बुढ़ापे की टूट चुकी लाठी

इस अंधर में
दूर एक बुझती लौ लड़ रही
दो रोटी के लिए
अपने अस्तित्व के लिए

प्रौढ़ हो चुकी हड्डियों ने
कुछ प्राण बचा रखा है
इस पेट के लिए
कुछ कपूतों के लिए

इस दिये का क्या ठिकाना
जो बुझकर कभी जल नहीं सकता
किंचित कोई हथेली तो देता
बुझती लौ के लिए
थोड़े से तेल के लिए

मिथ्य है समाज की संरचना
जहाँ बूढ़े जन्मदाता की अवहेलना की तूने
अरे ! स्वार्थ हेतु ही सेवा कर दो
अपने भविष्य के लिए
अपने अप्रत्यक्ष अस्तित्व के लिए

इस अंधर में
दूर एक बुझती लौ लड़ रही
दो रोटी के लिए
अपने अस्तित्व के लिए

वाह रे शिक्षा !!

हर सिद्ध हो चुकी शिक्षा का

श्रेय बाज़ार में बिकता है

पहले तो गुरु आदर्श था

आज उसका भी मोल लगता है

समाज तो नसीहत बांटता आया है

मगर consultancy के नाम पे

आज वहाँ भी दुकान लगती है

गुरु और गोपाल दोनों खड़े हो तो

गोपाल को ही प्रणाम कर लो

मंदिर के पट हर किसी के लिए खुलते हैं

मगर private schools के सामने देखो

एक गरीब का बच्चा दरवाजे तक ही रह जाता है

विद्वानों के जमघट में

जिसे हम यूनिवर्सिटी कहते हैं

पैसों की धांधली चलती है

कुछ यूनिवर्सिटी में तो वैसे ही

पैसों पे डिग्री बिकता है

विद्या के मंदिर के बीच ज्येष्टता निकलना अनुचित है

मंदिर तो भक्ति से बनती है

मगर पैसों की ताकत से देखो- अख़बार के पन्नों में

रैंकिंग में IIPM भी IIM से भी ऊपर दिखाया जाता है

स्वेटर बुन रही होती कोई सिक्षादात्री

कहीं शिक्षक सड़क पे हड़ताल पे होते हैं महीनों से

निर्लज्ज होकर ज्ञान के मंदिर में छल हो रहा होता है

सरकारी स्कूलों में ज्ञान के पुजारी

खुद ही दीप की लौ बुझा कर समाज को विकृत कर रहा होता है

क्या समझायें उस अबोध को

उसे तो child labour का मतलब भी समझ नहीं आता है

© Jai

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P.S. -

समाज यह तो सिखाता है कि मेहनत से ही इस दुनिया में सफलता मिलती है | मगर जिंदगी कुछ और भी सिखा जाती है | जिंदगी उन रास्तों के बारे में बता जाती है जो किताब के पन्नों में नहीं मिलते | मगर जिंदगी ये नहीं बताती की कौन सा रास्ता सही है और कौन सा गलत | सही और गलत का फैसला समाज करता है | अतः मोटे तौर पे यह कहा जा सकता है कि हमारे समाज, शिक्षक और शिक्षा निति की जिम्मेदारी बनती है की हर व्यक्ति को सही और गलत में अंतर पता हो |

इन्साफ

इस चाँदनी में हम दोनों खड़े थे..

मगर हम रात के तरफ़दार नहीं थे |

माना चाँद हम दोनों की गवाही भी दे दे..

मगर इन फासलों की सुनवाई कौन करेगा ?

ख़ामोशी कभी सबूत नहीं बन सके..

रात के अँधेरे ने हर चश्मदीद को झुटला दिया |

मगर रात भर जागती आँखों ने नींद भरी एक निशानी छोड़ दी..

क्या ये रात कभी इन्साफ कर पाएगा??

बेदर्द फ़साने

पास आकर बेअल्फाज गुजर जाने वाले फ़साने तेरे,

बड़े बेरहम होकर गुजरते हैं मेरे दिल से ||

जैसे किसी धागे का दिल बना हो ,

और खिंच कर एक गाँठ बन जाए,

फिर अगले ही झटके में,

धागा धागे से अलग हो जाए ||

NEXT LIFE

I was looking at a boy, 4 or 5 years of age, who was biting at the end of his pack of chocolate while standing near a sweet shop. His lovely round cheeks and small eyes rolling just over it added more innocence and blitheness to this world. He seemed to enjoy full right to chose things he could gaze, not caring if it would be considered indecent when he grew up to my age. His little fingers along with his palm made totally justified efforts to put that chocolate into his perfectly spherical mouth. I wished I could buy him infinite number of chocolates and stare at him forever.

A car horn blurted and I swayed my neck and widened my eyes to petrify him. The car owner-cum-driver gave me a what-have-i-done-type-confused look. I wish I could indict him in court for ravaging one city full of cuteness. Thoughts swayed and it was again the same selfish, greedy and contemptuous machine-driven human civilization running after petty unsatisfied greed. Materialistic ‘ME’ always wants ‘MORE’ – I thought, trying to answer the most challenging philosophical question of the era. For a moment, I thought, my answer was really good. But at the next moment, I detested my answer; philosophy has never been so interesting or exciting for me because what is true is true whereas philosophy just gives two contradictory statements by itself to confuse ‘philosophically illiterates’ and then cleverly concludes that ‘The contradictory statements arise due to different points of perspective but what is true is actually true’. Enough of contemplation for this mean world- I decided and moved on in this materialistic world. My stomach told me that it was not served for hours. It was in fact lashing out at my magnanimous decision to quit lunch. I was being scolded for not taking care of my organs. I felt guilty and listened to inner voice of my stomach. Just then I felt some craziness inside me; perhaps I was getting paranoid- ‘what the fuck! I am talking to my stomach’! The boy with chocolate was now looking at me and I was looking at his chocolates. Now, I started feeling jealous.

Life at steel plant is not easy. Training period was more boring, inescapable and mundane but at least you can be sure that liquid steel particles are not splashing near you. “Splashes of liquid steel just feel like a needle pricking and coming out at the same moment. You don’t need to panic at all. In fact, slowly, you will stop caring about them”- My boss told me, showing off his experience. My boss is Assistant General Manager at Steel Refining Unit (SRU) and he never stops mentioning it. “Jai, SRU is where you ensure the final chemistry and hence the control the quality of final steel. It is you who will decide how much Aluminum billets to add or CaSi wire to feed or choose between ‘Ferro manganese high carbon’ or ‘Ferro manganese medium carbon’ to be added as additive. After every such correct addition you actually finish one ladle of steel valued at several crores! ”. Wow! What a delusion to entice you for the job by glorifying it! - I thought looking on somewhat distorted shape of my boss. His face was actually egg shaped with center of mass somewhere near his tongue, I guess. He wore a discoluored frame spectacle with glasses having brown tints. He was topper of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, IIT Roorkee (formerly UOR), 19XX Batch.

“Have you ever noticed my name on some hall of fame board? My name is engraved there.” My boss gloated. I nodded in a weird circular path around my neck that would not have looked like any regular nod but created good amount of confusion. A huge ladle filled with boiling steel was being carried by overhead crane moved slowly high above in sky. He saw and smiled. I wondered how geeks get excited at any stuff like that. I simplified my boss's surname from 'Chakraborty' to ‘chocobar’ and this name was accepted for further future conversations between me and one of the colleague working under ‘chocobar’.

Deputy GM (senior than my boss) of ‘Steel Melting Shop-2 & Continuous Casting’ called me to pay him a visit. My boss took me to him. Deputy GM asked me few formal questions and asked a personal one- ‘Because this is a fact that IITians don’t stay for long in PSUs, I am asking you personally, will u really stay with this company or not? Bhag to nhi jaoge chhor ke?’. I made the most diplomatic answer of the year “achha laga to reh jaunga”. ‘Oh yeah, You know what it means.’- I wanted to add, but eventually kept it inside. He gave me a really bad look as if I had committed the most awkward crime of the century, something like intruding into each cell of his body and dismantling all his DNA strands. My boss interrupted- “nhi sir, ye kahin nhi jaayega. Iska howntown to paas mein hi hai… Muzaffarpur. He won’t leave.” I replied to Deupty GM on my boss’s argument –“Sir, ambition bahut badi chij hoti hai. If you really have to be something, aapko homesickness to chhodna hoga na.” They agreed to this high sounding precept and nodded without arguments. I came out with some bad news that I will be taken to work in shifts. Shifts suck hard. At night when you should be on your bed, dreaming that your heartthrob wants to know how much you love her and so you ask her to close her eyes and slowly kissing her, speak- “I prefer feelings to words because mouth can be equivocating but lips don’t lie”. Whereas, night shifts, on the other hand, demand a matchstick to hold off your eyelid from shutting down. Talking to Deputy GM didn’t work out anything except that they agreed to my arguments. Anyway, I came out with my boss, smiling in wonder, how preciosity in language can be helpful. My boss, Departmental Rank 1 of Meta Batch 19XX, IIT Roorkee found it noteworthy to mention- “I reach my office at 8:00 a.m. every day and leave at 8 or 9 p.m.” I imagined his wife eloping with someone else.

I climbed to Control Room of SRU at 8.8 meters. They don’t call it first floor. They have named floors according to their height perhaps they want to keep calculations handy; calculations like what would be the velocity with which you will strike the floor in case you fall. I sat on my chair looking at people working hard and diligently. Shift in-charge was pressing a button to feed ferro-manganese because the raw steel from ‘primary steel refining’ contained less manganese. I asked him why another shift in-charge was not seen today. He replied-“He went Delhi for his daughter’s medical checkups. Doctors here have found out that Potassium content in her body has become low.” I wanted to erupt- “why don’t you bring her here. We will feed her some ferro-potassium”, but the next moment I analysed, it was a bad idea.

I sat lazily on my chair. I met a lot of people that day, talking to them, analyzing them. I listened to every talk going around and figured out who is what and who else can be helpful till I stay in this department. While I rested, I kept thinking about my bike to be delivered on 16^th Jan. It was so painful waiting for my first bike. Waiting is painful and fantasizing about your going-to-be-delivered bike is awesome. I lay lazily and concluded- ‘bikes are sexier than sex’. I looked at my watch. I had passed time efficiently doing nothing on my first day and now office time was getting over. I felt something empty, it was my stomach. I decided to go to a sweet shop after here and grab some tasty eatables and stuff them inside.

And here I was, looking that child holding his mother’s finger and walking along with those mouthwatering chocolate in his left hand. The boy walked carelessly, not bothering what life is and how every next step decides your 'LIFE'. ‘God! I wish were him, at least for few hours.’- I thought and entered the sweet shop.