A Scar..

She have a scar on her face.

Did she have an accident as a child?

or, was she abused by someone close to her?

Was there a fire that made its presence felt forever on that glowing face?

or was it just depression that made her do it to herself?

She is wearing that red dress,

having the mundane smile on her face,

as if challenged by happiness for a race..

I am quite, as always sticking to my solitary confinement.

She makes me feel alive, just by her presence.

I have this intense feeling of just watching her move around.

Not going to her, not talking to her.

I just want to be the silent observer of this beauty.

A guy walks to her, I can see the glow on her face.

She likes him.

He takes her to dance, she is mellow.

There is a scar on her face.

And that scar is disappearing. She is making it go away.

She dances like an angel, mesmerizing everyone around.

And I am anything but sad, I can't understand this feeling.

I am watching her dance with someone else.

She have a scar on her face.

I am having a scar on my heart.

ग्लोबल ह्यापिनेस ईंडेक्स

"ए बारक्या, ते तेल बाटलीत काढून ठेव, उद्या लागेल", दिवसभर जीलेब्यांचे घन काढून थकलेला राक्या बोलला. रात्रीचा थंड वाऱ्यात त्याला आत्ताच पेंगायला होत होतं.

दिवसभराच्या वाहतुकीनंतर शांत झालेला रस्ता.

राक्याच्या गाडीच्या बाजूलाच पान टपरी, तिथे २-३ लोक सिगारेटी ओढत बसलेले.

पान टपरीवाला थोडा रसिक पट्टीतला असावा, त्याच्या टपरीवर नुस्रत चे गाणे चालूए…

वोह हटा रहे है पर्दाह, सर-ए-बाम चुपके चुपके…

एका उंची दुचाकीवरून एक मुलगा उतरतो, "एक माईल्ड भाऊ"

त्याचा फोन वाजतो.

"हं बोला सर"

इकडे राक्याची आवरा-आवर चालू आहे.

"बारक्या, उद्यासाठी मैदा आणायला सांगितला होता तुला, आणला ना?"

"अहो पण असा काय करता आपलं ३००० रुपये स्क्क़ेअर फूट ठरला होता ना…"

"हा बे, आणलाय तुझा मैदा… "

"हो पण… आपलं ठरलं होतं ना … मग असं कसं तुम्ही … "

न दिखाओ चलते चलते यूँ कदम कदम पे शोंखी,
कोई क़त्ल हो रहा है, सर-ए-आम चुपके चुपके…

"अहो मला काही माहित नाही, हे बघा मी आता हे वरचे पैसे कुठून द्यायचे तुम्हाला… हलो? हलोssss?"

"बारक्या आज बाकी धंदा एकदम झकास झाला राव, अबे २००-३०० चा गल्ला जमला असेल आरामात!"

दुचाकीवाला माईल्ड पेटवतो…

राक्या निघायच्या तयारीत…

मागून एक भिकाऱ्यांचा घोळका येतोय…

कभी शोखियाँ दिखाना कभी उन का मुस्कुराना

त्यात एक ७-८ वर्षांची मुलगी…

माईल्ड ओढणाऱ्या दुचाकी वाल्या जवळ ती पैसे मागते, तो तिच्या कडे न बघताच नकारार्थी हात करतो…

तिला वाईट वाटत नाही, बहुदा तिचा आजचा कोटा पूर्ण झाला असावा…

भिकारीण पुढे जाते…

यह अदाएं कर न डाले मेरा काम चुपके चुपके!

दुचाकी वाला तिच्याकडे पाहतोय, थोड्या तिरसट पनेच.… पण तिला आपण काही दिले नाही याचा थोडा पश्चाताप जाणवतोय …

ती नेहमीच्या सहजतेने राक्या समोर हात धरते… राक्या हसून तिच्या हातावर मुद्दाम बाजूला काढून ठेवलेली जलेबीची पुडी ठेवतो…

भिकारीण निघते, थोडं पुढे चालणाऱ्या आपल्या मोठ्या भावाला जलेबीची पुडी देते… दोघे आनंदाने खातात…!

तिकडे सातासमुद्रपार काही अर्थतज्ञ "ग्लोबल ह्यापिनेस ईंडेक्स" बद्दल चर्चा करत असतात… !

इकडे नुसरत आपली चीज संपवतो,

"ये जो हिचकियाँ मुसलसल मुझे आ रही है आलम,
कोई ले रहा है शायद ...कोई ले रहा है शायद
मेरा नाम चुपके चुपके !!"

Book Review - Escape to Nowhere

*******Spoiler Alert..!!*******

If you are expecting it to be a thriller with deadly guns,expensive cars and exotic locations, you will be disappointed. This book gives us insights in the celebrated intelligence agency of India. It's very much realistic. Writer claims the book to be based on true story (A search on Google about the case after reading the book confirms this claim).
Because it is being written by a formal bureaucrat and it is meant to be informative, we should not spent much time in criticizing it with literary genres. It is evident that the characters are inspired by real people to whom the writer was close.

A suspected espionage agent is a highly ranked officer of the agency. He is kept under surveillance by an officer. The story unfolds his espionage activities. Story is written on the 'events of the day' basis probably because it is taken from the writer’s diary. The title gives the hint of the ending.

What is more pleasing about the book is that it gives us the firsthand account of the agency's working. The story touches the topics like - Kashmir question, US's role in Indo-Pak conflicts, ISI's reach in India, ULFA activities, Nepal's internal security, India's stand on Myanmar's military Government, Pak-China relations (Apparently China acted as coordinator between Pakistan and N. Korea in their Nuclear exchange), divide between IB and RAW and how the petty political leadership fails the ambitions of agency/bureau. It also gives idea about how the international intelligence agency's work and how the 'sources' are formed. Writer takes care to show these discussions as personal views of the people involved, but we are free to take a clue.

I was surprised to read a few real names in the book like Saran (Indo-US nuclear deal coordinator), Nambi Narayan (ISRO Scientist, falsely claimed to be a spy by Kerala Govt.)

The writer was always honest about the case and has criticized the agency at appropriate levels. Language of the book contains vary few bureaucratic jargons and they make it more readable.

The Ravi Mohan is actually Rabinder Singh. He had filed a petition in US under alias for asylum in US, first it was declined but it is now under consideration. The copy of that petition can be read here:
**http://ramanstrategicanalysis.blogspo...**

Read more about the case and other Espionage activities at: **http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/feb/0...**

A few facts that I collected through net that will probably helpful:
Jeevanathan = Amar Bhushan
Chief Wasan = C.D. Sahay
Espionage Agent Ravi Mohan = Maj. Rabinder Singh
His Wife = Pammi Singh
Post Incident Enquiry Person- Sharma = M. K. Narayanan (The then Special Advisor to PM Manmohan Singh)
Ravi Mohan’s Canadian Relative who accompany him to Nepal = Monty Saigal (Actually his brother-in-law)

Short Review of "कुणा एकाची भ्रमणगाथा"

Spoiler Alert..!!!

If not THE most, this one is surely one of the most brilliant literary masterpieces.
Sadly, it is not that well known as it deserves to be..
It fulfills all expectations that we may have from G N Dandekar's book.
The plot of novel is based on colonial India after the civil disobedience movement. The protagonist has left home to participate in national movement on the call of Gandhi, but soon the movement stops and he has nowhere to go.
The protagonist is an ascetic, but not blindly traditional.
The story of protagonist is told in segments in flashbacks as he either remembers them or is telling them to someone else.
Major characters include Ascetic devotee who is on the voyage of Narmada River, the 'Math-pati' who calls everyone 'Atmaram', and Yashoda, a young widow from a religious family living with her father and a few religious students.
The book is not at all religion based; on the other hand the traditional "parikrama-vasi" is criticized by the protagonist for their ill-behavior.
The story mainly has two parts; first one based on the love story of 'Math-pati' and second one is the love story of protagonist himself.
Tradition goes that a widow should not remarry and an ascetic should not fall in love...both rules are broken, but will they succumb to the peer pressure or they will fight against it, is the question. Book is a must read if mere entertainment is not your motto.
The book can be classified as bildungsroman, and the story is in a way picaresque. The character of protagonist is very appealing, despite some dishonesty on his side (like lying in the Math about his knowledge of Vedas). All major characters are well defined and appear very real. Plot is based mainly in the rural Madhya Pradesh, on the banks of Narmada River. Geographically it is not based on vast area and the number of characters is also limited but still the description of the banks of Narmada and the richness of characters overcomes these drawbacks. The small incidents keep us grounded till we finish the book.
And last but not the least; the book wins us in its very first page of dedication -
"Yuga Athhavisanchi vedana, Tila........"
Meaning, 'for her, the scar of my heart from the time immortal'
Please read...:)

Malegaon..

Being born and raised in a city ill-known for the mutual communal rage of two ethnic groups, we were always taught to hate each other. In schools, the most interesting of the gossip stories were those of the riots and how ‘they’ have tortured ‘us’.
Malegaon is situated in the vicinity of two rivers, Girna and Mausam. Girna flows from outside of the city while Mausam flows right from the middle, dividing Malegaon geographically and ethnically, one side being dominated by each ethnic group, Hindus and Muslims. Earlier, only two bridges joined the two parts together, one of them being called ‘Ramsetu’, as if joining the Ramrajya with Ravan’s Lanka. The worst hit population of the riots has always been the minority ethnic group on either side. Lucky enough, we lived far away from the so called boundary of Mausam, nearly at the end of city. Hence we never really felt the direct heat of riots; in fact I used to be glad enough over the news of riots because this meant holiday from schools for at least a week, immature adolescent mind you see!
The first time I really came to know how horrible riots are, was during the 2001 riots. I was barely 11 year old, studying in 6^th grade. It was the day of Vijayadashami, the day of Ashvin Shukla Dashami, when Rama found Sita and defeated Ravana. Thus it is termed as Vijaya Dashami. On that day we saw the smoke of burning petrol pumps and burning slums go higher and higher in the air covering the sunlight and leaving us in darkness….
On that evening, as the custom goes, we all young ones were exchanging the token Gold (leaves of a plant named Apta) in the locality when suddenly the news spread of violence in the main city. Usually we never worried of these news as long as no one have gone inside the main city from family, so we continued our fun, but soon it was interrupted by a huge explosion noise, following by loads of smokes covering the skies. The explosion was at one of the petrol pump, hardly a km from our locality, which was set on fire by the ‘other’ side. This time the riots were very more serious than we thought they might be, we were immediately called home and the elder men from the whole colony gather together to discuss various possibilities as to what should be done if the rioters reach the area, fair enough as the rioters had already reached the vicinity.
It was the real scary evening as we all have heard the extreme horrible stories of the riots, and this time they were happening extremely close. We all took some bricks on the porch as a self-defense mechanism and the women and children including me were locked on the second floor of the bungalow only elderly men outside, carefully watching the area. That time we spent inside the cage was most horrible, even a cry from a man outside made us think that rioters have come. We spent almost two hours like that when we heard the sirens of police vans and the military vans patrolling the area. This meant that the danger is over and curfew is on. The horrible evening finally end with no major action but it was going to affect the thoughts of many of us. After ten long days the madness ended with 15 persons, most of them Muslims, killed in the police firing. The riots didn’t limit themselves over the city but they spread in the nearing villages and towns, where the most of the victims were Muslims.
While hearing the stories of riots at the school we never tend to thought that the persons being killed, whether Hindus or Muslims, are no different than us, innocent middle class people who have nothing to do with the rioters. This incident stirred my mind and made me think on the very basic question, ‘why?’
Why do people quarrel and why that quarrels escalates to this degree that we are ready to kill each other. My family was never over-religious, we visited temples, but not as routinely and ceremonially as peers used to. On birthdays of family members, people used to have various religious ceremonies at home, whereas we used to visit an orphanage to make donations, a kind of tradition started by my grandfather. Shirdi, a famous place of the saint Sai, which is visited by crores of people yearly from all over India is little over a couple of hours drive from Malegaon. It is visited by both Hindus and Muslims. And being so close people of Malegaon often visits the place. On other hand, I hardly remember even a single visit to the place by our family. May be it was because of this kind of background and of course because of the above incidence, I tend to become a moderate in religious views, my age of reason started from this time!
It was already 54 years since independence and we still were not safe in our own country. It was a disturbing fact that made even the 11 year old me sad. A whole decade has passed since; a lot of water is flown from under Ramsetu. Malegaon saw two blasts in this decade. The blasts were allegedly organized by Hindu extremists. Sad.
Malegaon is facing very serious illiteracy and poverty problems which results in poor medical treatments. Many times women refuse to give their children polio doses because of some ridiculous misconceptions. Poor personal and social hygiene leads to epidemics every year. Refusal for family planning methods have resulted in having two number family members which is the extra burden on home economy and this throws the generations to come in a vicious cycle. Though the power looms which are the major source of employment are plenty in number (2 lakh to be precise) the condition of this industry is very ill. The wages given are meager and working conditions are substandard. The owners are the elite group of one particular trading class of Hindus, which are becoming rich making the Hindu and Muslim workers poor.
But now Malegaon has learned its lessons. Because in last five years Maharashtra saw major riots like Miraj, Satara, Dhule riots, but not in once, without exception, Malegaon turned violent. During the Assam incidents also, peaceful demonstrations were made by Muslim groups. Since past five years the Eid prayers and the Ganesh festival are conducted without any major ill-incident. The fruits of democracy are reaching grassroots, however slow they may be.  
One simple answer to the harmony in the ethnic groups can be mutual dependency in economy. Political awareness could be the other one. But these will not be achieved unless the new well-literate, neutral and patriotic generation is ready to make the change. Hence all we need to do now is focus all attention on the primary education of children and wait patiently as they grow up as the next generation of the midnight’s children!

ती ..

तलावाच्या स्थिर पाण्यात एका वार्‍याच्या
झुळऊकेणे पडणार्‍या तरंगाच्याच इतकी सहज पडणारी,
ती तिच्या गालावरची खळ|ई..
मखमलिच्या कापडाला लाज वाटायला
लावणारी ती कांती
नाजुकतेची व्याख्या बदलायला
लावणारे ते ओठ
आणि पैलु लावलेल्या हिर्‍याइतकंच
रेखीव शरीर..
आपल्या प्रत्येक अदेतून नशेचे प्याले
पाजणारी ती,
नशेबाज असल्याचा दोष मला देते...!!

देव

वेड्यांचा बाजार..
आणि या बाजारातील एक वेडा
मूठभर माती आणि छटाकभर रंगांनी
बनवलेल्या या वेड्याला ते देव म्हणतात !
या वेड्याला त्यांनी उंचावर बसवलंय,
आपल्यापासून वेगळं पाडलंय..
उंचावर बसून मग हा वेडा
भोवतालची गंमत पाहतो.
त्याला वंदन करायला आलेल्या
नारायणला नोकरी हवी आहे,
रम्याला रमी हवी आहे,
किशोरीला मूल आणि सायालीला चूल हवी आहे..
तथास्तु म्हणून तो विचार करतो,
देवपण नक्की कोणाला? मला की माझ्या वरदानाला?
इच्छा पूर्ण करतो तोपर्यंत मी बाप्पा,
आणि जेव्हा हे वरदान नाहीसं होईल तेव्हा?
स्वार्थाच्या तराजूत पुण्य ते तोलतात,
ज्यांच्या नितिमत्तेचि लक्तरे झालियेत..
आणि तरीही हा वेडा, समोर येणार्‍या
प्रत्येकाला तथास्तु म्हणतो..!