Mein nikla satya ke sandhan mein

On October 17, 2017October 17, 2017 By Durga Prasad DashIn Poetry12 Comments

मैं निकला सत्य के
संधान में |

दिन दहाड़े , डायोजिनिज के लालटेन ले के
राजधानी के राजपथ पर,
सत्ता के गलियों में,
कलाकारों के रंग मंच में,
मंदिर , मस्जिद और गिरिजाघरों में |
ढ़ूँढ़ता रहा
वो सच्च जो कबका खो गया है,
या सुलाया गया है,
राजनेताओं के सफाई , आरोप
और प्रत्यारोप में,
पत्रकारों के हल्ला में,
क्रांतिकारियों के हल्लाबोल में,
धर्म गुरूओं के शास्त्रार्थ में,
बाबूओं के फाइलों के नोटिंगस् में
विचारपत्तियों के लम्बी – लम्बी
आदेशों में |
सभी ने एक साथ बोला
सच्च का पता लगा तो
गजब हो जाएगा,
देश बरबाद हो जाएगा,
आखिर लोग भी तो अभी कच्चे हैं
सच्च को छूपाने में
है हमारी समझदारी
और हमारी जिम्म्दारी भी
फिर कोई एक मुझे चुपके से कहा
” आखिर दूकान भी तो चलाना है ” !!!

Mein nikla satya ke sandhan mein

Din dahade, Diogenes ke laltan leke

Rajdhani ke rajpath par

Satta ke galiyon mein

Kalakaron ke rangmanch mein

Mandir, Maszid aur Girja gharon mein

Dhundta raha

Who sach jo kabka kho gaya hai

Ya sulaya gaya hai

Rajnetaoon ke safai, aarop aur pratyarop mein

Patrakaron ke halla mein

Krantikarion ke hallabol mein

Dharmaguruyon ke Sastraarth mein

Babuon ke filon ke notings mein

Bicharpatiyon ke lambi lambi adeshon mein

Sabhine ek saath bola

Sach ka pata laga to gazab ho jayega

Desh barbad ho jayega

Aakhir log bhi to abhi kache hai

Sach ko chhupane mein hai hamar samajhdari hai

Aur hamari jimmedari bhi

Phir koi ek mujhe chup ke se kaha

‘Akhir Dukaan bhi to chalana hai’

(The words came in Hindi. So I let them be. Thanks my friend Ms. Nilima Kanth for helping me put it in Devnagari Script)

In response to Indispire #191

doordarshan days

On October 8, 2017 By Durga Prasad DashIn movies I have loved21 Comments

In those good old days of Doordarshan raj, I never had a fight with my wife for the remote, it being still a remote possibility when I had my first TV. Otherwise also you could not fight as there was no alternate channel to switch to.

While watching the Bengali Movie Dhananjoy (with subtitles) a few days back, I was reminded of the Doordarshan Days when one of my favourite programs was the telecast of regional movies with subtitles. These movies, though not popular, were high on the cinematic art.

Ironically, the first Doordarshan telecast that I watched was the live coverage of the final journey of our Late PM Indira Gandhi. A TV station had started functioning in Berhampur a few months back. The college hostel where I was staying did not have TV. In front of our college hostel were the staff quarters of Berhampur’s only Government women’s college. A staff member who had a TV was generous enough to allow us to witness the telecast. I was lucky enough to be inside the drawing room through a connection while many of my hostel mates were jostling outside the door and the windows to catch a glimpse. It was 1984.

Subsequently our hostel got a TV set. But it was not untill I got married and had my own TV that I became a DD convert. From college Days till the days of bachelorhood in Indian Air Force the only serials I remember watching regularly were Ramayana and Mahabharat, which were of course hugely popular in those days.

Whatever becomes scarce or does not happen frequently, becomes fascinating. Thus was the case with the weekly feature films or, chitrahaar – the half hour show of film songs telecast twice a week.

malgudi days.jpg Apart from the regional films, the serial Chanakya was one program that I eagerly waited to watch every weekend. Some of the other programs of my interest, as far as I remember, were: Jaspal Bhati’s Flop Show, Malgudi Days, Zaban Sambhal ke, Bharat Ek Khoj, Tamas, World This Week, Karamchand and programs on classical/folk music & dance.

Even after the availability of a plethora of channels, I have not lost touch with DD. It is only on DD that one may get to watch programs on Indian classical dance and music. Some of the programs on DD Bharati, DD India and DD Kishan are quite interesting. If you want a wrap up of the important events of the day, I think DD news is still the best. On DD channels you may get to watch a lot of documentaries of interesting people and places. Some of these programs are far better than those shown on National Geographic.

Here I would like to make a special mention of a film that I watched on DD. It was Basu Chatterjee’s ‘Ek Ruka Hua Faisala’. Later on I learnt that the film was a remake of an award winning English movie Twelve Angry Men. The movie is about the deliberations of a jury constituted to decide whether a nineteen year old should be pronounced guilty for killing his father. Eleven members of the jury are in a hurry to vote ‘guilty’ while there is a lone dissenter who succeeds at the end, in convincing the jury, after a lot of patient persuasions that they should not take decision based on popular opinion, or personal biases.

In my previous post, based on a couple of movies, I have touched upon the issue of fair trail that happens only in the world of fiction. Ek ruka hua faisala is one more such movie. But, it is an eye opener, provided the people who take such decisions watch and learn from this movie. In addition to immaculate direction, superb performance of all the actors in the movie (Pankaj Kapur, Annu Kapur, Aziz Kureshi to name a few) created such an impression in my mind that I remember the movie vividly even after three decades.

ek ruka hua faisala.jpg

dhan ki jai

On October 6, 2017October 6, 2017 By Durga Prasad DashIn movies I have loved10 Comments

If you are monied and influential enough you go scot-free in spite of committing the most heinous crime. In India, we have got used to these kind of incidents. What is worse is – if, you are poor you may get convicted for someone else’s crime.

You have to be a strong believer of karma and rebirth to feel OK with the social injustice meted out on a poor fellow by the combined forces of the state and the media after watching the movie Dhananjoy, which is based on the real life trial and conviction of Dhananjay Chatterjee.

Dhananjay Chatterji was held guilty and and hanged for raping and murdering Hetal Parekh – a fourteeen year old school girl – on 05 Mar 1990 at her flat in the apartment complex where Dhananjay was a security guard.

The media went on a frenzy to brand Dhananjay a rapist and murderer even before the trial began. As Dhananjay’s family could not pay the fees, his lawyer lost all interest in the case. Based only on circumstantial evidences Dhananjay was held guilty by the trial court. The verdict was upheld by the High Court and the Supreme Court. The pressure of vote bank from the influential Gujrati Community was so much that the wife of the then West Bengal CM Budhadeba Bhattacharya held public rallies demanding death penalty for the accused. Public opinion to paint Dhananjoy a monster was kept up through out the trial and his consideration of mercy plea by the president of India till he was finally hanged to death on 14.08. 2004.

Later on many inconsistencies in the so called circumstantial evidences surfaced. Three professors of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata did extensive research and published the details of the inconsistencies and a probable sequence of events based on their collection of evidences in a book. The movie- Dhananjoy- is based on this book.

If the inconsistencies mentioned in the book ( as I learn from the movie) are true, the probability of Dhananjay being innocent is very high. Certain facts which were not taken into account while pronouncing the verdict are as follows:

All the twenty one or so injury mark are only on the upper part of the body. If it was a rape some injury marks were expected in the lower parts as well.
There was proof of sexual intercourse, but there was no conclusive proof of rape. Even the forensic report said so.
When Hetal’s mother discovers her injured (already dead) body, in stead of seeking medical help as a first thought, the first thing she does is she shouts to know the whereabouts of Dhananjay.

There are so many inconsistencies in the statements of witnesses that even a layman (provided he is totally unbiased) would award Dhananajy at least a benefit of doubt. But, forget about a benefit of doubt, this poor security guard who could not afford a costly lawyer, was held guilty and hanged to death. (Contrast this with the recent case of a film director who hired a costly lawyer, Kapil Sibal in this case and got exonerated of rape charges from the High Court. This director is also well connected in the left liberal circle of Lyuten’s Delhi)

Even the communist government in power, that prides itself for standing for the poorest of the poor and social justice, sided with the moneyed Gujarti Community in this case and went overboard in demanding death penalty for the accused. Dhananjay’s karma was so poor that, the then president of India, who rejected his mercy petition, himself hailed from a poor family.

Coincidentally, the previous day I had watched the English movie – Jack Reacher. The base plot line of the movie thinly resembles Dhananjoy, except that in this Hollywood movie the innocent convict is saved by a powerful duo of an attorney and an ex-Army officer from Military Police. Another difference is that the movie Jack Reacher is not based on real life incidents.

Justice and fair play for the poor and the innocent happen after all. Of course, in the land of fiction.

jack reacher

What is in a Name?

On September 29, 2017September 29, 2017 By Durga Prasad DashIn Humour8 Comments

Re-sharing one of my old humourous posts, with minor revisions.

One Life is not Enough

Shakespeare was not born in India. If he were, he would not have said, “What is in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet”.

If I meet Shakespeare I would point out, “Sir, even if calling rose by any other name does not affect its smell, it does not sound the same or spell the same and these differences have different connotations for different people”. Go and ask our celebrities who would place equal weightage on hard work as on the spelling of their names.

The celebrity is actually more obsessed with the composition of her name than what her name smells or sounds. “Success ke liye kuchh bhi karega’ is her mantra as she runs to astrologers, palmists, numerologists, tarot readers and parrot readers to work out what alphabet to insert or delete from her name to come…

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when love spoke to me for the first time

On September 20, 2017 By Durga Prasad DashIn Poetry12 Comments

comet

When love spoke to me for the first time

I failed to record it

If I remember faintly

A comet crossed our path

A comet of good repute

For whom no one sang a headline or

Or broke any news.

Till there was this little quiver of voice

I had forgotten

I had ever spoken to her

The sun went down carrying along

The languid flavours of spring flowers

The comet comes now and then

With no curtain raisers

Lightening the load of the

The school girl returning home

Happy to be home

In spite of layers of sweat

The remnants of a lost city

Get ready for revival

Swelling with sea waves of hope

Rising again

to fall.

author of the month- preethi venugopala

On September 10, 2017September 10, 2017 By Durga Prasad DashIn author of the month11 Comments

Preethi Venugopala, a civil engineer turned blogger, painter and story teller, is our author of the month.

15672708_1892873664277839_4485272521663554025_n Hailing from the God’s own country, Kerala, she is at present settled in the Garden City, Bangalore. Starting her writing journey as a blogger, she had her first book, a novel titled ‘Without You’ published in 2015. Both common readers and the critiques have spoken very highly of the book as can be sensed from the Goodreads and Amazon pages. To know more about her and her work visit the about page in her official website – A Writer’s Oasis.

‘One Life is not Enough’ caught up with her for a chat session.

Q: How smooth was the transition from Civil Engineering to authoring novels?

A: Thank you, Durga Prasad, for inviting me. It is a pleasure to be featured on your blog.

I took a sabbatical from my job after the birth of my son. I used to journal regularly. It was my husband to whom I had shown a particular journal entry who asked me to consider writing as a career. I had won story writing competitions while in college but had not pursued it further. When my son started playschool, I began to get free hours during the day and I started blogging. Blogging made the transition to becoming an author smooth and easy. In fact, if hadn’t started blogging, I might not have become a writer.

Q: When did you discover you could paint as well? Or, was it your first love?

A: I used to draw and paint while in school but had stopped once I left school. Then in 2011, my father passed away and I went into a mild depression. It was during that phase that I took up painting. It healed me from within. I still turn to painting and portraiture whenever I need a bit of cheering up.

Q: How do you effectively juggle various roles – as a mom, blogger, story teller, artist and other roles?

A: It just happens naturally. Women are, after all, experts at multi-tasking. Yet, on most days I am just a mom. I give myself a few dedicated hours every day to be a blogger, writer or artist according to the mood of the day.

Q: It is nice to see you continue to blog regularly even after becoming a published author. What role does blogging play in your overall creative journey?

A: Blogging has played a significant role in my creative journey, especially my writing journey.

As I said, I might not have become a writer if I was not a blogger. It was through blogging that I got acquainted with many other writers and publishers. My first publishing opportunity came via a pan India writing contest which was declared on the blog of author Bhavya Kaushik. I participated in the contest and got selected to be published.

The first readers and reviewers of my debut novel were my blogger friends.

I also display my art work on my blog.

Q: Tell us about your first book and how did it come about?

A: The idea of my first book came when I heard about the Mangalore plane crash on May 22, 2010. I was disturbed by the tragedy as it was the same route that I used to travel while I was working with the Dubai Metro. There were so many miraculous escape stories that filled the newspapers right after the tragedy. The many what if questions that troubled me then led me to write the book.

Q: What was the inspiration behind your compiling a Malayalam alphabet book for kids? Do you think regional languages in India are in danger of being side-lined?

A: The book was born out of a request made by my son. We live away from Kerala and hence it was difficult for us to get hold of study materials to teach him Malayalam. He 51UfCkLZ9pL._SY346_ learned the basics but wanted my help to read the words. He told me to write down the pronunciation of the letters in English so that he could read it easily on his own. I created a PowerPoint presentation for his sake and then thought why not make an eBook that would be available for anyone who might need it.

No, I don’t think regional languages are being side-lined. Regional languages have survived for centuries. Our mother tongues bind us to our roots. Of course, because of migration, the new generation might learn a different language than the one their parents speak. It is something that cannot be helped. Parents can help the kids to get in touch with their roots by teaching them their mother tongue. That is the only way.

Q: Is there anything else that you would like to say to our readers?

A: Thank you for all the love that you have given me over the years. Do continue to shower your love on me.

Do check out her books if you haven’t read them yet:

Books by Preethi Venugopala on Amazon

Books by Preethi Venugopala on Juggernaut

Visit her blog: A Writer’s Oasis

Follow her on Social Media:

Twitter: @preethivenu

Instagram: @preethivenu

Facebook Page: Preethi Venugopala

subtitles for a sanskari audience

On September 2, 2017September 7, 2017 By Durga Prasad DashIn HumourLeave a comment

agoodman

“Hope you **** already know the **** target.”

“Ye. We have to get that **** **** **** out of the **** hole.”

“*** those intel *** . Everything completely **** up, man”

“Ye. If I meet those ***** , I will **** the **** out of those *****”

“You. **** come with me with your *****. Do not forget to **** or else we all get ****”

“Now now, do you **** see those *** *** **”

“let me go and **** **** **** right through their **** ****”

“No, you are such an ****. you stay here and *****”

“Oh ***, Oh ***”

(First published in one of my earlier blogs)

P.S: No prizes for guessing the stars 😀

it was a great show

On August 26, 2017August 26, 2017 By Durga Prasad DashIn Poetry19 Comments

Six hours of circus-

As usual the politician inaugurated it

And slept throughout the show

To wake up in the last hour

To proclaim

In words impeccable and rehashed

The situation is under control

The guilty will not go scot free

And the victims will be compensated

The trapeze men thought they were

Fighting a just cause

Going up and down without a safety net

So thought the green and yellow foot soldiers

Going up and down and down

Three dozen died

A few heads rolled

(Do we know their names?)

Some cried and

Some cried foul.

Far away

In another planet

Faces lit up

‘It was a great show’

They chuckled

And took a break.

my speech at the indiblogger meet, bengaluru

On August 21, 2017August 21, 2017 By Durga Prasad DashIn Uncategorized24 Comments

Well, I have been a serious blogger since last one year. Of course, I have been blogging for more than five years and doing some creative writing maybe, for last one hundred years.

No… no. I am not that old like Asha Ram Bapu or RK Pachauri.

Actually I feel that it is not only me but also my readers who have taken my blog seriously after I joined Indiblogger, which is the best platform for Indian bloggers to network and show case talent. What do you say? How many of you here agree with me. Wow. Quite a lot. Great.

What is more, Indiblogger now wants to take us to our next level. That is to make us published authors. I think it is every blogger’s dream to become a published author of books. How many of you don’t agree? Of course many of us here are already published authors.

I love this quote from Kahlil Zibran: To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has achieved, but at what he aspires to.

It is great that Indiblogger, Story Mirror and the Valley of Words have all come together to fulfill the dreams of aspiring authors. They deserve a big round of applause.

Coming to blogging, the comments and likes are not the only indicators that your blog is being read and liked. During official or informal meetings sometimes I come across people who tell me that they have been reading my blog regularly, even though they have never put any comment or liked the blog.

So, keep blogging. May our tribe flourish.

vow bangalore meet

Launch of Kuhase ke Geet ( Hindi version of Sashi Sharma’s the Song’s of Mist)

vow bangalore meet 2

Thank you guys for the fabulous gift hamper

P.S: Actually, this speech, being an afterthought could not be delivered. And my time-machine is still out of order.

I give you divine eyes

On August 18, 2017 By Durga Prasad DashIn Society19 Comments

I was surprised at the logic of one of the bestselling authors of India. He tweets that even though, India is well known for yoga and Ayurveda, it has poor life expectancy. His further elaboration indicates that he means to undermine the efficacy of yoga and Ayurveda.

I replied, ‘Sir, agreed that yoga and Ayurveda originated in India. But, how many people do practice it? If you want to know the efficacy of yoga and Ayurveda take the health record of those who practice yoga and use Ayurveda and compare it with the non-practitioners, whether they are Indian or not.”

He did not have anything further to say. Coincidentally, this author is famous for writing fiction based on Indian Mythology. It implies that he must have read the Indian scriptures, seriously.

There are a section of writers among Indians who write stuff just to please those western sensibilities that take pride in undermining Indian culture. It is sometimes driven by commercial interests as they think that it will appeal to the western and the westernized Indian audience.

I would not have been surprised if the author had told that in spite of being gifted with such things as yoga, Ayurveda and spirituality, neither do we practise nor do we take pride in these things. I would have been happier if the author, instead of merely limiting himself to bookish knowledge of Indian scriptures, had practiced yoga and meditation and tried Ayurveda.

These days, along with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (my spiritual master), spiritual leaders and yoga gurus like Baba Ramdev and Jaggi Vasudev are leading the movements to awaken the world to the ancient wisdom of India. Their popularity has also rang alarm bells for many who are not interested to see an awakened India. So, they raise pointless protests from time to time.

A case in point is the World Cultural Festival held on the banks of Yamuna River last year. Certain forces tried to portray Art of Living in a negative manner stating that it violated not only environmental norms, but also procedural norms. The press, which is always eager for such kind of baseless news also joined in. Of course now Art of Living has been cleared of all the allegations. But, this does not make as much media buzz as the previous occasions when there were so many baseless allegations.

Similarly, the so called environmentalists are never seen when lakes are encroached and huge tracks of forests are destroyed by the Industrialists. But, when a Spiritual Leader raises a statue to create awareness about yoga, these environmentalists become alarmed.

Another incident that made headlines across India a number of years back was when the Shankaracharya of Kanchi was arrested. But when he was absolved of all charges, the news hardly made even to the corner of a fifth page in our newspapers. To a large extent, our media has been responsible for projecting a negative image about India and its heritage.

Coming back to the author, it brings out an interesting facet of human nature. Our ancient scriptures have been guiding lights to many for finding solution to their practical as well as existential problems. At the same time, some use the same scriptures to support their counter arguments.

Even Arjuna was not able to gain the insight that Lord Krishna had intended till Arjuna was given the divine eyes. It is very symbolic. One should have the eyes to see the gems in the scriptures. A yogeswara like Krishna can provide those eyes. Without those eyes, one will see dung heaps in place of the gems.

Even to get those eyes one should have a little bit of willingness and some basic eligibility. Arjun was willing, desperate and deserving to have those insights into the nature of truth.

But the propagandists and the activists that I am talking of are not interested in truth. Motivated by their narrow personal gain (which may sometimes include a promised better place in heaven), their ceaseless campaign is aimed at showing Indian spiritual and cultural traditions in poor light. Sometimes they may come in the garb of rationalists and humanists to hide their vicious agenda.

What kind of eyes can be given to them?

krishnarjuna