years to life, but not life to years.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet and the new neighbour.
We’ve conquered outer-space, but not inner-space.
We’ve done larger things, but not better things…

We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudices.
We write more, but learn less.

(~ By BOB MOOREHEAD)

Self Worth

A motivitional guru pulls out a five hundred rupee note, in a meeting with his disciples, and hold it up for all to see.

He just asked a simple question. “How much is this worth?”

“Five Hundred rupees!” the crowd yelled in unison.

“Right,” said the speaker.

He then took the note and crumpled it into a ball and asked “How much is it worth now?”

“Five Hundred rupees!” screamed the audience.

He then threw the note on the ground, stamped all over it and picked up the note and asked one more time: “And how much is it worth now?”

“Five Hundred rupees!” was the response.

“I want you to remember this,” said the speaker.

“Just because someone crumples it, or stamps on it, the value of the note does not diminish.
We should all be like the five hundred rupee note.
In our lives, there will be times when we feel crushed, stamped over, beaten. But never let your self-worth diminish.
Just because someone chose to crush you – that doesn’t change your worth one bit!
Don’t allow your self-worth to diminish because someone says something nasty or does something dirty to you.”

Lady, How old are You?

My job as Medical professional puts me in a position to go through the personal details of my patients and pose those questions, not asked, out of courtesy, generally.

Of late, I’ve been noticing, no woman patient has come to me who says her age is more than forty – though the physical appearance may be on the contrary – and, some of them are Grannies already! 😉

I wonder how that is possible?
Do they stop growing after that age is reached or it is a deliberate attempt not to accept the fact that we grow old?
And then, the bombardment of commercials about hair-dyes, skin-rejuvenating creams and anti-ageing lotions in media!
If Age is ‘Just’ a number, haven’t We forgotten the ‘Progression’ or ‘Maths’? No one is willing to accept the real age.. and accept ageing gracefully.
What to do?

But, why should I complain?
I think we are definitely a country full of people young at heart!
Oh believe me, I myself am Sixteen for last Thirty years now!!!
;)☺😜

जीवन की प्रार्थमिकता

किसी जंगल मे एक गर्भवती हिरणी थी जिसका प्रसव होने को ही था। उसने एक तेज धार वाली नदी के किनारे घनी झाड़ियों और घास के पास एक जगह देखी जो उसे प्रसव हेतु सुरक्षित स्थान लगा। अचानक उसे प्रसव पीड़ा शुरू होने लगी, लगभग उसी समय आसमान मे काले-काले बादल छा गए और घनघोर बिजली कड़कने लगी जिससे जंगल मे आग भड़क उठी। वो घबरा गयी उसने अपनी दायीं ओर देखा, लेकिन ये क्या?
वहां एक बहेलिया उसकी ओर तीर का निशाना लगाये हुए था, उसकी बाईं ओर भी एक शेर उस पर घात लगाये हुए उसकी ओर बढ़ रहा था अब वो हिरणी क्या करे?
वो तो प्रसव पीड़ा से गुजर रही है, अब क्या होगा? क्या वो सुरक्षित रह सकेगी? क्या वो अपने बच्चे को जन्म दे सकेगी? क्या वो नवजात सुरक्षित रहेगा? या सब कुछ जंगल की आग मे जल जायेगा? अगर इनसे बच भी गयी तो क्या वो बहेलिये के तीर से बच पायेगी? या क्या वो उस खूंखार शेर के पंजों की मार से दर्दनाक मौत मारी जाएगी – जो उसकी ओर बढ़ रहा है? उसके एक ओर जंगल की आग, दूसरी ओर तेज धार वाली बहती नदी, और सामने उत्पन्न सभी संकट.., अब वो क्या करे?
लेकिन फिर उसने अपना ध्यान अपने नवआगंतुक को जन्म देने की ओर केन्द्रित कर दिया। फिर जो हुआ वो आश्चर्यजनक था।
कड़कड़ाती बिजली की चमक से शिकारी की आँखों के सामने अँधेरा छा गया, और उसके हाथों से तीर चल गया और सीधे भूखे शेर को जा लगा। बादलों से तेज वर्षा होने लगी और जंगल की आग धीरे धीरे बुझ गयी। इसी बीच हिरणी ने एक स्वस्थ शावक को जन्म दिया।
ऐसा हमारी जिन्दगी में भी होता है, जब हम चारो ओर से समस्याओं से घिर जाते हैं, नकारात्मक विचार हमारे दिमाग को जकड़ लेते हैं, कोई संभावना दिखाई नहीं देती, हमें कोई एक उपाय करना होता है, उस समय कुछ विचार बहुत ही नकारात्मक होते है, जो हमें चिंता ग्रस्त कर कुछ सोचने समझने लायक नहीं छोड़ते। ऐसे मे हमें उस हिरणी से ये शिक्षा मिलती है की हमें अपनी प्राथमिकता की ओर देखना चाहिए, जिस प्रकार हिरणी ने सभी नकारात्मक परिस्तिथियाँ उत्पन्न होने पर भी अपनी प्राथमिकता “प्रसव”पर ध्यान केन्द्रित किया, जो उसकी पहली प्राथमिकता थी, बाकी तो मौत या जिन्दगी कुछ भी उसके हाथ में था ही नहीं, और उसकी कोई भी क्रिया या प्रतिक्रिया उसकी और गर्भस्थ शिशु की जान ले सकती थी! उसी प्रकार हमें भी अपनी प्राथमिकता की ओर ही ध्यान देना चाहिए। हम अपने आप से सवाल करें, हमारा उद्देश्य क्या है, हमारा फोकस अर्थात केंद्रबिन्दु क्या है? हमारा विश्वास, हमारी आशा कहाँ है, ऐसे ही मझधार मे फंसने पर हमें अपने इश्वर को याद करना चाहिए, उस पर विश्वास करना चाहिए जो की हमारे ह्रदय में ही बसा हुआ है.., जो हमारा सच्चा रखवाला, हितैषी और साथी है।

Awestruck & Lusting For You .. (Two Poems)

Awe struck

Awe struck,
I was left.
Shut ..,
smut ..,
scuttlebutt ..,
hard luck,
dead duck .. !

Lusting For You ..

Your chin,
like an apple ..
waiting for the first bite .. !

Wet lips fluttering ..
but do not speak with words,
Index finger to it, shhhhhhh .. !

Tongues thrusting
probing inside ..,
tasting the passion .. !

A sumptuous dessert,
Can’t wait for another bite just,
lusting for you .. !

The Unconditional Love … !

I read this story somewhere, I don’t know … just posting it here … for it touches the heart so easily!

Once upon a time, a man punished his five-year-old daughter for using up the families only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper before Christmas.

Money was tight, so he became even more upset when on Christmas eve, he saw that the child had used the expensive gold paper to decorate a large shoe-box she had put under the Christmas tree.

nevertheless, the next morning the little girl, filled with excitement, brought the gift box to her father and said, ” This is for you, Daddy!”

As he opened the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier over-reaction, now regretting how he had punished her.

But when he opened the shoe-box, he found it was empty and again his anger flared up. “Don’t you know young lady …,” He said harshly, “when you give someone a present there is supposed to be something inside the package!”

The little girl looked up at him with sad tears rolling down the cheeks and whispered with emotionally choked voice, “Daddy, it is not empty … I blew kisses into it until it was all full.”

The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around his precious little one. he begged her to forgive him for his unnecessary anger.

It is said, an accident took away the life of the child only a short time later. The father kept this little gold box by his bed for all the years of his life. Whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems, he would open the box take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of this beautiful child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us human beings have been given this invisible golden box filled with unconditional love, affection and kisses from our children, families, friends and God.

So, you too just open your golden box and feel the love … because, there is no more precious possession anyone could hold!

When money talks … !

A crusty old man walks into a bank & says to clerk, “I wanna open a f**king savings account.”

The astonished woman replies, “I beg your pardon sir, but that kind of language is not tolerated here.”

She goes to the bank manager to complain.

Manager agrees such foul language can’t be accepted.

They both return to the window & ask the old geezer, “Sir, what seems to be the problem here?”

Old man: “There is no f**king problem, I just won $200 million bucks in the f**king lottery & I want to put my f**king money in this f**king bank of yours.”

Manager: “I see, And is this bitch giving u a f**king hard time sir?“

Moral of the story:When money talks, nobody checks the Language or Grammar…!

How amazing is this word “F**K” … it has even replaced the word “GOD” as the most used from the day-to-day vocabulary.

Let us see Osho the great trying to unravel some of its mysteries…!

Don’t get hanged for a Comma…!

That freedom fighter was about to be hanged inside jail. The hangman was about to remove the thin plank of wood that was the difference between life and death for the convict. The convict was Indian, hangman was Indian but the order to hang was British government’s… yeah, this story pertains to the Indian freedom struggle era. With heavy heart the hangman went up to the lever that would have removed that plank of wood. Suddenly there was mild commotion from the entrance side.

“Wait, an important message is to be received through wire … Don’t hang him till we receive it.”

It was the British jailor. Hangman’s hands froze where they were. Everybody turned towards the jailor with an expectation… a hope that the convict might get freed… he might not get hanged at all! A moment later, an orderly came running with the wire just received. But, what was that…?! It contained just three words… “HANG NOT SPARE” Communication facility was not, what it is these days and after much deliberation jailor decided to go ahead with hanging as the meaning that he had deciphered from wire was “HANG, NOT SPARE” … off course he came to know about his folly afterwards! What to do… a freedom fighter that would have been set free lost his life just because of a ‘COMMA’!

The second story is from late Mughal period. Badshah Salamat had noticed that his Naib Wazir (Deputy Minister) was absent from his court. He asked his spies to find out the whereabouts of said Wazir. By evening the reply came. It was in Persian that used to be the script of day-to-day work those days. It said,

“او مرد امروز”

(Who Aaj Mar Gaya => He died today).” Badshah Salamat was shocked to hear that but a bigger shock was awaiting him when he came to know that the spy forgot to put “Pesh” (the accented hyphen that puts in the sound “E” at “Mar” and he actually meant to say (Woh Aajmer Gaya => He went to Aajmer).

So, you see, what a misplaced stoppage (Punctuation) can do to the meaning!

In late 17^th century, people started placing a common “Shiro-Rekha” (शिरो-रेखा) on all words in a sentence in Hindi. Now, try and make meaning out of following sentence from a letter written in that period:-

“कागदहीकेकारणजानगवायो।“

“KAGADHIKEKAARANJAANGAWAAYO”

What do you decipher? This question was put to a “Dhobi” (A Washer man) and he deciphered the meaning as:-

“का गदही के कारण जान गवायो।”

That is, somebody (Probably a washer man) lost his Donkey (गदही) and died due to loss to his income.

Not satisfied, people wanted to consult a “Munshi” (A Clerk, or a person with literary bent of mind) as they were approaching his house, his Milkman happened to come across. Curious, he too wanted to see the letter and after seeing he couldn’t but ridicule them for not understanding a line that was very simple and obvious. It meant, according to him:-

“काग दही के कारण जान गवायो।“

A crow lost life for curd… (After being hit by the stone thrown by milk-woman to scare him away from the pitcher full of curd, probably …!)

People were aghast at the explanation. Suddenly, somebody noticed the Munshi coming their way. They just ran up to him with the problem at hand. The bespectacled Munshi, adjusting his specs, announced to the crowd, “Meaning is quite obvious… Someone lost very important paper and lost his life because of the urgency associated! You see…

“कागद ही के कारण जान गवायो।“

Till date it is not clear why someone lost his life or, what the meaning of that sentence is…! Everybody explains it according to his wisdom, his profession, his familiarity with one or other situation. So, you too don’t lose a life (Your or someone else’s) just for a silly punctuation… A Comma!

Now something deeply philosophical: –

“A Punctuation or A Stoppage, as in literature, is very important in life too, for it gives you to time to stop for a while, look around, look back, rejuvenate yourself… and then go ahead.” Think about this.

I know what you are thinking…!

“So much for your philosophies… Huuh!”

Ok, forget it!