भैरवी, पण निनावी

रात्रीचा दीड वाजलाय.
प्रचंड उकडतंय. डोक्यावरचा पंखा अर्धवटच फिरतोय.
पुस्तक वाचताना कळत नाही, पण लक्षात येतंय

सगळं आयुष्य निखळ समोर मांडणारे नसिरुद्दीन शहा.
काय काय साम्य आहे आपल्यात आणि त्यांच्यात.
आहे का मी उगाच शोधतोय..
संपलेला दिवस. केलेली कामे. आलेले फोन, न आलेले फोन.
हव्या असलेल्या गोष्टी, नको असलेल्या गोष्टी
सारखा ऑनलाईन रहायची सवय.
उगाच BBC किंवा Indian Express बघायचं.

काय झालंय पेक्षा काय राहिलंय याचाच हिशोब मोठा.
हेही नेमकं 'झालंय काय'…
काहीही डोक्यात आलं आणि लिहिलं (आणि कळालं नाही) म्हणजे कोणी गालिब होत नाही.
आणि इथे व्हायचं तरी कुणाला आहे?
संध्याकाळची शांत वेळ. हातात पुस्तक. डोळ्यावर झोप येतेय.
दारावरची बेल. दचकुन जाग.
अचानक आठवतं कि हे राहिलंय ते राहिलंय

शेंगदाण्याच्या टरफलासारखी प्रतिभा हवीये कुणाला?
कुणास ठाऊक कि आत आहे काय?
नुसतच टरफल?
हो कदाचित…

शांतपणे पडलोय.
मी Youtube उघडतो.
उस्ताद बिस्मिल्ला खान.
शेहनाई खूप आवडून पण आज तो सूर लागत नाही असंच वाटतंय.

हे विचार करायचं आपलं वय आहे का?
बरं तेवढी कुवत आहे का?
आणि कुणी सांगितलंय विचार करा. कोणी वाचणार आहे का?
आणि काय फरक पडणार कोणी वाचून?
कदाचित आयुष्यच भैरवी सारखं झालंय.
भव्यतेची ओढ आहे पण कातरपणाही तेवढाच.

न रहावून प्रभा ताईंचा 'शाम सुंदर नंद कुंवर' आठवतो
सवाईच्या शेवटी सवाई गंधर्वांची एक छोटी फिल्म दाखवतात
अंगावर आलेला शहारा आठवतो…

हरीजींची बासरी आणि मग भीमसेनजींची 'बाबुल मोरा'….

बहोत नैहर छूट गए ये भी तो बात सही है..

गुलझार : तेरा नाम हि काफी है. इससे भी बेहतर नज्म और क्या होगी...

Gulzar sahab turns 80 today. Apart from from many others, that's hell of a good reason to write something.
We live in a generation where you listening to classical music raises some skeptic eyebrows (filled with an utterly useless contempt), as if I confess being a cannibal. We live in times where lyrics of the song hardly matters, lest the music. So the sound of few instruments clashing over each other, becomes the 'Trendy music'. 
That's why "दिलबरा दिलबरा, अपुन कि तू अपुन तेरा" becomes a song and "सारी दुनिया पितल दि, बेबी डॉल मै सोने दि" becomes a super hit one.What always strikes me in that music (or whatever it is), is the complete absence of meaning in the lyrics (or whatever they are). 

Though there are few glorious exceptions like Piyush Mishra and Swanand Kirkire. 
Gulzaar sahab is such a marvel, more so when looked from our generation.
Every artist belongs to a generation. 
For Gulzaar sahab, the belonging began long ago and continues even today. 



He transcends not the highest level of emotions, but the barrier of ages as well. 
So he can write

"भोले भाले, भोले भाले दिल को बहलाते रहे

तनहाई में तेरे ख़यालों को सजाते रहे

कभी कभी तो आवाज देकर मुझको जगाया ख़्वाबों ने"

The sheer realization of the meaning brings a genuine smile. 
His transcendence goes on. Thus he also writes

"मेरा चैन वैन सब उजड़ा,ज़ालिम नज़र हटा ले

बर्बाद हो रहे है जी,तेरे अपने शहर वाले

हो.,मेरी अंगड़ाई ना टूटे तू आजा

कजरा रे कजरा रे तेरे कारे कारे नैना.."

Its so hard to believe that a 'Dadaji' like figure can write something like, 

"जंगल जंगल बात चली है पता चला है 

अरे चड्डी पेहन के फूल खिला है"

Yes. Embrace that smile wholeheartedly. That's what Gulzar sahab is all about. 

He enriches us. Enlightens us. Shows what he has seen and what all there is to be seen.
Whatever I've read so far, Gulzar sahab comes closest to Saint Dnyaneshwar's idea of "इये ह्रदयीचे तिये हृदयी"..
I am not an authority to comment upon his works. 'वो हमारी औकाद नहीं'. 
I am just a simple person, whom Gulzar sahab taught to Listen, when all I was able to do, was to Hear.

"वैसे तो जुबां में अल्फ़ाज़ों की कमी नहीं थी 

आपने उन्हें मक़सद दिया

बातें तो हम फिर भी करते थे 

आपने उसका मतलब समज़ा दिया"

[The amateur words will make you understand that I wrote them!!] 

There are so many facets of him we (at least I) don't know. 
One I am thankfully aware of, is the excellent documentaries he has produced. From Bhimsen Joshi to Amjad Ali Khan, they are truly awesome.

Its such an honour to be living when he lives amongst us.
Gulzar sahab, thank you so much for enriching our lives. May you live 100 years more and still be as young as you were and as you always are.
 आप को आपहीकी नज्म से सलाम...

"जी में आता है

तेरे दामन में सर छुपा के हम

रोते रहें, रोते रहें

तेरी भी आँखों में

आंसुओं की नमी तो नहीं"

Reasons for optimism in today's world

You have no idea how the world around you is. 
Neither you understand it fully nor you are capable of, you believe.
You are not able to understand philosophy behind neither sorrow nor pain.
Being somewhere between a theist and atheist, You neither blame the god/destiny nor you accept the consequences of the outcome.
Every morning when you read the newspaper, positive news seems overshadowed by negative ones. 
The happyness (Yes, HappYness) is hijacked and gloominess prevails. 
The world seems you writ large.



Sometimes our own personal actions (and inactions) result in consequences you dont want to face. Most of the cases, the result is strange inactivity leading to nothing.

After some time, you do not feel the pain. You don't suffer anymore. You become neutral to the negative feelings. You decide to bounce back hard. You read something that might inspire you. Something that might cheer you up.
In most cases the search is in vain. 
Inspiration does not come with the doses of such steroids. 
In the end, all of it sucks.

You keep focusing, not looking the negative parts. 
They still are there. You feel them. 
All of a sudden they rise up, without notice. They take a toll.

Fate 1 :: You 0

The scoreboard keeps ticking. Your chance of goal lies far ahead. So you go on defensive. Waiting for the moment when you can score the goal. You imagine the cheer once you'd score the goal. In the meantime you try to keep fate away from scoring another goal.

The process though enriches you, leaves a void inside. Something remains missing. You cant find it out, lest fighting it. 
That is sadness. Profound sadness.
Its not sorrow or pain that drowns you. Its sadness. Over everything.
Especially when you look at the world from your personal lenses, you feel the darker side to be more true.
Israel-Palestine-Ukraine-Plane-Putin-Obama-Modi-Rahul-Climate-WTO-Erdongan-ISIS-Naxals-Landslides........
Helplessness prevails. Does the life paints you only in grey?
The profound understanding of something in life which you have no control at all.
It saddens you more. Connects you to the inner core.

You keep on looking to read something. 
Search for new sources. 
Open those webpages. They lie dormant in the browser. And eventually you close them without reading.
You start a movie you have heard of. You begin it but change to something new half way through. Even a Tom Hanks or Steven Spielberg can not rejuvenate your mood.

Then suddenly while surfing lazily over internet and looking for familiar content, you open a tab. 
It has a few articles by a renowned thinker. You like him. Admire him
So you start looking at the articles. One catches you eye. 
You begin it. Keep on reading.
Its pretty long. Its a commencement speech at Harvard. You visualize sitting there listening to it. The text is very simple. 
It describes what everybody sees around. The gloominess. 
Then peeling the negatives, it takes you to the profound sense of reality.
Its Einstein writ large. You realize, ''Hold on. I never thought it that way!''
The main idea grips you to the core.
Making sense of the non-sense.
Towards the end, the idea is strong enough to bring you up from the dreaded bottom the inactivity.
You cheer up. 
You decide to do something you wanted to do for long. You fire up your will.
You take the chair and start writing!

PS: Based on true story.
Here is the link to the article mentioned above.
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/25/reasons-for-optimism-in-todays-world/

Why I hate IPL?

During a recent discussion, I had a heated argument with some friends over IPL. 
I was (and certainly am today) of the opinion that the whole IPL things is the worst thing that could happen to Indian cricket and I hate it. So, here's why.

At the outset, I would like to clarify that I'm not against T20 cricket format. Its great. Test-One Day-T20 is like Vilambit Khyal- Madhya lay and Drut lay of a bandish. Times change and the game has to change accordingly. People like to watch a smaller version, so be it.
In more than one ways, T20 carried forward the passion, in a quicker way.

So, Its fun! Indian winning First T20 World cup was really great. Specially as we won against Pakistan. Had it not been the ba**ard Shrisanth to take the fatal catch of Misbah, it would have remained as the great memory.

But when BCCI came up with this idea of IPL and the way it has progressed, the thing has done more harm to cricket than anything else.

Everything, art or sport, music or film has an intrinsic value associated with it. 
Along with the intrinsic value, there also is an element of Entertainment. Both should be in appropriate portion.
A sad reality about the Indian Classical Music today is the lower proportion of entertainment for the masses. So very few actually are able to enjoy it (fortunate me!).

Cricket has that inherent intrinsic value. 

A game of intense stamina, intelligence, sharp reflexes. Its a combo of Chess and Rugby requiring the precision of a Shooter. The flexibility of game allows it to be played from Eden Gardens to Municipal Gardens with equally intense emotions.

I'm sure everyone remembers their best 50/100 s or hat-tricks taken, may be with a plastic ball. The run outs when bicycle Tyre worked as stumps. 2 Batsman playing, the one on non striker end just having a plain stick for the want of a bat. 

A billion hearts missing a beat when a off swinger would pass off the bat of Sachin. 
Watching a clever trap set by Anil Kumble to get a experienced batsman. The cameras panning from top of the stadium when bowler starts and focusing on batsman just at the right time. It was all related to the game, to the sport, to the anxiety, to the passion, to me and to you.

What IPL has done effectively, is amplified the entertainment part a million times and completely neglecting the Sport part.

In our country, any Batsman is generally more famous than Bowler, as Batting is adored more than Bowling.  Agreed. 
So, what you do is put on rewards for every single hit Batsman makes. Then you change the rules of the game to suit big shots being hit. Even that wasn't sufficient, so you curate the pitches suitable for batsman.

That's like playing a great computer game with cheats on. So, you just keep on shooting. Never mind ammo or you getting hit. Ridiculous!

Even when that seems inadequate, you start fixing the matches.

I am not against the money flowing in IPL. There are many players who have a stable life out of IPL income. It has also widened reach of cricket. But at what cost?? 

The game itself!

Its a plain truth now that a lot of black money (and perhaps the Underworld) is involved in IPL. And when the manager of a winning team in implicated in fixing scam, what else is required to ascertain the integrity of the game. 
The cricketers are no different than Gladiators fighting each other, for money now, for their sport means nothing.

The sad part is the way IPL is put down our throats.  99% of us are ignorant fools (Thanks Justice Katju). The way we accept our politicians quietly over the morning tea, we just accepted and swallowed what was fed to us. When you are being shown a 3 hrs fantacy everyday every summer, why bother whats in there. And we would have turned on TV to watch a  saas-bahu opera. 

So it hardly matters what we watch. Its the 'masterly inactivity' of our minds that makes sure such phenomenon become popular.

Harsha Bhogale is my favourite Commentator/Columnist. His book is titled, ' Out of the Box: Watching the game we love'

God save us from this IPL. Else his next book could be 'Out of the Mind: Watching the game we used to love' 

300 Rise of an Empire (omg!. but WHY??)

Imagine Plato on the day they killed Socrates. Filled with rage, he was walking down when he met Ram Gopal Varma. RGV saw him and offered him to do a movie to take on his rage through spoiling the blood. Searching for a script writer, they finalized Chetan Bhagat. While they were discussing the plot, Vrinda Karat approached them and put down the view that such a bloodbath can not take place in the absence of Women (Her view, not mine!)

So all of them went to Romila Thapar to seek truth, who opened her Pandora's box and helped them all.

All of that eventually resulted into a fabulous piece of movie making, i.e. 300 Rise Of an Empire!!!

My dear Thyliptous, why on gods earth would you do that?

I hadn't seen a ridiculous movie in ages. Thank god. My wish now stands fulfilled! 

Before I begin to describe why I am criticizing the movie, I want to confess. I had liked prequel of this movie i.e. 300 pretty much. The special effects, an idea for which 300 soldiers gave their lives, excellent acting skill and a genuine piece of History.

This new piece of shit, sorry bloooood has nothing to with history. Ok, understood. You wanna create new history. Fine! But please, you better create something meaningful.

The worst part of this Romila Thaparization of history is addition of two women. I am not anti feminist and I do like to see Women centered movies. But why do you add two women who have excellent Sword skills and only revenge to serve upon. I mean, if Eva Green was so good at sword, she should have applied for job at Rambo Circus.

Last but not the least, the hero Thermoleptics of Thermophylics whatever his name is, also is deeply saddened first thinking why he shot an arrow, then why only one arrow. He could be an excellent inspiration for Kumar Vishwas to write a patriotic poem.

To be precise, its like watching 3 Sunny Deols combined in one, with barrels of blood descending from sky. For it hardly matters who is getting blooded as long as some semi naked guys are waving their swords, while a god king watches all that from a height. I could not understand till the end, whose rise do they mean and which empire are they talking about?

The worst part I felt in the movie was the loud cheers those bloody shots were getting. Dear Freud, after all, you are right. Maybe we want to do all that happens on screen by ourselves. We even do it partly in video games. We just come here to see a real life, magnified form of our inspiration of violence. To like bloodbath on screen is a purely personal choice (to which I am not against). But cheering to such meaningless filming is nothing better than the Romans cheering for Gladiators. 

Original or Graphical, I'm sure blood spill still instills the same Adrenaline rush...

National (Con)Science Day

We Indians are unmatched at creating new ideas. We were the ones who solved many mysteries from Zero to Yog.
But we do posses another brilliant quality. That is, to institutionalize the whole idea, and (conveniently) forgetting the original idea.
Ex: The whole idea of democracy has deep roots in Indian history. Post independence, we accepted the Westminster democracy. In 65 years we have institutionalized it, and to a great extent successfully as well. There are elections being held periodically, power transfer is smooth and parties do have to accommodate public outcry. But the soul is lost. Unfortunately, Gandhiji's India does tolerate when a senior national leader declares he spent Rs. 8 Cr in the election. We also tolerate the people implicated in corruption, misuse of power and even sex scandals, to contest again, win and rule over us. That means we have a ritual of the democracy, not the soul.

Perhaps the root cause of this 'Ritualisation' lies in the way we are.

During the Ancient time, Indian religious thought was based on Vedas. They were deemed to have all the knowledge in the world. We did accept it and a great era of 'Ritualism' and stagnation began.
It took a Buddha to come out and rediscover the original truth and put it in new form. He opposed all sorts of rituals, giving us the path of salvation. That path has to be traveled alone, and by one's own act, without any rituals. He also told us 3000 years back to be one's own guide (अत्त दिपो भव् )
The forces of 'Ritualism' proved powerful again and the whole teaching of Buddhism was transformed into 'Ritualism' by Hinayana sect.
Rest, as they say, is history.

There are countless such examples why we tend to forget the soul and 'Ritualise' the whole idea. 
Indian Democracy and Administration, by far, is the epitome of that 'Ritualism'. What do you call a system that requires a person to bring a 'Living Certificate' showing that he is not dead indeed! And what sort of people are we, for whom the whole system needs to be established?

Europe witnessed a fabulous phenomenon of 'Enlightenment and Renaissance' 13th century onward. What it did was to encourage 'Reason and Humanity' against the dogmas.
We, who were flourishing by the time, lost the tide of Reason and fell down  to the dark trenches of 'Irrational Exuberance'

That's why, Dozens of former Prime Ministers, Presidents, National political leaders and athletes find it necessary to bow down to a proven thug disguised as a Baba, who has amassed fabulous wealth. We also tolerate a Godman accused of multiple sexual violations, and the protests against his arrest, when in the first place he is supposed to be practicing 'Brahmacharya'.

We behave so irrationally, and that too often even to count. Milk drinking Ganesha to Online Horoscope, there is no limit to our foolishness.
The worst part is we don't even acknowledge our foolishness. We disguise the irrationality under 'Faith, Belief and sometimes Complicit Ignorance'
Complicit Ignorance means even being aware of it, we choose not to pay attention to that.
The same Godman accused of  Sexual Molestation, has not seen any considerable loss in number of followers.

The question here is not of having faith or believing in god. I believe that is a personal choice and everyone is free to exercise that without forcing someone else into that. My objection is to the blanket refusal of Indian mindset to critically look into their lives, faith, belief and most importantly their, our future.

We are just proud of our culture. How many would actually be able to define it?
Further, how many of them have bothered to study it?
In Maharashtra it is pretty common to evoke Dnyaneshwar/Tukaram. 
But hey, have you read them? 9 out of 10 haven't.
Same goes with Ambedkar/Gandhiji/Shivaji and countless others. We keep on forgetting the soul, focusing only on the simplistic rituals. Its pretty easy to wear Khadi than to practice Gandhi's principles. Its very beneficial to keep saying 'जय भीम'  rather than bothering oneself to read Ambedkar and Phule.

One of the great excuse of Indian mind says "चार किताबे क्या पढ़ ली, चले अकल सीखाने"
We don;t agree that the knowledge is something that one can learn. We want someone to teach it it to us.

This may not be a true analysis and I mean no disrespect. But the 'Bhakti Marg' of salvation has come indeed between the 'Dnyan Marg' and certainly is leading the 'Karma Marg' to inappropriate direction.

We oppose to Wendi Doniger for some obscene analysis of the Hindu gods. But we don't bother to answer them by studying and bringing the other side to light. We are happy to give a bullshit and lame duck excuse of 'Disrespecting the Belief' using a draconian Colonial provision of law. Do we say," Hey is it really so? If yes, let me see it. Let me check it out"
NO. We Don't.

Every society has contradiction and so do we. But we are known to resolve those contradictions and to establish the 'Samyaq Marg'. 
What exists today is our refusal to accept that there are contradictions. If at all one accepts there are contradictions, we are not interested in resolving them. We insist of having our side to be the only side, to end the contradictions.

To substantiate, a fool Chief Minister (thankfully Former), who took oath, didn't anything to correct the wrongs in the system, rather he went on to demolish the existing one and impose his new version. And what a great way to do that, by protesting on the Rajpath ahead of the ceremony to celebrate India's Democracy!!

Even during his movement (or fiasco whatever one wants to call), it was 'either my way or the highway'. All of that based on some irrational ideas not open to discussion.

Can we really call ourselves the nation defined by Gandhiji/Vivekananda? There is not a single incidence when they approved or disapproved anything without the test of reason.

Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was aware of our devotion to Ritualism.
That's why he must have wrote :

"Where the  clear stream of Reason has not lost its way 
Into dreary desert sand of dead habits"

We do have grand success in Scientific developments as a Nation. Its only a mirage at individual tempers.

Today we are again celebrating the National Science Day with a theme 'Fostering Scientific Tempers'
May this be a small step for us, the Indians, which lets work together to make a giant leap for Mankind...