Welcome '2008'

A new year beckons on the door.Though i am perplexed to call it a new year or another year, I am really excited for the coming year as i carry lots of hope to fulfill my dreams, stick to my resolutions and changing many things, which i don't like but they bedazzle me to live with them. On every new year eve i take some resolutions but they go away by the mid-night. So i have fragmented them for the year. But every year cajoles me with this HOPE.
As the year passed i must salute it for all the things i learn from it in those 365 days. I lost something, i gained many things. I esteem the things that i got and and forget the things, i lost. When i look into the pages of my life some 364 days back, i feel glad for what i have turned into. I know these mutation inside me has transformed me to think, to act/react, to see the things around me, in a completely different way but it gives me gratification.
It is not that changes have been hovering around me only. The world has changed too. Now the letter "I" is becoming more pertinent. Wait, i am not talking about the i-pod, i-mate, i-google and not even the much hyped product of the year, "i-pill". :-) I am talking about the letter "I", which has brushed aside the word altruist, completely and is agonistically striving to show its power.
So, i hope that the new year gets enough vigour to show this "I" its stature and make it exist within its limit.
Some five years back, on 31st dec night, i was sitting on my famous/infamous "Shahi ji ka dhaba". I asked one of my closest friend, "Why don't we review the year that is leaving us?" After a short discussion he said to me, "We should never look back into the past but always learn from it". So i will try to learn from the year which will be with me for a couple of hours more and will welcome the new 'guest' with lots of hope and happiness.
WELCOME '2008'

अलविदा .....

लंबी खामोशी और लम्बा रास्ता
पग्दंदियों के साथ-साथ चलता वो नदी का किनारा ,
थक कर बैठे वो जाने-पहचाने अजनबी
बुड्ढे पेड़ कि छाओं में चलती तेज़ साँसे
बहुत सालों से जानता है वो हमें ,
मैंने यादों के सूखे पत्ते तोड़ना शुरू किया
उसने भी लम्हों कि मुरझाई फूलों कि पत्तियां तोडी
आंखों ने पत्तियों और फूलों को गीला किया
वक़्त गुजरता गया और सब बिखर गए,

रात कि सर्दी में जब सब सुख गए
तब हमने रिश्तों का आलाव जलाया
और सुबह कि रौशनी में सब भूल कर
कह दिया "अलविदा "....

Tujhe sab hai pata, meri maa...

Yesterday i listened the song "Maa" from the film "taare zameen par". The song is very touching and really gets onto you, the time you listen it.
Since the hindi films started having songs, there have been plethora of songs written on "maa" but there are few which goes down into your spine to pay tribute to the most pious word in this world. A 10 on 10 goes to the most touching, beautiful and creative song of the album. The invigorating music just adds the glitter. Prasoon joshi, the lyricist, defines the relationship between maa-beta in very simple but in a very unique way. He captured this feeling in the song "Luka chuppi" from RDB and Lata mangeshkar and A R Rehman gave it another height with their impeccable sweet voice. And again he recreates the magic to tell you what maa means for her child.
There can not be any word which can express the feelings of Maa for her child. Maa stands beside her child when he is growing. Maa makes her child to see the world. Whenever child is scared, maa comes close to her. She sings the "lory". Only maa can know what her child feels.
"Tujhe sab hai pata, meri maa..."
Prasoon joshi, Encore!!