Revolutionary Thoughts

You can captivate me,

Not my ideas.

My ideas are free,

Like the highland breeze

Or the tall palm trees.

My handcuffs are my ornament,

That reminds me of my struggle.

I chose to fight

And not to surrender.

I ain't afraid of death.

What is freedom?

Ask the child who has forgotten to run,

Ask the girl who no longer dreams of a naughty man,

Ask them who are either held by social prisons

Or who are already dead in the prisons of their mind.

Where has my freedom escaped?

Or perhaps the thoughts

That keeps me alive

And allows me to fight;

Is that my freedom that's destined?

In the world of healing and sympathies,

Lies the sorrows of adjustments.

I ain't meant to live in it.

I am a free bird,

I will fly beyond the rainbows.

How coward are they

Who fear that bullets can kill a man.

They are unknown of the beauty of death.

In the gallows lies eternal peace,

Trapped in the ropes is immortality.

I have seen my mates die

They were fearless

I envy them.

How could they get such a ruthless death?

I deserve something as beautiful as they did.

My madness can't be chained.

Neither I live with any greed to be the king,

Nor I give a damn to who he is.

I am what I bleed,

I am the pain that I live with.

Mother Earth's Rejuvenation

The global pandemic has forced many Government's to issue lockdown orders keeping in mind the safety of the citizens and also to restrict mass spreading of the disease. Vehicular movements, production units and factories are shut down.

Olive Ridley Turtlles in Odhisha

Mother Earth is now healing herself. Many endangered species have been spotted. The air and water has become cleaner than before. There is less of noise. Earth has healed herself at a much faster pace than we took to hurt her. Perhaps its a time when we must realize how ferocious we have been and how benovalent we should  have been.

Cleaner Yamuna River after Lockdown

The Olive Ridley Turtles are back in Odhisha and they have started mass nesting of eggs. The lockdown has restricted the number of casualities to the turtles and their eggs. The Malabar Civet, which is supposedly a noctural animal is back in the streets of Meppayur Town, Kozhikode during the day time itself. A Nilgai was spotted walking in the busy streets of Noida. A herd of barking deer was spotted crossing the national highway during bright noon at Kaziranga. A Sambhar Deer was spotted in Chandigarh. The rare South Asian River Dolphin, also known as the Ganges Dolphin which had been marked as critically endangered was spotted at different ghats of Kolkata. Rare Snow Leopards have also been spotted in the Nanda Devi National Park in Uttarakhand. A school of dolphins was spotted near the Marine Drive, Mumbai. Endangered Hawksbill sea turtles have laid the eggs in the empty beaches of Brazil. Endangered Leatherback Turtles were spotted nesting in the empty beaches of Thailand after nearly 20 years. 

Himalayas visible from Saharanpur

Air Quality Index in Delhi usually stays at around 200, where 25 is considered the maximum mark and anything above it is marked unsafe. Now it has dropped to around 20. The scow capped Gangotri peaks of Himalayas are now visible from Saharanpur which is almost 200 kilometres away after AQI has improved. The Kanchanjunga Peaks were visible from Raiganj, which is approximately 550 kilometres away after nearly 30 years. The river water quality of Yamuna and Ganges has severely increased within few days of lockdown. 

Mother Earth has started  shown her best to us within just few weeks of lockdown. The sky is much bluer now and the rivers are much cleaner now. People who were confined to the walls of their apartments have now known to clap in unity or even sing a song. People are forgetting their race and origin and helping others. Humanity is back once again. The lockdown has made us stronger than before.

Mother Earth needs such lockdown for 10 days for twice a year and only then we will see the nature as it was handed over to us by our forefathers. We don't own the nature, we are just a part of it. We have no right to  abuse Mother Earth. We had forgotten it for the sake of our greed. Perhaps now we know it well.

Captivity, Disappointments and Positivity

Captivity is considered one of the biggest disappointments in a persons life. He who has to give up his freedom and live in confinement would perhaps regard it as the biggest disappointment in life. However it is depends on how you handle your disappointment. You can either stand up and fight or give up and surrender. There are some famous people who never gave up even in the worst of their times and perhaps so we know them today. 

George Mathew Fernandes, the former defence minister of our country who was very famous for his visits to the army bases in Siachen Glacier and who worked for  the betterment of the living conditions of the soldiers. He represented the Taxi Driver's Union in Mumbai and got jailed several times. He was fearless. He wanted justice for the poor. When he headed the Railways Union, on the demands of the union being unfulfilled he bought the railways at halt for several days and the entire workforce joined him. During emergency, he was arrested several times. He was considered as the most wanted man on the run and he escaped arrest by disguising himself as a fisherman and turbaned sikh for a year. In June 1976, he was arrested in Kolkata for the Baroda Dynamite Conspiracy case, produced at Delhi Court and kept in Tihar Jail. He contested 1977 Parliamentary elections from the jail and won with massive majority. He was appointed the industry minister when he was out of the jail. Later he served as the Defence Minister of the country. He had faith on himself and he kept working for what he believed would bring justice to the poor. 

Nelson Mandela, the leader who put an end South African Apartheid served 27 years in prison. In the first 18 years he was placed at Robben Island Prison, Cape Town where he fought with the jail officials and demanded equal treatment of the black prisoners with the white prisoners. He was made to work at a limestone quarry along with other prisoners and was allowed to sleep in the floor of a seven feet square room. For 13 years, he slept naked on floors. He was allowed only one visitor in every six months. Even then he protested against prison labor and jail authorities had to put an end to it in finally. His  mother and elder son died while he was in jail and he was denied permission to attend. His life turned bit better when he was moved to Pollsmor Prison where he was allowed to meet his family members. His life became further better when he was shifted to Victor Verster Prison. After 10,052 days in prison he was released. He was chosen as the President of South Africa and was also conferred the Nobel Prize for peace. He knew his cause was justified and was for the rights of the people.

It totally depends on how we deal with our disappointments. We can either live with it and blame our fate or choose to write our own fate. Nobody but we ourself are the flagbearer of the journey of our life.

Submitted for Indispire

Have we acheived gender equality?

Have we succesfully overcomed all our preconceived notions against women or we are still buckled up in our prejudices?

We still don't consider both the genders at par if we still hesitate wearing pink just because we feel that's the colouris not made for men. We are still behind parity if we have a pinch of fear while letting our women folk drive a car. We still aren't equal if we think women earning more than men would bring any ego issues in the family. We aren't equal as long as we don't stop advising parents to save money for their daughter's wedding rather than encouraging them to spend on her education. We still aren't equal if we feel women can't be the active partner while bearing expenses in a family. We are never equal as long as we don't stop judging a girl who hasn't got married till she is 30. We aren't equal as long as we believe women need to touch her husband's feet for blessings. We aren't equal as long we as believe only women need to cook meals. We aren't equal as long as women need permissions for living her life. We aren't equal as long as we need reservations for women. We aren't equal as long as we stop judging the girl who has more male friends than female.

Equality shall be acheived as long as we respect each other's independence and as long as we learn to trust in someone.

My Dad's Last Message

My dad was admitted the previous night at about midnight. His preliminary check-up's were done and his surgery was to be done next day. I was beside him. We talked for some while and agreed to sleep. The night didn't let us sleep. We slept in bits. I woke up and made my dad ready before the operation. He was advised not to have anything. He regularly had tobacco and that day he was looking at me helplessly. I could understand the urge in him and I arranged for his tobacco. He was delighted. I shouldn't have done that but I couldn't resist too. The doctor came and announced. We were both afraid. We were thousands of miles away from home and there was nobody beside who could console me. I was fighting thousands of negative vibes inside me while he was being taken inside. I gave up everything and plugged in my headphone. Music was always my saviour. I tried to go for my favorite playlist but couldn't. I was getting calls from my mother whether everything was fine or not. Even if I had no idea of what was going on inside I kept telling her that everything was fine. Nobody from my paternal kin bothered to give a call. The moment when I needed someone there wasn't anyone to hold me firm from falling. I got plenty of calls from materal kins and close friends. After three hours they came to announce that his operation was successful but I wasn't allowed to meet him. I went to every extent of requesting but the lady turned no ears. I was pushed off by the guard outside the operation theatre. Meanwhile I conveyed everything to everyone who was concerned. We belong to Hindu faith but there were few people who were praying in the village Mosque when my father's operation was going on. Probably that had kept him alive. After two hours I went inside after bargaining a succesful deal with the guard. Dad was lying senseless in the recovery room. I came outside and again made another succesful attempt inside after some time. This time, he was awake. He smiled at me and waved his hand. He was alive and perhaps that was what he was trying to convey me. He asked me show my watch. He saw the time. I was again pushed outside. I made it inside again after two hours. By that time, I was a pro in getting inside and was also used to being thrown outside. Dad's oxygen mask was removed and he wanted to drink something. I approached the doctor and she gave him a cup of warm tea and also threw me outside. I again went it after two hours and this time Dad caught hold of me and he started walking. He walked for sometime inside the recovery room. This time I was not thrown outside and instead the doctors called me up to say that usually patients took at least 24 hours to walk after such a major surgery and Dad was walking withing 6 hours. It was never so easy to hold him away from freedom and even this time they could but only for mere 6 hours. They allowed Dad back to hospital room from the recovery room. The doctor came late night to ask if everything was alright. To their surprise, Dad asked the doctor about his native and children. Dad also asked him to arrange for some good food as he was hungry. Soon there was idli and rice for him. He insisted me on having one idli too. He was hungry but he knew I was hungry too. I knew he didn't walk in the 6th hour itself to prove anything to anybody but only to let me know that I had nothing to worry. We woke up at 3 am again. He wanted to go for a stroll in the floor itself. Initially I held his hand, not firmly but just as a support. He left the grip away and started walking on himself. We saw a very very fat man who was probably thrice as fat as me. Just then after he walked away Dad started with the old nursery poem Humpty Dumpty. We laughed out loud. The nurses too heard us but they were too amused to see a man laughing just after hours of such an operation. Dad died after twenty two days. He left  with a message that one should never stay away from laughter. He believed in sharing happiness.

The Judgemental Indian Neighbour

In India, we don't need CCTV to keep an eye an us. We have our neighbours for that.

It isn't so easy to get that good child certificate from our neighbour. I have figured out that neighbours judge us on three phases from childhood to adulthood. Our school phase is typically judged on our class 10th marks. I have no idea why class 10th marks is so pivotal in our society. In fact, it has no value in real life. People with poor class 10th marks are doing good in life and people with good marks in class 10th are sitting idle. Class 10th marks just helps the kid to get in to one of those top pre-university colleges. In fact,in certain cases class 10th marks are a good excuse to celebrate amongst the elderly without even realizing that they are overrating a child's expectation. The second phase of judgement comes in getting a government job. If you can get it, you are a winner. If not, you haven't been able to prove your worthiness to the society. Even in arranged marriages, the key to get a nod from the girl's parent's lies in it. Our society is not ready to accept people working in MNC's, doing business or self-employed. The third phase of judgement comes when its time to get married. Even today love marriages are a big no from the society. Our society is totally against two independent people deciding themselves if they are ready to live together for the rest of their life. 

When they have judged a person on these three phases of life, they step in to judging the next generation and by that time, the one's who were already judged earlier drops in to judging the next gennerating. Thus, the wheel of judgemental Indian neighbour goes on and on.