सवाल

खामोशी छाई हुई थी ,
तनहाई का सहारा था ...
अपने ख्वाबों को समेटने का ,
मेरे पास एही एक मौका था।

ना जाने क्यों ऐसा होता हैं,
खामोशी में दिमाग हिचकोले लेटा हैं;
तनहाई कि गहराई में यादें दुबकी लेती हैं.

क्या किया ? क्या पाया ?
हर सवाल का जवाब नहीं होता।
जो सच्चाई पिरोये जिन्दगी ने ,

उस गुत्थी को बस सुलझाना हैं।


शब्दो के भावंदर में कही खो ना जाऊ मैं...

बहुत कुछ कहते हुए भी...कुछ ना कह पाऊँ मैं;

खामोशी छाई हुई थी,

तनहाई का सहारा था...

My Eternal Strive!

It was in the month of April 2006. Chrysallis was bringing together adults with and without challenges on a common interaction platform. This initiative was rightly called "A Special Partnership". There were four writers in the group and i was one of the amateur ones...
the following piece was written with this thought in mind and Diana Tholoor, Founder, Chrysallis Performance Arts Centre for the Challenged came up with a beautiful movement piece on it. I have to admit, she infused life into the words i had written...Thank You Diana!


My Eternal Strive

I am caught in the web of comparisons,
Entangled amidst unreasonable expectations.

“You can never be as good as her”
“You don’t have it in you to be a star”
I want to break free from these shackles of bondage,
I want to cope on my own, be it whatever time or age.
Why don’t you tell me how special I am?
Why don’t you accept me with my differences?
Why don’t you let me be me minus the interferences?
Why do my thoughts receive your indifference and not patience?

Yes! I am caught in the web of comparisons,
Entangled amidst unreasonable expectations.

Would never want to garner your sympathy mere,
It is only empathy that I expect here.
Life, I think is like an artist’s palette,
With innumerable opportunities to make your strokes;
Strokes of self confidence
Strokes of success
Strokes of happiness.

I was caught in the web of comparisons,
I was entangled amidst unreasonable expectations.

But now freedom has coloured my life
The strokes have given it a meaningful vibe;
And I have moved on to carve my niche
And this is my eternal strive.

An Affinity ! I Realised...

Some words appeal to me, some thoughts recur in my mind and some expressions find their place again and again in the breadth of my writing.

Is it that I can’t think beyond these words?
Do I have a confined vocabulary?
Do I have a mind set for some phrases?

Or is it just a mental affinity? …. Not sure what could explain this…

But who cares!
Didn’t I claim I am here to write for myself…
So, let the words flow…
After all they are mine, solely mine!

Wonder what Freud would have had to say...The Yearning!:)

What we are is a product of our childhood, unconscious forces make us what we are...our ambitions have their root in our early desires...what we do now may be something we have always wanted to do...

Wonder what Freud would have had to say about me writing for Voices...is it that iam living my adolescent dream of being a journalist...

I don't have an answer and a friend of mine has taught me that it is fine to not have all the answers...

The Yearning!...as the pages turn...(9th Std)

Each time I pass the Asian College of Journalism

and I see the buildings on the right,

and think of the stories written with great enthusiasm.

Of the reality portrayed in great pain;

The battles fought uselessly, so beautifully revealed.

Of every drop of sweat that falls from his forehead.

With every line he writes,

with every truth he declares;

I am no longer myself.

I want to break free from these bonds that surround me,

in these little things that confine me and

I want to be a part of the world he is in-

Every fibre of my being yearns to surpass him.

To reveal the truth in a way no one has done before,

To write the lines no one had dared to-

I look at him

Absorbed in his own work and he fills me with purpose,

And I tread on to the path I know is mine.

It Cannot Happen To Me!!

I am standing here looking at myself in the mirror…and I don’t like what I see, what I feel, what I sense…but I don’t want to hate myself the way I do….

At the onset of this piece, let us clarify that we are not propagating male-bashing; we are demeaning abuse of any form that both the genders face. Due to constraint of space, we are currently confining ourselves to issues of abuse concerning women!

Abuse can take various forms- Physical, emotional/ psychological, financial, sexual. They may either be verbal or non-verbal. Ambient abuse is a form of abuse that percolates into your lives and even you as a victim do not realise it; Eg. To be told what you should wear, constantly undermining your capabilities. However, this is a simple categorisation; the unimaginable forms they can take are actually very petrifying.

The recent rape case in our safe abode shocked some of us, left some of us numb and the rest unaffected. What is appalling is that some women folk even cared to laugh about it. We like to believe that ‘It cannot happen to me’. Unfortunately, the truth is far from that, we are all potential victims. Citing instances and quoting statistics is not our purpose, we want you to wake up to this reality. Understand that it is your right to say ‘NO’. The best person who can help you is yourself. Remember that you need to speak up; talk to friends, family or even organisations that can help you; stand up to the perpetrator, retain any proof (documents, sms and mails) that threaten your personal space. Learn self defence. Do not blame yourself !

We often forget that there is support available. IISc has a Women’s Committee to address your issues. Garima Gupta is our representative (9845710657). You can call 1091(Toll free number) - Vanitha Sahaya Vani, the Women’s Helpline at the Police Commissioners Office.
The other helplines you can approach, which also handle personal and family counselling are-
SAHAI helpline- 25497777
Viveka- 55330387
Helping Hand- 23535687
Parivarthan- 25298686/25273462

I am looking at myself brimming with confidence, living life for all it is worth, being me, speaking my mind and taking care of MYSELF!!

{ This piece was written by Vasanta and me for the August issue of Voices, the IISc Newsletter.}

We speak, therefore we are!- Voices

We speak, therefore we are!...this thought sums up the essence of being a VOICEAN for me. It is a forum for people who have a passion for life, driven by just the zeal to be there. It is not about just journalistic aptitude or writing skills, it is about using all your senses...see, listen, think, realise...write. It is about knowing that we need to weigh each word we write because it has a multiplier effect, knowing that through our weekly meetings, we find the strength to believe that team work can work wonders...

We don't have to agree upon everything, the fact that we disagree assures us that we are thinking...each of us have our strengths...and VOICES definitely is one of the best things that happened to me at IISc.

Thank you Sujit, Vasanta, Sudhira and Shyam for making this a memorable experience for me...I treasure every moment of Voices and await every moment to come!!