Aru Vyas - A man with magnanimous vision

I met this dapper young man at Jodhpur many years ago.He had such a passion to use theater as a means of communication, education and social bonding. I met him many years ago at Jodhpur, a small town in Rajasthan. What impressed me most was his simplicity and caring nature. Coming from a humble background never hindered him portray the snobbery of the rich and famous on stage.Simultaneously his travelling across the globe rubbing shoulders with big names like BigB,Gulzar saab et al in his professional pursuits never made him heady or inapproachable.He was like an innocent child with lots of humour and compassion.I still remember how he used to sit on the broken chair or bench near that juice shop on Shastri circle uncaring and chat away for hours sharing his insights in drama.I remember his caring and sincere introduction to his family.All of them were such fantastic people.However,I lost touch with him after a while as I got busy with my job and other hobbies.I always looked forward to working with him someday more closely.I also was working on a dream project to work among college students at Jodhpur to build upon human values,cultural ethos,social responsibilities.I also thought that theater serves as a good vehicle to take the message subtly and effectively across the heart of the audiences.But unfortunately I have not been able to find him out after coming to Delhi in 2010.I hope I will get in touch with him soon and get going once again. Aru sir, salute to your zeal and determination!!!!God bless you.

My generous muslim friend Yusuf Bhai

This story relates to an incident in 2008.Life has peculiar ways to remind you of basics of human relationships.I got my fresh lesson just a few hours back.My sweet lovable sister Sony wanted to come on a surprise trip to meet me.The notice was too short.My office was too demanding to allow me any space to move personally to facilitate her enjoyable journey to Jodhpur from Ahmedabad. All I could do was to arrange for someone,who would accompany her from there on train. Ahmedabad sometimes had been getting bad publicity on its dealings with minority community.So when Sony boarded a taxi driven by a muslim driverYusuf bhai,for transit from airport to railway station, in the late evening around 9 PM,it got me worried.I had all kinds of fears in my mind about what all could happen if the driver wasn't a good person.The man I sent to fetch her from Ahmedabad railway station carrying her ticket failed to meet her .All I could convey was the train no. and class.Sensing the anxiety of my sister in such situation,Yusuf bhai showed a generous and caring behaviour. He not only dropped my sister safely at the station,but parked his cab outside,came to the platform,saw her off in the compartment after ascertaining her name in the chart pasted on the compartment.He even inquired whether my sister needed any monetary help.My sister made me talk to him when the train was about to move.I thanked him profusely and promised to see him whenever I visit the city.Although,I never had an opportunity to go to the city,I could not meet him.However,I will remain obliged to him for ever for having shown such exemplary character. It was a pat on my knuckle for me too, who got so insecure merely by knowing that my sister is riding a cab driven by a muslem. I am sorry Yusuf bhai for having mistrusted you for no reason whatsoever.You proved to me that humanity is independent of religion and can reside in any human heart.Ever since then,I never judge people so superficially.Oh! forgot to tell you that the courier sent by me met my sister on the train and with that I heaved a sigh of relief that eventful night five years ago.

India has progressed a lot in these 66 years....

After the flag hoisting,singing of national anthem and salute to our national flag,our boss gave a long discourse on how much have we progressed since our independence.Like rest of them,I was busy listening to the speech,when the face of the contract workmen standing in queue on my left caught my eye.They had a curious expression in their faces-mostly expressionless and disbelieving.Their grandfathers were poor and worked hard for village head to earn a living.Their fathers were poor and thought migrating to cities will help,but here too their expectations were belied.They had to work as menial workers in order to keep themselves and their children alive.The income was so low that they could hardly afford sending their children to school.Here they were breaking their bones to make a living,hoping that one day they won't remain as miserable.But with the kind of education they have,the kind of salary they get,the kind of environment they live in,the kind of apathy & scorn they get from policy makers of the nation government after government,I was not too sure that this discourse will have any meaning to them even after this century.Somewhere deep inside me,I felt very guilty and disillusioned.Some one rebelling from within me ,"No....No....India has not progressed.The country as a whole has not progresses.Its only few groups of individuals, that have progressed.At times at the cost of others.It's wrong to celebrate till the time we make a difference in the life of the last man too.Till we improve their lives,how can we rightly say that we have progressed?".Somehow,I struggled to keep myself silent.But by the time I caught up with the speech,it was over and everyone including the contract workmen,were clapping loudly.Perhaps,they were enthused at the idea of getting free laddu,samosa & tea free today as it was,as the speaker said,67th Independence Day of India.

WALKANAMA......3

Walkanama

One evening I was walking in the park near my house when I heard two teenagers talking aloud between them.They were planning about watching a movie and how to seek permission from family about it.The first one said," I will ask my mother and get the permission".The other one was asked with some some confusion,"But who is the head of your family?".The other replied as plainly,"Oh!Actually,the head of our family is my father,but my mother is the neck of my family.So,head always moves as the neck commands.So,that won't be a problem!".Spoken in such a simple manner,the witty allegory left me fighting with my laughter lest they suspected my eavesdropping. But the statement wasn't a laughing matter at all!!:)

WALKANAMA......2

Walkanama

Then I saw child who was taking unusually long strides in the walking track and was panting too due to his energetic efforts.I was approaching the child form the opposite direction,so I could not see the person walking ahead of the child.So,I thought of watching the child more closely in my next round.And what I say was amazing.A tall gentleman in his thirties, was walking with long strides ahead of the child, and the child was trying to match his steps.The child was also confirming from the mother,"Dekho mamma,main toh papa ke jaisa walk karta hoon(see,mother! I walk like father)."So, the child was taking his father as his role model and trying to follow him in his steps. This means,all the fathers,young fathers in particular,have a great responsibility on their shoulders.They have this responsibility of playing the role model for their children.They have to be very careful about their own conduct,habits and demeanor lest their children pick up bad habits from them.We must therefore, invest time and energy to be a very good human being,if not for ourselves then for the sake of our children.

WALKANAMA......1

Walkanama

You may call it not so good manners,I have this unusual habit of observing the activities and people around me unobtrusively.And my ears only are the generally operative instruments active at that time,and very rarely my eyes lend a fleeting glance in this exercise.That many a times gets me lots of insight into my environment and enriches me through many invaluable words of wisdom coming unwittingly and unknowingly from almost people otherwise unknown to me.I thank them in my heart although externally,I hardly have interacted to them at all.So in this series I would share observations during my morning or evening walks.

Today being the 67th Independence day celebration,the park in the morning was filled with more than usual crowd of morning walkers.But few of the conversations and sights, which caught my eyes, were quite interesting.

The first one was the cautionary call of a loving father to his four year son,who was straying away from the main walking track very often in his enthusiasm to display his athletic abilities.The father called the child,"Bharat,udhar nahi idhar se chalo.tum galat rashte pe ja rahe ho." Even though,it was  a casual conversation between the child and his father,but the the name of the child made me look back and then ponder over the deeper meaning of what those words meant in the context of our country.I wished that our country too had a loving father like the child had,who could make course corrections out of love and care for the country with as much responsibility. And then I saw another kid tugging at the shirt of that child,"Haan..Bhalat bhaiya,udhal chhe nahi,idhal chhe chalo"(The words in his childish tone said,"Come on,let us go on this path instead of that path"). I wished that all of us were as compassionate and persuasive to our countrymen in dealing with differences of opinion.

Jai Ho...Salute the spirit!!!

Laakh Zajbaat den dastak........

A tribute to all those who are clinging on to their hopes to keep themselves alive every moment .......

Lakh zajbat de dastak teri jehan pe

naumeedi se khud ko rakhna mehfooz

zamane ne khidmat kucch ki hai mante hain

par yun khud ko mita dena koi baat nahi.....

mana ke gam hain jyada ummedein thodi hain

lambi andheri galiyon mein gumnaam hai tu

par woh tere saath hai housla rakhna

jisne zindagi di tujhe wohi taquat bhi dega...

irade hon mazboot toh badal sakti hai manzil

tu housala rakhe toh tasweer badal sakti hai

sirf apni na soch,yaad rakh unko bhi 

teri himmat jinki takdeer badal sakti hai