My Valentine

Flirt, tempt, play
Explore,wander,lost
Snap, leave, dark
Want,lust,long
Agony,misery,pain
Burn! Burn! Burn!

Leaving On a Jetplane

I searched Youtube for the goth version of this song. To listen to a cover that might reflect how I feel right now.

What would have been that version if someone on the 9/11 plane would have sang it? He did leave on a jetplane. Never to return.

There are some goodbyes that are said knowing well that its the final one for that relationship. Which song would be for those instances?

Tharoor and the Renaming Saga

On June 15, 2017, the erudite leader of the Congress put up a tweet claiming that most of the schemes of the NDA are actually only renamed and repackaged schemes of the UPA itself and that NDA has done nothing "game changing".

It is indeed true that the intent of the schemes remain the same. But, there are some schemes in the UPA list which are "repackaging" of the schemes started in the 70s by Indira Gandhi. Take for example the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan. I distinctly remember Total Sanitation Campaign being many decades old. And even though Mr. Tharoor is wrong in making such comparisons, I do not blame him for his bias. What I want to point out is a deeper malaise among our political leaders, even when they are as erudite as Mr. Tharoor.

We glorify policies and schemes on paper, we credit the intent while turning a blind eye on the success of their execution.

Success in education is both in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. It is easier to measure efficiency, however effectiveness can be subjective. The metrics to be tracked can be very different. For example, under the UPA, the metric to measure "success" of the sanitation scheme was the number of toilets built. This is not an effectiveness measure but that of efficiency. While, we did build toilets, it is common knowledge that they were not being used.

And that is where due credit needs to be given to the Modi government and to the PM in particular. Through his speech in the Red Fort and his communication on Mann ki Baat, PM Modi has been able to drill down the message against open defecation. I have visited the rural areas of UP recently and have witnessed the behavioural shift.

Another area where the government needs to be lauded is to have aligned the metrics more towards effectiveness than mere efficiency. The Open Defecation Free(ODF) status is being given after surveys on ground, rather than just measuring the number of toilets built. Such measure of effectiveness would definitely, in the longer term, help us lower our health burden because of open defecation.

The Ghats of Banaras

I went to see the Ganga Aarti today.
 Banaras is a strange City.  Along the Ghats one can see thousands of people looking at the evening Aarti and praying for their well being in the boat on the Ganga.  Not even 500 metres away lies the cremation Ghats.  Probably people here are so accustomed to death that even after seeing the dead burning just a few minutes ago they are able to immerse themselves in the Aarti.  Or is it that because I wasn't able to immerse myself in the religious experience that I was stuck up on this thought of living and dead?  Is it that one needs to immerse oneself in religion to forget about the ills of life?  Or is it that these people do not consider death as bad?

Oh. And It is in Banaras that you find a sadhu on the same roads as the ones where moksha is sold. 

Banaras Ke Ghat Par

एक जंगल है तेरी आंखों में
मैं जहां राह भूल जाता हूं ।
मैं तुझे भूलने की कोशिश में
आज कितने क़रीब पाता हूं ।
तू किसी रेल-सी गुज़रती है,
मैं किसी पुल-सा थरथराता हूं ।
हर तरफ एतराज़ होता है
मैं अगर रोशनी में आता हूं ।
एक बाज़ू उखड़ गया जबसे
और ज़्यादा वज़न उठाता हूं ।
एक जंगल है तेरी आंखों में ।
मैं जहां राह भूल जाता हूं ।।

Afreen!

The translation of Afreen below is for someone who has basic understanding of Hindi.

This song/ quwalli has been written by lyricist Javed Akhtar and its original rendition is by Nusrat Saab.

In it, the person who is singing these lyrics is trying to describe his lover in utmost detail and yet, the person says that even though he tries to, he, nor anyone else would be able to describe her completely and that they would end up praising the Almighty for making her.

The parts highlighted in yellow consist of the Urdu word/ phrase and its translation.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Husn-e-jaanaa ki taareef mumkin nahi (It's not even possible to praise the beauty of my beloved)

aafreen aafreen, afreen afreen( praise the maker)

tu bhi dekhe agar to kahe hamnasheen( you would also say the same as me)

afreen afreen, aafreen aafreen

aisa dekha nahi khoobsoorat koi

jism jaise Ajanta ki moorat koi

jism jaise nigaahon pe jaadoo koi

jism naghma( part of a song) koi, jism khushboo koi

jism jaise machalti hui raagini ( the body like a titillating song)

jism jaise mehakti hui chaandni ( the fragrance of moonlight)

jism jaise ke khiltaa hua ek chaman ( a blossoming garden)

jism jaise sooraj ki pehli kiran

jism tarshaa hua dilkash-o-dil-nasheeN ( her body like a heart arresting carved statue)

sandali sandalee.. ( like the fragment of sandal)

marmari marmaree..( like the smoothness of the white marble)

chehra ek phool ki tarah shaadaab( fresh) hai

chehra uskaa hai ya koi mahtaab( the face of the moon) hai

chehra jaise ghazal (her face like a ghazal), chehraa jaan-e-ghazal( her face like the life of a ghazal)

chehra jaise kali, chehraa jaise kamal

chehra jaise tasavvur ki tasveer bhi ( her face like the imagination of a  picture)

chehra ek khwaab bhi chehraa taabeer bhi( her face like a dream, and its interpretations)

chehra koi alif laila ki daastaaN( her face like a tale from a folklore)

chehra ek pal yakeen, chehraa ek pal gumaaN ( a face, a reality for a moment and then utopia another)

chehra jaise ke chehraa koi bhi nahi,

Maah-roo maah-roo( a face with the beauty of the soul of the moon)

MahjabeeN mahjabeeN ( a face with the forehead as serene as that of the moon)

aankhein dekhi to mein dekhtha reh gaya

Jaam do aur donon hi do aatishaaN (They are two cups of wine, both of them ablaze)

aankhein ya maikade ki yeh do baab haiN (Are these eyes, or the two doors to a winehouse)

aankhein inko kahoon ya kahoon khwaab haiN

aankhein neechi huyiN to haya ban gayiN (When those eyes looked down, they became shyness itself)

aankhein oonchi huyiN to dua ban gayiN

aankhein uTh kar jhukeeN to adaa ban gayiN

aankhein jhuk kar uTheeN to sazaa ban gayiN

aankhein jin mein hai qaid aasman-aur-zameen

Nargisi nargisi ( eyes like a nargasi flower)

Surmayi surmayi... ( black like the blackness of kohl)

zulf-e-jaana ki bhi lambi hai dastan ( No words are enough to describe the tresses of my beloved as well)

zulf ki mere dil par hain parchhaaiyaan

zulf jaise ke uljhi hui ho ghaTa (Tresses, like dark clouds entangled in themselves)

zulf jaise ke ho koi kaalee balaa (Tresses, like some black spectre)

zulf uljhe to duniyaa pareshaan ho

zulf suljhe to ye geet aasaan ho

zulf bikhre siyaah raat chhaane lage (When tresses spread, the black night starts looming over,)

zulf lehraaye to raat gaane lage

zulf zanjeer hai phir bhi kitni haseen (her tresses bind me up like in chains, and they are so beautiful)

reshamee reshamee (like silk)

ambaree ambaree... (like the sky with the rains)

Yuva

hum kis gali ja rahay, hum kis gali ja rahay 

apna koi thikkana nahi, apna koi thikkana nahi

armanoon ki anjumaan mein besud hai apni lagan mein

apna koi fasanna nahi apna koi thikhaana nahi 

Prateeksha

Jab woh ek aawaaz bayaan kare aapke do saal ka chittha
Jab woh ek aawaaz bataaye aapka bhavishya
Jab woh ek aawaaz jo ek pal ke liye ho
Kya itne khokle ho aap jo woh ek aawaaz aapko paribhashit kare?

Personalities, Change and Effort

Do personalities change?
I was told recently that they don't. And I could not argue against that more than I did.
What about "shaping"? What about Pavlov and his dog? Or Skinner and his reinforcements?
These two social scientists demonstrated that people can change. Can is to be emphasized. And yet, I was told people don't change.

I have been intensely studying the MBTI test, understanding its framework. This is a test based on the characteristics that the self-reporting person sees him/ her endowed with.

People do change. If they want to. My sample set for the basis of this statement is statistically insignificant, however, I have observed that those who reported change in their personalities reported this after some crisis hit them. A break up, a firing from the job, a family crisis, puberty, college, moving away from parents.

The point is people change when they want to. I think it is a myth that people remain the same. They do not. The way they see the world changes. Man does not live in isolation. Being social, he interacts with his environment and cognizes this interaction to make meaning out of it and behaves accordingly. This cognitive process changes his attitudes and value systems.

However, the easy way out always is to say, "I am like this, you are like that." Inertia I believe. Or taking the easier route. Sounds similar to the advice given to Alia Bhatt in Dear Zindagi. Sound advice, I must say. But till what level? In what all contexts? Does that apply to casual relationships? Does that apply to marriage? Does that apply to relationships with family? With society?