{"id":338779,"date":"2022-08-01T05:30:21","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=338779"},"modified":"2022-08-01T05:30:21","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T11:00:21","slug":"complicated-characters-situations-growing-at-maddening-pace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/complicated-characters-situations-growing-at-maddening-pace\/","title":{"rendered":"Complicated characters, situations growing at maddening pace!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s simplicity and innocence gone? Where are all those who lived life with the basics and were seemingly happy and content and unbothered about what tomorrow or the day after day holds out?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

About\u00a0 twenty\u00a0 years back I\u00a0 would regularly visit the\u00a0 Bhai Vir Singh Sadan situated in\u00a0 New\u00a0 Delhi\u2019s\u00a0 Gole\u00a0 Market. To be nearer precision, I used to spend hours in its library. And during those visits to the library I would \u00a0have those long and short conversations with the then librarian, Jagjit Singh Anand. He was a very fine person, knowledgeable and spiritually inclined. One afternoon, Anand asked me, what in my\u00a0 opinion, could be considered the\u00a0 biggest\u00a0 blessing for any human being. I recall telling him, \u201cOf course, health.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head and said, \u201cNo \u2026the biggest blessing for a human being is not being complicated, because complicated characters not just ruin their own lives but also of all those around them! They demolish and ruin peace of mind and just bring about negativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anand\u2019s simple stark words of wisdom stand out to this day. Sit back and introspect how complicated characters around you can make everyday life\u00a0 hell\u2026hellish! Sadly, in today\u2019s world, complicated characters and situations seem growing at some maddening pace. Multiplying, spreading out, causing mindless destruction and disasters.<\/p>\n

Ask yourself: where\u2019s simplicity and innocence gone? Where are all those who lived life with the basics and were seemingly happy and content and unbothered about what tomorrow or the day after day holds out? Where are all those who\u2019s who of yesteryears who carried the guts and grit to stand for the disadvantaged? Where are all those men and women who died with simplicity and honesty and\u00a0 genuineness intact;\u00a0 unbothered about frills and fanciful living?<\/p>\n

Today, even the weather is getting more than complicated! Whoever had thought that Europe would be hit by intense heat; rising temperatures killing so many in several European lands. And\u00a0 if\u00a0 one were\u00a0 to\u00a0 focus\u00a0 on the\u00a0 South Asian countries, though rising temperatures were\u00a0 part of the summer stretch \u00a0but this\u00a0 year the heat wave went berserk, killing many more than previous heat waves. Monsoon and winter hold no promises too, as in spite of all the forecasts and weather updates and predictions the fact that hits out is this \u2013 we, the average and ordinary citizens, are unprepared to face of the onslaughts, heat or rains or intense cold!<\/p>\n

Today, the so called development slogans and political promises and all those speeches of the politicians raised hopes. Till all the tall claims came crashing down. Crushing expectations.\u00a0 Compounding the mess spread around. Hitting all those in long queues for jobs and rations and the very basic food.<\/p>\n

Today we are at a very crucial juncture. We ought to be focusing on how to feed and educate and employ the hundreds and thousands of our citizens, but we seem gripped by complicated political turns and twists.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

And in\u00a0 the recent years the sheer harassment that\u00a0 journalists\u00a0 face has only been spreading out \u2026In fact, whilst on journalists and writers, the going can be termed difficult. It\u00a0 is a\u00a0 tough\u00a0 profession and the\u00a0 going gets\u00a0 tough when there\u2019s worry of the\u00a0 political rulers backing the godi <\/em>media and trying their utmost to run down\u00a0 independent journalists and editors and all those trying to keep afloat\u00a0 against the turbulent political\u00a0 tide.<\/sub><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/sub>Have you ever wondered why Investigative Journalism hasn\u2019t really picked up in our country? It is precisely because the going can be very risky- dangerous -tough. No, not easy to write against the police and the politicians and to unravel the layers to the entire system under their direct control\u2026One\u00a0 instance after another how\u00a0 journalists have been\u00a0 hounded and attacked in our\u00a0 cities and towns and qasbahs for\u00a0 exposing the\u00a0 nexuses and the actual political culprits and the key players!<\/sub><\/p>\n

\u00a0In fact, during the Brit rule in India, no criticism of the gora rulers was to be tolerated so the Indian writers had found a discreet way to do so. They did so through cartoons and poetry and subtle prose. That\u2019s how the Avadh Punch first got published in Lucknow. So successful it was that soon several editions were simultaneously published from several other cities of the country. Punches all the way!<\/sub><\/p>\n

\u00a0In fact, getting back to day, there\u2019s worry amongst journalists and writers on how to report fearlessly in this atmosphere, where political bulldozers are ever on the alert to pull down structures, human or otherwise. <\/sub><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0******<\/sub><\/p>\n

And to add to the complicated mess is the communal surcharge in just about everything! We are witnessing the aftermath of the communal poisoning unleashed all around. There are brutal killings, hate speeches and hateful utterances, cries for revenge and counter-attacks. Little traces of calm and tranquility in the everyday life.<\/p>\n

No other way to counter the mafia but try get back to those days when the un-complicated and the apolitical held sway. When simplicity and those basic values to daily life were all that actually mattered. And human forms and emotions and were not crushed, nor trampled upon. Every human life seemed to matter and given that much needed cushioning.<\/p>\n

I am trying to find some level of refuge\u00a0 in these\u00a0 harsh hitting turbulent\u00a0 times in the verse of Mirza Asadullah\u00a0 Baig Khan \u2026Born in Agra on December 27, 1797, as Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan, he used pen name \u2018Ghalib\u2019 (the conqueror). When still very young he shifted to Delhi and during his stay in Delhi he\u2019d witnessed turbulent times during the 1857 revolt and also the subsequent changes that followed, the changing socio- political scenario\u2026 Ghalib wrote the Diwan-e-Ghalib at his house in\u00a0 Old\u00a0 Delhi , Ghalib ki Haveli,\u00a0 (now a heritage site). And its in this haveli he spent the last\u00a0 years of his life till he died on February 15, 1869. He was buried close\u00a0 to the\u00a0 dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya and the\u00a0 grave of Amir\u00a0 Khusro.<\/p>\n

This verse of Ghalib- from Khushwant Singh\u2019s volume \u2013\u2018Celebrating the Best of\u00a0 Urdu Poetry (Penguin):<\/p>\n

\u201cLove gave me the lust for living – \/<\/p>\n

To ease my pain it gave me something for sure;\/<\/p>\n

It gave me such pain that nothing can cure.\u201d<\/p>\n

And also Ghalib\u2019s this verse:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be united with my beloved was not writ in my fate\/<\/p>\n

Had I lived any longer, it would have been the same long wait\/<\/p>\n

I lived on your promises, I knew they were not true\/<\/p>\n

Would not I have died of joy had I\u00a0 believed\u00a0 in you?\/<\/p>\n

Ask my heart about the pain of love and it will tell you \/<\/p>\n

The half\u2013drawn bow\u2019s the assassin, not the arrow that pierces through \/<\/p>\n

The stone\u2019s veins would burst and nothing would stem blood\u2019s flow\/<\/p>\n

If these weren\u2019t sparks of anger, but outpourings of my sorrow. \/<\/p>\n

To whom can I speak of sorrows that come with the fading of light\/<\/p>\n

Death would be welcome, if it did not stand at my door every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

******<\/p>\n

Also these verses from Ralph Russell\u2019s – A Thousand Yearnings: A Book of Urdu Poetry and Prose. (Speaking Tiger). A remarkable book by a remarkable Urdu-lover –\u00a0 Ralph Russell.<\/p>\n

Verses and prose tucked in this volume seem laden with bare emotions. In fact, there is an entire segment holding out love poetry. Ghazals and verses of Mir and Ghalib more than beckon \u2026<\/p>\n

Of course, long gone are the romantic poets of yesteryears, leaving back their emotion laden lines for you and I to read along. Quoting these lines of Ghalib from this volume:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou stand away, and purse your lips\/<\/p>\n

and show their\u00a0 rosebud\u00a0 form\/<\/p>\n

I said \u2018How do you kiss?\u2019 Come, kiss my lips and say \u2018Like this!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

And also these lines of Mir:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy love, I cannot tell the tale of all the things I want from you \/<\/p>\n

A hundred longings fill my soul, a thousand yearnings throng my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Where\u2019s simplicity and innocence gone? Where are all those who lived life with the basics and were seemingly happy and content and unbothered about what tomorrow or the day after day holds out? About\u00a0 twenty\u00a0 years back I\u00a0 would regularly visit the\u00a0 Bhai Vir Singh Sadan situated in\u00a0 New\u00a0 Delhi\u2019s\u00a0 Gole\u00a0 Market. To be nearer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,2205],"tags":[2653,6284,9304,15375],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338781,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338779\/revisions\/338781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/338780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}