विपक्ष की बात

भारतवर्ष की भूमि पर
जब शीत ऋतु लहराती थी,
असावधान बैठी देहों पर,
क्रूरता बरसाती जाती थी।

हंसते-रोते, चलते-सोते रोजमर्रा के जीवन ढोते,
लोगों के जीवन मे एक दिन आया ऐसा निराला था
लोकतंत्र का गान करके कुछ जनों ने,
देश के हृदय पर तेज़ चुभोया एक भाला था।
सुबह का अखबार जैसे अपने साथ उल्टी स्वतंत्रता लाया था,
लगता था ठंड ने कुछ लोगों का दिमाग भी हिलाया था।

विस्मय से देखते थे भारत के मनुज स्वाभिमानी,
बाहर निकले लोगों को करते विकृत नादानी,
विभाजन करवाने वालों की बातों में वे फंसते थे,
सत्ता के लिए राजनीति खेलने वाले देख हंसते थे।

(सत्ता के लिए राजनीति खेलने वाले?)

अब इनके बारे में क्या बताऊं,
ये हैं ऐसे महान भारतवासी जो -
राष्ट्रहित्कारी नीतियों का विरोध करने से पीछे नहीं ये हटते हैं,
असत्य का प्रचार करके, मगरमच्छ के आंसू बिलखते हैं
किस हद तक गिर सकते हैं ये - इतिहास इसकी गवाही है
डाह-द्वेष की मुस्कान चेहरे पर - इनके प्रयोजन साफ झलकते हैं।

ये वही हैं, अनगिनत दफा जिन्होंने  अधिकार जनता का मारा था,
कान बंद कर लेते थे ये जब-जब सरहद के जवानों ने इन्हें पुकारा था,

बदले में आर्मी चीफ को गली का गुंडा कह दुत्कारा था।

मेरे वामपंथी मित्रों ध्यान से सुनो, आज मैं तुम्हें बताता हूँ,
एक-एक करके इन "बुद्धिजीवियों" की आज मैं लंका लगाता हूँ।

निशाचरी शक्ति तीव्र है इनमे इसके प्रमाण चाहते हो?
भोपाल गैस त्रासदी में रातोंरात एंडरसन को फरार करवाना भूल जाते हो।
2G, 3G, commonwealth, आदि तो हैं अभी की बातें,
आओ इतिहास से निकलते हैं हम इनकी कुछ पुरानी यादें।
कुछ बुद्धिजीवी कहते हैं इन्होंने आज़ादी दिलवाई थी,
और स्वतंत्रता की सारी योजनाएं सिर्फ इनके अंतर से आई थी।
इनकी दलीलें तो शायद कुछ नासमझों के लिए भारी है,
ये सब मानने वालों की तो गयी मति मूढ़ की मारी है।

स्वतंत्रता का अर्थ इनको समझाना आसान नहीं,
सीधे समझ नहीं ये पाते हैं,
जिस थाली में खाते हैं,
छेद उसी में करते जाते हैं।

याद है? जब राष्ट्रीय संघ ने निषेधाधिकार (मतलब वीटो पावर) का प्रस्ताव हमें बढ़ाया था,
विचारहीन होकर चीन से मैत्री के नाम उसे गंवाया था
कितना समय लगा था फिर चीन को पलटने में?
कितना समय लगा फिर भारत के गले मे फांस अटकने में?

असहयोग आंदोलन भी अधूरा रखा था चौरी-चौरा के एवज से,
नेताजी को भी मजबूर किया था अकारण , बेवजह से,
जब यहां राजनीति खेलते किसने वचन निभाया था?
वो उधम सिंह था जिसने ड्वायर को इंग्लैंड जाकर उड़ाया था।

चलो थोड़ा और आगे आते हैं, इनकी हरकतें नज़र में लाते हैं,
जब सरदार पटेल ने पांच सौ बासठ राज्यों को भारत में मिलाया था,
तब अंदरूनी होने के बावजूद भी, किसने,
कश्मीर राष्ट्रीय संघ ले जा कर भड़काया था?

किसने सत्ता के लिए देश मे आपातकाल लगवाया था?
किसने दिल्ली में सिखों का नरसंघार करवाया था?
किसने धर्म और जाति को राजनीति में मुद्दा बनाया था?
किसने कश्मीरी पंडितों की चीख-पुकार अनसुना कर दबाया था?

ये तो कुछ नहीं, इनकी कई शर्मसार हैं बातें,
क्यों सुनते हो इनकी, झूठ बोल ये जनता को बरगलाते?
अफवाह फैलाना धर्म है इनका, दंगा करवाना जाति है,
असत्य-चालबाज़ी की आग लगाते जो स्वयं फैलती जाती है।

(ये लोग जिनको पता कुछ नहीं और दूसरों की बातों में आकर विरोध कर रहे, लाखों का फोन चलाते और मुफ्त का सरकारी कागज़ नहीं पढ़ सकते?) तो-

सत्य की परख करना चाहते हो अगर,
झूठ से पर्दा उठाना चाहते हो अगर,
तो स्वयं जांच करो तथ्यों के आधार पर
अन्यथा विरोध कारगर नहीं होता,
होता है दिखावटी, बेवजह और निराधार पर।

विरोध नहीं कहलाता है राष्ट्र को तोड़ना-जलाना-नुकसान करना
यह कहलाता हैं - स्वतंत्रता और संविधान की हत्या करना।

If you're an Indian, then after reading this does these words go through your head?

Corrupt Congress. Corrupt opposition parties. Liberals. Anti-nationals.

Chances

Take your chances, O' lonely soul,
Lest the passions are abating,
Seek the comforts of present not the past, for
The time rushes while these keep on debating.

Worried of the chances that you will lose?
But equal are that of winning, if not more,
What use is such caution in what to choose?
When you remain stuck, stagnant & quite unsure!

Life is short and keeps on fleeting,
While we keep worrying if it will work or won't,
What is the point of doubting & bleating?
When it's our effort that it'll do or don't!

Immortal Talks - A Book Review

“Are you aware that you are not a body? You have a body.” chorused the elder Mahtangs.

Introduction:
GENRE: Spirituality
AUTHOR: Shunya
PAGES:160
YEAR OF PUBLISH: 2017

Mahtangs (better known as Mathangs) are the tribal people residing in the forests of Mount Piduru in Sri Lanka. This tribe, similar to the sentinelese, choose to be cut off from modern civilisation but save for this they cannot be more different from the sentinelese. Mathangs are the followers of Lord Hanuman and descendants of Vibhishana, the brother of Ravana from The Ramayana. Apart from this, the Mathangs are said to be very spiritual and with good reason. It is said that the Mathangs are visited by Lord Hanuman in every 41 years. Quite interesting isn’t it?

All of this came to light in the year 2014 when a researcher was studying the behavior of the tribe and completely oblivious at the time as to what he was going to find! Fascinating!

Lord Hanuman is said to be among the 7 people who are said to be immortal. It is believed that every 41 years Lord Hanuman visits the tribe to teach and imbue divine knowledge to them. The Mathangs record the teaching of Lord Hanuman every 41 years in a Log book. Fortunately, the log book is now with an organization called ‘Setu Asia’which is trying to translate the book. Okay this was a short introduction to who the Mahtangs (or Mathangs) really are. Now let’s jump on to the book.

Summary:

The book begins with Hanudas, a devotee of Lord Hanuman, who along with 2 other devotees is following some tribal people in order to observe and try to establish communication with them. Hanudas used to live an elite lifestyle with his family in Toronto and was neither religious nor spiritual. His wife dies in a car accident and later he loses his only son to drugs and paranoid schizophrenia. This leaves him to be completely hollow – ‘like a hoop which lets things pass through it. No sorrow. No pain. No regret.’ It was then that he encounters an unusual scene. He leaves for India and comes in contact with a Guru who gives him the name ‘Hanudas’ and explains to him that it was not a hallucination indeed. Gurudev explains it was because only pure souls can experience that. He explains that Hanudas encountered such a scene because after his son’s funeral his mind was absolutely blank, completely free and detached from everything the external world has to offer –

‘Your soul, like the majority of humans of this era, is asleep. Your soul awoke for a brief period of time on the day you buried your son’

After that moment he experiences a divine epiphany and leaves to wander – in search of nothing – in a pursuit to awaken his soul. He eventually feels that he has reached his destination when he comes across this tribe known as ‘Mahtangs’. He along with 2 more sages tries to approach the tribe but are rebuked by the leader and hence finds himself following and observing the tribe. Very soon he deciphers the meaning of the set of seven symbols he had collected from the Mahtangs. It translated as follows: ‘The immortal Lord Hanuman comes every 41 years to impart supreme knowledge to his disciples, the Mahtangs’. Over the course of next several months, he collected thousands of such symbols, or the puzzles wherin lay enshrined the entire knowledge Lord Hanuman imparted to his disciples.
He, with the help of other sages, deciphers these puzzles and documents them. These finding are henceforth explained in the form of different chapters in this book.

My Review:

The religion – Hinduism (it actually is Sanatan Dharma) – is the oldest religion that exists today. It is the only religion in which even if you are an atheist, you are still a Hindu. It is the choice of the seeker whichever and whatever form of god he/she wants to embrace. Even the belief that he/she does not believe in god is a form of belief and hence that person is still a Hindu. It is a religion which is based on the practice of looking for the absolute truth which involves science more than anything. I will not be exaggerating when I confidently claim that all the things that modern science is discovering now has already been mentioned in the Vedas and Upanishads many thousands of years ago. It is more about Spirituality than being a ‘Religion’ in the strictest sense of the meaning of the word, and is FAR different from what is perceived by the masses. It is a way of Life, which is clearly evident by the contents of this book.

The book is written in a very simplistic manner which enables the reader to understand even the most complex workings of the truth of what the soul is, what is life, the movement of the soul from one body to another, the life and death cycle, the Karma-Desire, etc. If I have to describe my experience of reading this book in one word, I will choose – enlightening. The way in which everything was explained is very simple and effective. The reader is able to imagine every scene as if it is happening right before their eyes. The way in which everything is explained is extraordinarily simple, effective and quite enjoyable at the same time. The prologue of the book describes how Hanudas comes to find all the symbols and puzzles and the rest of the book in chapters and in the form of stories of the same tribe explains the subtleties of the extraordinary way in which the universe works, who we are and how to get out of this endless cycle of birth and death in Maya.

Those of you do not know, Maya is everything you experience. It is everything that you sense i.e., see, feel, hear, taste, touch. Maya is said to be an illusion. It is the physical world which follows the rules of space-time and the human soul which is stuck in this Maya thinking that it is the only reality experiences endless cycle of birth and death. The purpose of the human soul is to break this cycle and attain Moksha viz., unification with the absolute – the Bramh.

The book along with this also explains what the soul really is. How it goes from one body to another and what it experiences when it is out of a body. Not only this, the book also explains the type of souls there are, what are the characteristics of the soul which resides in birds, animals and humans. The struggle between the soul to be free from the shackles of birth and death and the limitations posed by the human body which understands this world to be the only reality and the Karma-Desire scale of balance is beautifully explained in one of the chapters titled ‘The Mermaid’ in the form of a story.

I definitely enjoyed reading this book. I’d say that it must be read at least once in a lifetime irrespective of which religion, caste or sex you belong to, or what belief system you have. Read this with an open mind because as the Vedas says, there is only one absolute truth rest everything is different realities varying from person to person.

You should have a Wife?

When I was happy without any strife,
when I had no qualms with life.
Then it was deemed by people to advise,
"Boy, you should have a wife!"

I search for joy and for truth,
and go for adventures in my youth.
And yet it was deemed by them to be so rife,
so people told me to have a wife.

But I am gratified in this solo ride,
those society's rules I do not wish to abide.
Yet they say in whispers sly,
"Man! You must have a wife."

I weep when I'm sad in heart's lament,
I also laugh out loud to my heart's content.
Why should I abandon these strange delights?
I do not understand why I should have a wife!

I can wake up at midnight and go for a ride,
I can spend my day washing my bike.
Why should I give up, for misery, this freedom of choice?
Why? Tell me why I should have a wife?

The Mango Tree

There I was, sitting under the Mango tree planted in the front yard of my home. My track pant was smudged with earth along with my T-shirt as if I had been rolling around in the mud but I couldn’t care less. I used to live in one of those big government quarters provided by the Indian Railways to its employees. Mine had a few trees in the front yard, enclosed inside the boundary made by the thick Iron wire fence. It was the time of summer holidays, a time when I could ignore the massive amount of homework that had been given to us by our sadistic teachers (Pun intended) and quite simply spent my day loitering around in my front yard or if it was too hot outside, playing video games or watching movies on repeat from the collection of movies I collected over time in the form of CDs. DVD players were still new in the market at that time and used to cost a lot, we had a CD player which we never upgraded.

I sat there and I noticed a mango hanging from a branch. There were many mangos on the tree, it being the start of summer, but this one was ripe and yellow as opposed to all the other green ones and was somehow unscathed from the taste buds of parrots and other birds. I kept gazing at it for a few seconds. It was quite high and I was never a good climber. I gave sweeping look to the branches that were closest to the ground but there were no ripe mangos there. The rarity of this one mango fathered the desire to possess and eat it. The knowledge that fruits, especially from this tree, being delicious intensified the desire even more. I had to eat it!

Therefore, to achieve this I started formulating ways with which I can get it. I picked up a stone and threw it at the mango. It narrowly missed. However, after one throw I immediately abandoned this method. What will happen the stone successfully hit the mango? The mango being ripe with undoubtedly be scarred and there are chances it will not break away from the branch. The sight of the fruit was so mouth-watering and elating that I did not want even a small dent on its surface. I wanted to pluck it, admire it, delicately peel and slice it, piece by piece and eat it, not wasting even a drop of its juice. I had to find some other method to get it before any bird does.

I picked up a stick that I found lying near the tree and tried to swing it in such a way that it strikes the stalk but not the mango. No luck! There were too many branches in the middle to maneuver the stick with the requisite angle and force. I threw the stick on the ground and stood there gazing at the fruit for a few moments trying to conjure up any other idea for getting that fruit out of that branch and into my hands. Nothing came to my mind except a big blank. The only thing my brain kept getting back to was trying to climb the tree. Now the people who know how to climb a tree know that climbing up is not the hard part, it is climbing down that is difficult. Devoid of any other option, I tried climbing the tree. It was hopeless; I kept skidding down.

Defeated, I thought of giving it one last try, gathered my energy and tried again. This time I went farther than any time I tried before. But SMACK! The fall was equally hard. Although it was not as high as to have done any serious damage, I landed directly on my left foot. A pain shot through from my leg. I had sprained my ankle! Dreading the cussing and scolding that was to come I slowly limped on one leg towards the door to the Drawing room of my home. With a thumping heart, I opened the door. My mother was sitting there watching some dumb Indian Soap opera with an hour episode consisting of at least 20 minutes of moving close up shots of the actors and 15 minutes of advertisements. She did not notice me limping through the door. I saw that she was engrossed in watching T.V. and so I decided to limp silently to the bedroom before she notices. To muffle the sound of my limping I stepped onto the carpet. Whenever any background music came onto the soap opera, which was plenty of times actually, I used it to limp towards the bedroom door.

I finally reached the door. Taking a huge sigh of relief I leaned on the door without realizing that doorstopper was not in place. CRASH! The door banged on the wall and I was on all fours on the ground. It was seconds before my mother came running inside and looking at me spread-eagled on the ground, her first reaction was narrowing her eyes with malice.

“Oh crap” I thought, as I knew what was about to come.

Before I knew it I was being helped up on my feet with the shrill scolding of how she cannot even sit calmly and idly even for a minute. She did not know that I sprained my ankle. And she can never know that I did that trying to climb the Mango tree outside. Taking a small loss for a short time is better than a big loss for a longer duration. So when she enquiringly looked at my leg while I stood there limping on my right leg, I told her that I put my right leg on the door to fold up my track pant bottoms and I did not realize the door stopper was not in place which crashed the door and I fell and sprained my left ankle.

I know right! What a pitiful excuse and she suspected it for some time but as she did not hear me limping back inside and there was nothing else in the bedroom which might indicate otherwise, she accepted my dumb excuse.

So for a few minutes, I got to hear the usual cussing and fussing while my foot was been treated to a bucketful of hot and salty water. But I was not paying attention. My falling and then my mother helping me up with her hand and me standing on one leg clutching her shoulder gave me an excellent idea!

After a whole day and a whole night’s rest, I started feeling a little better. The pain in my ankle was subsiding. After waking up the next day, I decided to test my idea. So I waited till noontime and then I silently went back outside with a plier, duct tape and thread. I reached the tree whereby I had dropped the stick and praying that no bird had eaten the fruit, I looked in the direction of the mango. It was still there – unscathed and uneaten. Relieved, I picked up the stick and started walking towards the fence.

I found and cut a small part of the thick iron wire jutting out of the fence, the removal of which will not cause any damage to the fence (there were many such places on the boundary). I took out the duct tape and tied the wire to the stick. For double precaution that it should not slip out, I left a small part of the exposed at the tied end and tightly tied that part to the stick using the thread applying three-four knots. I then used the pliers and started bending the free end of the wire attached to the stick in the form of a hook.

I took the stick to the tree. Maneuvering the stick, I placed the hooked end of the wire around the stalk of the mango and pulled. With a plucking sound, the mango dropped and I caught it. I placed the stick near the tree and feeling elated, I went back inside with the mango in my hand.

आज़ाद

कहते हैं कि भारतवर्ष में आज़ादी की आजकल नई घटा है छायी,
जब अपने ही वीर सपूतों की निंदा करने की कुछ लोगों ने है स्वतंत्रता पायी।
अपने ही हाथों जिनसे मातृभूमि का गला घोंटा जाता है,
उन लोगों को आजकल देश में आज़ाद कहा जाता है।

रहते हैं जो उच्च दबाव में, तूफानों में, वीरानों में, शून्य ताप से भी कम वाले उजियाले-अंधियारों में,
रहते हैं जो कई मास दूर माता के प्रेम पिता के आलिंगन से, किलकारियां लेते अपने बच्चों के भी बचपन से,
रहते हैं वे ताकि इस देश का शीश न झुकने पाए,
ताकि कोई भटका हुआ मानव किसी रोज़ अपने साथ शांति को ही न उड़ा जाये।

अरे तुम क्या जानो आज़ादी क्या होती है!

आज़ादी का अर्थ भी जानो,
यह लो मैं बताता हूं,
भूलो इसको मत तुम अब,
तुमको प्रतिबिम्ब दिखलाता हूँ।

जानो यह संग्राम ज़रा,
समझो, अपने शब्दों को पहचानो।
आज़ादी नहीं विदेशों की,
यह भारत के अंतरतम से आई थी,
जाओ पढ़ो इतिहास ज़रा,
पढ़ो, समझ कर यह जानो,
मिली यह जब वीर मतवालों ने,
गुलामी के खिलाफ भारी धूम मचाई थी।

तब नहीं कहते थे वे उन हालात पर,
"भारत तेरे टुकड़े होंगे" चीखकर हर बात पर।
जान हथेली पर लिए खेलते थे मौत से,
चढ़ जाते थे सूली देशभक्त हंसते हुए एक जोश से।
क्या उन क्रांतिकारियों के बलिदानों को तुम भूल गए?
क्या भगत , चंद्रशेखर, बोस और सुखदेव पीछे कहीं छूट गए?

आज़ादी एकतरफा नहीं, नहीं सिर्फ यह रईसों की,
आज़ादी गरीबों की, आज़ादी वीर सपूतों की,
आज़ादी विचार बड़ा, आज़ादी आने वाली पुश्तों की,
आज़ादी माताओं की, आज़ादी हमारी बहनों की,
आज़ादी भेदभाव रहित, आज़ादी स्वाभिमानी पुरुषों की,
आज़ादी जन-जन की , पराये और अपनों की।

मगर आज़ादी यह नहीं कि लोभ में देश को अपशब्द कहते जाओ,
आज़ादी यह नहीं कि समाज में राष्ट्र-विरुद्ध दुर्व्यवहार फैलाओ।
या फिर सुरक्षा को दुश्मनों के हाथ बेचते जाओ।

इसलिए तिहार जेल के कैदी आज़ाद नहीं कहलाते हैं,
क्योंकि आज़ादी के साथ मूल कर्तव्य भी आते हैं।

और आतंकियों का समर्थन करने वालों, तुम भी आज़ाद नहीं कहलाओगे।

Skullcandy Riff Wireless - An Audiophile's review

★★

Company: Skullcandy Inc.
Headquarters location: Park City, Utah, United States
Founder: Rick Alden
Founded: 2003, Park City, Utah, United States

Skullcandy in the India's Audio market:

Skullcandy is a well known name in the Indian Audio market. They sell from low-end to premium (looking) headphones and earphones. Over the years, Skullcandy has garnered many fans across the country. According to Statista, Skullcandy has been among the leading Headphones and Earphones brand in France in the year 2018 and is one of the known names in the US market, perhaps not as premium as it is known in the Indian market. However, when it comes to India the game gets a little tricky to play. According to Fortune, the market in India is THE most important market for Skullcandy to capture. Skullcandy have a contract with a company called BrandEyes Distributers Pvt Limited which is Skullcandy's official distributor in the South Asian market.

Analysis:

The Riff Wireless model of the Skullcandy headphones is one among the mid to high range headphones available in the Indian market. Priced at Rs. 4999 which is equivalent to $66.10 in the current market price in India. The looks are premium and eye pleasing which on the first glance gives a fairly impressive vibe. The sound is the signature Skullcandy sound - a little high on the Bass with good enough clarity in music with little to no compromise on treble. The earcups are comfortable and the headphone is suitable to be worn for a long duration. Overall, a pretty decent, good Bass, overall balanced sound producing headphone with Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20KHz and Total Harmonic Distortion: <1% (1mW/500Hz). It comes in a box with a charging cable, user guide and 2 year warranty guide.

So far so good? Well, hardly. The points that the headphones gain in terms of sound quality takes a dive when it comes to the hardware build quality of the headphone. The band that holds the earpiece is made of brittle low quality plastic which will crack or snap off within a month of light usage. So much for the premium sound quality! An average Indian guy spending that amount of money to buy one headphone is not going to like that. Not one bit. So the question arise that is skullcandy deliberately cutting the costs by using low quality material in the manufacture process of these headphones? Because if that is so, then it may not fare very well for them in the India's audio market.

Another negative point for some about these headphones can be that these do not come with an AUX port and are totally wireless to use. Therefore, the buyer must keep these things in mind if he wishes to purchase this headphone. The complaint with the poor quality material has been constant from the headphone users and is still not addressed properly by the company which seems more intent of increasing quantity than quality.

Verdict:

Personally, I am more of a Sennheiser guy. I bought a Wired Sennheiser headphone about 4 years back and it's still kicking without any issues in it's sound or hardware quality. I have had a very bad experience with both Skullcandy headphones and earphones. In the course of 5 years I might have bought around 3-4 skullcandy headphones and earphones combined. I quit buying it and switched to Sennheiser instead which was so so much better in all aspects! I bought these headphones recently thinking to give it another try (and their was good discount available on the website. *wink*) and it did not even take a month for its plastic band to crack.

Hence, I will not recommend buying these headphones. There are better options available in the market in this price range.

Skullcandy must learn how to play:

Skullcandy do not seem to be bothered with the negative responses from the customers which is a very grave mistake it is making. Unsure whether it is the same case with the audio devices manufactured in U.S. and other countries or just with India but the company using low quality material for manufacturing the audio devices has been a constant complaint of the users in India, who do not seem to be getting any assurances, returns or improvements.

Hence, Skullcandy has to significantly improve their game if they wish to remain and survive in the long run because with the current 'No to Chinese products' campaign in India, a great opportunity is about to open up for other-than-Chinese companies in the Indian market. The question remains that whether Skullcandy is smart enough to recognise and capitalise on the opportunity. A word of advice though to the company, an Indian consumer is very much different than consumers in any other country. To quote an article of Fortune India - "The Indian customer is very well researched and more demanding than other customers. They are very empowered in terms of what their rights are as consumers. So, after-sales service is a huge focus for us. For Skullcandy now India is a very important market globally."
With the advent of True wireless headphones in the market, the stakes have increased greatly. Though it is still in the R&D and improvement stage for other companies (other than Apple which has patented its true wireless tech), Skullcandy has launched its own TWS models among other companies which frankly speaking will pose a great blow if the company do not gather their wits about their product quality. Therefore, buck-up Skullcandy! Focus more on the quality of product and customer satisfaction than on the bottom line and sales.

पाप की परिभाषा

आज के कलियुग में जहाँ
पाप-व्यभिचार सदा-सद पलता है
इस शहर-उस शहर, हर नगर, हर देश से
हंसते-मुस्कराते, हाथ हिलाते, सिर उठा निकलता है।

राह चलते हुए राहगीरों को वह पकड़ता है
हर किसी के मन को वह अंततः जकड़ता है
और गलत राह पर ले जा कर वह अकड़ता है

(जो मन मे एक बार पाप को बसा लेता है तो उसे निकलना मुश्किल हो जाता है। पाप यहां मन में बैठ कर यह बता रहा है कि वह क्या है)

कहता है, "मैं हूं यहां, इस देश और विदेश में,
मैं ही वासना, मैं ही चिंता , मैं ही कुंठा, मैं ही मन के द्वेष में,
घूमता हूँ मैं यहां सब मानवों के वेश में!

और पार नहीं पा सकते हो तुम मुझसे या मेरे किसी भी नाम से,
नहीं निकल सकते फिर मेरे किसी काम के अंजाम से
घर कर लेता हूँ फिर मैं उस पवित्र आत्मा के रूप पे,
नहीं जा सकते हो तुम फिर ऊपर कहीं इस धाम से!

छोड़ूँगा तो नहीं मैं तुमको अपने किसी खयाल से,
और मुक्त नहीं होने दूंगा मैं तुमको माया के इस जाल से!
मैं खड़ा हूँ राह पर तुम्हारे बनकर एक आसान रास्ता,
हाथ थामोगे तो उठा दूंगा तुम्हारी सच्चाई पर से आस्था!

और तुम नहीं राम कि मुझको तुम मार सकोगे,
न ही तुम हो कृष्ण, न्याय की राह तुम पहचान सकोगे!
न तुम अर्जुन, न तुम भीष्म, न तुम धर्मराज हो,
न तुम लक्ष्मण, न तुम भरत, न रघुवंश तुम आज हो!

कहाँ पर भागोगे जब तुम्हारे मन को मैं हथियूंगा?
कितना पुण्य कर पाओगे जब हर ओर से घिर आऊंगा?
मैं ही था वो जिसने सदियों पहले मंदिरों को जलवाया था,
मैं ही था जिसने नालंदा और तक्षिला को मिटाया था,
मैं ही था वो जिसने मुगलों से खूनी खेल खिलवाया था,
वह भी मैं ही था जिसने चित्तोड़ दुर्ग में माताओं को आग में धकेला था,
और जालियांवाला के खूनी खेल का भी मैं कारण अकेला था!


फिर भी अचंभित होकर डरता हूँ खत्म हो जाऊंगा,
एक उम्मीद की छोटी किरण से भी जलकर भस्म हो जाऊंगा!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9ISBTgCjWo&t=82s

Prey by Michael Crichton - A Book Review

“They didn't understand what they were doing.

I'm afraid that will be on the tombstone of the human race.”

Introduction:
GENRE: Science Fiction
AUTHOR: Michael Crichton
PAGES: 507
YEAR OF PUBLISH: 2002

For those of you who are not very familiar with the genre and are wondering from where have you heard the name of Crichton, I have only two words for you which are enough to introduce and give you a fair amount of idea who this brilliant writer is - 'JURASSIC PARK'! Yeah, that's right! That great Spielberg movie which created such a sensation and sprang to be on the favourite list of people of all ages, came out from the pen of Michael Crichton in 1983. The readers may be surprised to know that this book was considered to be made into a movie but apparently the story - it's concept was so frightening at the time that they feared it can induce mass panic and protests. (Personally, when I read this book a few years back it swept away the ground beneath my feet - it instantly sucked me in with it's brilliant storyline and impeccable & quite simple-to-understand writing of Crichton)

But it does not mean that Jurassic Park, as awesome as it is to read, in any way overshadows Prey. Prey has a life of it's own. It is also one of the best books of Michael Crichton up there with Jurassic Park, Congo, The Andromeda Strain, etc. The book contains one of the most interesting themes for a science fiction enthusiast - Nanotechnology. Of course, since this book was released, there have been miles and miles of advancement in this field, but the way Crichton weaves the story surpasses the belief that it will be 'backward' compared to today's advancements. Hence it might not be wrong to say that his vision was far beyond his years. Unlike hard sci-fi authors like Greg Egan or Stephen Baxter Crichton aimed his science writing at the layman and this is probably the secret of his huge commercial success. 13 of his books have been adapted into movies.

Summary:

So let's get back to Prey. The protagonist of our story, Jack Foreman is a house maker who was shown the door by the organisation he faithfully worked for called 'Media Tronics' when he discovered an internal scandal involving the owner of the organisation itself. He is an experienced professional whose work was to manage and build computer programs which were based upon the behaviour of animals in nature. This was in context to the development of nanoparticles and robotics. Jack had a large experience building AI programs based upon the behaviour of animals in the animal kingdom, in particular, the predators in the animal kingdom. This was because the predators are driven towards achieving their goal i.e., hunting, and could change tact according to different circumstances.
Jack lived with his wife and 3 children in a suburban home. His wife was employed in a company called Xymos, was working on a 'hush-hush' type Pentagon project and was frequent to a classified facility in the middle of Nevada desert. She was often late and sometimes did not return home at all. She became aloof, short-tempered and took little or too much interest in her children's lives. Her behaviour was becoming erratic from her usual self for Jack. It was then he started suspecting that Julia might be having an affair, only if he had known at that time that the truth was more daunting and scary. Jack consulted a friend of his who's a lawyer and with his advice he started being on a lookout to gather any solid proof to confirm his wife's affair. So far, he was not successful. Meanwhile strange things starts happening in his house. An mp3 player suddenly malfunctions, one of the kids, Amanda, develops inexplicable illness which clears up equally inexplicably as soon as the doctors put her under an MRI scanner. Julia doesn’t help—she’s hardly ever home now; Jack sees her driving back to work on the day of one of his kid's birthday in her car which showed a silhouette of a man sitting with her who was not there in the car before. Now, he’s convinced she’s seeing someone else. His wife's behaviour was becoming more erratic but so far there was no sign of any affair. It was then that his wife dropped the bomb on him.

One night Julia returns late at night and asks Jack to watch a recorded video. He agrees. The video shows his wife making a presentation with a man lying down on a stretcher. She goes on to explain in the video that Xymos has created micro cameras which behaves as a swarm and can penetrate the tiny blood vessels in the heart of a human body which opens up many possibilities in the medical field. But towards the end of the book it is found that the US Military has taken over the project and is trying to weaponize it by researching it in a desolate facility located in Nevada where Julia spends most of her time.

Fast forward, Jack runs into one of his former colleague who invites him back and that is when Jack gets to know that he is indirectly involved in this success too. His work in "distributed parallel processing or agent-based programs" is being used and Xymos is working with Jack's former company and is using Jack's old team on the site as Xymos is using some of that programming to get the nano-things to work together. Jack heads out to Nevada, where he learns that some of the micro-machines have apparently escaped from the facility and they've started acting on their own. And they're out of control. These machines seems to be adapting and learning as time passes on and to make matters worse, they are multiplying! They have solar panels to work using solar energy so there is no way to turn them off manually and they are not responding to any of the programming commands. They can form swarms and made by using the Prey program - they are hunting! Crichton terrifies the reader who is a fan of science fiction, especially the one who has a decent knowledge about science, by another of his idea about how these micro-machines are multiplying which. It's by producing them using the biological process of multiplication of bacteria - E-Coli in various chambers of the tanks and stabilizing them.

Towards the end, it turns out that Julia is completely infected and the swarm has completely taken over her. She goes on to infect all the others in the facility but Jack catches her and fights back. He finally figures out how to become immune by swallowing a virus which attacks the bacteria through which the machines were being produced. Jack escapes the facility through the backup helicopter that arrives leaving Julia and others infected in the facility as the plant overheats and explodes due to methane built up because Jack had disabled the vents. Jack flies away knowing fully well that Julia was the one responsible for everything that happened. He gives a dose of the virus to the children to protect and kill any traces of the machines that might be remaining.

Conclusion:

The novel terrified a lot of readers. It is gripping, thriller and laced with the signature Crichton stupefyingly brilliant story making through the most weirdest of theories that just might point in the right direction in actual research. Rumor has it that this novel infuriated many citizens in the U.S. who even protested against any research and development that was being done in the field of AI and nano-tech, making Crichton extremely famous once again establishing him as a novelist in Sci-fi genre whom we are not likely to forget for a long long time. We will go back and keep reading his works, partly for the mad, brilliant ideas and partly because of the thrill packed in them through his characters.

The Cloud's Flight

‘Pittar-pattar’ the rain drops fall,
From the clouds, its journey small,
towards the earth, smelling fresh.
It falls on the moor beyond that lifeless stream
where darker shadows loom in moonlight beams.

The drops form the pond,
Smaller, bigger; growing in bond
Falling in pit with each other,
Unity’s armour they donned.
Dark clouds gather above, they grow in size,
After joining one another, in lows and highs.

The earth was still before,
A crater in place,
Laying in the summer heat,
Barren, a hopeless space.
The clouds roamed above,
Proud and dark,
When nature taught it, a lesson stark.
Hidden inside is perspiration so wet,
It can wash away the troubles
of that forlorn pit and bless.
The cloud gurgles, it booms above,
The rain falls down, towards the ground,
So fast they fall, as if in love.
They bind together and form that stream,
That quenches the thirst, Of everyone in need.
And that pond too, which is formed,
Gave life to the earth, after that storm.

The clouds may grumble,
But none pay heed,
For it is also smiling and bright,
Not desolate or dark indeed.

It soars now quickly, boundless in the sky,
Watching the earth below Flourish,
a small heaven on the nigh’.
Heading towards another it gathers inside the life,
Some other place so desolate, so full of strife.
To end that pain it travels to another land,
Regardless of the boundaries created by man.