Tag: Concrete Jungle

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बाज़ार, व्यापार और गणतंत्र !

हम एक ‘गणतंत्र’ है
हमारा ‘अपना’ एक ‘मंत्र’ है,
हमारी अपनी ‘संस्थाओं’ के प्रति
हमारी ‘बेरूखी’ ‘अनोखी’ है,
इसीलिए देश में जो कुछ होता है
उसमे ‘अपने बाप का क्या जाता है’
‘होने दो जो होता है’
‘कौन किसके लिए रोता हैं’
‘यार सब चलता हैं’…

‘आबादी’ बढती है
‘नए शहर’ ‘पैदा’ होते हैं
‘ज़मीन’ के भाव कुलांचे मारते है
‘कंक्रीट-जंगल’ के दलाल खुश होते है,
‘रंग-बिरंगी’ सपने और
‘खोखली-जगमगाहट’ के ‘काम्प्लेक्स’ में
‘पर्यावरण’ और ‘प्रदुषण’ जैसे मुद्दे
‘फाइलों’ कि तरह गायब हो जाते है,
‘राजनीति’ इसीको ‘विकास’ कहती है

पर ‘कुदरत’ कहाँ
‘भेद’ करती है,
‘आपदा’ आती है
‘शहर’ डूब जाते हैं
‘इंसानियत’ ढूँढने से नहीं मिलती और
‘नीति-मूल्यों’ कि रूहें कांपती है,
‘लाचारी’ कों ‘बाज़ार’ निगलता है
रोते-बिलखते ‘मासूम’ ‘बिसात’ पर है
‘जिंदगी’ दम तोड़ रही है,
‘शेयर-बाजार’ में ‘सूचकांक’ बढ़ रहा है …

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Deewaaron Ka Jungle – 3 – Gulzar

(Deewaaron ka Jungle – III)

Deewaron ka Jungle – I, Deewaaron ka Jungle – II

(Though the posts under this series ‘Deewaaron Ka Jungle’ are delayed posts, the issue discussed is still as much relevant to our society, social life and for ‘we the people of India’.
And it will be of utmost importance in the coming years too, till we rise as ‘one soul-one nation’.

So continuing with the balance posts in this series and sharing my thoughts with you…)

Moving to the 3rd part of this article, just to share – ‘when we watch these great peoples speaking about such social issues, listening to them is like an altogether different experience,

‘us ek ghante mein ham ek umr jee letein hain’,

‘Kitni gehraayee hoti hain unki baton, lagta hain poore jeewan ka anubhav samet liya hain un kuchh palon mein’.

And, when the person speaking, on such sensitive issue is none other than Gulzar Saab that is sure to happen. (Watching him and listening him … these lines repeatedly come to my mind – Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye je peed parayee jaane re….

It has been exactly a year now… (And coming to full circle of this thought process I had gone through)..
9 th March 2013 Gulzar Saab was speaking on the occasion of release of the ‘third’ edition of his ‘Dyodhi’ (on ABP Majha)

As the basis of this series of articles is a poem from one of the greatest ‘social’ poet or rather the ‘Peoples Poet’ of our country Sahir Saab, I thought it more appropriate to combine it with thoughts of another great poet Gulzar Saab.

In this conversation he speaks on various issues affecting our social existence. When he was asked ‘how do you feel about the current issues in our society?’
(Link of this is available here)

Gulzar Saab on release of 3rd edition of ‘Dyodhi’

‘Geetkar ki baat ham alaahida rakhe, lekjn shaayar ko kaisa lagta hain aaj ka vaastav, jo iird gird uske mandra rahaa hain wo yatharth wo jo reality dekh rahaa hain shaayar usko kaisa lagta hain

Use chotein lag rahi hain,
Ji
Chotein lag rahi hain

Main yun kahoon,
Thode thodese ehsaas hain jaise

Kaagaz par girte hi phutee hain labz kayee, (maaf kijiyega, main kavita par aa gaya)
Kaagaz par girte hi phutate hain labz kayee
Kuchh dhuaan uthha, chingaariyaan kuchh, ek nazm ko phir se aag lagi,
Kaagaz par girte hi phutate hain labz kayee
Kuchh dhuaan uthha, chingaariyaan kuchh, ek nazm ko phir se aag lagi
Jalte shehar mein baithha shaayar isse zyada kare bhi kya, lafzon se aag nahin bujhti,
Nazmon se jakhm nahin bharte(ye, yoon mahsus karta hain kavi). Aapke chaaron taraf dekhte hue, to bebasi to hain, kabhi use bayaan kar letein hain jo ho raha hain…

Baat kahin khalti to hain andar jaake; par aap kya karenge;

Main cigarette to nahin peeta hoon, magar aanewaale se main itna pooch leta hoon ke maachis hain?
Main cigarette to nahin peeta magar aannewaale se bas itna poonchh leta hoon ke maachis hain?
Bahot kuchh hain jise main phoonk dena chaahta hoon,
Magar himmat nahin hoti…..meri himmat nahin hoti

How long can we remain isolated from the society? How long can we ignore the social circumstances?

What other Gulzar Saab said in this talk is summarized in the following points;

We need to be social conscious!
Cinema cannot bring revolution!!
It is a recorder and reminder!
On women issues he says;
We do not respect children and women in society.
We are callous!
We continue to tolerate the ‘wrong’ at the cost of ‘right’, we continue to tolerate!

बेबस को दोषी ठहराए
इस जंगल का न्याय
सच की लाश पे कोई न रोये
झूठ को सीस नवाए
पत्थर की इन दीवारों में
पत्थर हो गए राम
बाहर से चुप-चुप लगता हैं
अंदर हैं कोहराम
दीवारों का जंगल जिसका
आबादी हैं नाम

We do not revolt, and if at all it is only little crawling here and there, so the overall view seems to be ‘all is well’, collective revolt to shake up overall is necessary!

(Note: I had earlier read about Gulzar Saab’s ‘Dyodhi’, but this book was not available at the leading ‘online’ store.
Before concluding this post I thought it would be better if I get it and finally on searching I got the publishers website and get this book directly from them.

Now ‘Dyodhi’ is with me …)

(To …… Deewaaron ka Jungle – IV)

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Deewaaron Ka Jungle – 2 – Nana Patekar

(Deewaaron ka Jungle-II)

Deewaaron ka Jungle-1

बहुत घुटन है कोई सूरते बयाँ निकले
अगर सदा न उठे, कम से कम फूगां निकले
–    साहिर लुधियानवी

As a human being we cannot remain isolated to what is happening in our surroundings and day to day life. Sometimes we are hurt, we are pained, we struggle, we fight back in our own individual way but we alone cannot make all right as we would like it to be.
We are confined to our comfort zone. And it is very difficult for us to come out of it.
Ultimately we are compelled to confine ourselves to our own priorities, we have our own personal problems and in our own way we are attached to it. Even if somehow we want to do something for a social cause we are unable to do so and we could not carry our fight for others for longer.

We cry, we weep, we keep wailing for some time and then back to square one we are back to the only cause of our ‘do joon ki roti’.

And then there is this ‘chhodo yaar, ae sab to chalta hi rahega, apne baap ka kya jaata hai’

But believe me, though not much may have gone of our Fathers but everything of our children is at ‘stake’.

Take for instance the ‘Nithari’ killings of innocent children years before… what has happened?
The ‘Satan of Patans’, the continuous rape in PTC college of Patan in Gujarat?
It is more heinous act than terrorism.
It is only who lost their near and dear ones those suffer.

And the others will continue to suffer some other day because we have all accepted it now as a routine and the ‘bench-mark’ has been set and achieving to ‘new heights’ of ‘heinousness’- thanks to the people of this country – because for rest of them it is all ‘sab chalta hai’, ‘chhod na yaar’, ‘apne baap ka kya jaata hai, ‘bhool ja ..’ , and happily the ‘republic’ goes on, moving further, marching to ‘mars’ and going down with ‘humanity, values, ethics, moral, civic sense, social commitment, social responsibility, and moral and social responsibility’;
(Yesterday there was news about a Son of Leader (of the party in power) in UP, beating a Ladies Officer on duty- where are the ‘woman rights activists’ or ‘human rights activists’ and so called NGOs?)

Deewaaron ke is jungle mein
Bhatak rahe insaan
Apne apne uljhe daaman
Jhatak rahe insaan
Apni vipadaa chhod ke aaye
Kaun kisi ke kaam

Here I would like to share with all what the great film personality Nana Patekar had said about in a interview with IBN Lokmat editor Mr.Nikhil Wagle few months back.
This discussion held then is very much in line with our topic of this article and hence I feel it is essential to share it with all of you (those it has been almost ten months now when this interview was held)

On 3rd march there was an interview of Nana Patekar on ‘IBN- Lokmat’ where the editor of the news channel Mr. Nikhil Wagle discussed about his latest film – the attacks of 26/11-and the prevailing socio-political situation in the country. I missed some earlier part of this discussion, but thanks to YT, it is available on it. Nana talks about many current socio-political issues in this talk and very less about his new film. As we know about Nana he is socially active and do many things ensuring that there is no ‘publicity’ about it.
Nana is worried about the current scenario, the way life has changed, that he watched through his journey of life from his childhood days to now.

‘Hamne ek dusre ke prati vishwas kho diya hain’

About the vulnerability of life nowadays he says ‘one cannot ensure that the person who left his house in the morning will be back in evening (as it is) to home or not?’
Nana also speaks on the deteriorating social values in our society.
But he is optimistic that the new generation will be able to shake up the current system and bring a change.
Something needs to be done. If I do not express I get suffocated. Cinema is the medium.

As mentioned above while watching this on 3rd March I had missed some earlier part, but very soon I find it on YT and please note what note it start –
Nana is walking in his farms followed by the editor and his crew, and the editor and what Nana said – ‘mumbai mein kuchh nahin hain, sirf ‘deewaarein’ hain! It’s suffocating in Mumbai behind the ‘four walls’.
(Deewaaron ka Jungle-II) …

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Deewaaron Ka Jungle – 1

(Deewaaron ka Jungle-1)

All of us read news or watch them on TV. And as we read or hear the happenings in our society and around us, we are shaken, heartbroken at some times, depressed, dejected and helpless…

I am again reproducing text of some news for the incidents that we all know have taken place around us, and on the same land where we ‘the people of India’ live in and moving forward, waiting for some more ‘ghastly’ to happen …

New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS) at an age when most children cherish their books, clothes and toys, a 12-year old girl is silently suffering the pain of a brutal gang-rape which has forced her to undergo 19 surgeries till now. The victim is now waiting for her 20th surgery at the premier AIIMS here.
Gang-raped by six men in Sikar in Rajasthan more than a year ago, the girl has undergone both mental and physical trauma and has been waging a silent battle against all odds since the time the men left her on the roadside to die after brutally raping her.
When this IANS correspondent met the victim in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), she was lying on the hospital bed with her face covered with the sheet, while her sister and 65-year-old widowed mother sat near her – hoping that the next round of medical treatment will help her regain her health.

Bhubaneswar, Jan 6 (IANS) A teenaged girl who was sexually molested by a boy of her age while returning after a bath in a nullah (drain) in Odisha’s Jajpur district committed suicide by hanging herself at home, police said Monday.
The 17-year-old girl was reportedly molested by Rajan Bhoi..
Ashamed and apprehensive of the response from other villagers, the girl hanged herself to death from the ceiling of her home, police said.

Few days back a 16 year old is gang raped and burnt to death as the ‘nation’ ‘silently’ watched on…
It has been in news recently that around 50 children have died in the relief camp housing at Muzzafarnagar (U.P) and the deaths still continue whereas the government is engaged in partying, touring and celebrating ‘mahotsavs’!
How can we tolerate this?
And how long are we going to tolerate this nonsense?
Some time back three persons were killed while saving a girl from eve-teasers, among the three one was the girl’s father and two were her Uncle. (Well, naturally as it happens in our country, the goons escape safely).
Coming to the daily news of Molestations and Rape and even Rape and Murder, now it has become a daily routine and reduced to mere a ‘news’.
Following are some more excerpts of incidents that took place around us recently;
# a truck of onion triples down, its driver injured and crying for help, peoples gather there but only to pick up the onions leaving the ‘human being’ screaming for help and ultimately resulting in his death when he is taken for treatment.

# in a shocking case of public apathy, a man lay on the road crying for help inside a tunnel next to the bodies of his wife and infant daughter with nobody stopping by for around 40 minutes after a speeding truck hit his motorcycle.
Police said the injured husband kept crying for help for around 40 minutes but the motorists ignored their cries and every vehicle passed by without stopping delaying prompt medical treatment.
CCTV footages showed that the woman’s husband and his four-year-old son beseeched passers-by for help for almost 10 minutes. However, no one stopped to help them, police said.
No one stepped out for help as the man holding his son sat in the middle of the road while his wife and daughter lay in an unconscious state and without knowing their fate.
#3 two women were tonsured and garlanded with shoes in a Jharkhand village after they resisted a molestation attempt, police said Thursday. According to police, four youths forcibly entered their house and misbehaved with them. When they resisted, they were tonsured and garlanded with shoes.

Police have registered a complaint against four people but no arrests have been made as yet.

# Bangalore: Senior citizen beaten to death by teenagers. … in Bangalore has died after he was allegedly assaulted by two men who were eve-teasing his niece.
# a senior citizen who opposed a group of eve teasers in Delhi’s harsh….
# Two boys in the prime of their youth killed for defending the honor of their women

Anger has erupted in Mumbai and across cyberspace over the killing of two young men after they tried to defend their female friends from a man who allegedly hassled the women on a night out.
They were allegedly stabbed to death by a group of men after they objected to the indecent behavior of one of the men toward their female friends.
“The problem of eve teasing in the country is getting out of hand. Women everywhere, at least once in their lifetime, have either been groped or pinched or had to bear lewd remarks from men,” she said in an interview.
Early last month, also in Mumbai, a girl was stabbed for resisting an assault.
Sarmishtra Neogy wrote on the page’s wall, “At 11pm in a crowded place how can these goons have so much of courage to openly commit such a crime? They were confident that the Police will anyways do nothing to them and they will get away with it…When can we roam around freely? And when will there be a stop to all the brutality?”
Sympathy tweets poured in for the victims as people demanded justice. Nikhil Chinapa, a DJ and MTV anchor, wrote:, “Why can’t our legal system fast-track these cases? Isn’t it in everyone’s best interest to conduct a swift trial?”

Music director Vishal Dadlani wrote, “Keenan and Reuben, killed for standing up to eve-teasers. What has our city, our home, become? WE, who live here, must stop this, NOW!!”

“Yuva Satta,” a youth organization that works for good governance and political reforms is planning a campaign for awareness about eve teasing and the laws related to it.
“We are irritated and angry, but we have to channelize the emotions into something constructive to tackle the bigger issue of eve teasing and the stigma attached to it,” Mr. Mascarenhas added.
“The incident is definitely shocking because we don’t hear so much of it in Mumbai,” she told India Real Time. “But it isn’t going to stop me and my girl friends to enjoy and lead our lives as we want to.”

#Acid was flung on Preeti, 25, by some unknown people as she got off the New Delhi-Mumbai Garib Rath Express at Bandra Terminus May 2 morning to begin work as a nurse at the army hospital here.
She was on a ventilator for the past two weeks as her right lung had collapsed and the left one was only partly functional.
According to doctors attending to Rathi, her survival chances were as slim as five percent, given the extent of internal injuries, damage to vital organs and bleeding following the attack.
Acid had entered her oesophagus, windpipe and trachea.
She was initially treated for burns and other complications at the Masina Hospital in Byculla and then shifted to Bombay Hospital, New Marine Lines, May 18 for advanced medicare.
Doctors prioritised efforts to keep her alive and attempted corrective surgery on her, but abandoned the operation at the last minute due to internal bleeding.
Amar Singh had petitioned Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil and state Director General of Police Sanjeev Dayal last fortnight, asking that the probe into the attack be taken away from the Government Railway Police (GRP).
“We want it to be handed over to either the state Crime Investigation Department of Central Bureau of Investigation as the GRP are not investigating it properly,” Amar Singh claimed in his petition.
He alleged that the GRP had wrongfully arrested a youth and was yet to track down the real culprit.
For the last three weeks, Amar Singh, his wife, their son and two nephews maintained a constant vigil by Rathi’s bedside as she battled for life.

#Woman blinded in acid attack in Mumbai. HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times Mumbai, May 03, 2013. First Published: 00:23 IST(3/5/2013) | Last Updated: …

And finally;
A 23-year-old woman, who died of injuries following an acid attack in Mumbai, was cremated with state … IANS New Delhi, June 3, 2013 | UPDATED 21:08 IST
Jun 1, 2013 – Delhi girl who suffered acid attack dies in Mumbai hospital – Delhi resident Preeti Rathi, who was … Updated: Wed, 16 Oct 2013, 19:43 IST.

But, we do not know if the real culprit has been arrested and even arrested, will he get the punishment he deserved?

I shall repeat here the below lines mentioned by my friend Shri.Raja in his tweets;

“Today we have millions of more educated people. So much more technology. Life has become easier in many ways. But still SOMETHING’s missing.”

– A collective outrage is missing
– Caring for each other is missing
– A collective fight is missing
– Rising above petty political differences and rising above caste, creed and religion is missing
– The Nation’s soul is missing

Going by the current incidences of crime against women, crime against children, the overall increasing crimes in the society, the vulnerability of human life, the problems faced by common man, inflation, hunger, corruption, lack of basic amenities all make us to think – is this the country our freedom fighter heroes have dreamt of ?

The situation is grimmer than we actually see it.

It seems that the social values had started declining since long time back and today it has reached its peak
We have made developments only in terms of ‘insensitivity’ and ‘callousness’.

‘Haal na poochhe Dard na baante
Is jungle ke log
Apna apna sukh hain sabka
Apna apna sog
Deewaaron ka jungle jiska
Aabaadi hain naam’

(Deewaaron Ka Jungle-1)