शैलेंद्र

हिन्दी सिनेमा के लोकप्रिय गीतकार स्व॰ शैलेंद्र की आज जयंती है .यदि गायक मुकेश राज कपूर की आवाज़ थे तो शैलेन्द्र उनकी भाषा या शब्द.वास्तव में ये राजकपूर ,मुकेश, शैलेन्द्र और शंकर-जयकिशन की चौकड़ी थी जिसने वर्षों तक सिनेमा और संगीत प्रेमियों के दिलों पर राज किया। 
सीधे सादे शब्दों का प्रयोग कर अनेकों कालजयी गीतों की रचना करने वाले शब्दों के इस महान जादूगर को हमारी विनम्र श्रद्धांजलि !

Toru Dutt

Today is the death anniversary of Toru Dutt, (1856-1877) arguably the first Indian poetess in English. She was born of Bengali parents in Calcutta –now Kolkata .Though less widely known than Sarojini Naidu, her immediate successor as far as English poetry by Indian women is concerned, her literary output , in terms of maturity and literary merit is something to marvel at keeping in view the fact that she lived on this planet only for 21 years. Her Bengali Hindu family later converted to Christianity.Toru Datt spent about four years in England and France, during which she learnt French and also honed her skills in writing . She wrote in English and French and besides poems she also wrote two Novels one each in English & French. She was well versed in Bengali too and in later stages of her short life span learnt Sanskrit also. Sometimes a parallel is drawn , comparing her with John Keats who had also died of consumption at a young age of 26 , leaving a precious treasure of English Romantic poetry. She was sharply critical of the injustice meted out to Indians by the British and did not hesitate to express her disapproval of the same. Though a convert to Christianity, her interest in Indian tradition, Hindu mythology and mythological figures remained in tact . Her poem ‘Lakshman’ is about the dilemma of Lakshman on being exhorted, taunted and scolded by Sita to compel him to go to protect Ram who had gone hunting for Golden Deer at Sita’s behest. It is common knowledge, Sita was abducted by the demon King Ravan , when she was alone and mistakenly crossed the Lakshman Rekha , drawn to form a protective ring around the hut where the three were dwelling at that time during exile.The poem itself is a fine specimen of poetic genius of Toru Dutt. All her English poems are always a pleasure to read . Her poetical collection ‘A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields’ though published 1876 brought her fame and recognition ,only after her death.

Our humble tributes to this poet prodigy !

Firaq Gorakhpuri

Today is the birth anniversary of renowned Urdu poet Raghupati Sahay Firaq Gorakhpuri.For decades, Professor of English Literature in Allahabad University,Firaq carved a niche for himself among the stalwarts like Jigar Muradabadi, Nazeer Akbarabadi and Josh Maleehabadi and wrote excellent Nazms, Rubayis and Ghazals.
He won the coveted Gyanpeeth award for his poetic work Gul-e- Naghma .
He was also a recipient of Padma Bhushan, Soviet Land Award and remained a fellow of Sangeet Natak Academy.
Our humble tributes to the great shayar !

फ़िराक़ गोरखपुरी

आज अज़ीम शाइर और दशकों तक इलाहाबाद विश्वविद्यालय में अङ्ग्रेज़ी साहित्य के प्राध्यापक रहे रघुपति सहाय फ़िराक़ गोरखपुरी की जयंती है।अपने समय के दिग्गज शायरों मसलन जिगर मुरदाबादी, जोश मलीहाबादी, नज़ीर अकबराबादी के मध्य अपना विशिष्ट स्थान बनाते हुए फ़िराक़ ने उत्कृष्ठ ग़ज़लों, नज़मों,रुबाइयों की रचना की.उनकी शायरी की किताब गुल-ए- नगमा के लिए उन्हें ज्ञानपीठ पुरस्कार से सम्मानित किया गया। इसके अतिरिक्त, उन्हें पद्मभूषण और सोवियत लैंड पुरस्कार भी मिले व संगीत नाटक एकैडमी के फैलो भी रहे।
इस महान शाइर को हमारी विनम्र श्रद्धांजलि !

THE NECKLACE- a study

Guy de Maupassant was a master story teller , who was a French. Almost all of his writings are available in English translation and are always a pleasure to read. THE NECKLACE is a story, I am never tired of reading again and again. 
Mathilde Loisel is a beautiful and charming lady of humble parentage and is married to Monsieur Loisel , a Clerk. Though leading a comfortable life with a caring and loving husband, she is not satisfied with her life and strongly feels that destiny has not been fair to her . She hopelessly dreams of a kind of life that riches and status afford. It is not without a lurking sense of envy that she faces her friend Madame Frostier who is rich and enjoys higher status and stature.There is an invitation to a party from the Minister of Education department , where Monsieur Loisel serves. This is reason enough to the peevish Mathilde to fret , fume and sulk that she has no proper dress to wear for he party. Her husband always ready to please her and do his bit for her offers and buys her a new dress and suggests that she wears flowers instead of jewelry which he can ill afford. At last he suggests to her to borrow a diamond necklace from her rich friend Madame Frostier. Madame Frostier gives her a diamond necklace to wear for the party. Mathilde, beautiful and charming as she is , easily becomes the cynosure of all eyes,and every young man wants to dance with her. Mathilde immensely enjoys her newfound stature and is literally on the tops, while her husband retires to a corner , to save himself from the embarrassment of being seen wearing an old coat . 
The party is over and the couple returns home hiring a cab. Unfortunately Mathilde finds that the necklace is missing .This is a bolt from the blue for the couple as all frantic efforts to locate and find the necklace fail.Since the necklace is to be returned in any case, they find a necklace resembling the lost one which costs a whopping thirty six thousand Franks , much more than the Loisels have in their savings. A loan is raised , necklace is purchased and given to the Frostiers. It requires a full decade of hard and extra work to repay the loan and all this takes its toll on the couple’s heath and appearance. Having paid up the loan , the couple feels somewhat relieved. 
Mathilde and Madame Frostier meet by chance and Mathilde relates the story of having to incur a debt to pay for the purchase replacement of the lost diamond necklace. A rude shock awaits Mathilde in the form of being told By Madame Frostier that the necklace was not real diamond but an imitation piece which cost only five hundred Franks. 
The story carries a few lessons .
-Do not crave for the things, you cannot easily have and learn to live within your means.
-All that glitters is not gold as in the case of the imitation jewelry.
-The rich donot always have genuine things, they also possess fakes and are also a pretentious lot. 


Really a master piece by Guy de Maupassant !

सरदार पंछी

बुज़ुर्ग शायर सरदार पंछी को सुनना अपने आप में एक सुखद अनुभव से गुज़रना है . एक बानगी देखिये :

ये ग़लत है कि मेरे दोस्त दगा देते हैं ,
वो तो मुझे मेरी खताओं की सजा देते हैं

आप को अपना बनाना तो बड़ी बात नहीं
हम तो पत्थर को भी भगवान बना देते हैं .........

जन्माष्टमी

गुज़रे दिनों की बात करूँ, तो जन्माष्टमी से 3-4 दिन पूर्व सनातन धर्म सभा शिमला द्वारा निकाले गए जलूस व झांकियों की याद आती है । सनातन धर्म हायर सेकंडरी स्कूल, शिमला, जहां मैंने पाँचवीं से ग्यारहवीं तक शिक्षा प्राप्त की है के द्वारा जलूस में भागीदारी होती थी जो सी. टी.ओ के सामने से हो कर लोअर बाज़ार के दूसरे छोर यानि 'नाज़'- अब शेर-ए-पंजाब रेस्तरां तक जाता था। छात्रों की ओर से पी. टी., लेज़ियम, भांगड़ा आदि में भागीदारी होती थी।
जन्माष्टमी के दिन माँ का व्रत होता था तो हमारा ध्यान सिंघाड़ेका हलवा, बत्थु की खीर, उबले आलू की सूखी सब्ज़ी और ओगले के चीलों पर रहता था ।
ज़्यादा धार्मिक प्रवृत्ति के लोग रात 12 बजे तक भजन कीर्तन करते थे और कुछ घरों में ढँक कर रखे हुए भगवान श्रीकृष्ण के फोटोफ्रेम का अनावरण किया जाता था।