Review of Play Begum Jaan by Ekjute

It was a delight. Thats the short review.

Nadira Babbar plays Begum Jaan and as Juhi Babbar says rightly, Begum Jaan mein jaan daal di (she put life in the character) .

The play is entertaining without being flippant, funny without being vulgar (yeah thats a rarity these days) and tells a story without preaching.(ok, only in parts).

When one goes to see a play, one expects a play. one expects performances, sound modulation and stage presence. One gets all that. AND, one gets a lovely stage setting. That stage setting had my jaw drop from the word go. That the play itself is very, very nicely written is a bonus.

This play is like an onion - layers come off personalities, bit by bit. One of the dialogues in the play can be roughly translated as : People are a lot like onions. If you start peeling off the layers, at some point, your eyes will water.

The play is also like a classic book - everytime you encounter it, you are likely to come away with a new meaning. The characters are not black or white. They have shades of grey, turqoise, bright green, and everything in between. They are real characters, with real personalities - not the unidimensional personalities that popular fiction has us believe exist.

The play raises no new questions. Provides no new answers. But for those 2 hours, it takes you on a journey into a different world. Its like a roller coaster ride on the wings of a thumari.



 

in this country, politics is in safe hands. the thinkers dont vote, and the voters dont think. :)
 

How Congress will help Narendra Modi win

Dear Congress: Every time you mention 2002, we remember 1947. And 1984. And 1992. All over the country. And Bhagalpur. And Bhopal.

We start to wonder why congress was the leading Political party of India in 1947 . The country was divided, bloodshed happened. And not one citizen asked the political party for accountability? Till date, no one has asked the Congress: Why did you divide the country??? Prime ministership was given away, not through democracy, but through absolute sycophancy like it was the personal fiefdom of Gandhi.
And these are the people who laid the foundation of democracy in India.

What was Gandhiji doing when people were being mass killed in the most brutal way in the North and the East in 1947? aah.. Sitting on a fast unto death in Birla House! What was Nehruji doing at that time? Aah! sitting near the feet of Gandhiji, imploring him to end his fast. Not one of these founding fathers entered the streets as a leader should have. Or even as a salaried public professional should have.

But we dont remember all of this till you start screaming 2002 into our ears.

Everytime you try to victimise him, he gets some more sympathy votes.

Alone, Modi cannot sway the country on one side. But with your co-operation, he can spin the pendulum. Keep at it. You are doing very well.

तुम्हारी बस इतनी ग़ल्ती

ये मेरा गहरा ग़म
तुम्हारा दिया नहीं है
ये जन्म से मेरे साथ रहा है
अज़ल तक मेरे साथ रहेगा

ये मेरे अन्दर की खला
ये भी तेरी अता नहीं
ये जन्म से मेरे साथ रही है
अज़ल तक मेरे साथ रहेगी

तुम्हारी बस इतनी ग़लती
कि जब  तुम मेरे साथ  चले थे,
तब ये खला भरी भरी लगती  थी
और ग़म को भी मैं
भूल  गया था
 

Moonshine by Richard Murphy

To think
I must be alone:
To love
... We must be together.

I think I love you
When I’m alone
More than I think of you
When we’re together.

I cannot think
Without loving
Or love
Without thinking.

Alone I love
To think of us together:
Together I think
I’d love to be alone. .

पहाड़

एक मेरी बोली
सब जहां सुनता है
एक मेरी चुप
सिर्फ पहाड़ समझते हैं 

maura - punjabi

koi tupka tupka vi
maura pee sakda hai
koi
ik ik saah
vi mar sakda hai


Someone
can poison themselves
one drop at a time
Someone
can die
one breath at a time.

Hit and Run will continue in India

Last night, i saw an episode on TV(based on a real story) . A young man was hit by a motorbike and then, in a critically injured state, was hauled into the bushes next to the road because the inebriated riders wanted to avoid conviction.

All day, i thought about the heartlessness of it all. To hit someone in an inebriated state is bad enough. To physically throw them at a place where you know they wont be able to get medical attention, is pure murder.

Today, on the way home, someone ran to cross the road. It was a 5 lane road and i was in the 3rd lane. The person started running from the 5th lane. I had to apply emergency brakes. So did at least 2 other vehicles.

And then. I thought.

This is what would happen in a logical place had i accidently hit the person:
1. I take him to hospital.
2. While the patient is being administered medical aid, the police arrives.
3. IDs of both parties are checked and statements taken from both.
4. I was driving within the speed limit, with the seat belt on. He was running (not just jaywalking, running) to cross the road at a place where there was no pedestrian light, no zebra corssing. In short, no place or right to cross the road.

Here is what will happen in India:
1. I take him to hospital.
2. No matter what the condition of the patient, the hospital will not start treatment till the police arrive. Most likely, they will ask me to take the patient to a public hospital. Especially if he is not well to do.
3. The police arrive. Both IDs are checked. I am booked for rash driving, my vehicle is impounded and i spend the night in jail.

This is why Hit and Run will continue in India:
1. When planning roads and flyovers and fancy toll roads, pedestrian subways and crossings are not planned at all. Its as if pedestrians dont exist, much less their rights.

2. When traffic lights are installed, pedestrian lights should be installed too. They seldom are. Where they are installed, they are rarely used.

3. Two wheelers think that they dont have a vehicle. They have a stunt machine, and the road is not for transportation. It is a stadium for their racing championshiops. Bigger vehicles need to look out for a motobike appearing out of nowhere suddenly, then apply emergency brakes. If they happen to be rearended by the vehicle behind in the process, too bad. The other vehicles are life insurance providers anyway.

4. Bicycles and Cycle Rickshaws want to use the same roads, but with no intention of using also the same rules. There is no lane discipline for them, no one ways and no traffic lights. they go where they please, just because they can. When they get hit, the blame lies squarely on the other person. I have never understood this.

So, Hit and Run will continue in India. Not because people are heartless, but because our administrators plan badly, and we have poor citizens. Very, very bad citizens. And thats the scourge of India.

parauna

तुझको चलना तो था मेरे साथ
हमदम
और मैं
रुका भी रहा
तेरे लिए
पर ऐन  उसी शब  तुझको
तेरे माजी ने बुला लिया
और तू
बीन मोहित नाग की तरह
चल दिया
सब छोड़ कर .

तुझको चलना तो था मेरे साथ हमदम
और मैंने
तेरे लिए बनाया भी  था
एक छोटा सा आशियाँ
जहां न बिजलियाँ गरजें
और न ही
तन्हाई की लू  सताए
पर तू
ऐन उसी वक़्त
पड गया
सोने की चकाचौंध में
और सोना भला
चैन से सोने से
कब हारा है ?

तूने थामा तो था मेरा हाथ ज़रूर
पर उस हाथ में एक मुंदरी भी थी
अब उस मुंदरी के हीरे को
मैंने निगल लिया है
अब
न तू, न तेरा साथ
न तेरा माजी
न सोना
बस ये
कमरा
सुबह की धुप
छन कर आती हुई
और एक खाली हाथ

अब तू
इस घर का कहाँ रहा?