Refreshing

After all the hectic work in office last week, I finally got a reward. Some kind-hearted soul mailed me a very rare recording of Jagjit Singh, live in concert.

The master was in full mood in that concert, and often broke away from the normal rendition either to explain the meaning of the 'sher' or the 'baariki' of the 'raag' on which he had composed the particular 'ghazal'.

Especially, I was mesmerized when he suddenly and so soothingly switched to a semi-classical 'thumri' midway from his famous "Hoton Se Chu Lo Tum", to render:

Dekho sakhi humaari piya ki yahi reet,
Humse bair auran ke saath preet....

Marvelous!! He is a gem!
May god bless him!

Sky Scrapper on Highway

This thought occurred to me early in the morning when I peered out of my office cab window. The cab was taking a final right turn towards Udyog Vihar, and leaving behind the hulla-gulla of National Highway - 8.

Not long ago, (4 years ago to be precise), my friend Mukesh and I used to toil on this road, with our fresher's profile in search of I.T. companies. At that time the side opposite to Udyog Vihar was barren land, and had only two high rise buildings, The "Ship Building" and the DLF-Square building. We could walk on the side of the highway or if we could afford, board a rickshaw to our destination.

Now, there are huge structures, and many multinational organization's offices in them, their Trade Mark displayed glitteringly on the buildings at strategic locations. Even my ex-client has moved into one such sky-scrapper. It is dangerous to walk on the sideway now, with the fly-over constructed on the highway vehicles now ply at great speeds.

India definitely has more money now. That is bothering the Reserve Bank, it wants to squeeze money out of the markets to contain inflation! And what about those children who still have to spend their day searching the dustbin for waste food, rather than get proper education? How will they ever reap the benefits of "Rising India"?

Lazy Day

There are days when the lazy bone in you becomes active. Today was one such day. I did not feel like rising from the bed in the morning. Neither, did I want to shave before going to office (and I didn't in fact!).

The Office resembled like the school today. Just like those text-books, I did not feel like going through the code, or the priority cases reported by the client. Just fiddled with the keyboard, checked my mails, attended a meeting (which was like the lecture we received at school) and ho... it was 5:30 P.M!

Thank god it's Friday!

The reason for this laziness and this detachment? I attribute to the couplet of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, rendered beautifully by my three favourite singers, Beghum Akhtar, Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh:

Kar rahaa thaa ghum-e-jahaan ka hisaab,
Aaj tum yaad be-hisaab aaye.

Its HOT HOT HOT!!!

The day began with a nice summer sunshine. By the afternoon, as I peeked out of the window after publishing my first blog, I saw that the clouds had overtaken the task from the sunlight to fill the sky. The climate was dull and uninteresting.
Hasn't it been days since "Makar Sankranti" and "Holi" have gone past? This changing climate, this unpredictable behavior of nature is indicative of the "Global Warming" which every environmentalist, politician and media source is talking about.

What are we doing about it? A quick "Google" on the topic is horrifying enough. Will mother nature extinct us, like the dinosaurs? God knows!

Craziness

Heard Nida Fazli speaking in an interview on radio today. After reciting his 'ghazal' at a gathering in Lahore, he was being greeted, when few "daarhi waale" surrounded him. Nida had recited his famous ghazal,
Apna ghum leke kahin aur na jaaya jaaye,
Ghar mein bikhri huyi cheezon ko sajaaya jaaye.

Ghar se masjid hai bahut door chalo yun kar lein,
Kisi rote huye bachche ko hasaaya jaaye.

The men asked Nida, if he thought that a child was greater than a mosque. Nida retorted back saying that he did know who was greater, but he knew that a mosque is built by the hands of men, while a child is created by the hands of the god.

Was just wondering, when would man realize that god is above everybody and everything that we humans create... places of worship, idols, stones, symbols, religion, rituals.....

Ibtedaa

So, this starts my tryst with electronic blogging. Obviously, I have indulged in "analog blogging" at so many places... (Home and mostly with friends)... Never felt the need to put it down in electronic format. Well let us see, how this gets along, at the moment I am all excited about it.

Ibtedaa-e-ishque hai rotaa hai kyaa,
Aage aage dekhiye hotaa hai kyaa.

-- Meer Taqi Meer.