my musings...

Outside the window, the birds are busy making merry On the other side of the wall though, silence reigns heavy  Imparting a lull, playing a comforter's role Offering solace to a disturbed soul. Looking through the other window, the one that rings Everyone is sharing about every damn thing Stamping their opinions, trying to prove their truth Not ready to listen, discussions turning uncouth. Tired of this rat race, don't want to participate anymore Open to having my views changed, there are things that I don't know Keeping my beliefs to myself, maybe I am a little green Don't want to convince anyone, opting silence over the din. But is this really why I chose to be silent? Maybe I chose to be silent because At the end what difference does it make? World goes on, people do what they want Elaborate arguments are given to justify actions What value do few kind words have among all this friction?   So, I am silent because my words don't really matter Pretending to be bett

मनाचं असं एक वेगळंच मन असतं आशेच्या एका किरणाचं पण सूर्याइतकं तेज असतं वास्तविकतेनं मात्र याला खूप वेळा दुखावलं आठवणींच्या बोचऱ्या काट्यांमध्ये याला परत कसं फुलवावं? खूप त्रास झाला, खूप कष्ट पडले प्रयत्न करून मनास मी कसेतरी बांधले... "जे झाले ते चांगल्यासाठीच झाले..." अशी सारखी त्याची समजूत घालत राहिले... आणि मग त्या दिवशी... परत ते भेटणं, पूर्वीसारखं बोलणं... मनाच्या जखमेवर, हळूवार फुंकर घालत राहणं... शेवटी निघताना... मनाला घातलेला बांध  तुटू पाहत होता... निराशेच्या गर्तेत पण आशेचा आधार वाटत होता... बुद्धीच्या तर्काविरुद्ध मनाने शेवटी बंड केलेच शहाणपण बाजूला सारून वेडेपण जवळ केले... भावनांच्या भरतीला तरी मी किती वेळ थोपवून ठेवू? बोलायचं होतं बरंच काही... पण ओठी आले फक्त - "येऊ?" तो एकच शब्द, आशेने किती ओतप्रोत भरलेला तू "थांब!" म्हणशील, हे ऐकण्यासाठी जीव आतुरलेला काही क्षण असेच गेले, स्तब्ध, सुन्न शांततेत... मनाच्या जखमेवर जणू, कुणी ओढले होते वेत... शेवटी मीच परत मनाचे पंख छाटले दटावत त्याला परत जमिनीवर आणले त्याला जे पाहिजे होते ते कधी मिळणार नव्हते असं

ज्या गोष्टी आपल्या एकदम जवळ असतात त्या बहुतेक वेळा आपल्याला स्पष्ट दिसत नाहीत. डोळ्यांच्या अगदीच जवळ असल्यामुळे त्यातले बारकावे दृष्टीआड होतात. आपल्याला नेहमीच असं वाटत राहतं की त्या गोष्टीत काहीच दोष नाहीत. माणसांचंही थोडं असंच असतं. वर्षानुवर्ष आपल्याबरोबर असणाऱ्या माणसांचं आपल्याला सगळंच बरोबर वाटतं. त्यांचे अवगुण, त्यांच्या उणिवा या नजरेआड गेलेल्या असतात, किंवा त्या अश्या कधी स्पष्ट दिसतच नाहीत. यातली काही माणसं आपली एकदम 'खास' असतात. ही अशी लोकं असतात ज्यांबद्दल आपल्याला असा दृढ विश्वास असतो की ते 'आपल्याला' चांगलं जाणतात. आपला स्वभाव, आपले विचार, आपले गुण-दुर्गुण, त्यांना सगळं माहिती असतं असं आपल्याला वाटत असतं. आपण त्यांच्यावर डोळे झाकून विश्वास करतो आणि आपण असं समजतो की ती व्यक्ती नेहमी 'आपल्याला' काय वाटतं याचा विचार करेल. कुठल्याही पूर्वग्रहाशिवाय 'आपली' बाजू समजून घेईल आणि जर आपलं कुठं चुकत असेल तर नीट समजावूनही सांगेल. हे असं सगळं आयुष्य चांगलं चाललेलं असतं, त्यांचं पण आणि आपलं पण. पण कधीकधी प्रसंगच असे उद्भवतात की डोळ्यांच्या अगदीच जवळ

When I had started writing this, it was part of the previous post . But when I was reviewing that post I felt that this topic should stand on it's own because this is something that I really feel strongly about. So the trigger point for this blog-post was one of my Facebook friend's post about difference between Hinduism and Hindutva. The post was actually tweeted by Shashi Tharoor[1] and she had just shared that post on Facebook. Now this is a very delicate topic and the views differ from night to day depending on your beliefs on the matter, most of which has been shaped by years of reading second-hand, third-hard or nth-hand interpretations of Savarkar's book 'Essentials of Hindutva'[2] or 'Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu?'. I had come across similar posts in the vein of anti-Savarkar from the same friend and had even urged her to read the book herself to form her own opinion. When I had read the book some 6 years back it had offered me clarity on my religion.

We are a generation which has been fortunate to be the most connected in our species' history. The sheer number of platforms available at our fingertips to express ourselves overwhelms me. Maybe that's why I have been content with only Facebook and WhatsApp till now. But I think even that may change now. Nowadays whenever you open Facebook, all you see is people expressing opinions and people getting married. Although I like to do the former and am ready for the latter (just letting the universe know, in case if anyone is interested 😜) it has started becoming a little unhealthy. Now I am not saying that people should stop posting what they think/believe/agree with (or getting married for that matter). With everything going on in our country, there is no dearth of important topics that need to be debated. It's heartening to see people investing themselves in the really important issues pertaining to our country. The generation before us used to read the newspaper and the

Usually when I write something, I am clear on what the end is going to be, what is the objective that I am writing for. And this is not because I spend hours on thinking how and what to write but rather it is because one of the things that I am really good at, is... procrastination. I would feel like writing on a topic and then I would actually put my thoughts in words months later. But sometimes it happens that the topic is already there, lying dormant in your conscious and then some trigger just brings it to the surface. This is one such topic. So let me start from the beginning. Last weekend I was going to a nearby place, Bhongir, for a outing. I had to spend 2.5 hours at the railway station waiting for the train. And before you assume that the train was late, let me make it clear that I was left waiting because the train that I thought would take me to Bhongir, didn't run on Sunday. But then years of missing the 1'o clock local at Pune has done wonders to my patience and