क्या रावण जिंदा है?

क्या तुम में से किसी में रावण जिंदा है ?

राम तो बहुतों में देखे, रावण ढूँढ रही हूँ मैं।

कलयुग में राम की सताई, रावण को पूछ रही हूँ मैं।

वो राम ही तो है जो मुझ पर रोक-टोक लगाए,

वो राम ही तो है जो मुझे मर्यादा में रहना चेताए,

वो राम ही तो है जो पर-नारी पर जुल्म ढाए,

वो राम ही तो है जो छल कर भी मर्यादित कहलाए।

मैं दुष्ट रावण को न तलाशूँ, न ही ढूँढू पराक्रमी रावण को,

न ही अहंकारी, विनाशी और न ही कपटी रावण को।

मैं उस रावण को तलाश रही हूँ जिसने सीता को बलात छुआ नही,

हरण तो किया उसने, पर जबरन उस पर टूटा नही।

वो रावण क्यों नही दिखता आजकल के मानुष में

मैं ढूँढ रही हूँ ऐसा रावण, जो रहता हो मर्यादा में।

आज जब रावण को जलाओ, तो तुम क्या ऐसा कर पाओगे?

हठी, अधर्मी, अत्याचारी रावण को जला देना,

पर हो सके तो मर्यादित रावण को बचा लेना।

आज राम की मर्यादा से दुखी नारी को रावण की मर्यादा की बहुत जरूरत है,

मैं ढूँढ रही हूँ जो रावण, क्या वह तुम में जिंदा है?

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Maa

Hail all! The beauteous one,

As she starts her journey once again.

Bid farewell to ancestors for one last time,

And get ready with invocation and incantation,

For maa descends to meet her devotees.

Strains of mahishaasuro mardhini fill the air

And goosebumped people

Quiver in anticipation

Of her sojourn on earth.

Pushpanjali, dhaak and dhuni,

Alpona, anand mela and more,

Maa’s children ready themselves.

She will come in all her regal glory,

Partaking in the festivities.

And when she leaves,

It will be with the promise,

Of her visit yet again.

Death

Death is proud today.

It has unveiled the monster in us.

We the living,

By being mute spectators,

Become party to this

Macabre dance of death.

Death of truth, of decency

Of humanity above all.

When instead of outrage, sadness or condemnation 

Death evokes ridicule, laughter or threats.

We then surely make death so proud

In triumphing over 

All that is precious to life.

Children these days

Our parents were lucky, I for sure can say,

They didn’t have to deal with the kids of today.

We were obedient, respectful and rebels with many a cause,

Our kids are impudent, cheeky and rebel without a cause!

We never dared to question our parents’ authority,

However much we may have chafed at their superiority.

But kids these days, if I may so say!

Try our patience any which way.

For everything they have to say why oh why!

For them its only and only I, me and my!

When you tell them to study hard to get good grades

They immediately question if you secured good grades!

You tell them to shun junk and eat healthy food,

They remind you your food habits have done you no good!

You tell them to be patient and stick to one job

They point out to you why your career didn’t take off!

You tell them its time to settle down and get married

They turn around and tell you that this topic is buried.

When you press further and extol married life,

They smirk and say look at your own life!

They are demanding, spoilt for choices and used to having their way,

I tell my parents they were lucky to have me, whatever they may say

And they turn around and tell me its all my fault,

Children should be brought up without sparing the rod.

To My Students

I remember the cynicism,

I so remember the scepticism,

I remember my own nervousness,

I also remember  the parents’ trepidation.

I was young and foolhardy,

Ready for the challenge at hand.

You all were leery as well as chary,

For your future was in my inexperienced hands.

As we assessed each other warily

The parry and thrust began gently.

You would try to trap me on pronunciation and meanings

I would burn midnight oil to be one step ahead of your screening.

You were ready to give no quarter,

I was ready to take none.

Gradually and grudgingly you accepted me.

And I started believing in my ability.

Thus began an association 

Which with time has not waned.

Twenty and more years gone by

The love and affection you  continue to shower on me

Is believe me, my most cherished possession.

The Beginning

It starts with a word or a phrase,

That seems to have a life of its own,

Which just refuses to be pushed away 

To some recess of my brain.

As I go about doing daily chores,

It creates a buzz inside me

That just refuses to calm down.

I ignore it as much as I can

Focusing on more pressing jobs.

But associated words keep vying for my attention,

Sentences pop up in totality,

Of their own volition 

Badgering to pour out.

Afraid of losing the thread

I put everything else on hold.

As I pick up my phone,

The rest of the world is forgotten.

Words and ideas gush forth in a cascade

Jostling with each other to be immortalized.

My frenzied fingers feverishly try to keep pace

And the jumbled mass starts taking a cohesive shape.

Once done, I focus only on correction,

Too involved to view objectively .

Then I put it to the time tested procedure 

Of offering the written word to the reader,

Finally at peace with self for a job completed.

Well or not…

Only time will tell.