भ्रष्टाचार का पट्टा (Poem on Corruption)

This is a short poem that I wrote in Hindi on corruption. The corresponding English meaning is given underneath. Hope you like it!

हर तरफ एक सवाल है                                                            

इंसानों का तोह बुरा हाल है                                                      
पता नही हमारा क्या होगा                            
क्या इस जहां में सच और न्याय का वास होगा?                        
मैं जानती नही, मगर यह कह सकती हूँ  
की निवास करती है इस जहान में  पैसे की बू  
मगर बस इतना जानती हूँ की एक गुलाब की सुर्गंध  
मिटा सकती है भ्रष्टाचार की दुर्गन्ध  
यह देश है हमारा, मिट्टी है हमारी  
और अब  समय आ गया है की हम बने सच्चे भारत वासी
अब चलें हम साथ में  
और हटाएँ भ्रष्टाचार का पट्टा ॥

Each and everyone has a question
Urge of human beings are the worst affected
We do not know what will happen
Where is the abode of truth and justice in this?
I do not know, but I can tell you this
we live in this world from the smell of money
But just know that the smell of a rose
Can erase the stench of corruption
This is our land, our soil
and now the time has come that we become true Indians
Now let's walk together
Remove the strap of corruption.

HELP! (Poem on Domestic Violence)

Here is a short poem that I wrote on domestic violence and keeping faith. Please do leave your comments and reviews!

I scream for you, now I am locked
save me, open me, let me crawl out
I am struggling to walk and reach the door
he hit me, beat me, jailed me in
and walked away, as if I never existed.

My hands are cuffed, bruised and bleeding
my eyes are red because of the tears streaming down
help me, save me, and find me a way
to break free and fly away.

Then the sun ray hits my face
I look up and see Him smiling
I hear His voice say, 'I am always there'
and I am healed.

He helped me up, get back back on my feet
to face the world and beat defeat
a face that never smiled has lit up now
a hope has dawned, determination follows.

Even if you hit me, beat me, or kill me now
I will never die, but will be immortal
because with love and happiness,
I can conquer the whole world, and not just you.

Kids, leave them teachers alone! (A Response)

Is this the future?

While reading the ‘Hindustan Times’ newspaper today, I came across a headline that said, “Kids, leave them teachers alone”. Finding it hard to resist reading the cover story I sat down to read the article. It starts with “The shock surrounding the recent incident in Chennai, where a student stabbed his teacher to death after she repeatedly pulled him up for not doing well in academics, has worn off somewhat.” However I disagree. The shock is still prevelant in our heads.

How students are reacting toward their gurus and teachers is not  because we are the generation that was born rebellious. We, genX was born just like everyone else before us, maybe in better hospitals and better conditions, but the same nevertheless.
I do not believe that if you give the teachers sticks in their hands to beat the students, the attitude of the students can change. A stick in the hand of the teacher will still be less than the knife in the hands of that Channai student. Looking through the old scriptures one can find various things that influence today. ‘Pen is mightier than the sword’ is a fairly used proverb. But what we see as the truth is that the sword can kill, but what can the pen do.

A way to approach students like these (rebellious/disruptive) should be via the parents. The parents have the full capability to make their kids aware about the fact that if they do not study, they will fail and even killing the teacher won’t make a difference. The parents can set rules for the children, but with proper explanation. For instance, they should tell their child not to come back home any later than sunset. But when the kids ask for an explanation, they say ‘…because I said so’. Dear parents, if you can give an explanation to the kids about how it is difficult to navigate at dark, crime rate increases during the dark, or whatever your reasons maybe, the children feel secure. They feel that they can trust their parents and also their surroundings.

If there is a good parenting then definitely no teacher needs any weapons to protect themselves from students. School is a place of knowledge, let the temple of knowledge be pure, without any disruptions. After all, we don’t need the most secure places of our lives, our schools, to turn into places of criminal activity.

Satyamev Jayate

Aamir Khan, the bollywood film actor known for doing movies that focus on the social situations in the general everyday environment, has flooded the television screens with his TV show ‘Satyamev Jayate’ .  An inspiring show that started off the first show confronting the topic of female foeteside, gained popularity as soon as it aired!

The social issue being talked about today (13^th May 2012) was ‘Child Sexual Abuse’. How children have been abused and how it doesn’t matter whether you are male or female. How the people who have experienced it have grown out of such an incident in their life. How they teach you to stand on your feet and tell your parent if something is wrong.

Aamir Khan’s approach towards all these issues is tremendous and I genuinely hope that this can make a change in our society. The only question that I ask myself is – Why only Aamir Khan? Why is it that no social media like a news channel was able to spread awareness? 
I wish that the news channels could hold a larger hand in spreading such awareness because there are certain areas where all people can listen to news but not all have the access to turn on television and go to a paid channel such as ‘starplus’. People in villages generally do not get to have a proper satellite TV connection. The news channels are free channels and can hence spread a wider message.

Hope the social media can pull up their socks and start showing information about the various social issues on free channels accessible to audiences anywhere and everywhere. And hats off to Aamir Khan for taking a step towards informing humanity and making a difference!