जन्नत

सूरज की किरण छायी है हर ओर हरियाली
धीमी हवा हो; कलियों में लहराती हो तुम
सूरज डूबे; दिन ढले; पूनम रात हो जाए काली
चाँद से चांदनी जो चुराती हो तुम।
आसमान के तारों से हूँ मै सहमत
तू है बड़ी नटखट, तू ही मेरी जन्नत!


तेरे आंखों के सागर का नाविक हूँ मैं
छुपा ले तू मुझे अपने पलकों में
कही नज़र न आऊँ तेरे नैनों में मैं
लगे न नज़र; काटूँ वहीं हर पल को मैं।
इस सागर में मेरे सपनों के जहाज़ को रोक मत
तू है बड़ी नटखट, तू ही मेरी जन्नत!


झाँक के देख मेरे दिल में एक बार
चाँद की सजी महफिल में तू नाचती मोर
चाहे मेरे दिल के तू कर दे टुकड़े हज़ार
आइना है ये! भिखरेगी तू हर ओर।
जग के पवित्र प्रेम की तू है मूरत
तू है बड़ी नटखट; तू ही मेरी जन्नत!


चाहे वक्त हमारे बीच बढ़ा दे दूरी
लहरों को सागर से अलग क्या कर सकता कोई?
कभी हाँ कभी ना - कहती रहे मन ये तेरी
मान भी ले; पूरी हो तेरी हर तमन्ना सोई।
मन कहे मेरा बंद कर तू अपनी ये शरारत
तू है बड़ी नटखट; तू ही मेरी जन्नत!

(रचना: १४/०२/०९ )
वि सू : यह रचना मात्र काल्पनिक है और किसी से कोई सम्बन्ध नही है
यदि किसी के साथ समानता होती है तो इसे मात्र एक संयोग कहा जायेगा!!!

BooK Shelf

It’s not about the bike…..

….. It’s about Lance

It’s easy and rather exciting to watch a group of cyclists riding against each other at 75 miles per hour downhill. But it’s tough when we are on the seat and racing in extreme conditions. It gets tougher when one is diagnosed with life-threatening ailment and his career and his family at stake. But it is toughest when you fight against odds all through your life, escape the jaws of death and still manage to win the world seven times.

Now that’s Lance for you.

It is well said: ‘when going gets tough the tough gets going’.

For Lance, when the going gets tough Lance gets racing.

Lance Armstrong started out as a top class athlete with a unique mixture of strength and tactic but as he was about to prove to the world why he is the greatest cyclist, cancer chose his body. But that was the biggest mistake of cancer. It was conquered masterfully by this man who showed the world one can be against odds all through his life and still triumph.

In his book ‘It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life’, Lance lays out a detailed account of his life which is an epic in itself. It starts like this:

"I want to die at a 100 years old with an American flag on my back and the star of Texas on my helmet, after screaming down an Alpine descent on a bicycle at 75 miles per hour. I want to cross one last finish line as my stud wife and my ten children applaud, and then I want to lie down in a field of those famous French sunflowers and gracefully expire, the perfect contradiction to my once-anticipated poignant early demise.

A slow death is not for me."

True. Lance cannot die a slow death. He did everything fast. Acceleration is his first love. And that’s precisely the reason why I said cancer chose a wrong person this time. You have a person in front of u who has a mere 3% chance of survival. You would bet your fortune on his death and still lose because he is Lance Armstrong.

He was diagnosed on 2^nd October 1996. At 25 yrs, when he was at the prime of his career and turning out to be a cycling champion, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, a rare one with such a young man. He was operated upon and eventually tests reveal that the cancer has spread its tentacles to his lungs (Life-organ for a cyclist) and to his brains as well. He was carrying a dozen tumors in his lungs and lesions in his brain. To make matters worse, he was diagnosed rather late which complicated matters. Doctors give him 40% survival chance but actually it was 3% as he reveals later in his book. Brain surgery was followed by chemotherapy. The book is the story of the man who fights cancer physically, mentally, psychologically and financially as well.

In his words:

“Cancer would change everything for me. It wouldn’t just derail my career; it would deprive me of my entire definition of who I was. I had started with nothing. But, on my bike, I had become something. There were gallons of sweat all over every trophy and dollar I had ever earned, and now what would I do? What would I be if I wasn’t Lance Armstrong, world-class cyclist? “

He writes about his mom, his ‘so-called’ father, his self-respect, the emotional and financial support of his mom and his emotional support to his mom. He is very correct in illuminating the roles of various people in his fight – his mom, agent, coach, friends, team-mates, sponsors (not all), doctors, nurse, his admirers, and his wife.

There were two Lance Armstrong’s: one pre-cancer and the other post-cancer. He rode the bike not for pleasure but for a living. Winning was the only thing which mattered him. Post-cancer, he was a changed man. Excerpts:

“Once, someone asked me what pleasure I took in riding for so long. "Pleasure?" I said. "I don't understand the question." I didn't do it for pleasure. I did it for pain.

Before the cancer, I had never examined the psychology of jumping on a bicycle and riding for six hours. The reasons weren't especially tangible to me; a lot of what we do doesn't make sense to us while we're doing it. I didn't want to dissect it, because that might let the genie out of the bottle. But now I knew exactly why I was riding: if I could continue to pedal a bike, somehow I wouldn't be so sick.”

In another occasion he writes:

“One thing you realize when you’re sick is that you aren’t the only person who needs support – sometimes you have to be the one who supports others. My friends shouldn’t always have to be the ones saying: “You’re going to make it.” Sometimes I had to be the one who reassured them, and said, “I’m going to make it. Don’t worry.” “

Cancer not only jolted him physically and mentally but compounded his financial problems as well. He had cancer but had no health insurance. The severity of his condition is well laid-out in this excerpt:

“I was oddly unemotional. It had been a busy week, I thought to myself. I was diagnosed on a Wednesday, had surgery Thursday, was released Friday night, banked sperm on Saturday, had a press conference announcing to the world that I had testicular cancer on Monday morning, started chemo on Monday afternoon. Now it was Thursday, and it was in my brain. This opponent was turning out to be much tougher than I'd thought. I couldn't seem to get any good news: It's in your lungs, it's stage three, you have no insurance, now it's in your brain. “

Lance tackled all the issues with aplomb and proved he is the not the niche for cancer. Though the relapse period of 1 year was nervous, it was his sheer determination which made him perfectly fit. He established Lance Armstrong foundation. He writes:

“Anything’s possible. You can be told you have a 90-percent chance or a 50-percent chance or a 1-percent chance, but you have to believe, and you have to fight. By fight I mean arm yourself with all the available information, get second opinions, third opinions and fourth opinions. Understand what has invaded your body, and what the possible cures are.”

His comeback into the world of cycling was scripted by his coach and his wife. Now he found the pleasure in riding. He was more focused and put in hours together to regain physical fitness and improve his tactics. It was time for him to prove he is still the best. It was time for Tour de France.

Tour de France – 2290 mile road race and here road is not just flat plain roads but rugged terrains, chains of mountains as well over a period of 21 days. In his words:

“It would be easy to see the Tour de France as a monumentally inconsequential undertaking: 200 riders cycling the entire circumference of France, mountains included, over three weeks in the heat of the summer. There is no reason to attempt such a feat of idiocy, other than the fact that some people, which is to say some people like me, have a need to search the depths of their stamina for self-definition. It’s a contest in purposeless suffering.”

These tours show the true difference between a champion and an ordinary cyclist. Since his 1st Tour de France, Lance has won 7 consecutive Tour de France amidst stiff competition and proved his mettle.

‘It’s not about the bike’ is a learning experience. What do we learn??

1. Coping with fear: Fear is suicidal. It is agreeable that anybody, for that matter, will lose his senses at a misfortune of that magnitude. If you are not scared you are not normal. But fear should not cloud our constructive thinking. Once you suppress fear and start thinking rationally, you are already on track towards victory.
2. Self preparation: Lance understood cancer as good as a surgeon. He did extensive research on the subject. He writes:

“I became a student of cancer. I went to the biggest bookstore in Austin and bought everything there on the subject. I came home with ten different volumes: diet books, books on coping emotionally, meditation guides”

When you know in and out of a subject, you feel confident to face any situation.

3. Interaction: Contact and talk openly with doctor on all issues pertaining the diagnosis and subsequent treatment. A good doctor-patient relationship always betters the prospect of cure.
4. Importance of second opinion: This is one thing which we lack in India. Don’t just depend on the verdict of one doctor in critical cases. The patient has every right to consult anyone. Lance suggests to take second, third and if need be even fourth opinion. In his case it was alternate opinion and the change of treatment protocol which saved his life and his career as well.
5. Management of finances: With no insurance, Lance works out the value of his assets and plans accordingly.
6. Patients role in cure and self-confidence: Research on the disease and active interaction with doctors makes one confident (In Lance’s case) either of living or dead. In any case, this was better than vacillating between life and death and living under stress all through. Lance knew he could live if he fought back. As is his nature, he fought hard. Cancer was another race for him but the destination was different and the path leading to it the most grueling. It was the matter of life and death. He had to walk on a tight rope with deep gorge on both sides and he kept walking for two years from the day of his diagnosis and till the end of relapse period. The maturity he showed is a stuff to be known and understood by every one of us.
7. Family support: The support of his mother and friends is exemplary. His wife Kristine too showed character and maturity during his relapse period and when he was down n out in comeback tourneys and quit Paris-Nice.

This is a book for enthusiastic cyclists, women (his mom and Kristine), business executives, cancer patients, coach, mom, son and doctors alike. Read this book and you open up yourself to the vast sea of possibilities. It wouldn’t have taken any effort to lose hope and not see the light. But Lance is borne and equipped to fight and so is everyone else. Sometimes just an iota of belief is enough to cross the bridge over the sea of difficulties. It all depends on our thought and subsequent action.

2 men looked out from prison bars; 1 saw the mud, & the other saw stars.

-- Anonymous

P.S: February 4^th is observed as World Cancer day.

नामों का रामायण - नामायण

परखा है क्या किसी ने नाम-काम की डोर

नाम से कुछ और तो काम से कुछ और

अक्ल-शक्ल कुछ और, कुछ और उनका मन

आगे पढिये तो सही, यही है नामों का रामायण|

नाम रखा भीम, उठा पाया ना पत्थर

चतुरकुमार के अंक छः सौ में सिर्फ़ सत्तर

शेरसिंह पर भौंक रहे गली के कुत्ते

मिलन सिंह कभी किसी से ना मिलते|

दुल्हे राम की कभी ना निकली बारात

सूर्यकांत जागते रहे सारी सारी रात

श्रीमान परमानन्द हमेशा रहते रोते-रोते

भाग्यचंद का भाग्य दिखा सोते-सोते|

मजबूत सिंह के नल का हो रहा पानी लीक

धनीराम दिखे रस्ते पर मांगते भीक

शान्ति हमेशा दिखती आग की भाँती

पालनकुमारी बड़ों की आज्ञा कभी ना मानती|

गंगाराम के घर का है बोरेवेल बंद

तेजकुमार का है गति अति मंद

ज्योति के घर में कभी ना दीप जला

शीघ्र्कुमार का सब काम टला|

यादराम को याद नही उसका नाम

है बहुत सफ़ेद हमारे श्याम

विजयकुमार दस बार एलेक्शन में हारे

अमरजी बीस बरस में हुए भगवान के प्यारे|

छोटूलाल है जैसे अपने अमिताभ

लक्ष्मीकांत के व्यापार में कभी ना हुआ लाभ

गिरिधर अपना बैग कूली को दिया

शक्ति कपूर अपनी सारी शक्ति खो दिया|

इन लोगों का ही मै कर रहा था ज़िक्र

अपने नाम और काम का रहे ना कोई फ़िक्र

नाम के विपरीत निकले तन, मन और धन

इसलिए लिखा मैंने नामों का रामायण - नामायण|

'Quote'shwara

     " The major cause of traffic accidents is that men put into their cars as much ego as petrol"

OPERATION RATATOUILLE

One of the avatars I would like myself to be – a chef! Always had a crush on foodstuff – especially of kurumkurum genre. But that love and crush was limited to savoring the taste and its subsequent consumption. Never really thought about the art of cooking, the brains required, the kai chalaka, the intricacy and delicacies involved. I seldom fancied these just because I never really put a serious thought on this art. It took an animated movie to inspire me and awaken the latent (now drowsing) chef in me and that is – Ratatouille: Anybody can cook. The amazing movie has grabbed a sizeable chunk of my gray cells and put them to thought – Anybody can cook!

I always relate cooking to fabrication of an IC chip in our terms, in a sense that the processes involved from raw materials to start with till the last step of testing has to be perfect. In this regard a potato chip is no different from an IC chip! The 3D motion of our fingers, the relative distance between them, the correlation and angle between them, the motion of our hands in the spatial domain, the radius of the circle whose center is at the center of the utensil while stirring for uniform heating – sounds complex isn’t it? But that is the beauty of the nature. In our life we do many such things unaware whose awareness would make that task complex or sometimes impossible. As the general of Prison Break fame says – Sometimes, everything is not as it seems!

The next tryst with the chef inside me was during the recent kannada sangha celebrations. One of my companion said I belong to the PULCHAR type. Well, that’s true. I define Pulchar as the acronym for PULiyogare, CHakkuli and sARu which fairly defines various verticals of ‘cook-n-relish’ group I am interested in. Taste buds certainly swing into action & hyper-activity and my favorite’s kitty is well-defined by pulchar.

I have had my bit of volunteering(?) in preparing mouth-watering dishes especially during ganesh chaturthi and deepawali. I was kinda assistant to the assistant cook in the 3 chef hierarchy! Well, that position too plays a vital role, right? I have tried my hand, literally, in preparing chakli, kodbale, nippattu, badaam-puri,kara-kadubu,holige and some more as an assistant to the assistant cook(my sis who assists my mom!). Well, these ‘performances’ were favorable as I had the advantage of being at the ‘home’ ground well supported (and tolerated) by ‘home’ crowd. My out-of-home-experience was in Kodagu where I (again) tried my hand in dosa. Dosa is supposed to be globe-shaped in2D but my dosa depicted world-map with skewed continents!

 

That apart, I have been quite successful at the third level in the hierarchy. To expect a promotion to next level, I’ve to improve my success-rate and record which, no doubt, requires more practice. Right now, my cooking is strikingly similar to the way we answer VTU questions – initially it ‘appears’ logically correct and on the course. As we continue penning, our answers get skewed and we bring in all kind of redundancies, out of shape diagrams and out of context concepts. I hope the initial interest in the art of cooking prevails and surge in the years to come and I transform into a chief chef from an aide. I dream myself saying these words after few years – ‘aham chefasmi’.

 

If my interviewer asks me where would you like to see yourselves twenty years down the line, I would love to answer – In the kitchen, helping my mom and my spouse but only as a hobby or as an alternate/part-time job(Now, that depends on my spouse!). Ok...  Again, if my interviewer wants to know what would you look back at after you are a septuagenarian, my answer would be related to my ‘humble’ beginning as an assistant to the assistant chef in my teens.

‘Operation ratatouille – Anybody can cook’ is underway……