last seen....'rishte'

I suddenly realised the value of my new smartphone when i was added to a chatting group 'Friends Forever' by an old schoolmate, taking my world fifteen years back with her 'time-machine'!

'The world once lost and totally forgotten was just an app away...how foolish of me for haven't installed it before!', i thought!

Their re-appearance made me feel mesmerised...enchanted...excited...nostalgic...and what not!!

Here was a totally new but the same old world in front of me.

My classmates were having fun time chatting,with some 'serious' thoughts abt planning a re-union party!!! They were actually arguing about the time and venue.

'Wow! Re-union party!!

 Even after so many years, how close and cool there are!'

 And look at me! I was even unable to recall their faces. I felt a bit ashamed of myself.

Gathering some courage, i posted a 'hello' in the group and to my utmost surprise, it was accepted with the same fondness as they were showing for each other.....that was a big boost up to jump into their world and  be a part of it again,proudly!!

'This online world is such a beautiful and happy place!'

Here the journey begins....chatting, recalling, remembering, rejoicing, re-living....and even making some new friends out of this old world!

'This virtual world is so very real, secure,true and honest. 

I actually got 'friends' which i could never ever find in this real,practical and materialistic world.i accept and i am grateful to this 'smart' world!

Elated and rejuvenated!

Engrossed,the virtual world so easily manipulated the real world....be it a tea-break in office, lunchtime,reading time or an evening nap.....all were taken over by 'chatting'...happily, for being 'online' and being with them seemed to be utmost importance.

Life appeared to be so refreshing! 

Mind looked so happily occupied!

Relations seemed to reflect such an unconditional positivity!

What a bond! Beautiful!

Days passed....all the time being active and chatting! 

Some more days passed....we were still active and chatting, still beginning and ending our days together, still planning a reunion party!!

Days turned into weeks...some people started missing the chats, others apologising for they couldn't participate,another too busy to even wish others once in a day.....but the group was still active and everything looked so genuine! And hopeful..

Still delving on the idea of a reunion party!!

Some more weeks passed....no new notifications...no new messages....everything fading...even personal messages started getting ignored! 

Re-union party??

'Don't worry! We have a very strong bond... Everyone will be soon back from their busy worlds!',the few left behind thought hopefully!

But the hopes were only in thoughts, we soon realised. 

Mind began to sink. Mornings turned sad and depressed. Lunch and tea-breaks totally silent and left alone.Gloomy evenings and thoughtful nights! 

Every little effort to 

wake up the 'unconscious' group was in vain, because it was actually not unconscious but 'dead'!!

People came, people met, people enjoyed and now, they were back to their real lives! 

Real lives! 

Quite normal and practical,as we say!

Really! 

Weren't we real 'online'? 

Weren't  we a part of each other's real life? 

Wasn't the virtual world affecting us 'really'? 

Back in the real world,nothing actually changed.Everything still have to be so normal, fine and practically same.

Then what's the difference? 

Nothing.

But for some 'over-thinkers'...their is...!!!

The lost child!

             The little boy couldn't sleep that whole night....he tried shifting his bed from one place to another but the sound keeps haunting him incessantly....the sound of a crying women...but where was this sound coming from? He had no clue. His parents went to his aunt's place and he was all alone in the house.      

              But isn't it something that keeps troubling him every night n made him almost an insomniac...he desperately wants to get out of it...something was killing him from within...he severely wants help but his fears wont allow him to speak and share his pains!!  

              His parents wont understand him because they beleive no matter how their personal equations are,they have always been good to him and so,everything is perfect at his end.
             'He is so silent because he is an introvert'!

              His classmates often found him sitting in the corner with a sad face, while they are playing, thumping the desks, teasing each other and enjoying the lunch break! Nobody was ever bothered to ask him if he has any problem because they are so convinced with each other while saying, "arre use rehne do, yeh aisa hi hai!"
             His mentors also found him a sincere and an innocent student.

             The irony was that his such positive social feedback suppressed him even more as all the doors for the much needed outlet were already shut! Nobody could ever feel his fading smile and questioning eyes, leave aside his bruised mind!
             He undergoes that pain each moment and no element in the society can ever help him, because supposedly he is one of the perfect kids every parent want....obedient, well-mannered and such a cutie pie!
             For once to be thought, couldn't he have led a normal childhood, had he chose to speak up his mind??!
            Had he chose to shout and complain about how his father tortures his mother everyday! Had he chose to tell everyone how his mother keeps weeping behind those closed doors that another day! Had he chose to be brave enough to take her mother out of all this mess, rather than being a silent and unnoticed witness! But how?
            No school course ever taught him to deal with such situations! No parenting ever allowed him to go against family! No laws ever provided him any security...mental or physical, to gather that courage within and protest!
            Though with the changing times, women are being provided with some measures under domestic violence act but with what releif to such 'never existing' witnesses! His childhood was snatched from him,without ever being noticed!! But why??
Was it all about his choices??

'she'

As soon as he entered the office,i said "congratulations,sir!".
My other colleague gave me a surprised look,so i told him," sir is blessed with a baby last week"

'O realy...i didn't know that!!!! Cong....'
and...he was immediately stopped with a murmuring from another colleague explaining..'ladki hui hai....'!

I was like,"sir......???"

He replied in a soft voice, 'madam wo hamare yahan ladki ki badhaai nahi dete na'

I was a bit taken aback.
The first thing that came to my mind was...'oh! this is the reason Punjab still has the lowest sex ratio in india,where even the working class has to live in such cultural compulsions'.

Not that i have any complaints against them...infact each one of them has always been kind to me and helped me survive in this tough work environment,for which i am always thankful to them.

Not only that,that morning itself they wished me a happy birthday!!
But now i began to give it a second thought....'how can my birth day be 'happy' when i birth itself never was'.....tough question to ask !!!

And today,october 11,when i am writing this,its 'Universal day of the Girl Child' as declared by the United Nations,with the purpose of increasing awareness of 'gender inequality' faced by girls worldwide based on their gender.

Long way to bridge the gap but how long the journey would be....??

That made me a bit conscious,re-thinking about the contradictory world i am living in...looking for an answer to the same question again...."till the world balances itself,should i behave more like a female or a human?"

'ज़िन्दगी'

ख़ामोशी से चल के मेरे पास आती है....      
अपनी कहानी चुपके से मुझे सुनाती है..
                                      
हर रोज़ इक नयी दास्ताँ होती है उसकी.....
  
इक पल आवाज़ दे के बुलाती है मुझे..
फिर गुमसुम सी हो के कुछ दूर चली जाती है..          
कभी कहे आसमान छूना है मुझे..
कभी रात के सन्नाटे में चुप सी हो जाती है...                
कभी लगे रंग बिखेरती तितली जैसी...
कभी बन जाये उलझी सी पहेली ऐसी..                        
जिसका हर कदम एहसास बन जाये...
जिसका बीत जाना याद बन जाये..
                             
वो अनजान सी कुछ अपनी सी मेरी 'ज़िन्दगी' कहलाती है।

The world within....

The world within.....                                                                                                                                       To begin with, as everyone says,I am not a religious person....My people,followers of Hindu dharma, always insists on going to mandir...taking parsads..fasting...n beleive in doing all such things which can bring you in God's good books.I trust them completely.         But Ironically, these things don't fascinates me.The most common reaction is...O' u r an atheist!                                                                I am not!!                                                                                                                                                 Beleive me.                                                                                                                                                  I stongly beleive HIS existence and always feels HIS presence within.It's just that HE don't fear me.HE never demands anything.HE never questions my faith.                                                                     HE is just there.                                                                                                                                    With me,Always.                                                                                                                                               With my eyes closed,I can see a world within and the world is HE The immortal within a mortal,never asks for any formalities, just an acknowledgment.                                                            And completes me making a believer, follower et al...

hello!

hello!