जिओ ज़िन्दगी !

I have been writing for some time, but this is something that I tried for the first time! Writing on a preset theme. A friend of mine needed a 45 Seconds video that describes one as 'Living life to the fullest'! Another first was me narrating it on records! Below is the final outcome. If you like it, please hit like on the You Tube video as well - It'll help the cause in the competition! :) 

आते जाते .. इत्तेफाकन,

कभी न कभी ऐसे लोग मिल ही जाते हैं जो...

मंजिले फ़तेह करते हैं ... 

राहों से फूल भी चुनते हैं

दौड़ते  हैं  सबसे  तेज़... 

पर धड़कन से संगत भी करते हैं.

आसमान से ऊँचे ख्वाब बुनते हैं...

और रात के तारे भी गिनते हैं.

धूप की तपिश में तो जलते हैं...

पहली बारिश में भी भीगते हैं.

ज़िन्दगी मिलती है सभी को...

मगर जिंदा कुछ रहते हैं ! 

जिओ ज़िन्दगी... मेरी तरह ! :) 

The Bridge on the River Kwai - Analyzing the movie!

I recently watched a beautiful movie –‘The Bridge across the river Kwai’ and penned down my thoughts about the movie.  I recommend that you watch this movie and let’s talk about what it contributes to our learning in life.

My Thoughts -

Choosing between right and wrong is not always as easy a decision as it sounds. Because, what is right cannot determined in absolute terms; the movie ‘The Bridge on the river Kwai’ is a testimony to this observation.

The movie is a World War II story of a British soldier’s unit and the days they spend in Japanese captivity – first treated as slaves but eventually winning the respect of a tyrant enemy.  The sole responsibility of this turnaround could be credited to the British Commander Colonel Nicholson who adapts dynamic and fitting tactics to deal with his Japanese counterpart Colonel Saito. The movie, like most of the war movies, succeeds in displaying a wide array of emotions that suffering of war brings upon.  However, this movie offers a few unique perspectives that are worth noting.

1.)    Have a value system and guard it to life.

2.)    If you flourish on getting garlanded as a leader, be ready to pay back with gusto when it counts!

3.)    Learn to respect yourself before you expect the world to respect you.

Colonel Nicholson during his first few meetings with Colonel Saito tried to win the rightful conduct for his unit and was jeered at repeatedly. Never did he act out of code and bravely confronted the Japanese abuse of the situation. To win dignity and respect from others one should first award them to himself! In one of the scenes during this phase- suffering from acute weakness and dehydration, the Colonel did not let himself be dragged in front of his unit; he indeed marched like a soldier should and won his terms from Colonel Saito!

4.)    When you negotiate – negotiate hard!

Upon his release, Colonel Nicholson recognized how he held upper hand over Colonel Saito due to the pending construction of the bridge. Col Nicholson did not mince words when they mattered and smartly procured all the things he desired from Col Saito for his unit and officers. He was deft enough to do this without hurting Japanese ego!

5.)    What is ought to be done is ought to be done! There is only one righteous path.

There comes a time in movie when Major Clipton gets perplexed by the honesty with which Col Nicholson gets into the project of building the bridge across the river Kwai for Japanese – the enemies! To which the colonel replies with an astute message of giving the best even as a POW and that he would be proud to be recalled by the future generations as the builder of this bridge. This philosophy is exactly the one preached in Indian scriptures as ‘Dharma’ or ‘Swa-Dharma’ to be precise. Every being has to perform his duties in a righteous way – but this righteous way is itself a function of circumstances. Hence, we as humans shall perform what is right under all conditions.

The ending act of Colonel in the movie, when he blows up the bridge himself, is also a manifestation of realization of ‘Swa-dharma’. Colonel Nicholson was able to think through the right way to act given the sudden change in circumstances. He sided with Japanese when he thought was right and played his part as the British Colonel when he became aware of the orders of higher authorities.

The movie teaches many lessons and I am sure other viewers would be able to append/modify what I tried to summarize. 

Ghazals on iPod

Amidst all his glory God does get unfair at times – if not before he surely has been so in the past few days! First Steve Jobs and then Jagjit Singh were lost to the vagary of death – the two stalwarts of their own fields! The world mourned from the beaches of California to the plains of Punjab and everywhere else in between. In the world full of conformists and traditionalists there is always a dearth of original thinkers. The above two personalities were not only original but they had the courage, conviction and drive to introduce new vistas of possibilities to the world. I have been a huge fan of both and at this great loss I could not stop myself from drawing parallels between the two amazing personalities.

‘Never compare apple with oranges’ goes the saying. One may laugh at an attempt to compare Jobs and Jagjit – there is nothing remotely common between them! While Jobs has spent majority of his life in the USA working on pioneering technologies and designing devices, Jagjit Singh was the Indian musician of a rare art form known as ‘Ghazals’.  While Jobs was a straight faced English speaking American, Jagjit Singh was a typical Indian with mix bag of language skills including English. In all possibility, the two would have never met all their life and I won’t be surprised if they didn’t even know of each other. So is this attempt to compare them a mere hyperbolae or an eccentric attempt to read too much into their lives? No.

The learned say – the basic principles of life remain the same irrespective of times, geographies and people. There is a method in the madness of the world and pioneers are those who champion these methods. It is on these lines of thoughts that I intend to compare the life, time and work of the above two distinguished figures. To put a structure to thoughts let’s pick certain headings.

Innovation and Self belief

Steve Jobs – the founder of ‘Apple’ and creator of many modern design marvels – once struggled to save his company. In the era dominated by Microsoft Windows and PC – Jobs believed in the viability of devices powered by Mac. Jobs was proven right when the Apple Macbook and the subsequent launches from the company were highly successful. Jobs proved his mettle again when he redefined music listening thorough the breakthrough product – iPod! In combination with iTunes – the product reaped rich harvest for the company. Not long ago he bettered himself with the bigger brother of iPod and a yet again novel idea – iPad. His belief in himself and his ideas lead to the classic innovator Jobs was.

Jagjit Singh entered the musical arena in the 70s. The Indian music industry in the films was dominated by the giants in Kishore Kumar, Mohd. Rafi and Manna Dey to name a few. Being turned away by music directors citing his ‘unsuitable’ voice – Jagjit decided to pick his first love – Ghazals. Ghazal singing in those days was a niche and secluded art form. The singers like Mehndi Hassan, Begum Akhtar and other proponents of classic style left no space for a newbie. Jagjit with his wife Chitra launched his first album ‘The unforgettable’ in 1976. With an emphasis on melody and choice of ghazals, he propounded a new simplistic form of rendering ghazals. This diversion was often jeered at by the traditionalists, but it was this unique simplicity that he brought to the art that has won millions of hearts world over!

Keep it Simple - Touch the senses!

While the world wondered about usability of a phone with no keypad – Mr. Jobs made use of one of the natural senses of ‘touch’ and ushered the touch screen revolution headed by iPhone. The minimalistic designs of all the products from Apple are testimony to the fact that simplicity is special. Be it the user friendly click wheel or multi-touch pad of its laptops – Apple has kept design as simple and natural as possible and the credit goes to the visionary Mr. Jobs.

Jagjit Singh is often credited with bringing the Ghazals to the masses. One of the prime reasons for his success in making it happen was the simplicity of his tunes. Jagjit’s music relied more on melody rather than the technical nuances or classical rendering. It did not require one to be an expert in music to appreciate the soothing and calming effect his sonorous voice created backed by simple and pleasant tunes. The aim of his music was to touch the audience and not impress them! This simplicity and the intention of touching souls did resonate and how!

World is not fair – get used to it!

Imagine being kicked out of a company you founded and that too by a guy who was hired by you! Sounds so unreal – but Steve Jobs faced it. His reaction? Founded another company based on an altogether different idea, nurtured it well. However a talent as big could not be missed for long – he was called back to Apple, when the company was in doldrums. Rest, as they say, is history. Jobs and Apple never looked back. The take away is the man did now succumb to the circumstances anytime; he let his inner self always be stronger than the outer influences.

Jagjit’s life has been full of troubles. He left for Mumbai from his native place to become a film musician, only to return empty handed and without ticket to his hometown. He gathered courage went back and thus started a long phase of struggle. He sang in private functions, small functions and gradually grew to rule the roost one day. When things looked just perfect he lost his son aged merely 18 years to a car accident. Life was never the same – his singing partner and wife withdrew from the profession and never sang again. His music attained a new high after this very sad loss.

There are many more such similarities to ponder over – and that’s the beauty of the common thread that weaves through such magnetic personalities. However, the most important similarity is that both of them touched millions of hearts during their stay on Earth! May their souls rest in peace! Heavens will take pride on playing the best of the music on best of the music player now.

अब के बारिश की बूंदों में नमी ज्यादा है, 

या की धरती की प्यास में कोई कमी सी है?

कितने बेबस से बह रहे हैं बेकैफ़ दरिया, 

बिना धड़कन रगों में ज़िन्दगी ज्यों बही सी है.. 

Sunday..

सुबह चाय की चुस्की के साथ पेपर का हर पन्ना पलटाया,

बहोत दिनों के बाद हमने Sunday को Sunday जैसा मनाया..

अलसाई सुबह, आराम दोपहर शाम जैसे एक बेपरवाह सफ़र..

आज वक़्त ने हमको कम..और हमने वक़्त को ज्यादा बिताया..

बीती रात एक पुरानी किताब..साथ उसके कुछ नगमा गुनगुनाया..

'आज तक' और 'India TV' ने काफी दिनों बाद हंसाया!

यारों से गप्पें भी मारी, सबको चुन चुन कर फ़ोन घुमाया..

एक चैन की नींद भी लें ही लें अब...Sunday ख़त्म होने को आया :)

बूँद

छोडती हैं जो आसमान ,
मिट्टी में मिल जाने के लिए|

फिर बह दूर उस मिटटी से ही,

सागर में खो जाने के लिए|

                                                    बहती हैं भाव के झरने बन,

                                                    जब बैठूं कभी मैं पलकें मूँद |

                                                    शीतल, निर्मल, निज आभा लिए,

                                                    छोटी सी एक पानी की बूँद | :)

सजदा

ऐ खुदा मुझे भी नवाज़ दे कुछ ऐसी अर्श-ए-बंदगी,

जो ज़िन्दगी को ख्वाब दे और ख़्वाबों को ज़िन्दगी|

क्यूँ पलकें मूँद कर चाहते हैं हम नयी दुनिया यहाँ?

बुझती कहाँ हैं अश्कों से भी आँखों की ये तिशनगी|

जो तू रहता है हर ज़र्रे में और हर सांस है रहमत तेरी,

किस फलसफे में उलझे हैं हम, है नाम जिसका ज़िन्दगी?

दे नियाज़ वो के बन्दे तेरे अपने मसीहा खुद बने,

वो चिराग ही रौशन हुए जिनमे तेरी है लौ जगी|

इज़हार

A try at the genre I haven't written much on. Dedicated to the best of human emotions - Love. Happy Valentine's Day !

तुम्हारे ख्यालों से महकी हुई हैं, ये मदहोश रातें

वो जाती हैं देखो चुरा मेरी नींदें, तुम्हारी ही यादें|

करता हूँ अक्सर मैं तन्हाइयों से तुम्हारी ही बातें,

कभी तो बताओ, ओ मेरी जाना

तुम्हे याद रखें , या खुद को भुला दें?

                                                    है दिल तो पुराना, ये धड़कन नयी है,

                                                    ख्वाबों की दुनिया भी महकी हुई है|

                                                    निगाहों पे छाया, अजब सा नशा है

                                                    कोई तो बताए ये क्या कहकशां है ?

वो देखो उफक पे घिर आये बादल,

मिटा दूं मैं आओ, ये फैला सा काजल|

हैं बेचैन कब से बागों की गलियां,

चबाओ न दाँतों से होठों की कलियाँ|

                  

                               हैं तुमसे ही रोशन सितारों की झिलमिल ये सब बरातें,

                               तुम्हारे ख्यालों से महकी हुई हैं.....

                                                                

मंजिलों के सराबों से तुम किसी बच्चे को बहलाना,
अब हमने सीख लिया है रास्तों से ही दिल लगाना|
                                            
                        बहुत मस्ती में लगता है नशे में डूबा मयखाना,
                        आखिर अश्कों से भरता है मीना से खाली पैमाना |

कलम की रूह जो श्याही बनी सोई है कागज़ पे,
नज़र के फूल जब फुर्सत में हों, इन पर चढ़ा जाना |