बोलीवुड

बोलीवुड

लगाके आग पुरे बदनमें पर्दों के जरिये
बुझाने चले उसे मोमाबत्तियोंके जरिये

कहो ना फ़िल्में है दरपन समाजका
हकीतको ना बदलो विकृत ड्रामे के जरिये

चलो मानो आ गया है वक्त पलटावका
पर नहीं संस्क्रितीके बलिदानके जरिये

रहो क्यों सीमित मसाला फिल्मों तक ?
आता है बदलाव क्या आईटम गीतके जरिये?

ज़रा झाखो अपने ही गिरेबान के भीतर
क्या पाया है आपने लोगों के प्यारके जरिये?

हर चार मसाला फिल्मकी सफलता पश्चाद
करेंगे कोशीश बदलावकी, क्या पांचवीके जरिये ?
-भरत शाह

आन्सु

देखा है कीसने आन्सुओको अपने जनाजे में
जरुरत भी है क्या ?
जानता है वो, बहाये थे दिलसे उसने कितने

न होता खोफ़

न होता खोफ़ गर भटकती रूहोंका
तो जनाजे मे कौन जाता ?
जिन्हें कीमत नहीं ज़िंदा लाशों की
उन्हें मुर्दों से क्या होता वास्ता ?

लैला मजनु

ना, अब नहीं आंसू बहाते आपकी यादमे
वो खुद नीकलनेसे इनकार करतें है
हसतें है हमारी नादानियत पर,
की हम आजभी
लैला मजनुकी कहानी पर एतबार करतें है

Old age

When you are young, you never think of getting old.
When you do, it is too late.

Then reality sets in.
The age of unreal expectations begins.
The root of most of the miseries of the old parents.

Sure, your performance as parents was great, excellent.

Then stop.........Think.

Rate your performance towards your old parents as their adult and matured child raising your own young family.

Most of your miseries perhaps will go away.

The gist of the matter is to continue being a loving parent.
Be a great guide when asked.
Interfere in the family matters only when absolutely necessary.
Leave the rest in the hands of almighty.

Religion

Religion is an organized movement
Faith is individual convictions of and commitments to the divine.
From the close relationship to thee, comes the clear understanding of the morality
To live by this understanding is being religious
One does not need a religion
As long as he lives a moral life
Bharat Shah

Mr. Mody

Mr. Mody is no longer a regional leader. It is widely assumed that he has the aspirations to be the Prime Minister of India. In some elite circles, it is expected of him, favorably, to take this next step.

This puts Mr. Mody in whole different arena. The media has projected Mr. Mody as a Hindu Nationalist, having limited influence with the largest minority in India- The Moslems. Mr. Mody has to not only overcome this perception but has to convince the citizens of India that they all are equal in his eyes and are entitled to the rights afforded to them by the constitution of the Republic of India.
 
It is understood that he wants to see patriotism rooted in the heart of every citizen of India. But, that should not lead him to judge, in his position as a leader of this vast nation, that one citizen is less Patriotic than the other. With his reputation, the unity of the country should become his utmost priority. By all counts, he needs an image make over.
 
Being an able administrator and a superb manager, he should be able to accomplish this with his crowd pleasing and convincing style.
 
It goes without saying, another name often mentioned for this position, does bot measure up to Mr. Mody in experience, charisma and above all leadership.
 
People need to look beyond dynasty. Check people like Mody thoroughly. Make sure
Their plan is not to build their statues all over the country. They have the genuine desire to serve the country from the bottom of their heart.

કુરુક્ષેત્રનું શ્રાદ્ધ

કઠિન છે યુદ્ધ સ્વયં સાથે જીતવાનું
કુરુક્ષેત્ર નથી સ્થળ, છે એક બહાનું
શહેનશાહ, અકબરે આલમપનાહના
સજી સ્વાંગ, વિજયના ડોળ કરવાનું

કુરુક્ષેત્રનું કદી પણ ના શ્રાદ્ધ થવાનું
ભરત શાહ

God in the midst of

For centuries we as humans are living this lie. That we are fighting in the name of God.

once and for all, can we all be honest?

Can we all admit that we have been laying our lives down for nationalist fervor, self interest, strengthening own security, expanding empires, gaining economic advantages, looting or plundering resources of others, proving superiority over other humans, massacring millions ... and the list goes on.

Fine, if that is what we want to do as humans. Let us accept it and be clear about it. All animals do what they can or have to, to protect their territories. By instinct and intellect, we are animals after all.

Then, let us not bring God in the midst of all these ungodly games. Let him be a bench warmer (by not invoking his holy name) when we play these war games.

Keep him on the side lines just to cleanse our souls.

The war

The lies attack in brigades.
The truth fights alone.
It looses the battles.
But wins the war

શોષણ

મફતનો રોટલો ખાનારા જ,
શ્રમજીવીઓને
"મહેનતના રોટલા જેટલો મીઠો કોઈ રોટલો નહીં"ની
મતલબી પટ્ટી પઢાવતા હોય છે
ગરીબોની મહેનત જ નહીં એમના અહંનું પણ
હજુયે શોષણ થાય છે
ભરત શાહ

એક ના દસ

ક્યાં ચાલ્યા?
એક ના દસ કરવા.
અત્યારે, કસીનો?
ના રે ના, મંદિર
-ભરત શાહ

ઉદાસી

આપણને પરણે આજે પચીસ વર્ષ થયા, ને આટલા ગુમસુમ ?
આપણી તબિયતનો વિચાર આવી ગયો.
શું થયું છે આપણી તબિયતને? બેઉ ઘોડા જેવા તો છીએ
એની તો ઉદાસી છે
ભરત શાહ

The biggest threat to internal and external security of the country are the politicians not having the quality of the leadership and vision to move country forward.

In general, the Indian political parties are more focused towards winning the next election and having the reins of power in their hands. Lots of time, energy and talent are wasted in keeping the coalition government afloat rather than running it efficiently and orderly.

Political bickering in the coalition make the government reactive rather than pro active when it comes to recognizing and resolving burning issues that affect the citizens the most. This understandably results in people taking to the streets to remind the government that they have failed to do their duties as legislators to curb corruption, violence against women, terrorism and so forth. An insecure and incompetent administration makes blunders in managing the street crisis which ultimately becomes law and order issue at domestic level.

Considering the countries around us, demographics, diversity in population, socioeconomic interests and global geopolitics, the domestic disturbances potentially could become national security concerns.

The government alone is not to be blamed for the tension felt all over the country. The opposition parties are equally responsible. Instead of playing a constructive role of keeping the governing parties in line, they opt to disrupt the functioning of the elective bodies. They seem more interested in politicizing the issues rather than solving them to suit their election strategies.

Even after 65 years, it appears Indian democracy is still in the state of maturing. The regional lords are happy with their own little kingdoms. The federal lords do not mind to be at the mercy of the power brokers. Everybody is chasing the magic chair- a hen that lays golden eggs.

It is time people start looking at the parties founded on principles and not around personalities that best serve the the welfare of the people. The parties that inspire patriotism and encourage the citizens to do their best for the country - This best includes changing the government when it does not fulfill its promises made to the citizens.

Translation

Here is another Hindi philosophy 101 translated in to American English

खुद बोज़ हो तो सबको अपनी तराजू में न तोलो
हर लब्ज़की होती है कीमत, मुह सोचके खोलो

American Translation: Don't Judge, just shut up.

Translation

My friend asked me to translate the following. I could not come up with right words so I explained the meaning of it. So, he went ahead and translated for me:

ऐसा तो नहीं की अब तुम्हारी याद नहीं आती
बस अपना केहनेकी रुहसे आवाज़ नहीं आती
भरत शाह

American Translation: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn !"

Corruption

On my recent visit to not so grand or palatial temple, I noticed that faithfuls were requested not to place any money or article as an offering at the altar. No donation box was in sight anywhere and there were no individuals offering help in performing puja or any other religious rituals.

There was a sizable gathering of faithfuls. No one was given any priority for darshan. Everyone hand to stand in line and wait their turn. There was no rush or stampede and line was moving in orderly manner with very little supervision from the management.

It would be nice to know that the temple does not accept big donations from rich and powerful and manages its affair from small anonymous donations from average faithfuls. That would be one way to keep corrupt money away from sacred places.

શબ્દકોષ

શબ્દકોષમાં સામાન્ય રીતે આપણે જેને "ગાળ" કહીએ છીએ એવા શબ્દોનો સમાવેષ થતો નથી.

પણ એમાં સમાવાયેલા કેટલાક શબ્દોના અર્થ વિષે વિચારીએ તો તે શબ્દો ગાળથી પણ વધુ વેધક અને અસરકારક છે.

દાખલા તરીકે:

નમકહરામ, વિશ્વાસઘાતી, ચોર, હલકટ, નાલાયક, હરામી, બાયલો, નખ્ખોદિયો, હિજડો, નકટો, રાંડ, રંડી, તકવાદી, ઠગ, મતલબી, ગરજુ , લાલચુ, લાંચિયો વિગેરે વિગેરે....

તમને ખબર છે શબ્દકોષમાં હોવા છતાં આવા અને બીજા કેટલાક શબ્દોનો લોકસભા, રાજ્યસભા કે ધારાસભામાં ઉપયોગ ના થઇ શકે?

કારણકે,

આ બધી સંસ્થાઓના સભ્યોને એમની ઓળખાણ બીજું કોઈ આપે તે પસંદ નથી.

ભરત શાહ

A fruit case

Before we buy fruits from the vendor, we smell it, feel it, sound it, shake it and if allowed taste it.

This is how much we do before we buy couple of kilos of fruits. Just to make sure that they are not rotten. Whether they are readily edible or have to wait till they ripe. We go a step further. We try to make sure that they will taste good when they ripe.

Now think about the religious leaders we choose. Consider the political leaders we vote in the office.

We are entrusting our spiritual well being in the hands of one and the entire country, state, jilla or town in the hands of the other.

If We make mistake in buying couple of kilos of fruits, we do loose but the loss is very very insignificant compared to the mistake we make in choosing our religious leaders or the political leaders.

Misguidance by religious and political leaders have caused human sufferings of unprecedented scale through out the history of the mankind.