Ingenious Dwellings

I came across some really sweet-looking homes of some rather not-so-sweet creatures a few days ago. Sanket clicked these pics, which came out really well. Thought I’d share it with everyone.

This is a picture of the dwelling of the ‘Large Red Ant’. It is similar in structure to the nests built by the Weaverbird(‘Baya’) or by the Tailorbird. This can be found hanging from a branch of a Mango tree in front of the Keane School.

And this fort-like structure is called an ‘ant-hill’ , and it belongs to ‘White Ants’ or ‘Termites’ (or ‘Deemak’ if you please). An imposing structure about chest high, it is standing in the woods in front of the Keane School. Impressive, huh?

I found both these ‘houses’ in IIIT itself along the main road. Hmm, Life can be pretty interesting if you just keep your eyes and ears open.

इन अश्रुओं को बह जाने दो

Note : Kindly view this post in Internet Explorer for correct hindi viewing.

बड़े दिनों से सोच रहा था हिन्दी में कुछ लिखने की। आज संस्थान में लोग मुझे अच्छे अंग्रेज़ी-लेखन के लिए जानते हैं, परन्तु छुटपन में हिन्दी कविताएं लिख-सुना कर बहुत वाहवाही लूट चुका हूं।

दसवीं तक जो कुछ फुटकर-कवित्त लिखा, वह शायद पैंतीस-चालीस डायरी के पन्नों में सिमटा हुआ, अजमेर के मेरे घर की किसी अल्मारी में धूल खा रहा होगा। कवितायें लिख-लिख कर उन्हें बाल-पत्रिकाओं में भेजना अच्छा-ख़ासा शगल रह चुका है। याद पड़ता है, एक कविता ‘बालहंस’ ने छापी भी थी। तीन महीने बाद सौ रुपये पारिश्रमिक भी आया था। किशोरावस्था के जाने के साथ साथ भावनाओं का ज्वार कम होता गया, और कविता-लेखन, प्रायः छूट गया।

यह कविता ग्यारहवीं में लिखी थी मैंने। मेरे जैसे तुच्छ-जीव ऐसी रचनायें जीवन-काल में एक बार से अधिक नहीं कर सकते, अतः ऐसी कोई कविता इन पेजेस पर दुबारा आयेगी, ऐसी उम्मीद न रखें।

आशा करता हूं यह कविता आपको पसन्द आयेगी।

इन अश्रुओं को बह जाने दो

इन अश्रुओं को बह जाने दो।
माना तुम बेहद ग्यानी हो,
निज नरता के अभिमानी हो,
ह्रिदय में गांठ कसी है जो
उसे खुल पाने दो।
इन अश्कों को बह जाने दो।

पराजय ने तुम्हें घेरा है।
दुःख, तनाव, अवसाद का
मन-मस्तिष्क में डेरा है।
आत्म-पुष्प कुम्हलाया है,
आत्म पर विश्वास डोला है।
तब ह्रिदय द्वार खुल जाने दो।
इन अश्रुओं को बह जाने दो।

आंसुओं को धिक्कारा जाता है।
कोई कायरता चिह्न बताता है।
आंखें छ्लछला आती हैं,
गला भर्रा जाता है,
किन्तु नर लोक-लाज से अश्रु
नयनों से निकाल न पाता है।

ये नन्हें-नन्हें नयनों के मोती
ह्रिदय हल्का कर जाते हैं,
चित्त शांत, मन स्थिर,
उम्मीद की किरण दिखा जाते हैं।
इनसे तुम्हार बैर क्या?
स्वयं को स्वयं से न लजाने दो,
इन अश्रुओं को बरबस बह जाने दो॥

Totally Arbit Post(tap) 1

I decided that there are certain happenings(read periods) in one’s life which lack specificity, yet need to be captured. I just can’t put today into any one category, but it was a great day just for the heck of it. 

          Had a chat with Karan and Daddu @ the coffee shop. I was actually a li’l bit peaved at the recent spate of ‘politics’ that’s being played in our batch over the’coveted’ post of felicity (Joint) co-ordinator(s).(Yeah, it wasn’t exactly very smart of Chand to use that word for the post in his mail). I was wondering with with this this kind of solidarity in the batch, whether or not we’ll be able to meet the sky-high standards for Felicity that our seniors have set.

          But after spending some time with Maroo and Daddu at the dabba, I was really relaxed. They’re really committed towards making our Felicity a grand success, and I know(in fact we all do) from experience that if these two guys get together with a whole year in front of them, then nothing can stop our batch from coming together, and if that happens, then even sky is just the beginning. We can look at a bigger budget, greater celebrations, better participation, higher ethics and most important of all, greater enjoyment for one and all; we only need to come together.

          It’s not very important, but  I had some ideas, very novel ones, and I discussed them over with the two guys. They were very excited with the ideas, and the results we can possibly generate from them. Naturally, I’m happy that my ideas have found resonance with others and this’ll push me to think and act further. I guess everybody has ideas of their own, so there won’t be any dearth of ideas; we only need to implement them.

Meanwhile, Atul got an electric guitar. He’d been saving up for it for a whole year now. And the support he had from our friends was awesome. Vatasal has almost given up his acoustic guitar to Atul. Harsh and Scientist chipped in with money for the guitar. Prabudh went with Atul to buy the guitar, and also lent him some. Not worth mentioning, but even a pauper like me has some of his money in that guitar. We had a pretty good time later in the night, with KT showing us its features, and also playing some of our favourites on it. The guys’s a great guitarist, has excellent sense of rock music, and is a good teacher as well. He’s promised us the use of his guiatr processor and and amplifier whenever they’re free. Needless  to say, We’re overwhelmed at this support our friends have given to us. I know everybody wants us to rock, and we promise we’ll play the guitars till our fingers bleed, and try our best to put up a good show every time we get to perform. And we will, for the whole college is with us.

          As I write these posts, I’m being introduced, thanks to Soni, to the Indian rock bands, Zero and Parikrama. They’re completely awesome. I really did not know our countrymen played rock so well. Parikrama is kinda fusion, but Zero is to-the-bone rock, and that, too awesome rock. I think I’m in for some great time with these bands.  Hope to find some more Indian rock. I even listened to the Insomnia songs. I think given some better recording facilities, they will sound great on their records, too.

          I sign off here after a gr8 day, at 4:AM in the night. I dunno whether I’ll be able to wake up for tomorrow’s 8:30 class, but honestly, I don’t care. When minds are free, everybody comes together with great ideas, and life starts rocking. I hope the faculty gets to understand that some day.

PS1: Happy B’day to Khatri :).

PS2: ‘Wings of Fire’ is an awesome book, but I’m kinda bored of (auto)biographies now. Can somebody get me ‘Hobbit’ issued from the lib? I lost two of it’s books already, they won’t give me any now:(

ps3: Sashi, plz have a shave. Saket, plz plz take a bath!

Laziness…

I’m lazy. If there’s any quality that I possess that others don’t, it’s my to-the-bone, hardcore, inherent and impregnable laziness. I’ve always been lazy; and in IIIT, the land of die-hard, spirited hard workers, I can easily beat anyone at a duel of laziness. Here are some recent instances of my laziness…

1. I didn’t wash my socks. For a whole month. And I kept on going out to play football in them and they got caked in mud. I still continued to wear them, because I was too lazy to wash them. Because of getting muddy, their ‘size’ increased and my shoe became increasingly uncomfortable to wear, due to which I had to put more stress on my knee due to which it got stress injured. Right now, i’m nursing the stress injury, and I still haven’t washed that old pair of socks yet.

2. I didn’t clean up/ tidy my room for two whole months. All my things are on the bed, and I’m too lazy to move them to their proper places. Further, if I move them to their proper places, I’ll have to go look for them in the morning, and again, I’m too lazy for that. So I just let my stuff accumulate on my bed. This has been going on for two months now, and now half my bed is covered with arbitrary articles. I can’t sleep properly on my bed, and I’m too lazy to clean up the clutter. So currently, I’m on the lookout for a decent, clean bed which I could sleep in in the night(or day). Anybody wanna volunteer …???

3. I haven’t accessed my mess calendar, ‘coz again, I’m too lazy to do that. I’ve been eating in any arbit mess for more than two months now, while the Yuktahar mess is benefitting from my lazy generosity, at the cost of the other messes.

4. Leave alone doing assignments, I don’t even copy and submit assignments these days, because…

5. My clothes are lying dirty on my bed, ‘coz I’m too lazy to give them to the dhobi.

6. I’ve been planning to write this post for more than two weeks, but only wrote it now, and then, too

7. This list is incomplete. I could go on and on, but you know….

PS1 : ‘Doorie’ by Atif Aslam is a good song, but doesn’t anybody thing that it could’ve been a lot better had Atif used some more guitar sounds in it?

PS2: The ‘Dot Theory’ won its first cash prize by coming 3rd in the group singing @ felicity’07. May there be a lot more. Amen.

PS3: Can somebody top my acts of honour? Put in your comments and we’ll have a vote.