I FEAR GREY

Young, happy and cheerful,
Full of bubbling energy and immense zeal.
A rush gushing to do something in life,
And no worries to deal...   

Childhood is a gift,
This never remains.
Comes for a short period,
Leaving behind traces of good time in the memory lane...

Like time, this phase too just flies away in a flurry,
Without giving us a moment to pause it.
Only a collection of sweet and bitter memories last,
When everything around was so alive and bright...

But, with elapsing time,
The youth inside starts wrinkling.
He starts growing old,
And the charm in him goes missing...

Grey hair,
Lines on face.
Diminishing body,
And a slow pace...

Losing patience,
Thirst for more love and care.
Becoming dependent on others,
And every demand seems fair...

The days are hard to pass,

Nights twirl in pain.

A mysterious aloofness shrouds,

And life appears a total vain...

 

I fear the fear of turning grey,
I never want to grow old.
I don't want to see myself ageing,
But, once even this day will come,i was told...

I want to remain young,

I love this phase a lot .

Everything should just freeze forever,

And wish age could be bought...

If someone could grant me a wish,

I would ask him to cast a spell.

That I remain as it is,

Away from the unwanted hell...

 

 

AFZAL- A FOUL POLITICAL PLAY OR A PROCRASTINATED AWAKENING?

A young and enthusiastic Kashmiri…. Dream of becoming a doctor blossoming in his heart …. An aura of commotion in the valley….And everything in his life took a new turn.... The politically instability and turbulence in Kashmir took hold of him. He was in the first year of MBBS when he left the course and became a member of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). And his dream was slaughtered in the name of Jihad. With the broken dream in his eyes Afzal started walking at a very fast pace on the path from where it becomes difficult to find a way back home. 

Mohammed Afzal Guru was born in 1969, in the family of Habibullah in Aabgah village. It’s a village near Sopore town in Baramulla district of Jammmu and Kashmir. With the demise of his father at a very young age, his elder brother Aizaz brought him up foreseeing a doctor in Afzal. His schooling was from a Government School in Sopore. Passing the Matriculation exam in 1986 and completing his higher secondary education in Sopore, he joined a medical college.     

13 December 2001, is an unforgettable day for every Indian. The robust prestige of India capsized in a jiffy on that day. Five gunmen intruded into the high profile secured premises of the Indian Parliament and opened fire. The incident sent a shiver down the spine of the whole nation. Near about 100 MPs were present in the building when firing was taking place but, no one was injured. The attack claimed 12 lives, including the five militants who were killed and injured 18 people. Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists were blamed for their involvement in the attack. It had been 12 years from then, time elapsed but, wounds are still green.  

The 2001 Parliament attack stimulated vigorous investigations into the case and brought to the fore name of the key accused and the mastermind behind the whole plot- Afzal Guru. He was convicted of planning the whole plot and providing support to the Pakistani terrorists. Guru availed them the vehicle for the attack, shelter, and explosives along with RS. 10 lakhs were found from his house. His aide Shaukat Hussain Guru, Afshan Guru (Shaukat’s wife) and SAR Geelani were also found guilty of being a part of the plot. Afzal was nabbed by Delhi Police on 15 December 2001 from J & K. and sent to 10 days police remand on 29 December 2001. Charges were set against the four in June 2002 and all except Afshan guru were given a death sentence on 18 December 2002. On an appeal to the Delhi High Court, in October 2003, the order was held back. But, after looking into the matter and finding the charges against Afzal correct, the appeal was dismissed. In August 2005, even the Supreme Court gave its approval on sentencing Afzal to death penalty. It was in October 2006, when his wife Tabasum Guru filed a mercy petition to then President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. And in June 2007, SC rejected the mercy plea.  

 Finally after the eight long excruciating years of waiting, came 9 February 2013. The day when the book named Afzal Guru reached its last page and brought a new dawn for many lives after the gloomy nights. It was like jubilation in the entire country. For the kins of the victims of the Parliament attack this day was no more less than Diwali. They were relishing the decision of the Government. But, why this decision was not taken on time? What made the Government to wait for so long to arrive at this decision? What was holding it back till now, even when Supreme Court gave a clear decision in this case? And once when even the mercy plea was declined by the SC then why did the matter kept shuttling in between and reached Pranab Mukherjee until he finally snubbed it?

 Even after the persistent demand by the BJP of hanging of the main conspirator of the Parliament attack, there was no effect on the Government. The demand was just falling on deaf ears. For the last eight years the government which was not able to reach to a final conclusion and was dragging the issue long. Today, that very same government suddenly is so proactive and had quickened its steps towards practical decision making. Rejecting so many mercy pleas by Pranab Mukherjee, execution of Ajmal Kasab followed by Afzal Guru, forces you read between the lines. Is it a foul politics being played in pretext of these works to increase the vote banks in the upcoming 2014 General elections or is it to shield the big scams and malpractices which came in the limelight before the public? Did the government save these big cards to win a losing game at the right time or it has awakened from the deep slumber and wants to work out of its comfort zone? It could be a mere political stunt or setting of a strong lesson for the other terrorists to refrain themselves from perturbing India’s peace and harmony because it’s high time now to keep testing our patience.

It’s said that the justice delayed, is justice. But, in a country like India where just getting justice only is a big thing there, all is well, that end is well.

PRANAYAMA: The Key To Politics!

Almost a decade ago, a ‘saffron draped sanyasi’, germinated from the land of Haryana brought about a wave of mammoth change in lives of the Indian citizens. Medium-built, spark of sun on face, cool seriousness of moon in eyes- ‘demanding a revolution’; and jet black hair, beard and moustaches adorned the structure of Ramkishan Yadav. After passing eighth standard, he joined yogic monastery (gurukul) in Khanpur village to learn Yog and Sanskrit. Eventually he sacrificed worldly life and took sanyas- adopting name of Swami Ramdev. He then went to Jind district and catered free Yog training to the villagers across Haryana. It’s also said that he travelled the Himalayas for several years, discovering medicinal plants for treating patients before settling in Haridwar. In 1995, to popularise ‘Yog’, he set the foundation of Divya Yog Mandir Trust with Acharya Karamveer. He has also founded the Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust which has built several institutions.

                                 

 Ramdev Baba earned immense fame and frenzy by teaching ‘Yog’. Every morning on AASTHA Channel, he taught people an ancient form of mental, spiritual and physical exercise from their television sets, which cleanses the impurities of soul, mind and body. He put all his efforts to simplify the Yog Asanas for the common man. And eventually was being symbolised with Yog. He became a hot-shot figure in public with the speed of a fire in the forest. Baba commenced conducting Yog training camps all over the country for benefitting the people under the banner of ‘Bharat Swabhiman’. Taking a slight advantage of his proliferating popularity, Ramdev tossed the issue of corruption and back money in these camps along with teaching Yog. And Rajiv Dixit proved to be his greatest aide in this cause. He was such an affluent and proficient speaker with par excellence knowledge, that his speech on eradicating corruption, poverty and foul politics from India sugar-coated the soaring prominence of Baba Ramdev. People became ardent follower of Baba and started believing in him with complete conviction. They got a new leader who ensured them that; he will inject a change in the nerves of the degrading country’ system. And with this assurance, his stature reached its zenith.

                               

Time elapsed, shifting his whole focus. His asanas remained the same, what changed was his inclination more and more towards politics. He set his foot on the battle grounds of politics, by launching his nationwide protest in June, 2011 in Ramlila Maidan, by a fast- onto- death fast. Baba’s follower flocked in for his open support. He put forth his demand for an independent CBI, a strong Lokpal bill and bringing back the stashed black money in Swiss Bank and punishment to the people involved. But, his demands were met the other way. At the end of the whole show he was just given a ‘promise’ that heed would be paid to his demands. So that he ends his fast-onto-death which was becoming an obstruction for UPA government. Ramdev’s all hard earned reputation maligned in public, with his one decision of running away clad in woman attire when police came to arrest him at mid night in Ramlila Maidan. The story was going well till the time he was teaching Yog and making the population healthy. With his growing steps towards entering into politics, his fan following dropped and especially after the ‘Salwar-Kameez’ episode. Politics is not everybody’s cup of tea. It requires a lot of strategy, plans and patience. Baba Ramdev every time maintains that he doesn’t have any political agenda and he just wants to make ‘India a great nation’. And he is not against any political party.  But, many doubt his claims because his word doesn’t coincide well with his actions. Which eventually shows that he was been liked just as the Yog Guru, who build up a great yog empire of annual turnover of 1000 crores.

 

After a span of 14 months, Swami Ramdev made his presence felt by demonstrating again from 9^th August, 2012 to make his unfulfilled demands meet by the ruling party. Besides this, it was also a fresh advent to build up the ruined image last year and gain confidence of the public once again. The first day of protest did not record much support. But, a fair amount of public supported him on the last day of the protest which lasted for 5 days, and was supposed to end within 3 days. The reason behind this extension was that his warning fell on the deaf ears of the UPA government. The government applied the formula of “ignorance is bliss” and on top of that didn’t even bother to retaliate. His labours went unseen and futile like the last year, even after the support and presence of BJP President Nitin Gadkari, who is with him in the battle of ‘bringing back the black money’ to India. What does his occurrence shows? BJP’s constant back up and involvement is indicating that the fight for the welfare of the country is been led in the other direction, which turns out to be against the ruling party of the country by using the tool ‘Ramdev’. And he knowingly or unknowingly is becoming BJP’s toy to get its vested interests met. Many feels he just wasted his time and others feel that he succeeded in at least bringing about the commotion in the country.   

                                

 Ramdev came with an aim. But, after getting entangled into the cobwebs of dirty politics he was left astray from his actual aim. And now, even he would have been wondering that an initiative to cleanse the system with the help of Yog, and starting with cleansing an individual can leave your own brain all cleaned up with nothing remaining inside it………..

SHE

 

Face drenched in tears,
Eyes all red.
She was crying her heart out,
What could I have said????....

I was sitting next to her,
Futile, seeing her groaning....

Her tears were narrating a saga,
Which I wanted to know.
But, how would I have offered help,
Seeing her condition so low??....

In the crowd of millions,
Why I could just see her?
The whole world vanished for those moments,
It was only her and me, and no one other....

The world was not for her,
And she was not for the world.
Then what I was doing there,
Stopping in between, while moving forward???....

I wanted to get up and leave,
But, something from within resisted.
Her face held me so firmly,
That I simply sat back and obeyed ....

There was something,
That was attaching me and her tears.
Till the time I was figuring this out,
I found, she wasn’t near....

I searched for her,
But, got only disappointment in return.
The girl for whom I wasted my day,
Left me behind and moved on....

Days passed,
But, the search was still on.
In the hope to see her again,
And to know the reasons of her pain....

Then one fine day,
I finally saw her again.
At the same place,
And most probably with the same pain....

This time I garnered all my courage,
And went straight to her.
Not to quietly see her weep,
But, to question her, what went wrong???....

For my surprise,
This time my presence was noticed.
But, what left me in a shock,
Was what in my ears she whispered....

She answered all my questions,
Within a blink of an eye.
She said- “‘she’ was none other than,
My own ‘reflection’, living every moment by my side”............