सौगात

देखता हु उन्हें, 

हँसते, खिलखिलाते 

प्यारी सी बातें करते, फिर खुद ही उन पे इतराते,

छोटी भोली शरारते; और फिर आँखें चुराते।

मेरे हर दिन के दो सूरज 

अलसाई आँखों में किरणों की सी हरारत लिए 

हर दिन मेरी गोद में जागते 

मेरी रात के दो चंदा,

राहत भरी मुस्कान की ठंडक ले 

हर रात गले से लग;

"Good-Night Papa" कह सोने जाते 

Shaurya and Shaunak

मै करबद्ध हो कुछ इतराता 

फिर-फिर से माँगा येही करता 

मुझको जो सौगात है मिली 

उसके काबिल हो जाऊ  बस 

इन्ह मीठी मुस्कानों को 

हर दिन कायम रख पाऊ बस 

God-Flower

The month is December and as expected the temperatures have dipped really low. It gets below freezing during the night and barely above freezing during the day. I walk with a cap to cover my head and glasses for my eyes and my chin along with a good part of my mouth hidden under the collar of my coat. The little part of face below eyes and right next to nose is uncovered and the extremely cold wind seems to be cutting through it like a razor.

The leaves fell a few weeks back, now the trees seem frozen. The birds have migrated to the warmer south. Everything is so cold, so freezing, so chilled, so…winter.

So in the middle of all this a few days back my rose bush which was decked with yellow and pink roses in the spring, and mostly deserted now; just started a small game. Though it is almost deprived of the leaves and looks mostly lifeless due to cold; but on one of its barren branches, a small rose bud grew. Rose bud; in winters; with that cold air?...Really? 

Then after a few days; despite the weather being even colder and even more hostile the bud decided to bloom as a flower. The yellow petals with pink border on each of the petals. Brightly standing in the middle of the freeze; defying all logic and all norms of the seasons. I am looking at that flower and trying to think of some logic; it looks so beautiful and yet so solitary and so strange.

GOD-FLOWER (On the leave-less Rose bush)

Now comes my little story teller with his own logic to all problems. Though I never asked; but maybe he read my mind and said, “That is the God –Flower Papa.” What? I asked. “The God-Flower; as no flower can grow when it is very cold; so God sends special blessings as this God-Flower. It is a good thing that we got this God-Flower in our yard as this means we are blessed” He said so matter of fact way that I had to believe. There are some things that are really God-Sent. I look at his face and the smile, not his usual mischievous smile; but a smile with the pride of having explained something important to his Papa. I know he didn't make it up, I know this is the God-Flower and it is obvious he knows all about God-Flowers or similar things.

Some things are really and so obviously God-Sent.

PS: Another thing that I just learnt; “God-Flower” brings the promise of God’s-Protection. Now that we are blessed with a God-Flower so we can be more confident about everything and not scared of anything; like my little philosopher is not scared of going to dark basement ever since the God-Flower bloomed. And so I went to my daily battles with more confidence; since we have the God-Flower now.

WHY?

Big Question and NO answers. Elementary School, little kids, no malice, no biases, just small, beautiful, innocent heaven sent kids. And then there must be some mischievous ones, and may be a few arrogant and stubborn ones too, but all still so innocent and so precious. Like the sprouts that will bloom as the adults of future. They are nothing but future in making.

One act of insanity or cruelty or inhumanity whatever one may call it; all that was so precious and so delicate is lost. It is lost because someone lost his mind and he had easy access to assault weapons. No one may really know why he did that. There will be theories and debates and top news for a few days maybe a few weeks and then all will be forgotten. Even the twenty kids who could have been anything in the future will be forgotten by the world, they will be just an incident in the news archives and statistics for future discussions by psychologists, school security professionals, (pro and anti) gun control lobbies. And that is the sad, painful fact of our media and social media driven so called modern life. However for the parents and siblings of those twenty kids life would never be the same. For other kids who witnessed this blood shed it will leave a scar forever on their minds. 

When the news of this barbaric incident broke; I am sure the parents of little kids all over the world got concerned for well being of their children. Hoped something like this never happens to their kids. Thanked God for keeping their kids out of the harm’s way and secretly felt guilty for thinking this way since some parents will never had their baby in their lap anymore.

What can one do to prevent such incidents? I asked a few folks, but no one could give me an answer

WHY…..

…..Did this happen?

…...No one could do anything to prevent this?

…...People so full of hate and so lacking of compassion are there in this World?

…...Such people get guns and no one notices?

……Politics is always kept above humanity and common sense?

……Common man feels so helpless in times like this?

And

 WHY NO ONE HAS ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS?

As for me I Hugged my kids tight and prayed for those Connecticut parents who may still be looking at the door and hoping that this is just a nightmare and their bundle of joy will be in their lap when they wake up.......

Some Stats:

There are an estimated 270 million guns in the hands of civilians in the United States, making Americans the most heavily armed people in the world per capita.

A Washington-based anti-gun lobby says those guns shoot more than 100,000 people a year.

READ: “Analysis: Why gun controls are off the agenda in America” WWW.CNN.COM for details

http://news.msn.com/us/experts-conn-school-could-not-have-prevented-shooting?ocid=ansnewsrel2

Inner Peace

If you cannot find it in yourself; you cannot find it anywhere else. This is the simple equation about peace. The reward of this quest is that once you succeed in finding it in yourself; then Your Whole World is at peace. So the peace is what you drive; something that is in your hands completely.

It sure sounds simple, isn’t it? But honestly it is way more complex. Complex because the most difficult beast to tame; for anyone; is oneself. However look at the brighter side, self still is not as geographically (and culturally) spread as the World is.

Now the reason I started thinking about this; I was talking to this friend of mine a few days back. This guy is from an unhappy home. His parents divorced when he was in early teens and he was kept with his dad by the court. He could never be close to his dad, in spite of his dad making a lot effort for many years to please him before totally giving up on him. For some reason both father and son; are on my good friends list.

I am talking to this guy, he is somewhat depressed and dreamingly he starts, “I don’t know! I feel so lonely, all the time. I feel lonely when I am with my dad or my brother. I feel lonely when I am at work or in my school. I feel lonely even when with friends or in parties. I think I need a whole new social setup to start feeling better.”

As good friends do, I somewhat teasingly said, “So you are lonely when with anyone you know, do you feel lonely when with strangers? How about being with yourself? Do you feel lonely when with yourself?” and before I could even smile after saying that half-jokingly, he replied with a sigh, “I don’t know!” I could see some tears on the corner of his eyes and I knew this was serious. “You should know, that is the answer that you should seek before any other answers.” I just heard myself say this to him.

The more I mused about it, the more I felt that I was on to something. May be he was always feeling lonely because he was not enjoying himself. He was not able to give himself good company and so he was seeking to fill that gap from outside and it seemed to be getting wider instead of getting filled.

I was talking while deeply thinking; and maybe that was my Eureka moment.

“You don’t enjoy anyone’s company, because you don’t enjoy yourself. And the reason for that can be the fact that you are not at peace with yourself. You have to find peace with in you. And the day you find peace within; this all will change.” Isn’t that easy! To my surprise he replied, “You are right, I will work on it”

Sure, do work on it my friend, and do teach me when you are successful. My experience so far is that the more you chase inner peace, the more unrest you get. So chasing will not get you there. Sit still and let it come to you. And again staying still is easier said than done.

It is not only people like my friend on this quest. I was watching KungFu Panda 2 with my kids. In the movie Pho the Panda tries to frantically look for inner peace. His quest for inner peace was hilarious for the audience; however any seeker would know how difficult that really would have been.

So; once the inner peace comes, your world will be at peace. All you need for this to happen is to be very still inside and outside, can you do it?

NOTE: if you have not seen Kung fu Panda 2 search for the “Inner-Peace- boat scene” video; that’s exactly how it seems J