Hearth

Dear women, Being repetitively told that you are strong, smart and independent does not make you one, you should feel that yourselves.  Let no one ever tell you what you are and what you are not. Not only us but also others including transgender and homosexuals whose rights have become a subject of recent concern, are surrounded by same insecurities as us. Ours have always been a patriarchal set up but that didn’t mean that women were not given any ‘rights’, they did have a say in household matters and had their own social life. We should not compare the past to the present. Comparing would only be useful if we compare contemporary societies.  To change anything today would require a change of people’s mental set up. There have always been movements which demand certain things from the society and are able to succeed in getting some fulfilled, but just by telling to start a movement is no solution. You should stand up for what you believe. I am not suggesting that there sh...

so,  this is an interesting story to tell- the one i have told too many times.  there are these moments in one's live which gleam more than other usual monochromatic ones, the moments, gogol, the russian writer calls, the moment of absolute happiness and satisfaction. chandradhar sharma guleri talks about it the important moments in one's life, which one remembers, may be years later, and they flash in the final moments of ones life.  let us start before the start then. it was 2012. i had already lost hope to see some good literary activity in the department of English  Patna college. there was no initiative from the faculty and the students in my batch had taken on themselves to prove that at last, poetry and creative writing had lost all their relevancy. a failed attempt to publish a magazine sat on my back- the burden tiring and the life threatening experience it had been, it led me to believe that my days in literature were numbere...

सौंफ की पतली डंठलों पर ओस की बूंदों में और आसमां की आँखों पर चमकते फ़्लैश में कुहासे की तस्वीर जो खिंचती है , कैमरे की खींची हुई तस्वीर से कहीं बेहतर है . दो साल बाद , सबा , जब यह तस्वीर रंकेश को दिखाएगी , सर्द सुबहों को उठने की आदत न होने से मचल उठेगा वह एक क्षण के लिए ही , फिर नींद प्यारी होने की वजह से कोहरे के लिए अपना प्रेम रातों में ही ज़ाहिर करना शाइस्ता समझेगा . लेकिन दो साल बाद , ठंड उसे सिर्फ बेचैनी ही दे पाएगी , प्रेम या प्रेम की गर्माहट में उत्पन्न हुई आकांक्षाएं भी जिससे उबार लाने में विफल हो जाएं . तत्काल अज्ञानता के बुलबुले में प्रागैतिहासिक ख़ुशी से लबरेज़ आसमां घंटे का चौथाई हिस्सा एक तस्वीर के नाम कर देती है . सौंफ की हर डंठल पर ओस की बूँदें , न कम न ज्यादा ; गुरुत्वाकर्षण की मुरीद सब एक सी कि पारदर्शी मोतियों की एक लड़ी सौंफ की हर सब्ज़ छड़ी से गिरे तो मिटटी के फर्श पर केवल एक ही आवाज़ हो . कुहासा तने ...