Living Diagonally In My Parallel World!

A gazal that has very simple words that come out of an anguished heart. Sung by Jagjit Singh कैसे कैसे हादसे सहते रहे फिर भी हम जीते रहे हसते रहे उसके आ जाने की उम्मिदें लिये रास्ता मुडमुड के हम तकतें रहें वक्त तो गुजरा मगर कुछ इस तरह हम चिरागों की तरह जलते रहे कितने चेहरे थे हमारे आसपास तुम ही तुम दिलमें मगर बसते रहे कैसे कैसे हादसे सहते रहे फिर भी हम जीते रहे हसते रहे

Here in Allentown , PA we have experienced either snow or rainfall everyday. This made me wonder how rain or snow or sleet or hail or dew and frost form? Did some Googling and here is what I got. Rain : Water vapor condenses around condensation nuclei (such as dust) and falls when the droplet is heavy enough. Sleet : Same formation as rain, but it freezes somewhere along its path from the clouds to the ground. Sleet is a mixture of snow and rain Snow : Water droplets form and then freezing occurs slowly, allowing for the development of uniquely designed ice crystals know as snow. Snow is formed when water vapour is deposited in the higher reaches of the atmosphere at a temperature less than zero degrees Centigrade, and then falls to the ground. Snowflakes are typically symmetrical, hexagon-ally-shaped groups of ice crystals that form while falling in and below clouds. Simply put - Snow forms if the air in a cloud is below freezing. The water vapour then turns to ice inst...

It was surprising to see a slew of politicians visit the German Bakery in Pune after the blast. Chidambaram, Ashok Chavan, Ramesh Bagve, Sharad Pawar, Sushma Swaraj, Neelam Gorhe, Narayan Rane, Nitin Gadkari, Eknath Khadse, Pune’s corporators …. The list goes on why do all the leaders have to visit the site whenever such an incident occurs? Morever, they also visit the wounded in hospitals. They entourage follows them everywhere. Do they even realize the infection they may possibly spread? Some politicians say that they visit to reassure the citizens. Reassure what? It is the citizens who are killed when there are such blasts. These are all seasoned and mature politicians. Its time they realize that their visit only adds to the pressure of the local police and inconveniences the local populace. It also firms the old precedent that unless a political bigwig visits a scene of blast the incident does not carry any importance. These gentlemen should set a new precedent of allowing...

I am rediscovering some of the old gazals. This one sung by Ghulam Ali and outstanding lyrics by Qaiser Ul Jafri. The song can be heard here and can be seen here हम तेरे शहर में आये हैं मुसाफ़िर की तरह सिर्फ़ एक बार मुलाकात का मौका दे दे मेरी मंज़िल है कहा मेरा ठिकाना है कहा सुबहतक तुझसे बिछड कर मुझे जाना है कहा सोचने के लिये एक रात का मौका दे दे अपनी आखोंमें छुपा रखें हैं जुगनू मैने अपनी पल्कोंपे सजा रखें हैं आसू मैने मेरी आखोंको भी बरसात का मौका दे दे आज की रात मेरा दर्द-ए-मुहब्बत सून ले कपकपाते हुए होटोंकी शिकायत सून ले आज इज़हार-ए-खयालात का मौका दे दे भूलना था तो ये इक्रार किया ही क्यू था बेवफ़ा तूने मुझे, प्यार किया ही क्यू था सिर्फ़ दो चार सवालात का मौका दे दे हम तेरे शहर में आये हैं मुसाफ़िर की तरह सिर्फ़ एक बार मुलाकात का मौका दे दे

While idle surfing Youtube I found this song Raatonko Uth Uth Kar sung by Gurdas Mann. The song has some really good lyrics but the way the video has been picturised is exactly in another mood. रातोंको उठ उठ कर जिनके लिये रोते हैं वो अपने मकानोंमें आरामसे सोते हैं कुछ लोग ज़मानेमें ऐसे भी तो होते हैं मेहफ़िलमें तो हसते हैं तनहाइयोंमें रोते हैं दीवानोंकी दुनिया का आलमही निराला है हसते है तो हसते है रोते है तो रोते है किस बात का रोना है किस बात पे रोते है कश्ति के मुहाफ़िज़ ही कश्ति को डुबाते हैं कुछ ऐसे दिवाने हैं सूरज को पकडते है कुछ लोग उम्र सारी अंधेराही होते हैं जब ठेस लगी दिलपर तो राज़ खुला हम पर वो बात नही करते नश्तर से चुभोते हैं मेरे दर्द के टुकडे हैं ये शेर नही “ सागर ” हम सांस के धागोंमें ज़ख्मोंको पिरोते हैं रातोंको उठ उठ कर जिनके लिये रोते हैं वो अपनी शबिस्तर में आरामसे सोते हैं मुहफ़िज़ = person who knows नश्तर = knife

I have been reading about this Marathi-Non Marathi thing for the past so many days. As a Maharashtrian I too have my own views on this matter. This whole thing started when Raj Thakre launched his agitation against the North Indian students appearing for Railway exams in Mumbai. Raj’s point was very fair that Railways should publish ads in Marathi newspapers for the Railway vacancies in Maharashtra. Its fact that MP’s from Maharashtra had been sleeping when the rule was amended in favour of North Indian states. (Now Mamta Banerjee has declared that the Railways would be sensitive to the local population and reserve some low level jobs for the locals). The next part of this agitation was against the North Indian taxi drivers of Mumbai. This too is true that anywhere you go in Mumbai you will find a UP/Bihari taxiwalla. These guys don’t even know the roads of Mumbai. The law states that to get a taxi permit one needs to have knowledge of Marathi and another local language as also the loc...