Vivaah

सोच और समझ
तुमने तह कर के रख दीं
दहेज में लाई हुई
साड़ियों के साथ।

"क्यों जी?" भूल कर,
तुमने
"हाँ जी" सीख लिया,
एक ही दिन में।

"कहो जी..." भूल कर
मैंने
"अजी सुनती हो?"
सीख लिया
एक ही दिन में।

7 फेरों, और 9 शब्दों ने,
जीवन बदल दिया देखो!

On Punjabi Parenting

ਛਿਤੱਰ ਅਤੇ ਪਿੱਤਰ - Helping Punjabi mothers raise children since forever.

Now, I did try to translate this joke, but its one of those jokes that truly is lost in translation. 

The word "Chhittar" can mean anything from "Wait till I get you" to actual hitting a child. 
The word "Pittar" can mean anything from "Wait till your father gets home" to "Is this how you're going to ruin the family name?" or even "Oh my forefathers! Why didnt you take me with you? I would not have had to see this day!"  - depending on the type of Punjabi mother. 

So you see, you have to be a Punjabi to get this Pun. :) On the bright side, this has an Apna-Pun. 

Katranein

कुछ लोग होते हैं ऐसे 
जो चेहरे पे झलकती धूप को तो हटा सकते हैं 
नूर को नहीं। 
तुम 
वैसी ही हो. 

On Pollution - Nov to Jan every year, Delhi

किसी को कुछ करना चाहिए।
किसी को ज़रूर कुछ करना चाहिए।
हर कोई कह रहा है,
किसी को कुछ करना ही चाहिए। 

कहने वाले 
करना कुछ नहीं चाहते।  
************ 
Someone must do something.
Someone must definitely do something.
Everyone is insisting,
Someone must do something for sure.
The ones who speak
Don't want to act.
Speaking is enough.
Like a winch
it levitates them
above all responsibility.

On Pollution - from Nov to Jan

किसी को कुछ करना चाहिए।
किसी को ज़रूर कुछ करना चाहिए।
हर कोई कह रहा है,
किसी को कुछ करना ही चाहिए। 

मेरी माँ पूछती है,
ये आवाज़ उठाने वाले लोग,
हाथ क्यूँ नहीं उठाते?
ये बदलाव चाहते है तो
कदम क्यूँ नहीं बढ़ाते? 

ये उंगली उठाने वाले लोग,
कंधे क्यूँ नहीं मिलाते?
ये नारे लगाने वाले लोग,
जोर क्यूँ नहीं लगाते?



Someone must do something.
Someone must certainly do something.
Everyone is screaming,
Please let someone do something!

My mother, old and not so educated,
asks,
"These people who raise their voices,
Why don't they raise a finger to work?
If they want a change,
Why dont they take the first step?

The ones who raise an accusing finger
Why do they not lend a helping hand?
The ones who scream so loud,
Why don't they lead the charge?

Edit: This piece has been improved by Just Mohit. 

Today's thoughts / Quotes

I wasn't strict with my son, because i was sure that sooner or later,  everyone learns to shoulder responsibility,  when life puts them them to the grind.
But then I saw:
28 year olds who can't cook
35 year olds not willing to get married
45 year olds who blame the govt for their pollution.

Evidently,  life's grinding stone is out to get polished.
****************
I have learnt that love and energy are far more potent currencies than money.

When we say "People don't leave companies, they leave managers." ,we are effectively saying, "This person does not receive enough positive energy from a desired source."

When we say, "This person makes me feel like I belong." we are effectively saying, "There is enough love exchanged here."

It is funny how many of our transactions and experiences are understood when we start to recognise the exchange of love and energy that happened there.
*********
Step 1. Look down upon the use of swear words.
Step 2. Create a world where swear words are needed more than ever.
Step 3. Talk about mental health.
**************
My problem with bleeding hearts is that their hands never bleed.
**********
Dear parent-of-7-year-old-who-refuses-to-look-away-from-the-laptop/phone-when-your-child-is-trying-to-talk-to-you: How do you expect your 14 year old to look up from his phone/gaming console when you are trying to talk to him?
************
The National Sport of India is long distance spitting and the national verb of India is bribe.
***************

vyangya ki samasya

व्यंग्य की समस्या ये है, कि जिसे समझ में आता है उसे उसकी ज़रुरत नहीं है, और जिसे ज़रुरत है, उसे समझ में नहीं आता. 

Katranein: Andha

सुनो, आज १२ दिन हुए तुम्हे गए. कल तेरह्वी  है।  मैंने इन १२ दिनों में १ बात नोटिस की. कहूँ तुमसे? सब लोग न, टोकते बहुत हैं. ये वहां नहीं रखते, ये रस्म ऐसे होती है. तुम कभी ऐसा नहीं किया करती थीं. मेरी बात चाहे गलत हो या सही, तुम "अच्छा" ही कहती थीं. 
पता है, मुझे कभी ऐसा लगा ही नहीं, कि तुम मेरी हाँ में हाँ मिला रही हो. मुझे हमेशा लगा, मैं सही हूँ. हर बात में. कभी शक भी नहीं हुआ, कि मैं गलत हो सकता हूँ. एक पूरा जीवन निकल गया देखो, और मैं अँधा ही रहा. 

Omair Ahmed and Aakar Patel - Contempt of Court by the educated elite

The radicalism of the Muslim league was vocal, but not violent. Then came Jinnah - well read, articulate, influential. And THEN the violence started.

The radicalism of the common man creates one terrorist. But the radicalisation of the educated is exponentially more dangerous because they are able to influence millions and create a dialogue that is based on hatred, while making it appear to be based on logic.

Today, I read a piece in the paper as part of my regular reading. The author was some guy called Omair Ahmed. As I read on and on, my anger got worse and worse. I am not even a Hindu, i have never been to Ayodhya and as far as I can tell, will not go. But the article was so infuriating even to me.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/violence-has-been-rewarded-and-we-should-all-worry/

The article quotes:
"again and again circles back to the fact that Hindus worshipped inarticle was  the outer courtyard of the complex, and harassed Muslims going into the mosque in the inner courtyard. It also cites that Hindus used to frequent the mosque before the riots of 1856, which starts the evidentiary trail.... and then...  Staggeringly, the court argues that this makes the claims of the Hindus to the whole site stronger than the claims of the Muslims.

And then:
The way that the Supreme Court has chosen to decide this dispute seems inescapably a commentary on how violence premised on faith is to be adjudged in the future.

And this gem follows:
Imagine if a group decides that, based on their faith, they can contest the ownership of the structure. Imagine if they set up a campaign to harass, attack, and forcibly take over the structure, smuggling in their articles of faith in the dead of the night to justify the takeover and locking out those that used to worship there.Contesting the ownership is so me-too! The right thing to do is to raze the structure and build a mosque on top of it, so that there is no doubt about the ownership any more. 

Imagine if evidence of this campaign is actually used to award them exclusive right to that structure. What imagine? That is exactly how the Faithful got the right to that structure.

And this is the piece-de-resistance:
In its own way, it is a judgement on the New India, an India where the Supreme Court has judged that reason has no place any longer. 
So, while stating that the Supreme Court's judgement is devoid of reason, this person does not think twice about contempt of court.

What made me really angry 
According to this dude, razing the holiest temple of the Hindus and doubling the insult by making a mosque there (an act that he does not mention) is reasonable and historically correct, but using that structure to pray to one of the most important deities in the religion is bullying and violence.

If that is not Islamic radicalism, I don't know what is. He can do contempt of court on national media. A national newspaper can publish that and another contempt of court on the same day (Aakar Patel).

On googling, I found that the bearer of this name is an author. So, starting with Devdutt Pattnaik, has the author community entered a race for increasing stupidity?

PS: I have a personal rule against posting anything hateful. But this article was sooo weird, it just needed to be recorded for posterity. The same way that i post about unscrupulous lawyers and doctors. Their public record gets whitewashed, but someone needs to write - for those who want to know the truth about this person. Or at some point in future, will want to know.