Love, Life and Happiness

They walk around with their souls unblemished and minds uncluttered. The angelic whiteness of their being hasn't yet been soiled by the society which in thousands of years of human existence is still trying to fix its finger on an ageless and universal moral mooring. They walk awkwardly, laugh recklessly, dance with abandon and cry with an innocent silliness. They are the people of all weathers, enjoy all seasons and care for none. Safe and secure in the knowledge that they are watched over, they step out in the coldest of the winters, dressed in their uniforms like little robots, and settle their little faces in the back of their father, riding the motorbikes to the schools, holding him tight and often their tiny, pink palms pushed into the dad's jacket. They hold all the hopes that we all are born with, in the beginning. We lost those hopes as they crashed against the unfeeling and unyielding breast of the world around us, busy being what it is- a grave, unwel

Silences have settled on the day like dew-drops of a receding winter night. The day stands at the cusp of weather where winter recedes and the summers descends. Fogs have lifted and the skies are cloudless and clear. I walk through the lane, on which shadows have spread themselves beautifully. Words come to my mind: "The patterns shadows make, these ZIg-zagging lines like some slithering snake; Sneak in surreptitiously l like some memory lost, A memory of warmth, surviving,  Undying winters and unyielding frost." The bright sun rays languorously lie on the Earth, with their long legs spread under the sketchy, shifting shadows of the trees. A perfect day to reclaim the me-time, basically, catching a corner bench in the park for myself, before it is appropriated for the day by some cozy couple. I mutter wordlessly, seeking forgiveness from the angel of Love for interrupting the just right of a young couple wh

   महाशिवरात्रि वह शक्ति है, वह शँकर है, वह प्रेम सतत् निरंतर है। वह शैलसुता का निर्दोष हठ गौरी के मन का मन्दिर है। वह नीलकंठ का गरल भी है, वह क्लिष्ट भी है, वह सरल भी है। वह शून्य का एक कोलाहल है वह शाश्वत स्वर की हलचल है। वह गौरी-गौरव का दर्पण है, वह पुरूष का पूर्ण समर्पण है। वह जीवन का रक्षक महादेव वह चिर-विद्रोही का स्वर है। वह बँधा हुआ एक सागर है वह प्रलय नृत्य भयंकर है। वह सतत प्रेम निरंतर है, वह शक्ति है, वह शंकर है।  - साकेत, 14.02.2018 You may listen to the Audio here (Click Here)

In the past few days, attempts were made to re-define Women empowerment and emancipation with two independent events. In one of the event, a left-leaning, establishment-hating poet of sorts was caught making immoral demands on underage girls, who were supposedly his fans or friends. The second event which was somehow positioned as a matter of woman's dignity was when many times Congress Parliamentarian, supposedly in the possession of expensive diamonds gifted by a tax-evader was caught having a dangerously deriding and derogatory laugh in the parliament, during the speech of Prime Minister, in spite of being chided by the speaker of the House, who happens to be the Vice-President of India. This brought in a minor rebuke from the PM, who compared this laughter which feminists struggled to defined something between crackle to smile with a soft sound, with that of characters in the TV serial Ramayana of yesteryears. The rich and powerful politician, Renuka Chowdhury , infamous fo

विगत दिनों महिला सशक्तिकरण की पुनर्व्याख्या दो प्रसंगों में हुई- एक वामपंथी, आधुनिक कवि अल्पवयस्क कन्याओं से अनुचित अनुरोध करते पकड़े गए; दूसरी घटना तब हुई जब कांग्रेस नेता रेणुका चौधरी के प्रधानमंत्री के भाषण के मध्य संसद में अनुचित, अभद्र  अट्टहास करती हुई पाई गईं और नरेंद्र मोदी के संक्षिप्त कटाक्ष का केंद्र बनीं।  एक चमत्कारी करतब से पहली घटना में आधुनिक महिलाएँ दोषी पुरुष के साथ दिखीं, जबकि प्रधानमंत्री के भाषण, और उसके माध्यम से संसद की अवमानना करने वाला अट्टहास महिला-मुक्ति का परचम बन गया। पत्रकार महिलाएँ, लेखिकाएँ रेणुका जी को तमाम शोषित महिलाओं का प्रतीक बना कर मैदान में उतरी। अवसर ऐसा बना कि गिद्ध कबूतर के, शेर ख़रगोश के नाम पर सहानुभूति बटोरने चल पड़ा।  अतिउत्साह में योद्धा महिलाएँ क्षितिज के विपरीत किनारों से मैदान में उतरीं। एक तरफ़ रेणुकाजी के राक्षसीकरण का विरोध था, दूसरे छोर पर शूर्पणखा के दैविकरण का प्रयास था। व्हाट्सएप के इतिहास में दो विपरीत संदेशों के कारण रेणुका प्रसंग काले अक्षरों में लिखा जाएगा।  फ़ेमिनिस्टों के सागरिका समूह का मानना

Let us leap towards our just place in the Sun. Let us not waste this opportunity in petty profiteering, let us not allow our thoughts to be muddled in the middle-class melodrama of ours. We are those nameless and faceless ones who are the face of India. My take on our much dramatized disenchantment with the Narendra Modi Government after Budget 2018: Recently, Narendra Modi government released the last Budget of this term of his Government. As the 2018 Budget came out, there was outrage in the air, disenchantment in the ranks. Outrage is the most easily obtained commodity in the modern times. We are easily, quickly and frequently outraged. We are outraged at the villages which have remained out of the plan for progress that the nation made in last seven decades. We are outraged that the schools are not build and education is so rare that it allows us to choose our leaders foolishly and naively. We are outraged that we have been called one of the most corrupt nations in the w