Month: April 2005

Shubho Navavarsha to Piyali, Ayan and Debashish and everybody. The Bengali New Year 1412 has started with first day of Boishak month on 15 April.

On 2nd Boishak, I went to Siliguri. It’s was again the same journey with cool breeze while the bus passed through lush green tea gardens. This route had been my educational route for six years. Now after the artificial airy life of office, on that day, the breeze was soothing for my soul. After necessary works, I bought three books, first an English thesaurus “The Oxford Thesaurus”, the second one “The Complete Reference Java – J2SE5″ and the third one “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”. The smart young shopkeeper gave 15% discount on my purchase. I couldn’t wait to buy those from College Street Bookshops, Kolkata where I shall be on the coming Sunday. Don’t know whether College Street Dadas might have given more discounts.

The Oxford Thesaurus is originally priced for £ 22.99 but the special Indian price, tagged on the cover is Rs. 995.00. Well printed on acid free paper, this hardbound edition from Great Britain is another feather in my personal mini library. Among the entire thesaurus at the shops there, I found this one as the best buy. Prior to the last month, I was unaware of the importance to thesaurus until I used the only Hindi thesaurus published from National Book Trust. To an extent, I know the key of expression in Hindi, the selection of right kind of words and the bend of the reader’s mind. Naturally, I started penning my Hindi writings and people appreciated that. Like any other ordinary man, I felt more responsibility towards my writings. Now coming to my English, like many of you, I did not studied in a completely English medium school, since the medium of communication in my Navodaya used to be in Hindi. So apart from the English dictionary and grammar I never felt the need of other reference book in English. Now while writing more responsible on my part, the actual problem comes, when I have the ideas as well as the logic but I feel handicap in lack of suitable words in English to express efficiently. Recently, I discussed this thing with Ma and she after reviewing my Hindi writings, suggested me to work for English too with a thesaurus. Now with the thesaurus, I too can find the suitable word for my expression. In the good people’s circle, if inputs are taken positively, ultimately one improves. The humans have five sensory receptacles to receive thousands of impulses for indexing the input and a brain to ponder over the inputs. Somewhat similarly every thesaurus too have two parts, first the index part containing the alphabetic words and nearby synonyms and reference number attached with each synonym. Using this reference number one can look into the second part, the main content, containing the referenced words and nearby meanings and their usage. It helps the writer when he/she is in need of suitable word. I think anyone, who wants to take writing seriously must posses a handy thesaurus.

While returning from Siliguri on the same day, I was thinking that I might have bought it quiet earlier itself. Anyway it’s better late than never.

अनुनादजी अनुगूँज का आयोजन बङी आशा से कर रहे हैं कि बहुत सारे चिट्ठाकार इस विषय पर लिखेंगे। आप भी आशा लेकर मेरे चिट्ठे तक पहूँचे कि प्रेम भाई ने जरुर कुछ लिखा होगा । और इधर, आप मुझे भी पङना चाहेंगे, ऐसी ही थोङी-बहुत आशा से मैं भी लिख रहा हूँ । पहली बार चिट्ठाकार मंडली में प्रवेश के समय भी मैंने बङी आशा से आपसबों में एक स्थान माँगा । यह तो मेरा अहोभाग्य है कि मुझे सिर्फ आशानुरूप स्थान ही नहीं बल्कि आशातीत स्नेह भी मिला ।

आशा और प्रत्याशा का कोई भी रूप हो , सबका उद्देश्य किसी न किसी प्रकार की मानसिक शांति की प्राप्ति ही होता है । आशा किसकी, तो उत्तर होगा – किसी परिणाम की जो किसी मानसिक मरीचिका की भांति होता है । आज्ञा हो तो को चिट्ठाकारों में आध्यात्मिक चर्चा का एक अगरबत्ती जलाना चाहूँगा ।

कर्मण्येवाधिकारेस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
– गीता, अध्याय -2, श्लोक – 47

भावार्थ- प्राप्त कर्त्तव्यकर्मका पालन करने में ही तेरा अधिकार है । फल में तेरा अधिकार किञ्चित मात्र भी नहीं है।

तब क्या करें , फल की आशा करना छोङ दे । हर किसान बीज की बुआईकर आशा करना छोङ दे कि बोये बीज से नये पौधे होंगे । विद्यार्थी परिक्षा देकर पास करने की आशा छोङ दे । हमारे वर्तमान परिपेक्ष्य में कुछ जगह ही फल पर हमारे अधिकार नहीं होते हैं जैसे वोट देकर सही सरकार पाने की आशा या तो फिर पढ-लिखकर नौकरी पा जाने की आशा । फिर भी आशान्वित होकर कर्म किए जाते हैं।

मुल विन्दु पर चर्चा करें तो हमारे दैनिक कार्यकलापों में हमारे अनुभव एवं किये गये कर्मों के आधार पर प्राकृतिक नियमों की आशा की ही जा सकती है । अब लिजिए जीवन की आशा हो या जीवन बीमा कंपनियों का आशाएँ , मृत्यु की जानकारी सबको है और मृत्यु के नाम पर धन का विपणन भी होता है । परन्तु दोनों पक्ष एक दुसरे से जीवन की ही आशा करतें हैं ।

एक औसत मनुष्य के लिए आशा अगर एक तरूणी है तो निराशा बिन बुलाई भुतनी । पर अजीब सी स्थिति होती है जब तरूणी का संग छुङाकर अचानक यह भुतनी लिपटकर शोकसागर में तैरती रहती है । निराशा अगर अधम है तो, आशा उत्तम। अगर निष्काम कर्म कर सकें तो इन दोनों से मुक्ति मिल जाएगी । मगर आशारूपी तरूणी की चाह को कोई भला छोङ पाया है क्या । क्या देवों ने भी समुद्रमंथन के दौरान अमृत की आशा नहीं की होगी ।

स्वपनद्रष्टा पुरूषार्थी भी आशान्वित होता है , उद्देश्य के प्रति । ऐसा नहीं कि उद्देश्य प्राप्ति की आशा और आनंद ही उसका ध्येय होता है । एक आशा की प्राप्ति या अप्राप्ति किसी दुसरे लघुतर या वृहत्तर किसी आशा का द्वार फिर खोलती है । असफलताओं के अंधकार में भी आशा के किसी दरवाजे को वह टटोलता रहता है । उसका विश्वास होता है कि ईश्वर सभी दरवाजे कभी नहीं बंद करता है । ऐसे व्यक्ति ही दूसरों के लिए आशा के किरण बनते हैं । आशा का एक दीपक दुसरे दीपों को भी प्रज्वलित करने में समर्थ होता है ।

बचपन में माँ के गोद में चंदा मामा की ओर दिखाये गए अंगुलियाँ आशा के किरण ही जगाती है कि मानव मामाजी के गोद में जाने को बेताब हो जाता है । इतना ही नहीं आशा के बल पर वह मंगल चाचा जैसे अन्य परिचितों से मिलने के लिए अनजान उङाने भरता रहता है । कल्पना चावला की उङाने भी तो आशा की उङानें ही थी। इतिहास के पन्ने ताजे हो या भोजपत्र पर लिखे हो, अपनी सभ्यता – संस्कृति , कला-साहित्य या ज्ञान-विज्ञान की संपदा पर ही हम भविष्य की कुंडली के प्रति आशान्वित होते हैं। नवजात शिशु के प्रति भी भविष्य की मधुर आशाएँ तो की जा सकती है। साथ ही साथ विचारशील मनुष्य को अपने माता-पिता द्वारा की गयी आशाओं की याद दिलाकर कर्तव्यज्ञान का बोध भी कराती है । और इसी प्रकार आशा का एक तन्तु दुसरे से जुटता चला जाता है।
आशा हमेशा भविष्य से जुटा होता है जो कि अनिश्चितता से भरा है । किए गये कर्मों के आधार पर ही , स्वयं पर विश्वास रखकर सपने देखने को हर व्यक्ति स्वतंत्र है । मगर स्वपनों के यथार्थ में नहीं बदलने पर निराशा के आलिंगन में बँध जाना भी अनुचित जान पङता है । फिर तो क्षमताओं के आकलन के पश्चात्, इस छोटे से जीवन में, आशाओं के नये स्वपन गढना ही एक मात्र उपाय है ।

Theory and practice – The real life gives the dilemnas. Reproducing such situation queries from a teacher’s blog and how I responded to them in Hindi. (Note : Please enable your Devnagri Unicode fonts)

What would you do?

If you saw someone cheating while taking a test? (you are taking the same test and you don’t really know this person)
Ans- उसे उसके हाल पर छोङ दो । आपके जैसे मैडम या मास्टर साहब किस दिन के लिए हैं ।

If you saw a colleague breaking a rule?
Ans- अगर वह बास का वह नजदीकी आदमी या मिला हुआ है तो चुपचाप नौकरी करो । नहीं तो उसे समझाओ ।

If you catch a neighbour throwing a banana peel from his/her window instead of using the dustbin?
Ans – पहले उसे समझाओ , नहीं समझे तो एक दर्जन केले दूसरों के साथ खाकर उसके घर के दरवाजे के सामने छिलके रख आओ ।

If you are aware that a friend is travelling in a bus/ train without a ticket?
Ans – अगर नासमझ मगर सच्चा दोस्त है तो टिकटचेकर आने पर अपना टिकट दोस्त को देकर खुद जेल जाने को तैयार हो जाओ । कोशिश तो करो फिर देखो उसमें परिवर्तन । अगर कामचलाऊ दोस्त है तो मुँह घुमाकर रहो ।

Like common table salt, sense of humour is the basic need in our daily lives. Here is an instance of mixing both. Today morning I bought a packet of Annapurna brand salt and gave it to him and went back to my study table then…

“Prem! Have you forgotten something in the shop or shopkeeper did not give it to you, the thing free with this salt packet!”?

“No! Nothing! I did not forget anything there “, I replied “What thing is it?”

“On the packet it’s written in big letters — “Free Flowing Iodized Salt” and where is this thing?” he quipped.

The Kashmir’s ice is enough soothing to the heart of every citizen of world. The ice when melts due to fire of guns turns into consistent tears. Kudos the diplomats of both countries who made the road link in the forbidden land. This is not only the road link but the invisible strong but fine strings tied between the separated lands. The borders created by us for so called countries and their self respect seemed permeable to our eternal feelings which relives beyond any boundaries. That’s abstract form of the ice, white and clear which every one of us like to posses, and which can’t think to harm anyone else on the earth.

On the other hand fire is powerful, no matter how small it is, even it’s a spark. It can spread more rapidly from one dry leaf to whole forest. Even if the forest leaves are not dry, the heat will make it dry and later burn it to ashes. It’s a symbol of power and ego and ownership. The hotness of fire is life if positive way. That’s an example is the Sun. But it’s effective and useful if it’s kept a distance and within control. Even sun’s heat is also available to any one half of the life only. That’s the beauty of fire. Its otherwise use is no way enhances the ordinary life.

They shot fires on the ice to melt it to disappear. And the ice melted and tears flown. But the targeted ice didn’t take much time to come out as the Bigger Ice Cubes in spite of fire. Of course the ice turned out cooler. Hope the coolness of ice spreads to every one of us.

My post on Anugunj – 8 has been reviewed and it’s available in आठवीं अनुगूंज: अवलोकन .
Got invitation for writing on www.Hindini.com and blogger’s only hindi magazine Nirantar.
Participated in poem writing competition .

I wish I could have written my beloved Bangla too like this. Dekhi seta kaun din hoe.

Now you can hear my voice on net. That’s on a audio blog http://www.jitu.info/blognaad/ . Thanks to Jitendra Chowdhary who started this audio blog with his praiseworthy efforts. My first entry of duration 2.47 minutes on the audio blog is in the humor category with topic Bihar FM Radio . Find it on the menu of the inbuilt player there only. Choose and play it, of course with a headphone/speaker. The actual stream of the sound can be felt only if the listener has good bandwidth internet connection. The file being converted into .mp3 format, the quality is only slightly lower than the actual .wav format. I think I have tolerable voice .
If you want to send your entry too, please check out the instructions given there. Hope, I shall be able to hear the voice of my cohort bloggers too. After hearing the voice, be it of any quality gives the satisfaction and familiarity to the known persons. After all it’s not going to be a TV or a actual radio presentation. Feel free to speak with us what ever you like to speak.

If you can hear my voice, let me know that.

Today is my first anniversary according to our cards and certificate. Neither I want to lie nor I want to hide any fact from you. I am celebrating it quiet a simple way. Once upon a friend of mine told me that I will get married twice after seeing the lines on side of my palm. So it’s better to tell you that it’s my first marriage. She is black, slim and quiet handy. She is cosmopolitan and belongs to International society. You can find her sisters almost all countries may be one near to you too. Her ancestral home is in USA. But her certificate shows that she is born in India. She is a Business Machine too. She can do thousands of business processing and calculations within seconds. Don’t mistake that she is an MBA from Harvard or Stanford or somewhere else. She never told about her qualifications but she knows the language of touch only. Even if I shall scream, she will remain deaf. She is not deaf actually she can tell back what anyone told near to her, that too accurately.

By nature she is quiet frank and modern. She likes to sit on my lap even in front of public. Even in my conservative Hindu family, my parents never complain anything regarding her position on my lap. Rather they will be happy on seeing me chatting with her long hours eye to eye. Now something about her health, she has got resistance to viruses and worms and she has got quiet good resistance too. I never needed to carry her to a doctor. But she is energy hungry, she will refuse to work if you don’t feed her for straight 2 hours. Therefore I tell her to take rest before she crashes and let her sleep. Good thing is that she can sing all kinds of songs and have always ready around 800 songs in her memory. She is always ready to sing well along with doing other works too. And I prefer to put lesser burden of works on her. She is a social and family person too and keeps the pictures of all my family members in her heart. Yes, sometimes Saas-Bahu problem is there, when Maa shall call me for lunch and I will be still talking to her. But I have one more complain about her that she never told me ‘those’ three words. Whether she can feel these lines what I am writing here, that too I don’t know. Despite all her faults I can see her merits only and can’t think to live without her a single day.

Anyway I like my first and only love and I am celebrating my anniversary with her.

Minutes passed, so hours and days,
If years too pass in the decent maze.

Walked, swum, climbed and thrown,
Greenery will come, the seeds sown.

The peak of hopes, the beautiful climb,
Tired limbs, heavy eyes, soul sublime.

The dancing pains will be out of sight,
With the moments of the bright night.

Her moments being spent are precious,
For the single moment as auspicious.

Those eternal connections without wires,
Soothing as spring, enlightened with fire.