And now, the scenes are different. I was waiting for my parents to come from Lucknow. My father has been a little under the weather. And my Mom told me on the phone that he has been walking a little bent and with some difficulty. I had asked them to ask the airline folks for a wheelchair but when I was waiting for them at the airport, I just had a little hope. That maybe he will walk straight. After all, seeing your parents on wheel chair is not a very pleasant sight for anybody.

And yes, he did walk out of the arrival lounge, a little bent but still. The joy was no different.

अमेरिका के स्कूलों मैं
मौत के खिलोनों मैं
शिक्षक के खून मैं भींगी
बेगुनाह बच्चों की सिसकी मैं
हर रोज़ मरती हूँ लेकिन
मरती नहीं हूँ मैं

पाकिस्तान के जंगलों मैं
धर्म के दंगलों मैं
एक डरी और सहमी हुई
मलाला के स्कूल जाते वक़्त
हर रोज़ मरती हूँ लेकिन
मरती नहीं हूँ मैं

दिल्ली की बसों मैं
वहशियों के अट्टाहसों मैं
एक लोहे की नोक पे
लुटती हुई अस्मतों मैं
हर रोज़ मरती हूँ लेकिन
मरती नहीं हूँ मैं

अपनी  शाखों पे
अनजान परिंदों के
आशियाने बनाता हुआ

वो दरख़्त

एक अनजान मुसाफिर
राहों की गर्द ले के
थक कर बैठ गया
छाँव देता उस को भी

वो दरख़्त

झूमता रहता था
मदमस्त हवाओं मैं
ख़ुशी से

वो दरख़्त

आशियाँ परिंदों के
दर्द लेकिन दरख़्त का
परिंदे कुतर कुतर के
ज़ख्म देते
कतरे कतरे मैं
फिर भी मुस्कुराता

वो दरख़्त

मुसाफिर को बस
सुध थी
अपनी ही थकान की
क्या पता था उस को
कितना रोया था

वो दरख़्त

हवाओं को भी
क्या था पता
कमज़ोर था इस लिए
उसे देख झूम गया था

वो दरख़्त

बोझिल और अन्दर से कमज़ोर
खोखला और थक हुआ
वो हवाओं के साथ
झूमता नहीं था
शक्ति विहीन था
जिस ओर हवाएं ले जातीं
उसी ओर मुड जाता
मुसाफिरों और पंछियों से
क्या कह सकता था वो
पंछियों को आशियाँ देता
मुसाफिरों को छाँव
हवाओं  के साथ झूमता हुआ
बहुत टूटा हुआ था अन्दर से

वो दरख़्त

1986. That is when we shifted from a small city Fatehgarh to Lucknow. I remember the first day. The roads looked so big. And then seven of us ( 5 siblings and parents ) reach this nice looking house in Lucknow. We had rented out the first floor. A graceful lady attired in a Saree and always smiling was welcoming us. She was aunty in first few days but then in UP the tenant and landlord relations are not the usual relations. As time grew we realized more common things between us and you graciously transformed to Mala Mausi ji. And then as time went along I realized as a young kid that you and my mother developed a nice relationship. I got admission in St Thomas in class 8th although I had already completed that class just because I came from a small town and I could not speak English properly. And then you kept accompanying my mother to school to convince my principal that I was not as stupid as he thought me to be. And your effort did work out as I got a double promotion.

Lot of other sweet memories. Mala Mausi made one of the best khichdi you can eat. Lot of onion and garlic. How we used to wait for our next opportunity to get a chance to eat it. And then I used to play cricket, lot of times alone, and sometimes even when you had a severe headache. You will scold me, but with lot of love and affection mixed in it. And then one day when you told me to stop playing when you had headache I told you that your home is like a Tabla. How many times have we discussed and laughed over that.

Another memory I will always cherish is when me and my brother were preparing for engineering. We used to have rough papers in which we will solve math/physics questions and then make aeroplanes and they will be all over the lawn. I never remember you scolding us for that. Maybe you knew that we were working very hard.

And then approximately 3-4 years back, I was in Lucknow for a marriage and I decided to surprise for you and found you smiling and welcoming me to your home. And then just like a kid I asked you to make a khichdi for me and you did make it in a jiffy. It was after ages I was eating khichdi made by you and loved it. And then you told me with so much excitement that you had learnt about stock trading.

It is such a loss to lose you. Still can’t believe that you are no more. Life can be so cruel at times. It takes away people in the most unexpected ways. All I can say is that I loved you and you did make a difference to my life. And the blue sweater you knit for me is a memory I will cherish all my life.

Remembering you always.

क्या मुल्क हैं हम,
क्या क़ौम हैं हम
टूटे फूटे
इंसान हैं हम,
मूँह से खून
टपकता है
शैतान हैं हम
हैवान हैं हम

कहते हैं देवी
नारी को
ये नाटक
बहुत पुराना है
हर एक नज़र
लेकिन अपनी
वहशी भी है
और ज़ालिम भी
शैतान हैं हम
हैवान हैं हम

बुर्क़ा पर्दा
और सती
नारी के हिस्से ही
क्यूँ आया
ढकने और जलाने से
किस का रुतबा
है बढ़ पाया
बहुरुपीए हैं
बेदर्द हैं हम
बिन बुनियाद के
मकान हैं हम
शैतान हैं हम
हैवान हैं हम

कब तक
इस दोजख दुनिया मैं
खेलेंगे हम
इंसानी जिस्मों से
कब तक
अस्मत के सौदागर
घूमेंगे आज़ाद
परिंदों से
तब तक
शर्मिंदा हो कर एक कवि
ये सब को याद दिलाएगा
क्या मुल्क हैं हम,
क्या क़ौम हैं हम
टूटे फूटे
इंसान हैं हम,
मूँह से खून
टपकता है
शैतान हैं हम
हैवान हैं हम
- Birla

वो सहमी हुई होगी
वो टूटी हुई होगी
जब एक दरिंदे ने
अपने आवेश मैं
एक नापाक कदम
उस की ओर बढ़ाया होगा
इंसानियत को उस समय
जाने क्या क्या याद आया होगा
क्या सदियों से
रूढ़िवाद से लिपटे समाज को
उस चीख का दर्द
समझ आया होगा
दरिंदे तो फिर भी
आख़िर दरिंदे हैं
पर सफ़ेदपोश लोगों के भी
ये कैसे गोरखधंधे हैं
कभी नूडल्स को और
कभी मोबाइल को
देखते नहीं कभी अपनी
दिल के मैल को
ये किस ओर
हमारा समाज अग्रसर है
इंसान हैं डरे हुए
और दरिंदों को
ना किसी का डर है
पीड़ा देने वाले
पीड़ित पे इल्ज़ाम लगाते हैं
और निष्ठुर शहरी लोग
परिवार के बहाने से
सब देख के चुप रह जाते हैं
ज़्यादा नहीं कहता ये कवि
बस इतना ही अनुरोध है
अपने बच्चों को बस इतना सिखा देना
किसी भी व्यक्ति को
चाहे वो पुरुष हो या नारी
कभी वस्तु की तरह ना समझो
क्यूँ कि टूटे हुए दिल तो फिर भी जुड़ जाते हैं
पर टूटा हुआ आत्म सम्मान नहीं

- Birla

Anu Malik ka shor
Bappi Lahri ke disco geet
Pritam ki churayi hui dhunein
Nadeem-Shravan ka ho ho ho
Nahin maaf karoonga main
Jab tak hai kaan, Jab tak hai kaan
- Birla

कुछ अरसे से रौशनी हम से नाराज़ रही
कुछ अरसे से मध्यम ज़िंदगी की आवाज़ रही
इस रात दिल की लौ सुबक सुबक के सो जाएगी
इस रात दीवाली हम से ना मनाई जाएगी

लाशों के साए उभरते हैं खून की नदियों से
इंसान का दुश्मन बना है इंसान ही सदियों से
इस रात जाने कितनी ज़िंदगियाँ अधूरी ही खो जाएँगी
इस रात दीवाली हम से ना मनाई जाएगी

ये पटाखों की आवाज़ें ये रोशनी से भरे दिए
अंधेरे दिल के गहराई मैं धुआँ सा भर दिए
आज दिल की तन्हाई दिल को ही कैसे समझाएगी
इस रात दीवाली हम से ना मनाई जाएगी

एक बच्चा भूखे पेट शहर की रोशनियों मैं सो जाएगा
एक बच्चा मीठे की दुकान देख कर ललचाएगा
अमीरों के घर की रोशनी कब ग़रीबों का घर चमकाएगी
इस रात दीवाली हम से ना मनाई जाएगी

The Install

I think it took approx. 2 hrs. I choose the option of retaining my settings and apps. Maybe I should not have done that but anyways I thought it was taking too long. One good thing of that time was that I was able to call some friends and talk to them during that time. Overall the process was smooth and I just had to uninstall some Bluetooth software for compatibility. Everything else just worked.

The UI

Ok there is no start button and you start with some tiles. But that is OK. I guess mobile devices have already got us used to different ways of interacting with our machines. BTW I use Android not Windows. I did get used to it in some time and ya did figure out how to see all apps after some mouse moving. Since the other apps look pretty much the same, did not need much time to pick up things.

The Browser

So we do have a new IE which does look different. Overall I am loving the new interface. Like the fact that it occupies the whole window. Like the concept of private tabs as it enables me to login to another adwords account. The right clicks have changed but that is OK. Sometimes it takes some effort to figure out where to right click but that is ok. Speed is fine as long as you don’t have too many tabs. My usual number of tabs is 10-15 which includes 2 Gmails, FB, Hootsuite, Analytics and Adwords. It becomes sluggish when I added youtube also. When a single window hangs, all go down. And then I found the most irritating bug. I use an internal tool which uses HTTP auth and my browser just refuses to remember the user id/password here. I am sure MS will fix it but annoying for me at this point.

Social Hub

I did all my social accounts but still not sure if I will use it much. I did see that it did not have a simple way to update multiple accounts which is almost a basic need for me now. I use Seesmic or Hootsuite for that. Yet to find much use but time will tell if this is usable. I am a heavy social media user so this better be good to make me migrate.

The Performance

So far so good. This was one of the main reason why I migrated from Win 7. Looks fine as of now but I won’t jump to conclusions at this point. Will cover this more in my next review.

Moral of the Story

I am OK right now. Not very excited but not disappointed either. I will write another review in few days. So stay tuned…

Early morning, or maybe I should call it late night, woke up after just 1.5 hrs of sleep. The usual fight with alarm clock ended with a shock that it was already 4:30. Time to rush towards the airport. I love these early morning drives to airport, there is no traffic on the road and you can enjoy the music and cool air. But then I had thoughts about how the day is going to unfold. I was trying to divert my mind and the thought which flashed through my mind is what the title of this post is. Is there a way we can live a dream instead of leading a life. I don’t remember the context of this but the thought refused to go till I reached the airport where the nice Masala dosa took over the thought process.

Little did I know that the day will unfold into a dream. We were organizing the BBG meetup in an old age home in Mumbai. This was a different type of experience. Falguni, Mangla and Sanjeev had been working to make this reality for a long time. The idea was to do a BBG meetup in an old age home and see if we could bring happiness to people there. The challenge was that will our format work with the seniors and will they sit through a 3-4 hour program.

As the program unfolded we could see the spark coming through everybody’s eyes. A little bit of dance on a song was instrumental in helping the audience to loosen up. The hall was full and we had to ask the younger folks to move to back side of the hall so that senior folks could get closer to stage. The music kept unfolding on the stage and the audience kept growing in numbers and excitement. Everybody was singing and  clapping together as songs kept on moving from melodious to peppy back and forth.

There were three scenes which touched all of us so much that I could see tears in everybody’s eyes, including mine. The first scene was when I saw seniors dancing in wheel chairs. The spirit was irrepressible here.

The second scene was when the audience decided to give a standing ovation after one of the song. The entire hall stood to thank the performer but I could see one frail looking lady, in a light blue dress, probably in her ninties, struggling to stand up. I went up to her and told her that it is fine if she does not stand up but her trembling hands reflected her resolve and spirit. She did get up after a valiant effort.

The third scene was when one of the trustees of the old age home and said that today they have seen God in the form of all of us who brought happiness to all of us via music. It was such a touching expression of love that all of us had our eyes wet.

I usually thank everybody who help us organize these meetups but this time I will not do that for sure. All of us who were involved in organizing this have to thank our life that it gave us an opportunity to bring happiness to so many people, even if it was for an evening. I am sure it will linger on in their minds as well as ours. Happiness is precious and even more precious when you are able to give it to others.

See it in pictures here - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.434754046571365.96512.111281795585260&type=1