वक्त के सफर में

इस शहर में मैं अक्सर वक्त से टकरा जाता हूँ। यूँ तो दिन भर चलते चलते कभी वक्त का एह्सास नहीं होता। कभी कभी जब नई-पुरानी इमारतों के जंगल के बीच साँस लेते कुछ खंडहरों से मुलाक़ात होती है तब वक्त सामने खड़ा नज़र आता है। एहसास होता है की हम पहले बाशिंदे नहीं हैं इस शहर के। हमसे पहले जाने कितनी जिन्दगियाँ, कितनी सभ्यताएँ रह चुकी हैं यहाँ , जी चुकी हैं दिल्ली को। वो सब अपने कुछ न कुछ निशाँ छोड़ गईं हैं, जिन्हें हम खंडहरों के रूप में देखते हैं। क्या हो अगर ये खंडहर किसी दिन फिर से जिंदा हो जाएँ अचानक? कुछ बोल पड़ें? क्या कहेंगे ये?

कल जब मेरी मुलाक़ात अग्रसेन की बाओली से हुई, तब मैं यही सोच रहा था। बारहखम्बा और कस्तूरबा गाँधी मार्ग - दिल्ली की दो ऐतिहासिक सड़कें, जिन्होंने पनाह दे रखी है दिल्ली के कई ऐसे निशानों को जिन्हें सिर्फ़ ये शहर और इसके लोग ही नहीं, दुनिया के कोने- कोने के लोग पहचानते हैं। British Council, American Centre, Max Mueller Bhawan, Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Hindustan Times मुख्यालय, Statesman House, Modern School - जाने पहचाने इन पतों की फहरिस्त काफ़ी लम्बी है। इन दोनों दिग्गज सड़कों के बीच, किसी भूले हुए अँगरेज़ अधिकारी का नाम लिए एक सोई हुई सी सड़क है, हेली रोड। ये सड़क जहाँ अपनी एक बांह फैलाती है Tolstoy Marg से मिलने के लिए वहीं से शुरू होता है एक छोटा सा सफर, जो आज से शुरू होकर आज ही पर ख़त्म होता है, बस बीच में कुछ देर कल के पास रुक जाता है।

आप भी रुक कर देखें तो वक्त के कुछ क़दमों के निशाँ यहाँ नज़र आएँगे, इस बाओली के रूप में। जहाँ तक मैं जानकारी इकट्ठी कर पाया हूँ, ऐसा कोई भी ऐतिहासिक सहारा नहीं है जो इसकी पूरी कहानी बयाँ करता हो। माना जाता है की इसे शायद द्वापर युग - महाभारत जब की कहानी है - में महाराज अग्रसेन ने बनवाया था। चौदहवीं शताब्दी में अग्रवाल समुदाय - अग्रसेन को जिसका जनक माना जाता है - ने फिर से इसे बनवाया था , या इसकी मरम्मत करवाई थी।

आधुनिक भारत के कई पड़ाव अपने कैमरे में क़ैद करने वाले फोटोग्राफर रघु राय ने जब इस बाओली को अपने कैमरे में उतारा था तब इसमें पानी भी था। पर आज ये पूरी तरह सूख चुकी है। बाक़ी हैं तो चंद सीढियां, सीढियों के इर्द-गिर्द बनी दीवारें और दीवारों में बने खोह। मै जब सीढियों से नीचे उतर रहा था तो ऐसा लग रहा था की मानो वक्त में ही उतर रहा हूँ। सीढियां आखरी माले तक जाती हैं, जहाँ से बावली की असली शुरुआत होती है। वहाँ काफ़ी कचरा और थोड़ा सा जमा हुआ पानी है , जिसकी वजह से एक बदबू सी आती है। एक माला ऊपर खड़े हो कर आप नीचे देख सकते हैं और सोच सकते हैं कि कैसी होती होगी ये जगह जब इसके तीन माले पानी के नीचे हुआ करते थे। गुम्बदनुमा इसकी छत पर चमगादडों का राज है, जैसा की हर भूली हुई इमारत में होता है।

सामने नज़र आने वाले इस पूरे ढाँचे के पीछे एक उदास सा कुँआ भी है। अगर पानी सामने वाली बावली में हुआ करता था तो फिर इस कुंए कि क्या उपयोगिता थी, समझ में नहीं आता। ख्याल सिर्फ़ इतना आता है कि बावली सामने है, तब तो बिसरी हुई है। पीछे कि तरफ़ गुमनामी कि ज़िन्दगी जी रहा ये कुँआ कैसा महसूस करता होगा।

Believe me or not,dats me!

A rare idol of Lord Kartikeya,son of Lord Shiva,at the Patna Museum. I knew of Kartikeya as a warrior,the commander of the army of gods. Here,he is shown as a music lover too. The museum also houses a statue of a dancing Kartikeya! Beat that!

Bhaya

Written on a city bus in patna.city buses are a relatively new phenomena for patna,a city that used to run on shared 6-8 seater autorickshaws and pedal-driven cycle rickshaws till just a couple of years back.There wasnt much room or need on these modes of transport for displaying the route.With the coming of these buses,this too is a new phenomena for the city.Notice the local dialect's effect on the language.The "bhaya" is the local equivalent of via..:-;-)

Sansad ke galiyaaron se ek shaam ki tasveer..

Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary - You are unwelcome

This is a notice erected outside Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary in Haryana. This was my first trip to a bird sanctuary, so m not too sure if all of them carry similar threatening notices. What i am sure of is that i have never seen anything like that before. You may not be able to view it properly in the pic, so heres the transliteration -

YOU A HUMAN BEING ARE MUST UNWELCOME (WHERE THE BIRDS ARE CONCERNED THAT IS) THEY DONT LIKE HUMAN BUT THEY CANNOT TELL YOU TO LEAVE, WE KNOW THAT THE WORD "PARK" CONJOURS UP VISION OF GREEN GRASS, SHADY TREES AND SOMEWHERE COOL TO EAT. YOUR PICNIC AND ALLOW CHILDREN TO RUN AROUN PLAYING GAMES, SOMEWHERE TO PLAY YOU TRANSISTOR FED WITH A CASSETTE OF THE LATEST POP MUSIC. BIRDS DONT LIKE POP MUSIC (THEY DONT LIKE RAVI SHANKER OR BEETHOVEN EITHER), SO AS THIS IS A BIRDS PARADISE PLEASE HELP US MAINTAIN IT IN SUCH A MANNER THAT WILL BRING THEM BACK TO US YEAR AFTER YEAR TO ENJOY THE SAFETY AND PRIVACY WHICH, WITH HELP AND COOPERATION, WE WILL CREAT FOR THEM.

NO FOOD OR PICNIC
NO MUSIC
NO GAMES
NO ALCOHOL
NO NOISE

IF YOU DO NOT RESPECT THE WISHES OF THE BIRDS YOU WILL BE TOLD TO LEAVE NOT BY BIRDS BUT BY HUMANS.

BY ORDER:
CHIEF WILD LIFE WARDEN, HARYANA

Nizamuddin: A much awaited trip

You just can’t have enough of this city. There’s no end to the treasures it holds within its streets and by lanes. As I parked my motorcycle at the beginning of a crowded lane in the enigmatic Nizamuddin area of south Delhi, I was wondering whether this was something like the rabbit’s hole that led Alice from a familiar world to a wonderland. The feeling grew stronger as we waded through a sea of white-capped people, who were emerging out of the grand madarsa nearby or from the several small restaurants lining the lane on both sides. Some were returning from the dargah that this lane led to - my destination. An old monument caught my eye just as the row of eateries ended. The old building of red sandstone stood alone and in the dark, forgotten just like a tree by the roadside merges with the surrounding milieu. I kept staring at it for a few seconds and moved on, quickly allowing the next sight to grab my attention. We stopped at the tomb of Mirza Ghalib, wondering how he came to be entombed so far away from his residence at Ballimaran in Chandni Chowk. A lady was begging me for alms, to whom I said, “Aage jaao”. She replied, without a moment of hesitation, “Aage se hi toh aa rahi hu”. I carried on the conversation, saying, “Toh aur aage jao”. But she had the last word, as she went away telling me in the manner of a reprimand, “Aage jaao, aage jaao…Allah ke ghar me aaye hain, gharib ko kuch de nahi sakte.”

One is often tempted to give alms to beggars, but one doesn’t know what, actually, is the right thing to do in such situations: give alms at that instance and encourage begging, which has become an organised racket in most big cities, or shoo away the beggar with an “aage jaao” and risk committing the sin of not helping somebody who might be in real need of one’s help. As the poor woman went away, her chiding made me wonder that maybe she was actually in need.

But I digress. We went on and encountered two rows of innumerable shops, again on either side of the lane, selling several versions of the Holy Quran, trinkets, chaadars, flowers, incense sticks and a few other articles to be offered at the mazaar. They were ferociously vying for our attention, calling us on the pretext of depositing our footwear with them. My friend, not a first-time-visitor like me, selected the shop she was familiar with. We deposited our footwear with the shopkeeper, washed our hands, purchased the necessary items to be offered at the mazaar, covered our heads, and surged ahead. As the end of the rabbit hole neared, we could hear faint strains of a qawwali and the accompanying clapping. After paying obeisance at the tomb of Amir Khusrau, said to be the greatest follower of Nizamuddin Auliya - the great sufi saint whose tomb is the most famous one in the area and also after whom the locality is named – I saw the qawwals sitting in an open area facing the tomb of the saint.

They sat amidst listeners, comprising locals as well as foreign tourists. What they sang was barely comprehensible but people sat mesmerised. So did I.

Swinging my head to the tunes, I promised myself that I would come here some other Thursday and sit throughout the performance.

A brief visit to the baoli situated within the campus and we were heading out of the place, with me wondering that sometimes, how easily old wishes come true just like that. In order to go back home with a ‘complete’ experience, we also stopped by at one of the eateries and had some mutton biryani and chicken leg. My friend suggested we have some phirni too, but I was already full. And not just with the food.