Category Archives: Miscellaneous

The Best Way To Pay Tribute To Your Teachers

photo credit: Global Partnership for Education – GPE Students in class, Malawi via photopin (license)

So, you celebrated Independence Day, then threw the flags on the roadside alongwith the cloak of patriotism that you wore throughout the day; tied the Rakhi on Rakshabandhan and then threw away the thread in dustbin and alongwith it all affection and memories of your relationship; you have already swept clean your home temple of the decoration you did for Janmashtami, and with it washed away everything that the Lord taught and stood for. And now you are ready once again to celebrate yet another festival in line — Teachers’ Day, perhaps the only festival which is celebrated all over the country on a grand scale without any use of colours, crackers or controversies. We love our teachers, we hate our teachers, we love to hate our teachers. It is always a complex relationship, without a single exception. Continue reading →

ये क्या देखता हूँ

रचनाकार — प्रदीप बहुगुणा ‘दर्पण’

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ये क्या देखता हूँ

किसी बुरी शै का असर देखता हूं ।
जिधर देखता हूं जहर देखता हूं ।।

रोशनी तो खो गई अंधेरों में जाकर ।
अंधेरा ही शामो सहर देखता हूं ।। Continue reading →

क्यों आग बुझा नहीं देते

रचनाकार – ऋतेश मिश्रा

क्यों आग बुझा नहीं देते

क्यों आग बुझा नहीं देते?

नफरत से प्रचंड कर, विसंगति से विपुल कर

क्यों चिनगारियों को मशालों मॆं धधका देते?

क्यों आग बुझा नहीं देते? Continue reading →

Three Takes On ‘No Change!’

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28384452797_7d56d2df63_n Today I’m feeling very light. In fact, very very light. Today I was finally able to take off that burden from me. Let me be specific. A huge pile of coins had accumulated and it was indeed getting more and more difficult to store them. Of course, I couldn’t keep them in my wallet nor in the pocket of my trousers. For some time I kept them in my bag, but the load kept increasing. Have you seen the calendars sold during Dussera and Diwali? You remember that pile of gold coins in front of Lakshmi ji? Same thing here. I segregated them into smaller piles of Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 2 coins and put them in different boxes. Once I discussed this problem with a local shopkeeper and he happily agreed to change them with notes. So today I got rid of all the coins. Continue reading →

ख्वाइशें कुछ ऐसी

रचनाकार – हेमा जोशी

photo credit: hehaden Faded glory, fading light via photopin (license)

ख्वाइशें कुछ ऐसी

ख्वाइशें कुछ ऐसी, नन्हे जुगनू जैसी
अंधेरे में उस उजाले की तरह, जिसे उंगलियाँ छूना चाहती हैं
हैं अनगिनत तारों की तरह,
जिन्हें मैं हर रात निहारती हूँ, बातें करती हूँ
और छू लेना चाहती हूँ
हैं प्यारी, अनगिनत ओस की बूंदों की तरह
ये ख्वाइशें कुछ ऐसी,
जो उड़ जाना चाहती हैं पंख लगाकर Continue reading →

My Favourite Stories From Contemporary Bengali Literature : The Lone Tree

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I moved to this new accommodation in January this year. The design and construction of this residential complex is quite strange. None of the residents seems to have any clue about what came to the architect’s mind to have designed such a stupid tower. No ventilation, no windows, no outside view. Everything is closed with glass panes, shutters, walls. We don’t even know what colour the sky is at any time of the day or whether it is raining outside or is it sunny. Continue reading →

इंद्रासन प्राप्त करो तुम

रचनाकार – गौरव मिश्र

photo credit: Miradortigre Aoraki via photopin (license)

इंद्रासन प्राप्त करो तुम

अस्थिर अशांत इस जग में

क्यों मूक बना सोता है,

यह रत्नविभूषित जीवन

क्यों इसे व्यर्थ खोता है ?

तू नहीं जानता पागल

यह समय कभी नहीं रुकता,

यह काल अमिट अविनाशी

पद चिह्न छोडता चलता । Continue reading →

Competition In Sorrow

5 Replies

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Do this experiment once. Next time when someone asks you ‘how are you?’, instead of telling ‘fine’, just mention that you are not, and enumerate one or two troubles you have. For example, ‘not fine, I don’t know, but since last couple of days I am feeling intense pain in my stomach’. Or, ‘my children not faring well in exams’, ‘my husband is too busy with his own work, and I am not able to handle so many things alone’. Or just anything. And then see the magic! Continue reading →

A Hungry Country Throwing Away Its Food

17 Replies

Image source: asiaone.com

In an earlier article, I told you how I learnt to value money after reading my father’s diary. Another habit which we children developed by observing our parents — both of them — was to respect food. We did not learn it by reading their diaries or eavesdropping on their conversations. As a family we used to eat together, and day and night we watched and observed how our parents never wasted a single grain of food. This is one of the reasons that I always stress that children learn by observing their parents and follow their example, whereas lecturing almost never helps. Continue reading →

The Pain Of Getting Documents Attested

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photo credit: amtec_photos Woman Filling Out Job Application via photopin (license)

In the three years that it has been in office, the present government has taken several decisions; some of them fired, some misfired and some backfired. A lot of discussion and media coverage has been given to nearly all of them. How far are the various claims correct would anyway be known in future. Among all this downpour of decisions, schemes and proposals, a small decision was also taken by the government, which did not attract that much media attention. Perhaps it was not that glamorous as GST or controversial like demonetization. Or perhaps presumably it did not directly affect most of the population. At least they thought so.

Continue reading →