August 29, 2010

मुझसे वादा है एक कविता का, मिलेगी मुझको..



मुझसे वादा है एक कविता का,
मिलेगी मुझको..

डूबती नब्जों में जब
दर्द को नींद आने लगे,
ज़र्द सा चहरा लिए
चाँद उफ़क तक पहुंचे,

दिन अभी पानी में हो,
और रात किनारे के करीब,
ना अँधेरा, ना उजाला
ना आधी रात हो, न दिन

जिस्म जब ख़त्म हो,
रूह को सांस आये...

...मुझसे वादा है एक कविता का,
मिलेगी मुझको |
-गुलज़ार


July 27, 2010

पथिक स्वयं हूँ, पथ भी हूँ मैं...

पथिक स्वयं हूँ, पथ भी हूँ मैं..


...अपने पथ-चिन्हों के पीछे
खोज रहा हूँ अपना साया
शायद मिल पाऊँगा इक दिन...
'गर रहे सलामत ये पागलपन...

July 24, 2010

छोटी छोटी छितराई यादें, बिछी हुई हैं लम्हों की लॉन पर...

"छोटी छोटी छितराई यादें, बिछी हुई हैं लम्हों की लॉन पर,
नंगे पैर उन पर चलते चलते, इतनी दूर आ गए हैं,
कि अब भूल गए हैं, जूते कहाँ उतारे थे...."



Somehow, in my mind, these verses by Amitabh Bhattacharya (Udaan) were just written for this photograph...

...travelling "Executive Class"


\

June 15, 2010

the comfort of knowing "where you are" .. :)

knowing "where you are" is such a comforting feeling... till you climb down four-stories (in the morning... where you had checked late last night) and see this on the notice-board :0)

June 10, 2010

oh!... just another Indian village












though.. perhaps this was not "just another Indian village" - it was far more prosperous than many of the others which I had chance to visit in the past few years:



June 6, 2010

uncertain childhoods... a photo-essay

Last month, I met some very delightfully chirpy kids in the most unanticipated of milieu...




They come to this "school" in the evening - when their mothers drop them there, and go to "work"




... as a part of the "Sonagachi Project" - run by Women's Interlink Foundation


Sonagachi, being one of the largest red-light districts in Asia, based in Kolkata...

Some of them - the girls - I found (with a sense of happiness/gratitude) are able to escape their destiny and make it to the "Homes" run by WIF.. and are able to find love of having a home and a family...





They get training in crafts, cooking, dance... (some get married, and some find jobs):






.. the "Homes" give a life not only to the Kids of Sonagachi - but also to those who get rescued from trafficking and domestic sexual violence... and make them 'individuals' to face the life with a confidence...


The day I visited one of the "Homes" was the Mothers' Day... it was a humbling experience for me witness these encounters of lost lives:




I came back happy that there was a hope for these lost childhoods... but with the memories of some faces/eyes, which will keep haunting me for ages to come...