Life ( captured on paper by a student )

There is abundance of talent on our streets , most of it goes ignored either due to lack of resource or ignorance  and only few are able to come forth and share it with the world .  It must have been 1 a.m when I landed in Chandigarh and my eyes couldn't have missed those busy fingers trying to capture life of a porter in deep sleep at the bus stand . For him it's an every day routine to spend few hours at the bus stand and capture life on paper but for me it was an overwhelming experience to flip through his art book and click some pictures.
                                         

                                     

                   


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In defence of Rama

Once again we  have Suresh ( http://www.jambudweepam.blogspot.in ) as a guest blogger on random. A little longer than a usual post , I did have a choice to post it in two parts but it would have lost its essence  and here it goes " In defence of Rama "

                                                 

It is ironic that the only Puranic male character who has some claims towards striking a blow for male-female equality is the one character that needs defending against accusations of Male chauvinism. In an era where chastity was imposed only on women and born to a man who was well-known for the multiplicity of his marriages, Ram is the only character who accepted and lived by the idea that chastity was as applicable to men as to women.

Three major accusations are raised against Ram. Firstly that Sita had to follow him to the forest; secondly the Agni-Pariksha and lastly the abandonment of Sita when a Dhobi took exception to Ram taking back Sita after her long incarceration by Ravan. Lots of ridicule has been heaped on Ram - for the last two in particular – and, largely because feminists seem to have swallowed – hook, line and sinker - the spin put on these acts by male chauvinists of later days.


There is another male character that followed Ram to the forest – Lakshman. He was also married and, yet, his wife Urmila is not the subject of any diatribe for not having lived up to her wifely duties. Even though it was at Lakshman’s behest, if Society had thought of this as a wifely duty, there would have been a hue and cry about this fact. The fact remains that (a) there was no duty imposed on the wife to follow her husband like Mary’s little lamb (b) It was Sita who insisted on following Ram to the forest because she loved him too much to stand the separation and (c) Ram dissuades her from following him citing the hardships that she would have to face but is unable to sway her.

So, when a husband of today seeks that his wife follows him wherever he went a la Sita, the proper retort is that, “If you were Ram, I’d love you like Sita and follow you. But if you were Ram, you would love me enough not to ask me to follow you into hardship!” Unfortunately, the standard reaction is to heap ridicule on Ram!

The one thing that is discounted when it comes to the other two incidents is that Ram loved Sita. He goes mad with grief when Sita is abducted. When, on the battlefield, a Maya Sita is slaughtered he drops his weapons and feels that pursuing the battle further is pointless. That, in fact, gives the lie to the statement he makes before the Agnipariksha about fighting the battle only for his honor. If it is difficult to swallow the idea of a man loving his wife, think then of the fact that Ram never remarried after putting Sita aside and lived a life of chastity till the end.

Ram was not only a husband. Ever since Bharat met him at Chtrakoot, he knew he was to be the King. The King was expected to be an upholder of Social values – no matter how unjust they may be for order is better than anarchy – and if he is seen to have bent the rules for his own benefit he leads to anarchy. “Yata Raja Tatha Praja” as the saying goes!



To have accepted Sita without a qualm would have lead to people in his country considering that the King did not respect the rules by which Society abided. Further, for a man who had practically just got off the chariot of the King of the Gods, it need not be difficult to believe that the God of Fire would not harm his beloved since she was chaste.

Much is also said of the way Ram abandoned Sita merely because a dhobi told his wife, “I am not Ram to accept a wife who lived in another man’s house”, especially with reference to the fact that Sita had already proved her chastity by going through fire. Again, the decision was not based on what Ram thought of Sita or what he would have preferred to do. If one were to assume the fact that he loved Sita to distraction, he would have loved to have his children born in his palace and lived around him or, even, that he would have preferred not to live in total abstinence, it would be easy to understand that his own preference would have been to ignore the dhobi. What, then, caused him to set aside his beloved wife?

In an era of no you-tube, no TV, no Facebook ot Twitter, the people of Ayodhya could not know of the Agnipariksha except through the words of people close to Ram. In any case against the powerful, proof positive would be difficult to obtain to prove a person guilty. The rulers of then were expected to live by a harsher standard of justice and accusation was considered sufficient for punishment – the “Caesar’s wife has to be above suspicion” phenomenon. In the event that Ram had ignored the dhobi, it is not difficult to see how the people of Ayodhya may have considered Sita as less than chaste over a period of time and started citing that as an example for their own transgressions of the law.

It was Ram the king who had to decide to put off Sita much against Ram the husband’s preferences. He lived by the law that the ruler has to put the good of Society above his own personal loss. If that is difficult to swallow as an explanation, consider the fact that he had to later sentence his beloved younger brother – Lakshman – to death for transgressing an order under unavoidable circumstances. If, indeed, one had to think of Ram as unfeeling it is nonetheless true that he was no male chauvinist – after all Lakshman was not female.

We live in times when it is considered acceptable that people in power use their power to save their kith and kin from the results of their own transgressions and, thus, find it difficult to understand why a ruler could punish his kin – when he knew they were innocent. The idea that Society suffers a moral malaise if the ruler is even thought to have set his own preferences above the law has, unfortunately, become totally alien to us.

Accusing Ram of chauvinism is not only unjust, it is unproductive as well. Our Society is still largely composed of people who revere Ram as God incarnate. By accepting the male chauvinistic spin on his actions and heaping ridicule on him we only preach to the already convinced. It is best to propagate his sense of male-female equality and his attitude towards the duties of a ruler, as indeed was probably intended by the writers of the Puranas.








photo credit google search

beeghi beeghi palken

भीगी भीगी पलकें
यह रात अजब सी
कियूं मेरा दिल रोने लगा है
कैसी यह मझधार
मुझे काया हुआ है
आँखों में मेरे
यह कैसी नमी है
दिल की धड्क्दं भी
कुछ थम सी गयी है
भला यह कैसी हवा चली है
तेरे साँसों की खुशबू
कहाँ खो गयी है
कहाँ तुझ को दूंडून
कैसे कहूं मैं
मेरे दिल  का हाल


copy right (c) alka narula
photo credit lifeofmuslim.com

akele

my attempt to write a musical short story



यौन ही चली थी रास्ता नया था
समझी नयी मैं
काफिला नया था
रस्ते में एक मुसाफिर नया था
आँखों में उस के मेरा नाम लिखा था
बाँहों में ले कर कहने लगा वोह
तुम एक पारी हो मेरे लिए बनी हो
उस की साँसों की महक में खो गयी मैं
मेरी आँखों की नमी हवा हो गयी एक पल में
उड़ने लगी मैं एक पतंग बन गयी मैं
उस की बाँहों में गुहल कर खो गयी मैं
कुछ पल के लिए पारी बन गयी मैं
बिजली जो कोंढ़ी थर्थार्हत हुई जो
मेरी पाजेब की रन झुन खो गयी एक पल में
मेरी होंठों की मुस्कराहट रोंद गयी एक पल में
न कोई मुसाफिर न काफिला था
रास्ता मेरा काँटों भरा था
हर तरफ धुआं धुआं था
चल पड़ी मैं अकेले
खो गयी मैं धुंए में
मेरी आँखों की नमी लोट आये एक पल में

copy right (c)alka narula
photo crdit graphicsleftovers.com

DOES SUFFERING NEGATE THE EXISTENCE OF COMPASSIONATE GOD

Today i have the pleasure to have Suresh as a guest blogger on random.Though he needs no introduction as his writing speaks for him still i would like to give you a brief introduction,Suresh is a a chemical engineer, purely on the strength of a certificate, and IIM-B finance MBA – both by certificate and expertise. Having worked for 16 years in the area of fertilizer subsidies and policy-making and consulted for a couple of years thereafter he is now the master of his own time. He started trekking at 44 and is now addicted. Books, music, trekking, travel and, now, blogging have ensured that his life is far more interesting than climbing the corporate ladder would ever have been.To read more visit http://www.jambudweepam.blogspot.in/
Thank you Suresh for being my guest and for this lovely post.

When my mother was semi-paralyzed because of metastasizing cancer, it was inevitable that thoughts of how a Compassionate God could cause such distress to a person, who had never in thought, word or deed hurt anyone. It is a common phenomenon that when you see the innocent, the naïve and the good in distress, you start questioning the existence of God or, at least, his compassion.
Those, who believe in God, certainly say piously that the ways of God are unfathomable. Inevitably, however, they attempt to fathom them in every significant incident of their lives. The unquestioning belief that ought to exist in the face of something beyond your understanding somehow eludes our rational selves. We can believe that imaginary numbers exist, even though the very name places them in the realm of the unfathomable, merely because we call it mathematics – which is seen as the epitome of rationality. But God, somehow, is seen as merely a human with superhuman powers and, thus, His actions are seen as something that ought to be subjected to rational human analysis.
Almost all religions exalt the character of a person. Consider a world where there is no want – physical, social or emotional. Would you find a person coveting something that is not his? Consider a world where there are no negative consequences to any action? Would dishonesty be at all necessary in such a world? Would courage? Consider a world where there is no unrequited lust. Would you find rapists or eve-teasers in such a world?
All the virtues that we exalt are necessary only in a world that has pain in addition to pleasure. Good character is worthy of respect only when the concerned person upholds it in the face of adversity. In fact, adversity is the crucible in which a person’s character sheds its dross and turns pure gold – or, of course, sheds the gold and turns pure dross! The true measure of a person can only be known – even by himself – in the way he reacts to untoward incidents in his life.
If you think of joy and sorrow as necessary to test and/or establish a person’s character, then you could conceivably think of the world as a testing ground where souls are adjudged by God. Given that there is a plausible reason for why God permits suffering, the existence of sorrow – of whatever intensity and inflicted on whichever soul – does not necessarily negate the existence of God.
Going strictly by the above measure one may think of God as being present but does it also give reason to think that He is compassionate? Not necessarily! God, as in the above rationale, is a stern Judge but not necessarily a compassionate Father. We shall have to seek elsewhere for reasons to believe in His compassion.
 * * * * * *
I need to reiterate that the ways of God must necessarily be considered unfathomable. When we talk of the Creator of the Universe it would be presumptuous to assume the capability to read His mind. I seek to postulate His reasons for what happens in the world around us merely because we seem incapable of resting content in the unwavering belief that He knows best. Cries of ‘Irrational belief’ and ‘Blind faith’ – in our own minds, if nowhere else - can only be silenced by advancing a plausible theory, however unproven and however far from the Truth.
The theory of ‘Prarabda Karma’ advances the idea that the suffering in the life that we lead is a consequence of our actions of previous lives. Thus, it is not God who inflicts suffering on us but we, ourselves, who have caused the suffering. In this case, those whom we see as naïve, innocent or good are expiating the sins of a past life when they may not have been naïve, innocent or good. This, theory, nonetheless leaves the question open as to whether God, in His infinite compassion, could not have pardoned the sins of the past and averted the suffering.
Think of a tribal child with a hole in the heart being operated upon by a cardiac surgeon. Think then of her parents being totally unaware about modern medical practices (if second grade Bollywood movies can think that tribals still exist who think of a matchbox as a miracle, it should not be such a great feat of imagination for you!). The parents are likely to view the surgeon as a sadistic monster, who cuts open little girls for his illicit pleasure when the surgeon, of course, is inflicting some pain (at least post-operative) in order to avert greater distress later.
The philosophy of Advaita thinks of all souls as part of God – or Brahman as it calls it. Achieving oneness with God is the sole reason why the dross needs be burnt off the soul. If one can conceive of the fact that the separation from such Oneness is a source of infinite distress to the soul, it is easy to understand why God permits human distress as a means of ending such separation. Like the surgeon in the example, God may permit the infliction of a relatively minor pain in order to ameliorate the greater one.
If, with all the limitations of the human senses and intellect, one can find a plausible reason for the existence of distress in the world, it should not be difficult to believe that an infinitely Compassionate God may have reason for permitting worldly distress.
In the end, the only path to God is one of unwavering Faith!

image courtesy google

THE COUNT DOWN HAS JUST BEGUN

   Before I share the secret , let me share other secrets .I woulnt have been able to write this post had   Shamsud not sent  a mail asking me to contribute to the book that he was planning  to publish soon.WOW an established poet like Shams asking me for a contribution meant I must be good at my work to have a place among   5 more senior poets who certainly need no introduction , their work speaks for them and they are Saru Singal, Amit Aag , Ajay Dudeja , Jass C Scott  Sohail Akhtar . Till  then I just wrote and wrote till I dropped . Writing has been a passion for me , though I never got any negative comments but positive comments made me even more nervous  I often wondered "are they trying to keep my heart " But I did not give up and kept  writing and worked towards improving my writing skills .Dont want to keep you waiting , neither o i have the patience to wait any more......BECAUSE :))))
                                             

                  

                             "   THE COUNT DOWN HAS JUST BEGUN "
                                              
                                       
                                        HMMMMMM  WELLLLLL
 It would be unfair on my part to  keep you waiting any more so here it goes...My poetry is getting published in the book  "Rousing Cadence " due for release on 27/07/2012 . In fact I shouldn't be calling  it a book but a collection of words in harmony with emotions , a collective effort by the rousing cadence team to  give a new dimension to the world of poetry. I seriously got butterflies in my stomach :))))))))))))


  MY HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS TO TEAM " ROUSING CADENCE "
                                                   Team Rousing Cadence!    
                                                           
                                     

       (For more info click image to reach Rousing Cadence page on Face Book)             

                 

                  A SPECIAL THANKS TO SHAMSUD FOR MAKING IT HAPPEN

                                       THANK YOU cyberwit.net

                   A SPECIAL THANKS TO SEEMA SHARMA FOR THE ART WORK

         

AND A V  SPECIAL THANKS TO INDI BLOOGGER FOR GIVING US A PLATFORM TO SHARE OUR THOUGHTS AND CONNECT WITH EACH OTHER

AND OF COURSE  SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THE BLOGGERS FOR GIVING ME SPACE IN THEIR WORLD AND MY READERS FOR ACCEPTING ME WITH FLAWS ,WITHOUT YOUR SUPPORT IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE !




photo credit photo bucket

                         

The Badshah of Bad

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He is known as India's smartest, most business savvy metrosexual living man this side of the Atlantic.
He has converted himself into a million dollar brand that can sell anything under the sun. 
Brand Shah Rukh

Is the brand loosing its luster?
Will this mean that he will finally come to his senses?
 
While we all know he lost his mind a few years ago, when we started seeing him on every billboard in every road on every town in every state of the country, when he brawled with the MCA officials after his team won the last match in Mumbai. Not unusual for stars to act like divas, but then again this is Shah Rukh Khan.
He once famously said 'Whenever I feel arrogant, I'd like to visit the US'. Well, maybe it's time for SRK to book a weekly pass to the US just about now. 

But what has happened to a man who was the darling of billions? 
SRK has always been the brash, mercurial, self confessed 'arrogant' star. Could this be the unraveling of all that the actor has been going through for a few years? His movie career, of late, is not something we can write home about. He has been home- delivering a string of half baked flops for a while. His premier league cricket team has only come of age in this year but considering how this game is as much chance as luck, this is not something I would say is because of his effort. 

While many say that this famous brawl is just the signs of SRK loosing his marbles, I am amazed about the wicked coincidence this has with the biggest betting scam to hit the cash rich cricket league. A masterstroke, indeed.
SRK, after all, is a brand that is available for hire at the right price. 

But can a person like SRK bear to fade into the sunset? 
Can a generation fed on celebrity tantrums and gimmicks let their idol become obsolete?
Indians have notoriously short memory and all this will be forgiven soon. SRK will eventually 'regret' and 'apologize' for the way he behaved and MCA will lift the ban just in time for IPL 2013.

And we will all cheer for him. Again.

Written exclusively for 'RANDOM' by our Guest Blogger, Navin Mathew. More dope here: Blog, Facebook, Indiblogger

photo credit google search images of shahrukh khan