Arugudi

'PHAAT' came a sound that woke me up from my fitful sleep. I was travelling from Raichur to Bangalore on the Solapur-Hassan Express. The previous day had been a tedious one with the North Karnataka heat draining every bit of energy reserve in my body. Yet, sleep was somewhere on the horizon, playing hide and seek with me. It was a night long train journey and I was trying hard to get some shut eyes before I reach office the next morning. "No rest for the wicked..." I mumbled a dialogue from the 'Lie to Me' TV series, as my phone beeped again with the data to be analysed the next day, being sent to me by my field representative. "Damn you" I cursed under my breath before I switched off my phone, as I desperately begged Hypnos to please show some mercy on me. As I strained hard to track the source of the sound that acted as the worst possible antogonist to my sleep, the decibel level slowly started to rise in the adjacent cabin berths. The train was ja...

I was eighteen, an age when every experiment however bizzare it may be, seems like a definite recipe for success. A tiny window of extreme X-factor days when life demands a booster dose of adrenaline rush from every passing second.  I was all pumped up at the news of my semester vacations being extended by a week. So happy was I that it hardly took me a couple of minutes to literally jump off the moving Airavat Club class bus, Ofcourse, bumping into a couple of leisurely seated passengers with my huge backpack on the way, run towards my car parked in the parking lot of the bus stand, avoiding all the awkward stares and occasional comments, only to zoom past the very bus I was supposed to be on, heading towards Bangalore. "Now I can finally finish my Thadiyandamol trek..." I thought.  My mom who had come to drop me at the bus stand was all shocked at my actions. She gave me a puzzled look. "Let's go, let's go... Will explain everything on the way. For now, I'm...

मुझे उंगली दिखाने वालों से मैं कहता हूँ, आज तुम ऊंचाई पर हो, कल कोई और होगा। कभी न कभी सबको जाना है, आखिर तक साथ कौन निभाएगा? आज कहते हो कि ये तुम्हारा मजहब है, कल की नक्शे पे किसी और का हक होगा। आखिर कब तक लड़वाओगे अपने इशारे पर, कभी न कभी तो सच्चाई से पर्दा हटेगा। ब्राह्मण हो या मौलवी हो? इसी से तोड़ते हो ज़माने को मजहब का टप्पा कहाँ है, ज़रा दिखाइए सारे जहां को। कपड़ों से करावाओगे पहेचान हमारे, पर दबाओगे कैसे हमारे आवाज़ को? ज़ात-पात से ना पहेचनो हमको, इंसानियत से हराएंगे मजहब को। उंगली दिखाना आसान है, कभी रास्ते पे उतर कर तो देखो। राहचला भी सलाम करेगा, सच्चे और अच्छे इंसान को।।