तूने मुझे क्या दिया रे मन...!

तूने मुझे क्या दिया रे मन...!
पराया दर्द,
पराई आस,
और उलझन...

अपना कुछ था नहीं,
पराया कोई रह नहीं,
शेष कुछ बचा नहीं...
हाथ आये तो बस
आंसू छलकाते नयन...!

दर्द सारी दुनिया का
तूने अपना कर लिया,
दुनिया-भर के आंसू दिल में
मोती-सा भर लिया,
अपनी खुशियाँ बाँट सबको
गया रिक्तपानि बन...!!

छोड़ कर सब चल दिए
राह में जो भी मिले,
तू सभी का हो गया
पर तू तेरा किसको कहे॥
साथ बस यादें रहीं
मकड़जाले बन...!!!

उम्र-भर छलता रहा
मुझको तू ओ मेरे मन...
व्यर्थ गया, व्यर्थ गया, व्यर्थ गया
ये जीवन...!!

तुम...(७)

कितने कम फूल

बचे हैं गुलमोहर के...!

कितनी कम साँसे मेरे पास,

फूल ज्यादा हैं या

साँसे कम, कौन जाने;



बस एक इंतज़ार:

'काश,
लौट आते कहीं से
तुम,

चाहे कोई नया इल्ज़ाम
देने के लिए ही सही...!'

Why I’m not a Social Scientist...

Yes, you may be disappointed but I’m not a Social Scientist but an Economist.

May be the origin of the word “Social Scientist” is accidental. When people indulge too much in others’ discipline, often at the cost of their own, they become jack of all trades (?) but master of NONE. Anyone having an affair with Somrus knows what the hells breaks loose when a bad cocktail attacks your head. They vomit incessantly (sic). Since they have reached the limit of their absorbing capacity and they can’t afford to have more, they start scolding the wine, the bartender, all and sundry. If you try to pacify the now, you are just inviting the bull to your back. They’ll never admit that now they can’t digest any more rather they proclaim that the wine was of second or third rate, the bar-tender was loggerhead, etc, etc. You can’t challenge them about their knowledge about wine at this moment, as the incoherence make them omniscient too…!
Similar is the situation when one couldn't digest a bad cocktail of several subjects. They have reached the limit of their absorbing capacity of their brain. At this point of saturation, everything becomes fuzzy and incoherent. Enjoying this state of self-proclaimed bliss, they discover that they are Social Scientists…now they have entered a perpetual state of incoherence and fuzziness. A few noteworthy symptoms of this state are:

• People disbelieve every logical concept and conclusion as they’re too obvious to be true;
• They start looking (better, cooking) for links with a topic which were never in existence. Or in plain English, they look between the lines when there are no lines to look at all;
• They often proclaim themselves to be Omniscient and all others as ignorant. So by applying the reflexivity and transitivity axioms, every social scientist is ignorant (according to other fellow social scientists) and omniscient (as per him). Isn't it a rare phenomenon of being at the extremes simultaneously? The catch is in the frame of reference;
• They think that since they’re omniscient, their opinion on any subject is final and binding. Anyone who dares to differ must be thrown away to the Arabian Sea;
• If they come to discuss anything with a logical person, soon they take it as an argument, a challenge to their authority and now they’ll never agree with other’s point of view, whatever it may be. But don’t panic when they, at the very next moment, rephrase your logic in their words. Don’t ever try to tell them that you were saying the same as they’ll never agree about any possible similarity between these two arguments.
  
  Should I hope that by now you would have understood why I'm not a Social Scientist...!!!

मोड़...!

वहीँ खड़ा है गुलमोहर,
वैसे-ही महक रही रातरानी आज तक,
अभी भी नजर में है
वो पथरीली रहा,
और
वो मोड़,
जहाँ मिले थे हम;

मानता ही नहीं
ये पगला मन:
'तुम मेरे थे ही नहीं
कभी...'

कलेजे से लगाए बैठा है
एक दम तोड़ती आस:
'कभी तो
लौट आओगे तुम
मेरे ही पास...
पीछे सारी दुनिया छोड़...!'

इसी पागलपन में
खंगालता चल रहा हूँ मैं,
हर गली,
हर राह,
हर मोड़...!!

तुम...(६)

जाड़े की रात में
कसकर लपेटे शाल-सी
लिपटी है तन्हाई
मेरी आत्मा से,

तुम्हारे न होने के शून्य से आच्छादित
मैं,
सोचता हूँ:
'कुछ अस्पष्ट-से नाम,
आढ़ी-तिरछी रेखाएँ
मिटा नहीं सकते जिन्हें
हम चाह कर भी,
क्यूं उकेर देता है समय
हमारे हृदय पर...!!!'

The black Book

I'm relishing "The Black Book", a wonderful novel by Orhan Pamuk. Though these days, I'm as busy as hell with writing a paper (sic) using the field data I've collected (have I told you people ever that I'm doing PhD in Economics), I still manage to revitalise myself with some good book like this one. Wait for its detailed review...it will come soon.

This book is provided to me again by Prof. Roy, who is my oasis in this otherwise parched desert (as for as literature is concerned). Long live Prof. Roy..and so to Orhan (And Orhan! keep writing).