short pieces - random, aise hi..

Autumn Trees

Ikebana

Of the Gods
****************
Girl
Born to be
Banyan
Crafted into
Bonsai.

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

Your Love
More bitter
More lethal
Than the poison cup
Handed out to me.
And the world wonders
Why
Meera
Did not die.
********************
सांवरे का  बिरहा
विष से कड़वा
ज्यादा  पीड़ादायी
अधिक प्राणघाती
और दुनिया सोचे
राणा  जी के प्याले से
मीरा क्यूँ न मरी?

The Return of the Xenophobic

When i wrote last week about the Pak Hindus asking for asylum, the North East storm wasnt on our heads. Now it is, and i had to take away that post because honestly, the head hangs in shame. Pakistan is an Islamic nation, by definition. What is the defence of the Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic of India, which just celebrated its 66th birthday, for:

• The way its women are treated?
• The fact that one third of the world's visually challenged population is in this country, and still, we do not have signages in public places?
• What is happening, and has been happening to people from the North East?
• The Assam fiasco? where the CM doesnt even make a proper bledy statement, much less do anything?
• Multiple other instances of intolerance that we face everyday, and dont say anything?

When i thought some more about all of this, the conclusion was that its not just the state, the establishment or the "system" that is to blame. it is us - WE, THE PEOPLE.

We, who dont cringe at chinki or Sardarji jokes - giving them the crucial social acceptance that they need.

We, who dont think twice before attending marriages where dowry has been exchanged.

We, who love to follow "indian tradition" except the age old tradition of keeping a part of your earnings for a good cause.

We, who are so accustomed to AC environments and lack of queues that we dont go out to vote - not even once in 5 years - for the Lok Sabha elections.

We, who, instead of standing up and walking out, stay in that room and nod silently when a xenophobic discussion is raised in that room. We may or may not agree with the speaker, but the fact that something inside us is nodding to a xenophobic statement should be enough to inspire introspection.

With the whole bunch of We Vs They messages all around us, not succumbing to a caste/ religion/ gender/ state bias is a daily battle. but its a battle worth fighting - even with ourselves, on a daily basis.

sammohan सम्मोहन

तुम और हम
जब मिले थे
तब जैसे इन्द्रधनुष

पर इन्द्रधनुष
होता है
प्रकृति से  ही
मायावी

और अब
ज्ञात हुआ
तुम्हारे प्रेम का निर्मल झरना
केवल मेरी
मृगतृष्णा

मेरे निस्वार्थ प्रेम की बारिश
केवल मायावी इन्द्रधनुष

अब सोच रहा  हूँ
ये  सम्मोहन
पहले तुम तोड़ो ,
के मैं तोडू

devesh matharia's poem - Dilli

दिल्ली... तुम बहुत कड़क चाय हो!

ज़रा तपाक से दो कदम बढ़ जाऊं आगे तो
लबों पर एक तपिश का बोसा धर देती हो
जुबां खुद ब खुद लड़खड़ाती है
...

प्याली से छलक कर बहते रहने की आदत सी हो गई है

घूँट घूँट क़तरा क़तरा रोज़ तुमको पीता हूँ
और तुम मुझे अन्दर ही अन्दर पी रही हो
एक दिन गुज़रता है एक चुस्की उतरती है
तेरे लहजे में रोज़ नई तल्ख़ी उभरती है
सुबह से जिस्म के चूल्हे पर सांस पकती है
तब कहीं जाकर सहन में एक रोटी पकती है

रात होती है तो इंडिया गेट पर जाकर
चुस्कियां भरता हुआ तेरी
मैं चाँद की शक्लें बदलता हूँ
एक कप दिल्ली को मीठा करने को
रोज़ शीरी कितनी नज़्में कहता हूँ...

दिल्ली... तुम बहुत कड़क चाय हो...

- देव -

micro health center in india

You dont think of it in a city full of multi speciality hospitals and multiple doctors. you dont think of snake bites as a cause of death in a concrete jungle. When you see a peacock or a camel, you get excited and point it to your child.

When you are at a book fair, at the eklavya book stall, a fat book is titled "jahaan doctor nahi hain" (where there are no doctors) . You look at the book - bewildered. the idea of not having access to a doctor, hits you smock in the middle of your eyes. you then realise that more than half of this country cannot go to a doctor even if they need to.because there are no doctors within reachable distance. Even more people cannot reach a hospital because there are no hospitals or medical facilities.

Thats when the importance of something like this hits you. Full on. A portable, cloud enabled, plug and play health center. Fully equipped to enable telemedicine.
The brilliance of the solution is in its simplicity. Its amazing what technology can do when someone thinks about what we can make it do.

Find out more about this amazing concept here:
http://ehealth.eletsonline.com/2012/03/micro-health-centre-instant-on-cloud-enabled-healthcare-infrastructure-solution/

http://indianhealthjournal.wordpress.com/tag/hp/

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/7/prweb9699462.htm