MANOHAR KAHANIYAAN

Aaj kal jo bhi dekhne ka mann karta hain

dekh lete hain badi asaani se

Online stream ho gayi hain kahaniyaan

4G ki meherbaani se

ab kuch dekhne ki bebasi ho,

toh use offload ker liya karte hain

humein jo dekhne ka waqt na ho,

use download kar liya karte hain

par in saari sahuliyat se door

ek aisa daur bhi hua karta tha

jab internet ko dekhne ka maza kuch or hi hua karta tha

ye woh daur tha jab kitaabon ke aakhri panne per

'loves me ,loves me not' likh ker parakh liya karte the

aur Doordarshan ki aad mein,

fashion TV dekh liya karte the

Tab,

web series mein ulajhe hi nhin the

Human biology samajhe nhin the

jab desi masala ka jaadu

online ki duniya mein bika hi nahin tha

jab badmashiyaan sikhane waala

Naughty amrika bhi nahi tha

Tab le jaate kuch CDs ko lapet kar

akhbaar mein doston ki demand par

aur mil jaati thi kuch kahaniyaan kitaabon ki shakl mein

railway stall ya bus stand par

jinhe padh kar daudti thi nas nas mein ravaniyaan

jinke kahaniyon mein suspense aur title mein hairaniyan

jinke panno mein qaid hain

ladakpan ki nishaniyaan

yeh netflix wali janta kya hi samajh payegi

dil pe kya keher dhaati thi manohar kahaniyaan

Mujhe aaj bhi yaad hain

New Dehli station ka von manzar

kaanp rahe the jism 4 sweateron ke andar

Waiting room se toh bas pariyaan nikal rahin thi

mujhe lag raha tha ke unmein se koi thi jo mujhe dekh rahin thi

khair padhne ke liye uss din ki khabrein

pahunch gya railway stall ke paas

aur achanak se chodharyji ne kitaab pakda kar mujhe kaha

"beta ise padhna. Ise padhke milega

sardiyon mein garmiyon ka ehsaas."

kya hain ki unko lag raha tha ki

unhone kisi batke hue naujawan ka mann rakha tha

mere keel munhase bata rahe the ki

mene abhi abhi jawani ki dehleez par kadam rakha tha

 Chodharyji ne samjhaya

ki achche logon ke vichaar toh

Iss kitaab ke saanche mein dhalte nahin hain

Aur jo Manohar Kahaniyaan padhte hain woh

bahut der tak baathroom se nikalte nahin hain

bas, phir kya tha

sweater ki aad mein humne bheed se kattna shuru kiya

Waiting room ke baathroom mein

baithkar jab panne palatna shuru kiya.....toh Offo!

Kya kya kahaniyaan thi

kaun mehfil mein aisi baatein bole

pehli hi kahani ka shirshak tha

'kya hota hain jab jawaan dewar bhabhi ki gaanthein khole'

kya hain na ki tab mujhe pata chala ki kis tarah se title hi de kar

pdhne waale ko shock kiya jaata hain

Bhabhi nahin, koi password hain jisse unlock kiya jaata hain

Aisi kahaniyaan jinko padh kar

 soya raat bhar nahin tha

Agli kahani naukar ne likhi thi

'uss raat jab maalik ghar par nahin the'

jab maalkin ne mohan se kaha ki

"Ab na humein bebas karo"

Aur ghadi ke kaante keh rahe the

"Hadh ho gayi KUMAR bas karo"

kyunki December ke mahine mein

jaise mann ko geela saawan mila

Agli kahani thi jab

"Sonam ko naya saajn mila"

Har dusre panne pe aawaaz thi

uff! ayr Aah! ki

par darwaze se koi andar na aa jaye

darwaze par nigaah thi

jab mujhe laga ki ufaan pe

dilon mein jazbaaton ke bawandar aa gaye

tab achanak darwaza khula

aur papa andar aa gaye

Tab aisa laga ki kisi gumshuda hotel per

jaise police ki dhaad padi

Zindgi bhar yaad rahegi

belt, joote aur thappad se mujhe itni maar padi

Phir toh main aise baahar nikla jaise thappad toh door

ki baat kisi ne mujhe chhua tak nahi tha

Hawas ki nigaahon pe sharafat ka chashma pehna

jaise kuch hua hi nahi tha

par papa nazar nahin aa rahe the

bheed se nadaarad the

jisse main pandit samajh baitha tha

woh toh kisi aur hi kala mein vishaarad tha

yaani ki ab tak jo sanskaaron ka hawala de kar

 mujhse ladd rahe tha

wohi 12(bhaarvi) pareeksha ki kitaab ki aad mein

manohar ki kahani padh raha tha

jab unhein laga ki munsif khud

kathghare mein ghir chuka hain

Tab sakpakaate hue bole ki

"main toh yeh dekh raha tha ki tu

kis hadh tak neeche gir chuka hain"

mujhe laga ki kudrat ne

karmon ke phal wala insaaf kiya

papa se mene kuch nhin kha

Dil hi dil ke andar maaf kiya

mujhe laga ki agar papa, aur hum sab ke papa

agar aisi kitaabon se rishta nibhate nahin

toh main aur mujh jaise kayi dost

waqt par duniya mein aate nahi

khair, aise mein yaatrigan ki duaaein

apna hi asar la gayin

achanak se 'Aravli Express' bhi platform 3 par aa gayi

Saari pariyaan waiting list room se nikal kar

seedhe mere hi dabbe mein agayi

Uske baad jo saamne waali sheet per baithi

toh kya nazaara tha huzoor

Usne dabi waaz mein kaha

"Aakhri kahani kaafi dilchasp hain, padhiyega zaroor."

kaafi difficult, kaafi asaan

Toh kabhi easy hoti hain

kaviyon ki kahani mein masala hota hain

kahani kaafi cheesy hoti hain

Har roz humein mil jaati hain zindagi mein aisi hairaniyaan

aur kabhi cheesy story sunne ka mann kare na

toh railway stall jaa kar padh lena

Manohar Kahaniyaan.

SAY MY NAME

             Children, draw circles on paper etch eyes, nose and ears around it greater the likeness to face, greater the joy. When I used to sketch something similar, I couldn't put the pencil down thinking, if the face indeed was mine after some deliberation, I would draw a smaller circle over the larger circle of the face and mutter to myself, now this...This is me. I never stopped wondering, though, why I never had a loose hairdo or others had a bun it used to be an act of courage sharing that sketch with people who, in every class break, would point to it asking if it were an apple, an orange or an onion or a potato it felt like an act of courage it's not daggers or pistols that are scary, sometimes. Just words, shapeless, formless words but pointed words that stab and scrape and peel I remember, people at school, college, wherever addressing me, not by name but with an innocuous smile that accompanied "Paaji", "Paape", or "Gyaani" I used to smile back never knowing how to express what I felt sometimes, an unbearable embarrassment and some other times, an intense, scorching rage for so many years, and I guess to the present day I have been trying to wrap my head around why has my hair started to means more than my name why has the way I look  become so integral to who I am I often used to think, why I never used"O, Pandit", or "O, Khan Sahab" as salutations. I tried, in fact, and it felt inappropriate. When I could feel this way, why not them who wouldn't call me by my name perhaps, my father or grandfather never cared enough. But I do. Baba used to say Sardar means a leader, the head of a communitybut I have seen derision far too many times to not be able to identify that "sardar" baba meant and "sardarji" that people mean are as similar as chalk and cheese. Sometimes, I laugh and say to myself that Pakistan was far and elusive I found hostilities in my own classmates or that bus conductor who, with his harmless wit wrapped around "Paaji" singularly felled me every time I tried to get up while my bones never broke my confidence splintered every single time and this spectacle continues like clockwork until I myself start believing that I am not "them" Mukesh is Mukesh, Sameer, Sameer and I have Transmogrified into "Paaji".

Those 12'o clock jokes well, sometimes even I used to laugh sitting by the clock sometimes waiting for something to happen to me, really. People don't get to choose what color, who they are born as those that think they can see everything are the ones who are blind today, I may feel that I have risen above this "quibble" but not to be addressed by my name still feels suffocating it feels as if my rightful share of oxygen has been cut off it's a collective failure of sorts. But it starts with myself. Instead of shying away from the faces I drew, I should have proudly proclaimed "This is me" embracing my identity who I am, what I am. Fighting our shame, is often the biggest war we wage and winning it, is our biggest triumph.

PAPPU PAPA AND CYCLE

 One morning papa came, woke me up and said.

  " Pappu, I am going to teach you  how to ride a cycle today"

   Even the sun hadn't yet opened his eyes

    and I had slept late watching cartoons

So i said what any other child would have said

"Okay Papa".

The moment I stepped out, A brand-new cycle awaited me 

When I saw it, my innocent mind started jumping up and down

But as I noticed the absence of training wheels,

my excitement came to a standstill.

A fear arose in my pulse that my dad sensed,

so he said, "I'am right here,son"

So on the small seat of that small cycle,

 I placed my small bum

Pushed down on the peddles, the wheels started

turning and staggering, my cycle moved forward

I was happy but dad kept directing me,

"Keep the handle straight.."

"..Why is the cycle moving towards right???

  Don't stop peddling, be careful, you'll fall"

Ugh! Who makes someone do so much exercise

on the first day!?

But dad made me do this exercise daily,

then suddenly one day my cycle stopped staggering

Joyfully, I wanted to turn around and tell him,

"Look dad, I've learnt how to cycle."

But the moment I turned around,

I saw that my dad was standing far behind me

Seeing him so far away, scared me and the fear 

made my cycle swerve and stagger again

And for the very first time, 

I fell down.

And my bum which was earlier well placed on the seat,

was now flat on the ground.

My dad come running, gave me a smile,

picked me up and took me back home.

But somehow, from that day on,

A weird tradition of me falling down had started

Because the moment my

cycle stopped staggering, I...

But by the time my eyes were on the road again, 

I found my self lying on it.

Then one day I made a decision

that I will get over my fear

So I started riding my cycle at great speed,

my dad kept screaming from behind,

"Son, you are going too fast, slow down,

look, there is a pothole ahead of you..

"..You will crash into someone"

But all of my dad's advice, had somehow

vanished in the face of this speed

The still wind, had suddenly started kissing me,

I had started to fall in love with this speed

But then all of a sudden,

my feet slipped from the pedal

My cycle slipped and 

I came crashing down to the ground

And for the first time, I wept and my knees bled,

but what was really injured was my pride

Dad came running towards me, he picked me up,

without smiling this time

He took me home and said,

"Don't ride the cycle tomorrow."

But now I wanted 

to ride the cycle

Because untill yesterday, I was falling because of my fear

But today I fell because of my foolishness

And the one thing that 

I know was that

You can fight your fear but if you do not correct

your foolishness, repeating it becomes a habit

So the next morning I got up before the sun,

took my cycle off the stand, and rode it for miles

Took a turn and come back 

home, without falling

This morning I was the one who woke up dad,

narrated the story with a lot of happiness

And in the end, I said,

"Look dad, I have learnt cycling."

Dad smiled and said...

"Son, you've not only learnt cycling but

you've also learnt how to walk on the road of life."

He told me how the handle was our focus,

the pedal our hard work

This moving cycle was the success

which was moving on a road called life

He made me understand that,

Many a times I'll fall because of the speed of my pride

and the potholes of relationships

But I'll have to get up, 

make the cycle stand again

And continue my journey

until death comes my way

FACE YOUR FEARS

You take a drink with your friends, and somebody says,

"Yeah, we should go skydiving tomorrow!"

You go, "Yeah, we'll go skydiving tomorrow!

"Yeah! Yeah!"  Everybody goes, "Yeah!"

Then that night, you're laying in your bed

and you just keep, "Uh, uh."

You're terrified.

You keep imagining over and over again jumping out of an airplane,

and you can't figure out why you would do that.

You wake up the next day, and you go down where you said

you were going to meet, and everybody's there.

You get in the van and be like, "Oh my God . Oh my God."

Your stomach is terrible. 

You can't eat and everything, but you don't want to be the only punk

who doesn't jump out of this airplane.

You fly, and you go up, you go up, you go up, and you go up to 14,000 feet.

Somebody opens the door, and in that moment you realize

you've never been in a freaking airplane with the door open.

You're looking out down to death.

They say. "On three," and they say, "One two," and he pushes you on two

because people grab on three.

You go, "Ahhh!"

You fall out of the airplane and i

What do you need that fear for?

Everything up to the stepping out, there's actually no reason to be scared.

It only just ruins your day.

The best things in life are on the other side of terror, on the other side of your maximum fear,

are all of the best things in life.