कभी कभी...

कभी कभी कुछ सपने

यूँ हावी हो जाते हैं  

कि वे लगने लगते हैं… ख़ुद ज़िन्दगी !

फ़िर परवाह किसे कि वो जीवन 

है एक सपना,

छणभँगुर, नश्वर |

कभी कभी के वे कुछ लम्हे,

जिनमे होता है एहसास 

कई सदियाँ जी लेने का,

जब बीतते हैं 

तब पाते हैं हम ख़ुद को 

कई कोसों दूर उस हकीकत से –

जिससे निकाल कर ख़ुद को 

चलाया था इस ख्याब में | 

कभी कभी ये आँखे 

यूँ ही बह जाती है,

अलग – थलग सी पड़ी पड़ी,

एक दूसरे से छुप छुप कर |

पहली को है ये दुःख कि ख्वाब वो प्यारा 

टूट रहा है ह्यिदय के भीतर

और पश्च्याताप करे दूजी ये 

ख्वाब सजाया ही क्यों था ?

कभी कभी कुछ सपने

बस यूँही हावी हो जाते हैं |

For the change that we seek...and why?

(In response to the comments recieved on "For the change that we seek..." on http://citizensfightback.blogspot.com/ blog)

The cases mentioned (cleanliness and mannerism) in the blog, For the change that we seek..., posted on Dec 3rd, are used for symbolic purposes. And they definitely stand for our negligence to more serious issues such as security.

May be people who are dirty and rude deserve security. But being dirty is one’s personal choice which by no means offers you the right to keep his/her city dirty, the city/country being a public property (I appreciate Swetha’s efforts to take care that our team doesn’t litter, by carrying every piece of waste paper in her handbag until she found a dustbin). And here, when I say cleanliness I don’t only mean dirty roads, I also mean a society which has gone morally and psychologically corrupt. I talk about some of our corrupt practices (We tailgate. We don’t like our bags to be checked at security checks neither do our security personnel, who again are a part of this Aam Janta, care to check them properly) which eventually lead to what happened on 26/11.

We call these things small but tell me whether these small things are not the stepping stone for the big casualties? We say cleaning up our city is a minor thing, but do we understand what kind of diseases the dirt can bring in? Don’t people die of it? And if we killing people by not keeping our city clean, are we not terrorists in our own small way? So shall I say we can afford to be selecting about the measures of security? Shall I say that we choose to kill people by forcing them to fall ill but we can’t allow them to be killed by bullets? It might sound too theoretical but every crisis before it takes shape is theory.

I don’t question the questioning of Aam Janta to the people who are responsible for this exact issue. That has to be done. What I question is the motivation for this. I question the manner of execution of the questioning and its correctness. I definitely agree that there were some groups who were there in the march with right kind of motivation for I personally believe that we can’t be motivated by fear and frustration, it only instigates. A real motivation comes only from courage, and whosoever joined the march with that sense of courage, I respect them.

Can there be a bigger irony than this – Most of us don’t care even to participate in process to choose our government whom we are questioning today.

What would be a better question to ask to government/Security systems– “I am responsible to my duties but how could you lack to be responsible to yours?” OR “Don’t bother what I do but why don’t you be responsible for your duties?” You choose.


In short, I ask the same question that our banners in the protest march read– Why do we not be the answer rather than asking the questions?

Please accept my apologies if I sound blunt in my writing...

For the change that we seek...

I attended a protest march in response to the Mumbai attack and its repercussions today at the Gateway of India. And I must say I was not impressed; not impressed by the fact that we are still not ready for what we are asking for – The change. And now my belief, that whatever happened was what we deserve, has been reinforced.

 I wasn’t angry till now. I was not angry to know that my city has been so ruthlessly attacked because I understood that it’s a system’s failure and I and quite a lot of people I know were doing our bit to correct it.

 But I am angry now when I know the fact that my fellow citizens are as useless as those politicians they were seeking answers from.

 Tell me what kind of responsible behavior we expect from our politicians when we don’t feel the responsibility, as small as to keep our city clean ourselves? One should have seen the Gateway and the places around for how badly they had been littered with papers, pamphlets, plastic cups, paper plates and what not. People had gathered with big banners and posters to ask for a change and this and that. But I ask all these people, why the do you not look into yourself and see what kind of change is required in you to bring about it in the whole society? Why don’t you initiate the change in yourself rather than asking questions to everybody else? What kind of responsible behavior it was to throw out hardcore abuses at people/politicians/country in public where we had our women, our children?

 It’s sheer cowardice.

 First of all, you have never been proactive enough to take care of your city, of your country. And now when you react to a particular failure, that too you do because you fear – fear about your own safety? All right, agreed that this safety is your fundamental right. But when you easily forget your fundamental duties of being correct in your own actions, with what rights do you talk about your fundamental rights?

 Any change that has to be brought in a sustainable way has to done because you are motivated by courage and not fear. We need to understand that we are part of the system which has failed and brought upon this terrible moment in Mumbai’s history. We can’t sit outside and ask for change. We have to bring about this change from a holistic view and this change to happen has to start from ourselves… Think about it before you go for your next demonstration, protest march or whatever.