SUCCESS

This is a quote that I got to read while going through an article about how to minimize your clinical mistakes. It says everything about success. Although everything that is in the quote is something that everyone knows but the way in which it all has been written looks fantastic to me and a lot inspirational also. Trying to get much inspiration and much encouragement from this.

"Success is not a destination, it's a journey. The only way to succeed is to be brave enough to risk failure, and to experience it too. If you're going to achieve, it is never going to be one smooth unmarred road. Never. Persistence is the toughness of spirit....Success is measured by the effect that you have on the people with whom you interact."

यही सच है

This is one of the many things that I was busy with the last week. "यही सच है", a story written by Mr. Mannu Bhandari---------- I got to read this story on wednesday. This is one of my bhaiya's favourite stories and it was he, who sent me the online link to the full story to read.

No doubt, the story is quite realistic in all its senses portraying the middle-class character of Deepa who is baffled with her past and present, both playing a demanding game with her heart. Her heart and soul are completely bewildered whether to go with her past or to continue with her present. She is engaged with a man called Sanjay and they plan to marry sooner or later. She has left behind her past far back wherein she was in love with another man Nisheet. Something happened to them and Nisheet had left her and they had broken up. She is quite happy with his present in Sanjay and needs nothing more in life. To get a job she goes to calcutta where she finds Nisheet again. He helps her to get the job. Deepa had thought she had left behind her past in Nisheet well back but she turns to be wrong in that. She still had a lot of feelings about him and again her heart slips for him. At last, after so much of confusion she opts to go with the present leaving behind the past.

The whole story has been written as Deepa in the first person. Readers come to feel about everything that she feels and sees everything from her prospective. This is the largest drawback of the story as I feel. The reader comes to know nothing about Nisheet, why he had left her and why he didn't comeback to her when he got the chance. Nothing is told about this or even no clue about these things have been given in the story. Scrutinizing the character of Deepa, one feels that she is still an immature girl (at least for her age). She does not understand herself quite well and keeps playing with two other lives. At the start, though, a clue has been given that her relationship with Sanjay is not a deep feeling of her heart rather a compensation to what she had got in life by loving Nisheet. She was confused even then still she was planning to marry Sanjay and said that she hates Nisheet whereas she had always loved him and never could forget him.

Looking at Sanjay's character, he looks as a pathetic man to me. His lady love is not completely his own. He doesn't know but the girl whom he is going to marry loves somebody else more than him and is using him for forgetting her past. A real pathetic character who has nothing much to do in the story.

As far as Nisheet's character is concerned, I really feel sad about him. Watching with his perspective, he comes out to be a loser (but the real loser for me is Sanjay who even after getting Deepa does not get her completely). His character in the story is not complete----one does not know about his compulsion as to why he left Deepa. It is showed in the story that he loved Deepa even when they had met after so long in calcutta. Yet, he does not reply to Deepa's letter that she writes to him in the last accepting that she still loved her. Maybe, he was not able to forgive himself for what he had done to Deepa though he knows that Deepa had well forgiven him for that. We don't know about what really happened so we can't make any opinion on that but whatever it may be, with Deepa still loving him, it wasn't above love at least.

At last, a real sad story that ends with everybody as the loser. Deepa does not get her love of life but has to compromise it with Sanjay's. Sanjay does not get the love that he deserves in reply to his immense love to Deepa. Finally he gets someone who still loves somebody else. And the somebody else----------Nisheet is empty-handed at the last of the story. Neither he gets his love nor he even could clarify himself.

Kashmir Ki Kali

I got to watch three of the bollywood movies this week. All three of them completely of different genres and era. The first one was Shakti Samanta's "KASHMIR KI KALI" (1964), then Mahesh Bhatt's "ZAKHM" (1998) and the most recent being the new release Mukesh Bhatt's "Jannat" (2008). All three movies are good when watched from their perspective but comparison between them will be a complete injustice as all of them are completely different kind of movies. Still, if forced to rank them according to my choice I would go with Zakhm as the best followed by Kashmir Ki Kali and Jannat in that order. This blog is concerned with Kashmir Ki kali. blogs on Zakhm and Jannat will follow this in a few days hopefully.

Shakti Samanta's Kashmir ki kali is a suspense-cum-love story wherein the audience has no clue about the suspense coming till quite late in the movie. Its a movie about a young guy, son of a rich mother (रानी माँ)who does not want to marry to a girl of his mother's choice. He flees away to kashmir to get away from all this. There he finds a girl who works as a flower-seller and gets a crush on her. He loses his heart to her and she also starts loving her. At the last, the hero comes to know that rani maa is not his real mother and also that she had given birth to a baby girl who was stolen. The hero starts searching for the girl and ultimately, his search ends at the flower-seller whom he loved.

The young guy is played by ever-refreshing Mr. Shammi kapoor and the girl is played by Sharmila Tagore. She made an emphatic debut in Hindi film industry with this film prior to which she had already made the Bengali film industry her own. She looked beautiful and refreshing in the movie and undoubtedly became the heartthrob of a million Indians.

The direction of Shakti Samanta is above all his standards. The beautiful picturisation of the valley of Kashmir makes the movie all the more refreshing. It is one of the many things that can be found common in betwen all the samanta's films. I don't remember names of much of his films but I do remember An evening in paris, Aaradhna and other Rajesh khanna movies of that time wherein similar beautiful picturisation made the movie lively. One more thing that i noticed as similarity in between this movie and Aaradhna is the way the hero and heroine are introduced to each other. Here Sharmila Tagore throws a full bucket of water unknowingly on shammi kapoor much alike in aaradhna wherein she again does the same but with Rajesh khanna.

The best part of the movie for me is its music. Nothing to say about Mr. O. P. Nayyar, one of the best music directors the Hindi film industry has ever had. Be it the words of praise for Tagore's beauty in "Taarif Karoon Kya Uski" or the evergreen love song "Deewana Hua Baadal" or the touching "Hai duniya usi ki", every song touches your heart and you can't resist yourself from humming some words from them. The most beautiful part is the solo Saxophone in Hai duniya usi ki that I have loved from the time I first ever heard it on vividh bharti.

All in all a good movie at last that completely entertains you with all the masalas of the hindi movies-------Love triangle(third angle being Pran), suspense, rich-poor descrimination and many more....................................

दिल चाहता है

ये कविता या यूं कहूँ की ये तुकबंदी कहीं से भी मेरी प्रियतम कविताओं मे नही है मगर फ़िर भी ये मुझे प्रिय है। शायद इसलिए की ये इस ओर मेरा पहला प्रयास है। आजतक मुझे हमेशा ऐसा लगता था कि ये मेरे बस की बात नही कि मैं यूं कोई तुकबंदी करूँ अपितु ये मेरी चाहत जरूर थी कि मैं ऐसा कुछ करूँ। शायद इस बात की मुझे अपने आप को लेकर हीन भावना भी थी कि कोई ऐसा काम है जो मैं बिल्कुल नही कर सकता। मगर अब ऐसा लगता है कि अतिसधारण ही सही मगर मैं इस काबिल हूँ कि कुछ लिख सकूं। शायद शुरुआत ऐसी ही होती है। दुआ करता हूँ कि ये छोटी सी मेरी पेशकश, जो मैंने अपने किसी अतिप्रिय के लिए लिखी है, सभी पढ़ने वालों को पसंद आएगी। अच्छी लगे न लगे ख़राब नही लगेगी।

तेरे ख्वाबों मे खो जाने को दिल चाहता है,

तेरी दिल्लगी मे दिल लगाने को दिल चाहता है.

दिल चाहता है दम भर तुम्हे देखता रहूँ,

तेरे साथ हर पल मे एक ज़िंदगी जी लेने को दिल चाहता है.

तेरी हर साँस को महसूस करने को दिल चाहता है,

तेरे बदन की खुशबू मे महक जाने को दिल चाहता है.

दिल चाहता है तेरी सांसो मे कहीं खो जाऊं,

तेरे हर साँस को अपना बना लेने को दिल चाहता है.

तेरी झील सी इन आँखों मे घर बनाने को दिल चाहता है,

तेरे दिल के किसी कोने मे बस जाने को दिल चाहता है.

दिल चाहता है हर पल तेरे साथ रहूँ,

तेरी बाँहों मे छोटा सा एक आशियाँ बनाने को दिल चाहता है.

नैनों मे तेरे काजल बन कर रह जाने को दिल चाहता है,

बिंदियाँ बनकर तेरे माथे को चूमने को दिल चाहता है.

दिल चाहता है कानों की बाली बनकर तेरे गालों को चुमूं,

आइना बनकर हर वक्त तेरे दीदार करने को दिल चाहता है.

दिल सहम जाता है तुझसे जुदा होने के बस ख्याल से

टूट जाता है दिल तुझसे अलग होने के हर सवाल से

दिल चाहता है तेरी ज़िंदगी का एक हिस्सा बन जाऊँ,

तेरे साथ पूरी ज़िंदगी गुजार देने को दिल चाहता है.

अंशुमान आशु

शक्ति और क्षमा

Here is a poem that I read first when I was in STD 8^th. It was a part of our Hindi coursebook. At that time, I didn’t know much about Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh Dinkar or about his way of writing his poems popularly known as ‘वीर रस’। Even as today, I don’t know much about this ras but know something about Dinkar. A nationalist poem, known for his inspiring patriotic poems of the pre-independence era and a firm supporter of revolutionary activists in the Indian freedom struggle, turned into a gandhian later on, though he describes himself as ‘bad gandhian’ as he continued to have soft corner for the revolutionaries and their ideologies.

The kind of anger and arrogance that is exuded in his poems is a clear reflection of his revolutionary thoughts. The way he has narrated the whole story of Danveer Karna in his epic Rashmirathi, is simply superb. The anger of Karna for his mother and his love and respect for the same lady goes side-by-side in the poem. Such a great reflection of a friend’s loyalty is a special treat for every reader.

‘Kurukshetra’, another of his great creations, looks a bit contrary to his revolutionary thought, still he manages to keep his arrogance and anger intact there also. It’s a poem again on the context of the real epic of Hindu mythology “Mahabharat” as is Rashmirathi. (Seems that Mahabharat had a real impact on Mr. Dinkar.) Anyway, Kurukshetra is a poem that condemns war in all its senses, quite contradictory to the notion that revolutionaries love to fight for their right. Presently, I am going through it and will try to write about it in detail when it is over.

After going through part of Kurukshetra and also the poem here “SHAKTI aur KSHAMA”, it comes to the mind that Dinkar, in some way or other, does not feel that Duryodhana was a villain in Mahabharat, as is thought of or as is reflected by Ved Vyas in Mahabharat. For him Duryodhana does not seem to be a bad man. Everywhere, be it Rashmirathi or Kurukshetra or this poem, he refers to Duryodhana as Suyodhana--------- the difference of ‘dur’ and ‘su’ so superbly utilized to changeover the whole picture of the character. I don’t know whether it was Dinkar’s own creation or else is it we, who, wrongly have known Suyodhana as Duryodhana over the time. Can’t say much on this as everything I know about Mahabharat is courtesy Mr. B. R. Chopra who brought the epic in every house of the country with his tele-serial. Even he referred to Duryodhana as Duryodhana only.

Coming to the poem, Dinkar, here again has written the poem with Mahabharat as the backdrop. Somewhere, I had heard somebody telling me that it is an extract from the great Rashmirathi itself. I have not yet read that poem so can’t say much on that again. Does not it looks ironical that coming from a place just 1 k.m. away from Dinkar’s residence, I have not yet gone through his most famous and most acclaimed poem of all times?

Anyway, the poem is about the importance of power that, according to Dinkar, is the prerequisite not only for winning an enemy but also for forgiving him. The act of forgiveness, kindness, tolerance and sacrifice, everything is worth only when you have the power to crush your enemy or else it’s a sign of cowardliness. Dinkar has used the example of snake to put forth this point of his and has used the words so beautifully that I have not forgotten this stanza since I first read it:

kshama shobhati us bhujang ko

jiske paas garal ho,

usko kya jo dantheen,

visharahit,vinit,saral ho.

The use of Lord Rama in the poem is also a beautiful part to illustrate the importance of power as to what it can do when it is displayed to the enemy. This part of the poem illustrates how an enemy thinks of you as a coward until you display your power to him and how he comes down to his feet when you show your power to him.

All in all, this is one of the few poems from my coursebook that I still remember after even so much time has gone by. I loved it the first time I read it and since then I have always-always loved it. Here is a great lesson from the poem to bring down in your life. “First be capable of crushing your enemy down and then think of forgiving him.”

Get the full poem here clicking on the picture below:

OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM- the lost glory

ANTHEM- A song of devotion or loyalty.

The dictionary says that the national anthem is a song of devotion or loyalty- Devotion and loyalty towards your nation- the nation where you live in, the nation that you live for.

The national anthem is something that does not only signify your loyalty towards the nation but incorporates in itself the whole nationality of a nation. The complete ideologies or even the existence of the nation is determined by its national anthem. Respecting the national anthem is respecting the nation. BUT, DO WE REALLY RESPECT OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM?


A few years back the question of disrespect to the national anthem was once put in front of the govt. the govt as it should have done, took some initiatives towards it. Are these initiatives paying off, can only be known after some time evolves with these initiatives. In the meantime, the private firms like owners of multiplexes also took a step towards giving back its glory to the national anthem. They started playing the national anthem before every film. I don't know whether this step is paying off or not but I know one fact that in someways or other it is even acting in the opposite direction aggravating the disrespect to the national anthem.

On a weekend after a whole week of tiredness, hectic schedules and all the tensions of work, a man goes to a theatre to watch a movie. Not only to watch the movie but to enjoy the weekend, to forget all his griefs of the last week and to refresh and prepare himself for the same grievances the next week. He goes to the ticket counter, stands in the queue for quite sometime, struggles and finally books a ticket for himself. He gets the ticket in his hand and his face lights up as if he has got the ticket to the heaven. He enters the hall, sits on the well cushioned seats with his share of popcorn and cold-drink. Trailers of some films and advertisements start coming. As he starts enjoying his time in the hall, just before the start of the movie a message comes on the screen "please stand up in respect to the national anthem". Suddenly what comes out from the mouth of the man is "not again". His whole jovial mood is spoiled in a fraction of a second with the sight of the message. It happens everytime he comes to enjoy the movie.

The whole hall stands up with nobody wanting to. Is it the kind of respect that we are supposed to give to our national anthem or to our nation? Is it the motto of this step taken by the theatre owners? May be all the person sitting in the hall are to be blamed for their reaction to the anthem but its a normal behaviour of any person if is mood is spoilt like that. If a man has come to watch a patriotic movie, then the national anthem is not going to spoil his mood rather it will add to the patriotic feeling of the man. But if he has come to enjoy a hot movie, the national anthem is always going to spoil the mood of a majority of the public. The playing of the national anthem in such cases is not going to increase, in any sort, the respect of the public towards it. In my opinion, it is something a bigger disrespect to the anthem to incorporate the feeling of sadness of a large chunk of public towards it than just not showing respect to it. Its better to not to respect at all the national anthem than to disrespect it.

I dont know who is to be blamed for this but the ultimate sufferer is our national anthem and our nation as a whole. So lets put up a point here to try and give back its glory to the national anthem that it commands in all the aspects. lets all come together and stand and cheer for the national anthem.

JAI HIND