एक नई दिशा की ओर

कहते हैं वक़्त आ गया है,

उम्र का तकाज़ा पार हो गया हैं।

पर मेरी तो अभी शुरुआत हैं,

जाना मुझे इन बंदिशों के पार है।

एक नय शहर की खोज में,

एक नई उमंग की तलाश में,

एक नय मार्ग की दिशा में,

चलना मुझे हैं अपने हिसाब से।

माना मुश्किलें होंगी लाख,

बिना इसके ज़िन्दगी तो हैं ख़ाक।

काफी लोग आगे बढ़ गए हैं,

पर मेरा मुकाबला तो खुद से हैं।

खुद को अपने लिए साबित करना है,

दुनिया में खुद को थोड़ी बेचना हैं।

क्या पता इस रास्ते पर विफल रहे,

पर असफलता को गले लगाना भी तो एक कला है।

असफलता ही सब कुछ सिखाती हैं,

इसके सामने बिना झुके ज़िन्दगी आगे बढ़ानी हैं।

ये वक़्त के साथ संघर्ष हैं मेरा,

इसमें थकने का मन नहीं हैं मेरा।

मंजिल काफी दूर हैं,

लक्ष्य के लिए लड़ना जरूर हैं।

तो फिर कलम उठाके लिखना हैं,

अपने जैसे लोगो को बोलना हैं,

वक़्त उस दिन थमेगा, जिस दिन तुम चाहो,

वरना ज़िन्दगी गुलज़ार हैं,

और इसकी डोर तुम्हारे पास हैं।

“This post is a part of ‘The Woman That I Am’ Blog Hop #TheWomanThatIAm organized by Rashi Roy and Manas Mukul #RRxMM. The Event is sponsored by Kraffitti.”

A must do thing in Rishikesh: Triveni Ghat Aarti

What first comes to your mind when I say Rishikesh?

For me it is river rafting, camping and bungee jumping. Many people might have the same answer but the city is more than that. 

A holy place with numerous temples along river Ganga, Rishikesh has always been a place of spiritual awakening for people. 

I have visited Rishikesh many times but this time apart from the adventurous activities, I attended the Ganga aarti at Triveni Ghat. 

It was magical. The whole environment changed in a couple of minutes. I talked to Acharya Subhash Gopal about the aarti and have compiled the a photo story about what I learnt.

Because flowers are too mainstream

The stage is set for the aarti

The stage is set for the aarti. The aarti has been practiced for six to seven years. There is a staircase on the backside for people to sit. Once the stage is done, the priest comes and take their respective places. The aarti starts after sunset.

The stage with the artists

The priests face towards the Manikut Parvat where Lord Shiva resides in the famous Neelkanth temple. According to mythological stories, during samudra manthan Lord Shiva drank the poison and came to Manikut Parvat to live.

Aarti begins with worshiping of Lord Shiva

At first, Lord Shiva is worshiped, followed by the Ganga. There is perfect coordination between the priests while performing the aarti. The priests,  known as acharya are from Sanskrit Gurukuls. They have studied various subjects like yoga, religious script, astrology etc.

Diyas are lit first

Isn't this perfection?

Incense sticks are lit after that

The smoke which might be good for health

Picture perfect 

Bigger the diyas, bigger is your adoration

Left, right, center, back: Every sphere is covered

Acharya Subhash Gopal

Acharya Subhash Gopal has been living in Rishikesh for 18 years. He is from the Gharwal region. He has completed his studies from gurukul Drashan Mahavidhyalaya. He is also a teacher at gurukul Nepali Sanskrit school.

Two types of audience

A mixture of the sun and the moon

" I am doing drag since I was a kid. The earliest memory of drag that I can recollect was wearing my mother’s saree and performing for my family.

My name is Suluj which means the sun. I was always in awe of the relationship between the sun and the moon, so I came up with Glorious Luna as my drag name.

Drag literally means dressing up as girls. It is more than femininity. I don’t know if you realize it but all of us are in drag. Like when you want to impress someone, you become someone else. Suddenly you have a new personality. For example, the office goers who suite up every day, that is their drag because they are not the same when they go home.

Sometimes my drag is too political because I want to focus on the problems in the community. I want to give a solution through my art form. It is very easy to love. When you hate someone you really have a big thing in your heart, how do you carry it all the time, I just don’t understand it. If you want to grow as a community, you need to stop hating each other," says Glorious Luna.

Glorious Lune

XIC through my lens/perspective

The letter ‘A’ matters here

‘A’ for attendance, ‘A’ for assignments and above all ‘A’ grade. The letter ‘A’ decides whether you get the diploma at Xavier Institute of Communications (XIC) or not. Hard work is the key to maintain the balance between them. The picture captures all the three aspects: Students near the desk for attendance, collecting their assignments and grade ‘A’ which one the fellow students got in her assignment.

The board: Loved by overachievers, feared by backbenchers 

The notice board which displays grades and attendance is feared by majority of the students at XIC. Attendance and grading which always comes with the message of “withholding the diploma” gives shivers to students. No doubt it is loved by a group of students who are termed as “Overachievers”.  

An ode to forgotten names

With digital attendance coming into picture, the old-school tradition of manual attendance came to an end at XIC long back. It brings back the memory of our childhood days where we used to get called by our name for attendance and the responses varied from “Yes Ma’am”, “Present Ma’am”, “Absent Ma’am” and “Ma’am, Ma’am”.

Complementing each other

It is important in every institute that the relation between the faculty and the students should be cordial and respectful. At XIC the faculty always encourages students to ask questions and are always ready to answer them. The picture depicts a student having interaction with the faculty when the class got over. The idea behind the caption was the color of teacher’s dress and student’s hair.

Where is the smile?

If you have seen Dheeraj Sir in XIC, he is always seen smiling. But when I asked him for a picture the smile vanished. I didn’t look at the picture then but now when I am looking at it, this the only thing that is coming to my mind, “Where is the smile?”

The beauty of non-verbal communication

The picture is taken during one of our lectures with Professor Julian Hollick. The picture shows the students and professor watching something on the screen. If you observe hand gestures of the people in the picture, you will get to know the idea behind the caption of the picture.

And visit library too!

The picture was taken at XIC library when it was empty or is it always empty? With lectures lining up from 9 am to 6 pm, the frequency of students visiting the library is low except when a lecture is canceled.

The official DJ of XIC

The picture was taken in the studio at XIC, School Campus. Arvind Sir handles the sound editing department of XIC. In one of our classes he came up with two tunes for demo and mixed them together like a DJ.

Shav Asan ft. Upside-Down

It is not an unusual scene at XIC. Naps between breaks have become a custom. A comfortable bed is not required, you just need a bench and you are ready for the upside-down shav asan.

XIC after effect

You are a changed person once you come out of XIC, said someone, here is the proof.

इस शोर मैं कहीं खो गया हैं

ना जाने कहा  खो जाया हैं 

ढूंढो उसे इस भरी दुनिआ मैं 

दिल से गुफ्तगू करना बदस्तूर होगया हैं। 

क्या पता?

शायद ये समाज के दायरे है,
या फिर तेरी बेबसी,
या परिवार का भोज,
जो तू आज तक सेह रही हैं।
शायद तुझे उसी वक़्त आवाज़ उठानी थी,
तुझे अपने हक के लिए लड़ना था,
पर तुझे सेहम के नहीं रहना था।
ये दाग के साथ तुझे अब जीना हैं,
दाग़ देने वाले के साथ एक छठ के भीतर रहना है।
शायद तू ये सब भूल भी जाती,
पर रोज उसे देख कर तू कैसे  हैं जीती?
ये सब में तब नहीं समझ पाई,
पर अब लगता है तूने जो सहा हैं, वो शायद कोई ना सेहता।
लेकिन तुझे आवाज़ उठानी थी,
अपने स्वाभिमान के लिए उठानी थी।
पर क्या पता बच्चे तेरी खामोशी का राज होंगे,
क्या पता वही तेरे इस बदलाव का कारण होंगे।
पर तुझे बोलना था,
ये समाज से लड़ना था,
परिवार की दीवार को तोड़ना था,
हर चीज को माफ नहीं किया जाता।
क्या पता ये जंग तभी ख़तम हो जाती,
क्या पता तब तू खुल के जी पाती,
क्या पता तब मैं भी सुकून से रह पाती। 

To be happy or not- the ball is in your court

“I lost my fingers due to burning. I used to live in Khaira village and there was no hospital. I am suffering from this condition since 20 years. One day a man in my village told me about a hospital in Wadala. I went there for the treatment. Since then, the pain is less. The doctor told me that there is no treatment available for my condition and it is non-communicable. If I touch you, you will not be affected. This condition does not stop me from anything. I love to cook. I make chapattis, mutton and fish. Fish is my favorite. Earlier I used to go to catch fish but now I have stopped. One of my legs got injured while fishing and it is still in the recovering phase. I am alone in my home but I don’t like being alone, so I come here (Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) every morning from Monday to Saturday to beg. This the only source of money I have. My husband died 20 years ago. He had no savings. I earned and married off my two daughters. I am 70 years old and my daughters are 40 and 30 years old. They rarely come to visit me. They cannot help me financially as their in-laws are against it. Today a woman gave me ‘dhokhla’ so my dinner is done and I will not cook today. In evening I go back, watch television and then go to sleep. I know there is a lot of struggle but what can I do? I try to remain happy and enjoy the rest of my life,” says Budibai
.

Budibai outside CSMT

Where there is a will, there are 100 ways

"I lost my eyes because of swimming. I am from Satara. I shifted to Bombay in 2009. I am currently working with a firm in Kurla. I love swimming and I used to swim a lot in Satara. In villages there are no swimming pools so you have to swim in rivers and wells. The water in these sources affected my eyes badly. Till 2009 I could see a little bit and I had color perception but after 2009 my vision automatically decreased and now I am completely blind. Doctor told me that blood circulation has stopped in my eyes. Even if I get them operated, it will be worthless. But I am still trying to find a cure for this, lets hope for the best," says Ganesh.

PS: I was standing near one of the ladies compartments (Mumbai local) which is adjacent to the handicap compartment. I saw this smartly dressed man coming from a far distance. He stopped exactly at the handicap compartment. Curious to know how he did it, I struck a conversation with him. I would have loved to talk to him more but our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of his train.

Me and Ganesh at Kurla Station

The Never-Ending tug-of-war

I have just finished watching the movie ‘Tamasha’. It is the tenth time I have watched it and I am still in awe of this movie. Now I will question my existence as a software developer in Aricent, an information technology (IT) firm in Gurugram. I have been questioning my career choice since graduation. The questioning was not as prominent earlier but then life happened. With time, you learn and evolve but I was not evolving. And this hit me hard. Sitting for nine hours looking at my “machine” ( slang used by IT professionals for computer), churning out codes, testing the code, running to computer lab, fixing hardware, listening to songs, deciding lunch time on Skype for business (an online chat platform). Two years have passed like this. There is an unbridled war going on between my heart and mind.

“What is your problem, you need to show some courage,” says my heart. The time has come, I must take a decision. A decision I dreaded to take earlier. Is it going to work? Angry, frustrated. I open Outlook and stare at it for half an hour.

“It is a bad decision, you will regret it. Why are you so impatient?” says my mind. This conflict has made me an insomniac. I want to or I don’t want to? The war that has been going on for a long time.

“Take a call. It is your life; don’t panic.”

“What will society think about it?”

“Society is no one to control your life.”

“But it is the place in which you live, the people you know. It has shaped you, what about your parents? Stop beleaguering them. They have high hopes from you.”

“Be determined. Don’t leave it as you did earlier.”

“It will be tough. You are going to drop it. I know you.”

To end this war between my heart and my brain, I have to take a decision. And I have. I write 100 words in two hours. I am scared. The laptop screen is staring at me. I am a click away.

“Click the send button on your screen.”

“Think about it again. Take your time. Talk to some people.”

I listen to my heart and click the send button. I am going to pursue my  dreams. I have just RESIGNED.

PS: If you haven't seen Tamasha movie, you should watch it.

My machine

Tamasha movie poster  Picture Courtesy: Bollywoodlife.com