My poetry recital — Who is disabled? The one who we see or the one who sees?

कर चीनी का त्याग

कर चीनी का त्याग

--सुरेन्द्र बोथरा ‘मनु’

तू कर चीनी का त्याग,

यार मत कर चीनी से प्यार।

                   दुनिया से छुप-छुप कर उसने ही कोविड पाला,  

 दुनिया में फैला कर हर दिन रहा हज़ारों मार। यार मत कर...

मुँह में राम बगल में छुरी, उसका ये ईमान,

हुआ सामना तो मुस्कावे, करे पीठ पर वार। यार मत कर...

समय गया मीठी बातों का सौवीं उसकी भूल,

सीना ताने हर जवान ही अब बोले यलगार! यार मत कर... (यलगार =हमला)

                  

धोखे से पाजी का धावा, पडी उसी को मार,

सीमा पर होगए शहीद जो, कर उनका सत्कार । यार मत कर...

अंधियारे में सीढी उतरे लेकर चीनी टार्च,

बुझी टार्च, गिर पडे और अब चलने में लाचार । यार मत कर...

चीनी चाकू है चमकीला और दाम भी सस्ता,

एक करेला काटो तो मिट जाती उसकी धार । यार मत कर...

लक्ष्मी की मूरत थी चीनी, दीवाली पर पूजी,

दो दिन में दिख गया दिवाला, खा घाटे की मार । यार मत कर...

यार मत कर चीनी से प्यार।

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इसे गावें भी और इसमें अपनी तरफ से कुछ जोड कर आगे भी रवाना करें!!!

Sing…Sing….Sing and Why not make it a movement!!!

Also translate in other Indian languages and forward…

Social media and misery of migrant labour under Corona Pandemic

            There is no doubt in anybody’s mind about the misery of throngs of migrant labour heading home hundreds of miles away and that too on feet. Instead of help, words of sympathy and hope, spreading messages on social media magnifying their distress with icing of caustic and inciting remarks is nothing short of callousness. It amounts to adding more load on people who are already reeling under the heavy load of personal and social misery during this universal calamity. That includes migrating throngs and their kin waiting at home as well as masses, quarantined in their homes throughout the country.

            The way they are worded, it becomes apparent that such messages are aimed at subtly slandering administrative machinery or the ruling party without any constructive suggestions or help. And all this is done under the misplaced guise of the professional obligation of giving news or the ethical duty to spread the truth or just for fun. Why conveniently forget the primary humane duty to curb or, at least, postpone giving shocking news to one who is already traumatized by agonizing misery he is suffering at the present moment and waiting for a ray of hope in the bleak looking future.

            If at all they are so worried about their duty and professional reputation they can easily take recourse of sending their messages directly and specifically to individuals or groups they consider culprits. Why make mass agony an instrument of political or personal gain.

Here is a couplet with the hope of evoking the sentiment of empathy for such tortured masses in the minds of the Overlords of Social Media, whoever and wherever they are —

                       

Chaahe tan par daaliye yaa man par ati bhaar,

Jeevadaya ki raah par dono atyaachaar.

(चाहे तन पर डालिये या मन पर अति भार,

जीवदया की राह पर दोनों अत्याचार।)

Whether you overload the body or the mind;

On the path of compassion for the living, both are called oppression.

*****

Road Accidents & New MVA : Why no fines on people in administration for gross neglect in maintaining safe driving conditions?

Road Accidents &  New MVA

Why no fines on people in administration for gross neglect in maintaining safe driving conditions?

Fines on drivers of motor vehicles have abruptly been made very high. However, the action has, barring some states, pushed people to try and follow the rules, though grudgingly. The number of accidents will certainly be reduced but only to some extant because besides traffic rules there are numerous other problems that force accidents. For most of these problems the administration is squarely responsible. The grudge in the mind of the common man is also due to the fact that these problems are largely left unattended and draw no punishment. If similar fines, in fact heavier fines because they have many escape routs, are also levied on individuals at responsible positions in administration, conditions will improve and public resentment will be partially pacified.

The common man wonders where are similar fines, on heads of Regional Transport Authorities, Traffic Police, PWD, NHA,  Town Planning, Development Authorities, Municipal Corporations, etc. for — 1. indiscriminate issuing of driving licenses without proper tests; 2. non-synchronized or defective traffic signals; 3. absent road signs; 4. allowing heavy vehicles to ply on roads at prohibited hours; 5. ditches on roads; 6.uncovered-manholes;  7. wandering stray cattle on roads; 8. dire shortage of parking space; and many more such reasons for road accidents.    

There are chances that, like many other laws, after the initial strict implementation all the changes in laws may turn ineffective in face of the inefficient functioning of the bureaucracy, still plagued by red-tape, all pervasive corruption, and politician-bureaucrat nexus.

  

Why we conveniently forget that any unauthorized or unlawful activity is in reality a partnership project between the doer and the one who allows, or unofficially authorizes. People responsible for curbing such unlawful activities are rarely caught. Even when they are pointed out, the smallest fry in the setup gets punishment and the higher ups escape, at the most, with a remark or blame of dereliction of duty. To solve this problem there should be a provision of strong punishment for dereliction of duty. Unless both partners or all shareholders of such unauthorized projects are equally punished the problem will never be solved. Like in the past, it will continue to spread simply because the unpunished culprit gets incentive to look for a new partner.  

In such conditions why not declare dereliction of duty to be a punishable offence?  There are chances that, like the new Motor Vehicle Act, heavy on-the-spot pecuniary punishment with onus of proving not guilty on the offender, will bring about considerable improvement also at the administrative end, provided it starts at the top and then comes down and not otherwise.   

You are punishing the driver for dereliction of his duties while driving a vehicle on the road. Then why not punish individuals in administration for dereliction of their duties to ensure maintaining conditions conducive to safe driving? Or are such heavy fines meant only for common citizens and not for those privileged ones associated with administration?

*****

Is expression of anger due to threat perception right?

Is expression of anger due to some misconceived threat perception right?

To get angry at wrong doings is good. To get angry at any real or perceived threat to our security is not just good but our duty and right as well. But we are justified to express it or raise our voice only when we have been actively and forcefully expressing, if not our rage, at least our angst at other real and much more damaging issues like food adulteration, water pollution, rampant corruption and many others. One such very grave but most neglected problem is that of road accidents. For a minute put aside some perceived or probable but comparatively distant threats including terrorism, communal riots and mob-lynching, and think about the real threat lurking at our doorstep every hour of the day in various forms — a drunk driver, a speeding vehicle, an open drain hole, a large pot hole etc. One never knows when he or his kin will be drawn into a road accident without any fault from his side.

No other threat to life is real and greater than this because the maximum number of deaths in our country is due to road accidents. In 2015 as many as 146,133 people were killed in India, an increase of 4.6% on the previous year. In 2016 the number was 147913 (or 12326 per month or 405 per day). This means accidents are killing more people in India than terrorism or natural disasters and yet we never talk about them and get angry at the system that helps perpetuate the threat instead of trying to remove it.

More than half of the people killed in more than 500,000 road accidents were aged 15-34. Thirteen states, including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, accounted for more than 80% of all road accidents and fatalities. Of these 81.9 % were due to driver’s fault. We are aware of the lackadaisical working of RTOs in issuing of driving licenses and other matters but there is hardly any report of activists demonstrating there. Where is the anger against the system directly responsible for killing of more than 350 young people every day? Is it not a graver and real menace than other magnified perceived threats? 

For the problem to have become so menacing our apathy and silence is responsible. More responsible than the common man are the self proclaimed intellectuals. Even among them those who are recognized and established in their respective fields as well as those who are involved in social activism have a greater responsibility simply because of the fact that their anger becomes news and the grief of common man goes unnoticed.

Is it not time they asked some honest questions to their own self — "Is my anger due to perceived threat to my comfort zone?", “Am I angry because a part of the society appears to be going against the utopian ideology, I have convinced my self, to be aimed at greater good of mankind?”, “Is my anger driven by impatience to see some desired healthy changes in social environment that become acceptable only with due passage of time?”, “Is my anger not inspired by the prevailing political winds that tend to magnify, with the help of TRP driven media, any and all stray incidents into threats to the society at large?”,  “Is my anger not misplaced as I consider that the perceived threat to me is greater than the real threat to the man on street which, if not tackled on priority, is sure to engulf me too?”

*****

Happy New Year- 207

नववर्ष - 2017

की

शुभकामनाएं

कल की यादें, कल के सपने, हैं तो ये सब के सब अपने।

अभी का खिलना, आज का हॅंसना, उन से भी तो ज्यादा अपने।

आज तो जी लें जी भर जी लें, भूल के यादें, छोड के सपने।

भावी से चल कर जो आये आज मिले, वे ही तो कल होंगे अपने।

शुभकामनाएं कि नए वर्ष में हर दिन आज का, अभी का करते रहें हर्षमय आलिंगन

—सुरेन्द्र बोथरा

Happy New Year - 2017

Best wishes

Memories of yesterday, dreams of tomorrow, all are ours.

Blooming of now, laughter of today, even more so ours.

Let us live fully today forgetting memories, abandoning dreams.

Approaching from future whatever reaches us today only that becomes ours tomorrow.

Best wishes that each day of the New Year

May you joyously embrace ‘the today’ and ‘the now’.

—    Surendra Bothra