नवरस

Most of the time, we hear that the goal of life is to attain happiness. But we often ignore all kinds of emotions we encounter on our way to attain happiness. Life is not just about happiness rather it is about emotions. Happiness is temporary but quest for happiness and various emotions encountered in the journey are permanent. Be it love, laughter, anger, empathy, disgust, anxiety, valor, wonder or calm. We, in Indian culture, call these as Navrasas. (9 essences)   

In this poem, I have tried to use UPAMA alankar (Simile figure of speech) to discover all these RASAS.

मैं अंत हूँ अनंत भी |
मैं क्रोध हूँ मैं प्रेम भी ||ध्रु||

भुजंग का मणि भी मैं
व्याल का गरल भी मैं |
पंक मैं, कमल भी मैं
विष भी मैं, पियूष भी मैं ||१||

द्रौपदी का स्वाभिमान
हूँ रघुपति सा धैर्यवान |
कर्ण की व्याकुलता 
हूँ सीता की शालीनता ||२||

दुर्योधन का उन्माद मैं,
कृष्ण का हूँ हास्य मैं |
मैं अंत हूँ अनंत भी |
मैं क्रोध हूँ मैं प्रेम भी ||३||

आनंद ही तो अंत नहीं
जिंदगी नवरस में हैं ||

Meanings:

१) भुजंग: साप, सर्प;
२) व्याल: साप, सर्प;
३) पंक: कीचड़;
४) पियूष: अमृत;
५) उन्माद: अहंकार

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संघर्ष

संघर्ष ही स्वभाव है

यथार्थ की तलाश में ||ध्रु||

यामिनी से लढ रहा

दिया हूँ मैं जो भीड़ गया |

फडफड़ स्वीकार है

मारुत का डर हैं क्या? ||१||

बाण से मैं क्या डरु

कर्ण का ये वक्ष है |

प्रहार  कर तू मगर

हार तेरा भाग्य है ||२||

मैं उच्च हूँ, मैं नीच हूँ

हूँ जहाँ भी ठीक हूँ |

लढ रहा अंजान से

स्वर्ग या पाताल में ||३||

संघर्ष ही स्वभाव है

यथार्थ की तलाश में ||

Meanings:

1) यथार्थ –उचित, सत्य;
2) यामिनी – रात, निशा;
३) मारुत – वायु, हवा;
४) वक्ष – छाती

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Fresh Start - Poem

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Whitewash - Poem

I tried to paint you in so many

Different colours in my memory

Each represented different

Shades of your personality

Pink was for tenderness

Yellow for exuberance

Purple was for love and,

Red for confidence...

I painted you in all colours, but one

Which I saved for myself

Sky blue for longing and limerence

Was always on my shelf…

I am sinking into your thoughts

Or drowning in your dreams

What is real, what is fiction

Blurs and seem more dim  

I realised your thought

Is eating me piece by piece

I am losing control over myself

In the process bit by bit…

I am trying not to enter

Again in that deadly zone

feet on the ground affixed

and trying not to get blown

So, I tried to whitewash all the colours

Of you from my memory

Red, yellow, orange, green,

Purple, peach, and ivory.

But before completely forgetting you,

a “tear of blood” spilled from eyes
On the whitewash and alas,

Gave me realisation How Much I Love You… 

~Digvijay Sanjay Patil

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Utilitarian Morality for Public Good

There has been a lot of talk about the celebrities getting preferential treatment in the central jails. There are arguments pouring in from the public that these celebrities should be treated in the prison like any other prisoner.

Surely law works same for everybody but does law enforcers (i.e. Police) keep their neutrality? It's the open kept secret that they do not. So what is the way out?

The system is designed in such a way that it breeds corruption. If a celebrity wants different treatment like better food, better prison cell, etc, he has to give bribe to all kinds of officers.

It is hard to stop this system and individual initiatives of some honest officers aren't sufficient enough. So what systematic shift is required to change this system which breeds corruption?

Here I present an innovative idea.

    • Golden rule -- "Ghee sidhi unglise naa nikle, to ungali tedhi kar leni chahiye."

Instead of using the principle of equality, why not use the principle of justice. The principle of "Justice as fairness" suggests - "If one person gets it, everybody else should also get it."

    • If the celebrity wants the better quality of food, he can have it on one condition -- whatever quality of food he eats, everybody else will eat the same food, provided he funds for that entire food.

    • If he wants clean water for himself, he has to only install few water purifiers in the prison so that everybody has an access to clean drinking water.

    • Same goes for bed, gymnasium equipment, etc

Such investment is not even penny for these celebrities and they will happily do it.

If we apply this principle, govt will not have to spend so much money on prison infrastructure development. Also, he isn’t getting any preferential treatment, as everybody is enjoying the same privilege. It's always better that everybody gets something rather nobody gets anything. 

    • As we are legitimizing this with proper guidelines and oversight agencies, corruption to get these facilities through prison officers will get reduced.

Professor Michael Sandel in his book -- "What money can't buy: Moral limits of markets" gives an example of prison cell upgrade by paying money. If you are sentenced to a jail term in Santa Barbara, California, and don't like the standard accommodation, you can buy a prison cell upgrade for about $90 per night.  

Problem with above system is, it creates classes among prisoners and does not pass the test of moral compass, as only wealthy are getting preferential treatment.  But the method which I suggested is more egalitarian and does not cross the moral compass of equality of treatment. It also creates a win-win situation for all. It can help to reduce corruption too.

Suggestions welcome.

Peace.

-Digvijay Sanjay Patil.

References:

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/ZjuVbw1lK4lq4liqMCNl7I/What-money-should-not-buy.html

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