Intehaa

Raat gaye chaand, chup-chaap
Doodhiya syaahi faila jaata hai.

Lamhon ki ibaarat
Dhundhli ho chali hai ab
Yaadon ke zard pannon par

Reality Check

"Ek hi khwaab kai baar dekha hai maine"

Wrote Gulzar once, and quite a number of couth Indian men went "Aah, wouldn't I love a life/wife like her!". Things, ofcourse, are not always as good as they seem. And neither was Gulzar's dream. Sigh!

"Gungunaati hui nikli hai naha kar jab bhi
Apne bheege hue baalon se tapakta paani
Mere chehre pe chhidak deti hai, tu Tikku ki bachchi!"

Sounds romantic, doesn't it? Well sure it does (sound romantic), but that's about it. Welcome to reality, Tikku! Chances are, Patidev loves his slumber more than you, and the scene would be - Patidev's in the bed, trying hard not to get woken up by your crooning, and if so much as the tiniest droplet of water from your hair reaches his face, all hell breaks loose! "Tikku, shut up with that stupid song and lemme sleep! I had been in the office the night before till eleven!! And it's just 9 in the morning for God's sake!!! *&%$#" ... And you wish you still stayed with your female flatmates (who'd break into an antakshari on the hint of a song!)

"Taash ke patton pe laDti hai kabhie kabhie khel mein mujhse
Aur kabhie laDti bhi aise ki bas khel rahi ho mujhse"

Very well written. But, ahem, reality check - The moment you start "laDna" (however playfully, however outta love), Patidev goes on the defensive "Can't you talk to me even for a moment without cribbing, complaining or sulking? I can't recall when it was last that we talked for an hour without arguing!! Blah Blah Blah?!!! Blah Blah Blah???" Oops!

So, wake up, women! Charm, courtesy and chivalry are not necessarily your guy's everyday adornments. Neither is romance. And wake up, men! Wake up before your girl runs away screaming.

Life's not a dream written by Gulzar, after all.

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सतपुडा

Well, ever since I posted the poem "Satpura Ke Ghane Jangal" in my other blog, I've been asked a few times for the full poem. And since I got it some days back, I'm posting the same here

सत्पुडा के घने जंगल

सतपुडा के घने जंगल
नींद में डूबे हुए से
ऊंघते अनमने जंगल!

झाड़ ऊंचे और नीचे
चुप खडे हैं आंख मीचे
घास चुप है, काश चुप है
मूक शाल-पलाश चुप है

बन सके तो धंसो इनमें
धंस ना पाती हवा jinmein
सत्पुरा के घने जंगल
नींद में डूबे हुए से
ऊंघते अनमने जंगल!

सडे पत्ते, गले पत्ते
हरे पत्ते, जले पत्ते
वन्य का पथ ढँक रहे से
पंक दल में पले पत्ते

चलो इन पर चल सको तो
दलो इनको दल सको तो
यह ghinaune-घने जंगल
नींद में डूबे हुए से
ऊंघते अनमने जंगल!

अटपटी उलझी लताएं
Daaliyon को खींच खायें
पैर को पकडें अचानक
प्रान को कस लें, कपायें

सांप सी काली लताएं
बला कीपाली लताएं
लताओं के बने जंगल
नींद में डूबे हुए से
ऊंघते अनमने जंगल!

MakDiyon के जाल मुह पर,
और sir के बाल मुह पर
मच्छरों के दंश वाले
दाग काले-लाल मुह पर

वात-झंझा वहन करते
चलो इतना सहन करते
कष्ट से ये सने जंगल
नींद में डूबे हुए से
ऊंघते अनमने जंगल!

अजगरों से भरे जंगल
अगम, gati से परे जंगल
सात-सात पहाड़ वाले
बडे, छोटे बाघ वाले
गरज और दहाड़ वाले
कंप से कनकने जंगल
नींद में डूबे हुए से
ऊंघते अनमने जंगल!

इन वनों के ख़ूब भीतर
चार मुर्गे, चार तीतर
पाल के nishchint बैठे
Vijan वन के बीच बैठे
झोपड़ी पर फूस डाले
गोंड तगडे और काले

जब ki होली पास आती
सरसराती घास गाती
और महुए से लपकती
मत्त करती बास आती
गूँज उठते बोल इनके
गीत इनके, ढोल इनके

सत्पुरा के घने जंगल
नींद में डूबे हुए से
ऊंघते अनमने जंगल!

जागते अँगङाइयों में
खोह, खड्डे, खाइयों में
घास पागल, काश पागल,
शाल और पलाश पागल,
लता पागल, वात पागल,
डाल पागल, पात पागल,
मत्त मुर्गे और तीतर
इन वनों के ख़ूब भीतर!

Kshitij तक फैला हुआ सा
मृत्यु तक मैला हुआ सा
Kshubdh काली लहर वाला
Mathit, utthit ज़हर वाला
मेरु वाला, शेष वाला,
शंभु और सुरेश वाला

एक सागर जानते हो,
उसे कैसे मानते हो?
ठीक वैसे घने जंगल
नींद में डूबे हुए से
ऊंघते अनमने जंगल!

धंसो इनमें डर नहीं है,
मौत का ये घर नहीं है,
उतरकर बहते अनेकों,
कल-कथा कहते अनेकों,
नदी nirjhar और नाले,
इन वनों ने गोद पाले,
लाख पंछी सौ hiran दल
चांद के kitne kiran दल
झूमते बन-फूल, फलीयां
खिल रही agyaat kaliyaan
हिरत दूर्वा, रक्त kislay,
पूत, पावन, पूर्ण रसमय,
सत्पुरा के घने जंगल
लताओं के बने जंगल!

(by Bhawani Prasad Mishra)

Huff! Now I know how Shankar Mahadevan must have felt after singing "Breathless" :p
But, nevertheless, it's a beautiful poem. If only someone could muster up the courage and patience required to finish it!

For you all, in Hindi! :) (Thanks, Ritz)

Wow! यह तो कमाल है! ;)

[Well, I found typing words like 'kiran', 'kitne' (basically anything with a chhoTee i ki maatra impossible! So, if anyone knows who to type them, please help me out :)]

Maha Random-Rants

[Warning: Beware of Boasts]

Well, lemme introduce you to the brand new Sun Certified Java Programmer Kanupriya B-). Yes, I cleared SCJP today, with a score of nothing less than a boast-able 96%.

And for all the SCJP aspirants, here's a list of handy tips -

• Beware of compiler errors! The most innocent looking code is just as evil (or eviler) than any other POC (piece of code - technical term). There were at least 7-8 questions in the exam which resulted in a compiler error.
• Qestions on threads are devilish. I'm sure the person(s) who came up with them have a sadistic streak in them. Prepare well for threads, synchronization and the works.
• Inheritance/Overriding/Overloading - people tend to take these too lightly. Don't!
• Exceptions are not quite as bad as you think they are. Understanding just the basic concepts and exception hierarchy will take you a long way in exception handling.

Umm, I guess it doesn't make a lot of sense to post all this here, but whatever, I'm a proud Sun Certified Java Programmer, and I have every right to brag, for a day at least :p My PM was so happy with the result, he got a cake for the SCJPs of his project. So, that's a plus for me (especially just before the appraisal).

That reminds me, I hope I get a respectable increment in this appraisal. (My mom was not really happy about the fact that I haven't saved a penny in the 1 yr (almost - I complete one year in HCL tomorrow)). Again, that reminds me - a few days back I got a mail from my friend (who works in the same office as me), asking me for 500 bugs, urgently. Now, everyone needs a few bugs in the code (rozi-roti ka sawaal, you know!). But FIVE HUNDRED bugs! That crosses the imagination of even the most optimistic tester!

Anyway, she soon realised her mistake (on it being made into PJ, of course) and said she'd be rather happy if I could just lend her 500 bucks, which, for her dismay (this sure is an understatement), I didn't have.

And, last but not the least, I got a pedicure (for the first time) this weekend. :p And, I must admit, it was rather good. Though when I got to know what the 'good-ness' costs, umm, I was not very happy :p

So that kinda sums up this weekends events. Add to it a hurried (and fruitless) drive to Escorts and back; and lots of good food (luckily for me, my roomie's a good cook and fond of cooking too).

Signing off for now, I am, the 'Sun Certified Java Programmer',
Kanu :p