मैं और छोटू...

Dear Friends,
Recently I have written a poem and sent it to a daily newspaper JANSANDESH TIMES. One morning I was amazed to see that it has been published there. I want to share it with you, hope you'll like it.


कविता
                                  मैं और छोटू...
                                   

कल सुबह

मैने ढाबे पर काम करने वाले

छोटू को देखा

जब मैं बस स्टॉप पर खड़ा

स्कूल बस का इंतज़ार कर रहा था

मेरे कंधे पर बस्ता था

और छोटू के हाथ में गमछा

मैं थोड़ा परेशान था

और छोटू गुनगुना रहा था

मैं अचंभित था

हम‍उम्र होने के बावजूद

हमारे सपने और इच्छाएँ कितनी अलग थी

मैं पढ़-लिख कर

किसी कम्पनी का सी.ई.ओ बनना चाहता हूँ

डिज़ाइनर कपड़े, मँहगी कारें मेरे ख़्वाब हैं

एक कोठी मेरी ज़रूरत है

पर छोटू का सपना है

दो वक़्त भरपेट खाना

तन ढँकने को कपड़ा

एक चारपाई

जिस पर गद्दा हो

और एक मोटी चद्दर ओढ़ने को

ताकि रात में ठंड न लगे...।

                                   (प्रांजल अग्रवाल)

(both photos courtesy: Google)

NATURE ( through my lens)

Dear friends,
As you probably know that I love photography...so here I am...with some of my snapshots of this beautiful nature...so, HAVE A LOOK...

( All photographs have been taken by me...)

SHADOW- the dog

I have a street dog named Shadow

He is very dear to me

He follows me everywhere

For strangers he is a thing to fear

I find him the cutest dog

When he looks at me

He joins me at the bus stop

To see me off to school

And in the afternoon he picks me up

I wonder how he gets the clue

When he feels hungry

He barks softly at my gate

Seeing bread in my hand

He vigorously wags his tail

Sometimes standing on his hind legs

He tries to hold my shoulder

But as the days are passing by

He is getting weak and older

He cannot run as fast

As he once used to do

Sometimes after fighting with other dogs

He comes out all black and blue

Whenever I see him in poor condition

I feel so very helpless and sorry

No matter how useless he becomes

He will be the cutest dog for me

( Both Photos: By me...This is SHADOW )

YOU ARE NOT THE ONE FOR ME

कुछ दिनों पहले एक दिन अचानक प्रांजल कुछ झिझकते हुए मेरे पास आया। हाथ में अपनी कॉपी पकड़े वह कुछ दुविधा में लगा...कहूँ या न कहूँ सी वाली दुविधा...। वैसे माँ-बेटे के रिश्ते के अलावा उससे मेरा एक दोस्त का रिश्ता भी है। सो कई बार किशोरावस्था में प्रवेश कर चुका प्रांजल बेझिझक मुझसे कई प्रश्न पूछ भी लेता है और बहुत सारी बातें शेयर भी कर लेता है। सो उसकी उस दिन की झिझक को ताड़ मैने ही पहल की," कुछ कहना है क्या?"
जवाब में प्रांजल ने एक शर्मीली सी मुस्कान के साथ कहा,"कुछ लिखा है...पर पढ़ने के पहले एक बात क्लियर समझ लेना...इसका मेरे वास्तविक जीवन से कुछ लेना-देना नहीं है...। ये मत समझ लेना कि मैने अपने लिए लिखा है...। सारी बातें तो बता देता हूँ न...?"
कॉपी देखा तो सहसा होंठो पर एक मुस्कान तैर गई। थोड़ी सी दर्द-भरी, रूमानियत की छौंक से सजी कविता थी। मुझे अच्छी लगी, सो अपनी तरफ़ से इसे पोस्ट कर रही। हाँ ,ईश्वर से इतनी प्रार्थना ज़रूर है कि भविष्य में, वास्तव में किसी क़ाबिल बन जाने के बाद जब प्रांजल के जीवन में रुमानियत भरे क्षण आएँ, तो वे खुशनुमा हो...दर्द भरे नग़्मों के लिए उनमें कोई स्थान न रहे...।
आमीन...!
(posted by: Priyanka Gupta)


                                      YOU ARE NOT THE ONE FOR ME

You  are not the one for me

But I took so long to see

I thought you were my destiny

But you proved me wrong

As you are not the one for me

Whenever I see you

All our memories are flashed back

Which  made me sad                                                   

Now I hate my heart

Not because it loved you

But for believing you

When you walked away of  my life

Nothing was gone with you

But I felt as if nothing was left with me too

Now I have realised the truth

So rather being sad for you

I am happy as

I lost someone who was never meant for me

But you lost someone who always cared for you,

And I still do,

So  I wish for you

To be happy with whoever you wanted to be

As you are not the one for me… 

                            By: PRANJAL AGARWAL

Dear friends,

I am here with my first poem which I had written when I was in class 5. It was meant for my school magazine but somehow I missed the opportunity of giving it to my teacher. It was still in my diary when I thought to present it before you. Please let me know if you like it.

True Happiness

With glowing hearts

    And conscience clear,

There’s not a thing

     On earth to fear.

A good reputation,

    Appreciation of nature,

The feelings of having

    Given others some pleasure,

 All duties done,

     And a peaceful heart

 Bring true happiness

     On your part.    

Kites...

                      It was the morning of 14^th January, the festival of Maker Sankranti, when one of my friends, who is Gujarati, wished me Happy Uttarayan. And it was then when I came to know that Maker Sankranti is also known as Uttarayan. Many people all over the country enjoy it as a festival of Kites. As far as you can see, the sky is full of kites of different colours. What a lovely sight!

                     So how could I resist my temptation to fly a kite myself? Though I am not good at it, but I know that my papa has flown it for many years when he himself was a child. So I thought that he would happily teach me.

                     Hence I rushed at once to him with a request to buy me some kites. But his reply totally amazed me, “No....no kites at all. Go and just sit to study. It’s time for you to concentrate on your studies only ... leave kite flying for stray children. ”

                    I was shocked. How could papa say this! Was this the same father who uses to tell tales of his monopoly in flying kites in his locality? How proudly he often told me and mom the whole description of how he defeated other children in a kite flying competition.

                     I kept on pleading, but his reply remained unchanged, “What is the use of kite flying?” Suddenly an idea struck my mind and I said, “What if kite flying increases my knowledge?”  Now it was Papa’s turn to be amazed. I had read about kites sometimes back in an encyclopaedia, which I still remembered. I poured everything before him and he was so impressed that my wish was immediately fulfilled.
                 

I think you would also be interested to know what I told him...so here I go- Kites are said to be invented in China approximately 3000years back. They were used for various purposes. Even too big kites were used to carry warriors with bows and arrows to attack enemies from above.From china, it had been carried away to various Asian countries like Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and India. Kites were introduced in Europe by Marco Polo in the 13th century. In India, kite is popularly known as PATANG.Previously kites were used for mere amusement and was also related to some religious and mythological beliefs, but later on in the 17th and 18th century , it was also being used for scientific research and experiments, military purposes, photography etc. Besides this, investigation has been made for the use of kites in power generation.Some other countries where too kite flying is very popular are-Afghanistan, Pakistan, Vietnam, Greece, Cyprus, Chile, Colombia and Guyana. In India, every year an international kite festival is organised in Ahmadabad and Jaipur, where kite lovers are gathered from all over the world.



                                INTERNATIONAL KITE FESTIVAL,2011 AT AHMADABAD

                    

CUTE ANIMALS, HOW COULD ONE BE SO CRUEL TO THEM...

Hi friends, have you ever watched Animal Planet or Discovery channels? What do you mostly like to see in those documentaries? Animals? Have you ever noticed how they look like? Don’t you feel they seem so cute even if they are wild beasts as per our definitions?

Recently I have come across some news of killing of leopards and elephants by the villagers when they entered the village. What was their fault? Only that they had no sufficient place left to live in and not enough food to eat.

I was wondering that how humans can be so cruel to animals. People not only kill or misbehave wild animals, but also I have seen some people neglecting their pets. Animals are cute and are made to be loved, not for such cruel and neglected behavior. We never try to understand that animals too have got feelings. They are innocent. We don’t even feel that when we misbehave animals, their feelings also get hurt. Many examples can be seen in our surroundings where people throw away their pets, especially DOGS, when they grow old, simply because an old dog cannot guard as the young one do. Such people treat animals for their personal benefits only, either for money making or for safety.  Many animals are killed for different purposes. Beautiful, harmless little creature like SQUIRRELS are killed for making brushes from their hair. Many RABBITS lose their lives for the manufacturing of shampoo. ELEPHANTS are killed for their teeth and TIGERS, LEOPARDS etc for their skin. They are sold in the black market for a very high price.  We all are aware that how brutally animals are treated in circus and for what…? Just for entertainment, they are deprived of their natural habitat, far from their family. Can’t we feel ourselves how they feel at such moments?

Just take a while to sit quietly among the nature, feel the rhythm of flowing water, chirping birds…and the song which only your heart can hear…feel only once the soft and warm touch of your non-demanding friends, hold them in your arms, let them lick your face and then with closed eyes and your hands on your heart, think honestly-CAN YOU REALLY LIVE WITHOUT THEM?  

                            Some photographs taken by me