Monday, October 31, 2011

Your silence
like the dense fog
covers
all the seeds
i plant
in the soil of love

They die
in the cold.

Love, the way i like it..

ਸਤਲੁਜ ਦਰਿਆ ਜੋ ਵਗਦਾ

ਉਸਦੇ ਪਿੰਡ ਦੀ ਜੂਹ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ

ਮੈਂ ਕਰਾਂ ਢੇਰ ਸਜਦੇ

ਉਸਨੁ ਨਿਤ ਨਿਤ ਨੀਵੀਆਂ ਪਾ

ਓਹ ਸ਼ੇਹਰ ਗੋਰਾਯਾਂ ਦਾ

ਓਹ ਬੜੇ ਪਿੰਡ ਦਾ ਰਾਹ

ਮਿੱਟੀ ਉਸਦੀ ਲਾ ਮਥੇ

ਮੈਂ ਲਇਆ ਹਜ ਮਕਾ

ਓਹ ਏਕ ਲੋਹੇ ਦਾ ਬਾਜ਼ਾਰ

ਜਿਥੇ ਵਸਦਾ ਸੀ ਮੇਰਾ ਯਾਰ

ਉਥੇ ਵੇਚ ਮੈਂ ਏਕ ਏਕ ਕਤਰਾ

ਲਹੂ ਦਿਤਾ ਇਸ਼ਕ਼ ਦੇ ਉਤੋ ਵਾਰ

ਓਹ ਚਲਦੀ ਹੈ ਪੁਰਵਾਈ

ਉਸਦੇ ਪਿੰਡ ਦੀ ਜੋ ਲੇਕੇ ਵਾ

ਲੇਹ ਉਸ ਵਿਚ ਲਮੇ ਸਾਹ

ਮੈਨੂ ਹੋ ਜਾਵੇ ਏਕ ਨਸ਼ਾ

ਓਹ ਉਸ ਘਰ ਦਾ ਦਰਵਾਜ਼ਾ

ਜਿਥੇ ਰਹੇ ਓਹ ਮੇਰਾ ਯਾਰ

ਮਨ ਉਸਨੁ ਆਪਣਾ ਕਾਬਾ

ਸੁਨੀਲ ਚੁਮੇ ਪਇਆ ਵਾਰੋ ਵਾਰ

English Transliteration:

*****************

Satluj dariya jo vagda

usde pind di jooh de nal

main kara dher sajde

usnu nit nit neevia pa

Oh shehar Goraya da

Oh bare pind da rah

Miti usdi la mathe

main lea haj maka

Oh ek lohe da bazaar

Jithe vasda si mera yaar

Uthe vech main ek ek katra

Lahoo deta ishq de uto vaar

oh chaldi hai purvaai

usde pind di jo leke vaa

leh us vich lame saah

mainu ho jave ek nasha

Oh us ghar da dawaza

jithe rahe oh mera yaar

Man usnu apna qabba

Sunil chume pea varo var

29th April 2011

Copyright © With Gratitude from a post by Sunny Jaggi

This is inspired by a real life incident which was narrated to me or rather to everyone who had attended that Punjabi lecture in DAV College in winters of 1994, I was one of the regular class bunkers who was hardly ever seen attending any lectures and this was once of those rare occasions when I decided to attend the Punjabi lecture.

The Punjabi lecturer was a very soft spoken young man in his early thirties and he was lamenting that how the youth of the day (which was us at that point in time) have no time for love and feelings and how everyone is so busy trying to get into engineering colleges and medical colleges as we were all aspirant engineers at that point in time. No one enjoyed poetry and how we were all more interested in pop and rap (those were his words, pop was new in India then I guess!)

He narrated an incident of his youth when as young men he and his friends used to travel to Ludhiana from a nearby village by bus for education and they had to cross the bridge over the river Satluj and one of the boys used to everyday make an extra effort to look out of the bus window towards the river, close his eyes and bow his head to show his respect for the river. They were all confused as this went on for over a year and one day one of those boys asked this boy why he did so and after a lot of goading he told all of them that the waters of the river went past a village in which his beloved lived and he bowed to the water so as not to flood his beloved’s village (as that area was prone to flooding) and to take his love and his feelings to his beloved!

That incident as narrated by him has stayed with me till today and my above lines are inspired by this incident. I hope that even if you do not like my lines you will appreciate the feelings of that young man

Saturday, October 29, 2011

A Jagjit Singh Ghazal sung privately..

This was shared at The Browsing Corner(a bunch of ppl who like reading) .. am grateful to the original poster - for the ghazal and for permission to reproduce here..

वो दे रहा है दिलासे उम्र भर के मुझे,
बिछड़ ना जाए कहीं फिर उदास कर के मुझे..
Wo de rahaa hai dilaase umr bhar ke mujhe
Bichhad na jaa'e kahi'n fir udaas kar ke mujhe

Jahaa'n na tu na teri yaad ke kadam ho'nge
Daraa rahe hai'n wahi marhale safar ke mujhe

जहां न तू, न तेरी याद के कदम होंगे,
डरा रहे हैं वही मरहले सफ़र के मुझे


Havaa-e-dasht mujhe ab to ajnabi na samajh
Ke ab to bhool ga'e raaste bhi ghar ke mujhe

हवा-इ-दश्त मुझे अब तो अजनबी न समझ,
के अब तो भूल गए रास्ते भी घर के मुझे

Dil-e-tabaah tere gham ko taalne ke liye
Sunaa rahaa hai fasaane idhar udhar ke mujhe

दिल-इ-तबाह तेरे ग़म को टालने के लिए 
सुना रहा है फसाने इधर उधर के मुझे


Kuchh isliye bhi mai us'se bichhad gayaa 'Mohsin'
Wo duur duur se dekhe thahar thahar ke mujhe

कुछ इसलिए भी मैं उस से बिछड़ गया मोहसिन,
वो दूर दूर से देखे ठहर ठहर के मुझे..

The last sher was particularly nice.. a lot of relationships are lost because, at the right time, we dont go out and cover the last mile..

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Book cases

Dont you know
that bookcases
dont feel pretty?
Just useful.
And ignored.
The books in them
get more attention
than the wood in them
Except
when something
is wrong.

If there is a termite infestation, making them hollow
there is a termite treatment
its called antidepressants

If the polish wears off
from someplace
there is
the visit to the beauty parlor.

If the wood chips off
some place
there is
the emergency (or planned)
surgery.

If the base gives way
there is
replacement.
Divorce
With generous alimony.

Rarely, if ever,
is the wood chopped off and finished
by the people
who wore it off.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

तुम्हारा नाम , छाला बन गया है जीभ पर,


दुखता है, जब भी कुछ कहती हूँ


Sunday, October 09, 2011

ab mujhe koi intezaar kahaan... lyrics

अब मुझे कोई इंतज़ार कहाँ...
वो जो बहते थे आबशार कहाँ...

आँख के एक गाँव में, रात को ख्वाब आते थे,
छोने से बहते थे, बोले तो कहते थे,
उड़ते ख़्वाबों का ऐतबार कहाँ?


जिन दिनों आप रहते थे, आँख में धुप रहती थी,
अब तो साए ही साए हैं, ये  भी जाने ही वाले हैं..
वो जो था दर्द का करार कहाँ?

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

तुम्हे पता है सपने कब टूटते हैं?
ठीक उसी वक़्त, जब हमें यकीन होने लगे, कि वो सच है।

Why Workplace Diversity is important - and good for business

This is the work of Mudra Group, Creative Director: Jonoo Simon and Copywriter: Akhilesh Bagri. Thankfully, we cant tell the name of the client because its literally in fine print. I think that might be deliberate. :-)

The Mudra group is one of India's oldest and most respected advertising agencies. That they should approve this ad comes as nothing short of a shocker, but the employees in question deserve special mention.

This ad proves why Diversity is important. The advertisement is wrong on a lot of levels. But basically, it is wrong because it places the onus of safe driving on someone who is not driving! And absolves the driver of all responsibility for Safe Driving. I am still amazed that an ad like this was cleared for production.

My exact comment on the blog post where one first saw this ad:
**************
Dont talk while HE Drives?? Really? And what is HE? an invalid who cannot take that simple decision of what he needs to do for safe driving? WHo gave HIM a Driving License?

And the visual is very disturbing too. Ridiculous. Someone passed this ad? Really?
************
My guess is, that one woman on the team, or a non Indian team member, would have seen the stupidity of that assumption rightaway. Work like this proves that diversity is not just a pretty concept. Its VERY necessary.

This ad is not just stupid and insensitive. It crosses that fine line into being offensive. The ad creators did not realise that its a diverse world, even if they dont have a diverse team