Wings to Affection - Part 1

Let’s get into the brief with the characters.

Boy’s character:

A boy acting responsible in front of his family but lives like a king in the night. He had two faces like a coin has. From a rich family but love, affection was quite unknown to him because he thinks that his family did not like him for any reason. The whole day he completes his work being an employee of the company but at night he relaxes using so-called ‘stress breaker’. This role of an employee was a little suffocating for him and did not prefer to live in between the crowd other than his friends. Got addicted to artificial wings to fly which he gains from ‘drugs’. His family was unaware of this and this makes him enjoy his life without hesitation.

Girl’s character:

She has a rich heart, but dark in color surviving in a middle-class family. Our society judges us by appearance and that sometimes makes difficult to the person residing in the social surrounding. The family’s case was totally different from him. Her family was over-possessive and that made an obstacle for her freedom. She said goodbye to her home for 4 times but unfortunately got found back. Following the phrase and ignoring the society she steps forward to her life. The phrase states, “outer beauty attracts but inner beauty captivates” by Kate Angell. 

 (The day has dropped with the sunset and night has taken its position)

He turned into the king and proceeded to the location where he finds heaven. On the other side, she is upset and angry too because her family refused to give her permission to attend the party thrown by her friends. The watchman of his bungalow played a villain in the picture.  The watchman was moving to his night shift through the location where the boy was ruling his kingdom. Suddenly the watchman got a nature call and he went towards the dry plants to relax. In the process, he found the boy with his addicted life. As a result, his family got informed about his dark life.

She decided to leave her freedom less life and family for the 5th time. Packed her clothes, pocket money, and all her belongings except her mobile phone. She loves to be in a crowd but again no freedom in the crowd too. She has a secret stress breaker which is a secret now. Her plans were unorganized but she was sure to board the first bus from the depot falling on her eyes. She was not bothered about the destination as she was well skilled in self-defense. As decided she boarded the first bus leaving her home silently and occupied the last seat of the vehicle.

This boy’s mind alerted him about something wrong because he got many calls from his family and before a few moments he felt like someone is spying on him. Calls are never encountered by him at this time and thus doubted about his secret revealed. He loves his darkened life so rushed towards the depot to catch the first bus so that he is out of reach from the family. Sprinting towards the transport in an abnormal state made him difficult but still succeeded to reach the depot. He blocked the last seat so that he can sleep comfortably and enjoy the hangover. But, but the moment he spreads his legs in the seat, he got an opposing force which attracted him to gravitational force. After falling from the seat he still took a nap and looked unaffected. I hope we all know who was in the last seat already and who is responsible for pushing him down.  

Journey without the tragedy is no fun

The journey turned into the routes of city to rural one. Rural welcomes its passengers with nature but at night it does not looks pleasant especially when you are in between the dense forests. The bus completed only half an hour traveling, a sudden break by the driver made the passengers shock. The reason behind this halting was the wheel got punctured. The conductor asked the passengers to alight from the bus. Everyone got down from the bus and occupied some places to sit around the dense forests. The boy without being aware of entering into the bush is quite wild and dangerous, he continued his steps. A lady from the fellow passengers shouted him from the back, “Don’t enter into the danger son”. The girl from the distance approached this lady shouting and decided to stop him and take him back. As the boy was in a hangover mood, the girl believed to help him.

The girl had a dream to explore the jungle at night but with a planned source. She with courage dropping her feet to the ground kept walking in search of him. The night time witnesses’ active wild animals and humans cannot assure of safety thus this lowered her confidence. Wolf screaming, snakes hissing and frog making sounds started irritating her and making her nervous too. After covering a kilometer she found him and that happiness accelerated her speed towards him. Only a few distances over him and still running with speed. Finally, she approached but the wrong person.

By 

Nidhi Mehta

Dombivli, India

कविता

मैं चाहती हूँ

तुम आओ एक शाम

जब दिशाएँ शीतल हों

आसमान में लाली हो

गोधूलि हो चारों ओर

पंछी लौट रहे हों घर

एक अनन्त हरे मैदान में

हम चलेंगे 

शरीर से परे

आत्मा की भाँति

प्रकाश की तरह 

किसी न ख़त्म होने वाले पथ पर..

----

मुहब्बत सबको आज़माती है मुझे - तुम्हें ,, इसे - उसे हर किसी को जो भी इसको या ये किसी को छू भर भी दे तो आज़मा लेती है,, सोचती भी नहीं कि बंदे/बंदी पर कैसी गुज़रेगी। 

मैं आजमाऊंगी अपनी मुहोंब्बत....

और फिर तुम्हारा छम से आ जाना, जैसे रूह में रब का उतर जाना,, जैसे जेठ की गर्मी में ओस से लिपटी घास का मिल जाना,, जैसे आषाढ़ मास में नाचता मोर दिख जाना।

कमबख़्त मुहब्बत कभी हारती नहीं, और दुआ भी यही है कभी हारे नहीं।

अच्छा लगता है अपनी छोटी छोटी ज़िद जीतना।

ए,, इश्क़ चल,,,आज तुझे होठों से लगा ही लेते है,,,देखते है,,तू मुझमें उतरता हैं.. या मैं तुझमें,,,

By

Pradnya Rasal

Home

The moment I hear this word a wide 90 mm screen displays lots of lost and found memories. But my friends when I see myself, I see me as a child.

At that time our needs are very limited not like nowadays blessed kids and hence home meant everything. I used to love being home with family members and that's all the happiness I needed to feel content. Grandparents HOME at native were cherries on the cake.

                    

Then came a stage when I felt my home is a cage as there are lots of restrictions and limitations for everything I did and wanted to do on my own. The meaning of home replaced to the word "Apna Adda" where I used to meet my then best buddies and used to feel relaxed and at home.

Later got married and as told and heard since childhood in every Indian Family the famous dialogue says "Aaj se tumhara sasural hi tumhara ghar (home) hai" Got busy with a new family, getting accustomed to their habits, likes, dislikes, rules and trying to adapt them and also fit me in the family as such to impress everyone without hurting them. This includes getting familiar to things which I'm not used to and agreeing to what my heart disagrees. Trying hard to make myself feel happy while keeping others happy.

                       

Now, whenever I get the chance to visit parents and my cousin's it's never said home. It's always addressed as parents home, cousins home or meeting relatives at their place.

                      

Throughout the journey of life the definition of " Home " changed from time to time according to our change in age and requirements. But now when I look back and think of the same journey the gist is "Home is where you are your own and happy. The place and the people around us don't make a home. It's people around you who make you feel happy, special and give you peace who make you feel home.

                      

Whenever I have a tough day and have been drained out of thoughts and feel lost I miss my brother who was very close to me for a tight hug n his shoulder to rest my head and just say  I'm done for today. That perhaps is my home. The warmth, peace, happiness, support, the depth you feel connected to maybe a place or a person makes you feel "HOME"

                        

May God Bless everyone in this earth with a beautiful "HOME."

By

Sarala Bhagat

Diva, Mumbai

Royal Bengal Tiger

Royal Bengal Tiger!

The most glamorous species I have ever seen in the wild (in my opinion)

We have the Royal Bengal Tiger, the subspecies of tiger found only in India and Bangladesh. I happened to visit the Kanha national park in Dec 2003 as a part of the MSc Environment Science curriculum. Kanha national park is one of the largest in India, with rich biodiversity, covering an area of 1945 sq. km; centrally located in India, in the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is one of the scenic and picturesque national parks. Every national park has its own beauty and charm. As soon as we reached the ‘Mogli resort’ in the buffer area of the national park, we were divided into a group of 5, with each group in one gypsy. Our trails were supposed to start the next day. It was a different experience, a trip with no network, no mobile phones, no television, no traffic, no fast food, no pollution, and most important; no concrete jungles could be seen to the farthest sight. Thank god, then in 2003, it was a world without WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Even now I do not use my phone and I am like ‘cut off from social media’ when I am on a trip. I do cherish the moment I am in. I try to connect with nature rather than social media.

Next day, at about 4 am, we got into our respective gypsy; someone mentioned that one has to be lucky to catch a glimpse of the tiger. Our gypsy driver and guide were with us to accompany for the next 4 days on our trails. We all had crossed our fingers hoping that we see at least one tiger during our stay of 4 days. Of course, we were not there just on a trip to eat good food and go on trails, but also to analyze the forest management and come up with strategic solutions on current problems. 

While we were going through the kaccha roads in the forest, our driver and guide were telling us stories of when and how many times they have seen a tiger. As it is usual to see cows, cats, pigs, dogs on streets of any Indian city, we could see Chitals (Spotted deer), Egrets, Langurs, Peacocks, Bisons, Sambhar (not the South Indian dish!) while passing by different paths in the jungle. We did also see Barasingha, Barking deer and Nilgai. Believe me; you need to be lucky to see any animal in the jungle. Suddenly we heard that the calls of Langurs and Chitals were different and then the guide said, “yahin kahin pass mein hain woh”. Soon he spotted the tiger in the grassland and everyone was very excited and all eyes were stuck at the tiger through binoculars. That was the first time when I saw a tiger in the wild and I could sense the power of the tiger in the wild. Other animals reacted and gave alarm calls to each other to be aware as the tiger was nearby. There was a behavioral change in the wild among all species. He was 8 feet in length and was approximately 500m away in a perpendicular direction from the gypsy. As soon as the tiger was located, everyone gathered there within 4-5mins. Some foreigners went crazy and started taking shots of the glamourous cat with their Nikon cameras. Unlike now, the silence was maintained so that the tiger should not be disturbed and he should not leave the place. Now I feel the immense need of really educating people and making them aware that you cannot make noise, scream with excitement, try to click selfies… my goodness..it is getting crazy day by day… After a few minutes, that tiger, that was sitting initially, stood up and started a few steps towards us. All the people in the gypsy, about 8-10 of them, all went reverse half km. Wow! Such power he could make us feel. Just through his eyes- 

“Hey it's me, I have the power. Get back to your concrete jungle, this is my jungle” Yes! We had seen tiger roaming in the wilderness. It is difficult to describe in words, but it is totally adventurous and thrilling to see any species in the wild.

In 1972, tiger census was conducted and only 1800 odd tigers were left in India. After that, ‘Project Tiger’ is the wildlife conservation moment that was initiated in India in 1973 and was launched at Corbett National Park to protect Royal Bengal Tiger. Various Tiger reserves were created and now there are 50 tiger reserves in the country.

The number of tigers is decreasing. Poaching has to be stopped! But despite measures taken by officials, poaching remains one of the biggest threats as it is practically difficult to control such big areas. In addition to that, loss of ecosystem, the niche that a tiger needs, is decreasing. Encroachment, deforestation, urbanization, and industrialization have taken away the home of wild species. It is believed that Chinese medicines use tiger bones in their preparation. Because of such beliefs, one gets a high price and poachers tend to kill wild animals. Environmental awareness towards conserving such species is also essential. But, who needs to be aware? I suppose the environmental officials are very well aware of conserving biodiversity. They know the repercussion of loss of such species which is at the apex of the food pyramid. Then where is the gap? The latest news is that PM announces New Department of Wildlife under the Ministry of Environment and Forest.

We hope people become more aware and also environment officials become more alert, then we have the hope to save the extinction of our national animal. It is not only that the government officials are supposed to do their bit, but we all should be alert and contribute our ways to save our own National Animal - Tiger. I believe Eco tourism is one of the upcoming streams and has good prospects. India, having rich biodiversity, will be able to earn more revenue by conserving this species.  Foreigners do pay handsome bucks to see this species in the wild. Poaching activities would be at loss then and ecotourism will be the profit face. Through means of ecotourism we could generate revenue and thus to save tigers, we will automatically have to conserve our forests.

Only 1411 left! Aircel’s initiative ‘Save our Tigers’ in 2008 was creating a lot of awareness by showcasing sportspersons as their brand ambassador of the campaign. I don’t know how this campaign will help at ground level conservation measures, but surely, many initiatives like this and conservation measures have increased the numbers to 3890 in 2016. 

By

Jui Natu

Stuttgart, Germany

उपास की उपवास

 

नुकतीच आषाढी एकादशी आणि संकष्टी चतुर्थी झाली. या दोन्ही दिवशी सुहृदांच्या आणि वर्गमैत्रीणींच्या गाठीभेटीत या विषयावर अनेकानेक विनोद, मते, मतांतरे, दिक्षित की दिवेकरॽ आणि खाण्याच्या विविध पदार्थांची रेलचेलही अनुभवायला मिळाली आणि आज त्याच संदर्भात गेल्या वर्षी गीतेच्या अभ्यासादरम्यान जे आकलन झाले ते मांडायचा आज प्रयत्न. 

मराठीत हे दोन्ही शब्द आपण एकाच अर्थाने वापरतो. बहुधा खाण्याच्या अनुषंगानेच त्याचा जास्त विचार होतांना दिसतो. माणसाला आस म्हणजेच इच्छा इतक्या असतात की त्यांना कधी अंतच नसतो. उपास या शब्दाची फोड केली तर उप + आस अशी करता येईल. आस म्हणजे इच्छा. तिला उप म्हणजे दुय्यम स्थान द्यावयाचे असा अर्थ आपण या शब्दाचा घेऊयात. खाण्याच्या पदार्थांवरची इच्छा जास्त तीव्र असतात आणि त्या सतत बदलतही असतात. म्हणून अन्नावरची इच्छा कमी करण्यासाठी उपास हा पर्याय सांगितला आहे. त्याचबरोबर जसे अन्न तसे मन होते. व्रत कराल तेव्हा तरी सात्विक आहार, अल्प आहार यासारख्या गोष्टीतून संयम व त्याचबरोबर आरोग्य दोन्हीचाही समन्वय साधलेला दिसेल. अर्थात आज आपण ‘एकादशी दुप्पट खाशी’ या म्हणीला जागून वागतो अंह खातो ते इथे अभिप्रेत नव्हे. आपल्याकडच्या एकादशी व्रताची पद्धत म्हणजे दर पंधरा दिवसांनी येणाऱ्या दशमीला रात्री अल्पाहार घ्यायचा. एकादशीला निर्जला जमले तर उत्तमच अन्यथा निराहार तरी रहावयाचे आणि द्वादशीला माध्यान्ही सात्विक भोजन घ्यावयाचे अशी पद्धत सांगितली आहे. २०१६ चे चिकित्सा संबंधीचे नोबेल पारितोषिक जेम्स पी. एलिसन( यूएसए) आणि तसाकू होन्जो(जपान) यांना मिळाले आहे. त्यात त्यांनी कॅन्सर होऊच नये यासाठी काय करायला हवे यावर जोर दिला आहे. त्यांच्या संशोधनाप्रमाणे दर पंधरा दिवसांनी एक दिवस पूर्ण अन्न वर्ज्य केले तर आपल्या शरीरातील नको असलेल्या पेशींचा नाश केला जातो. आपल्याकडे एकादशीचा उपवास ज्या पद्धतीने करायला सांगितला आहे तीच पद्धत त्यांनी त्या संशोधनात नमूद केली आहे. आहे की नाही गंमत. धर्मपालन व्हावे या हेतूबरोबरच आरोग्य उत्तम रहावे यासाठीच आपल्या प्रथा, निर्बंध, परंपरेने चालत आले होते. आपण केवळ रुढी म्हणून त्याकडे पाहिले आणि त्यामागचे विज्ञान समजूनच घेतले नाही. 

आज पोट भरण्याची विवंचना फार लोकांना आहे असे दिसत नाही. पण समाधान नावाची गोष्ट मात्र फारच अल्प प्रमाणात दिसते. याला कारण माणसाला असलेली हाव. अर्थात इच्छेचा अतिरेक. एकाच गोष्टीचा अतिरेक असतो असे नाही तर अनंत गोष्टींच्या इच्छा त्याला असतात. त्या सगळ्या पूर्ण व्हाव्या अशी अपेक्षा असते आणि त्यासाठी तो अनेकविध आघाड्यांवर मोर्चेबांधणी करतो. ‘अनेक दरडींवर पाय आणि मग घे आपल्याच शरीरावर घाय’ असे तुकाराम महाराज सांगतात तसा अनुभव येतो. यासाठीच धर्मशास्त्र आपल्याला उपवास करायला म्हणजेच अहंभाव सोडून त्या परमतत्त्वाचा अनुभव घेण्यासाठी त्याच्याजवळ वास कर असे सांगतात. स्वतःच्या स्वार्थाशिवाय जे जे करता येईल ते कसे आणि केव्हा करायचे यासाठी स्वस्थ बसणे म्हणजे उपवास. आपल्यातल्याच अंतरात्म्याजवळ काही काळ स्थित आणि स्थिर होणे म्हणजे उपवास. कोणीही व्यक्ती असो कोणत्या ना कोणत्या कारणाने दुर्वृत्ती होतच असते. ती कार्यान्वित होणार नाही याची दक्षता घेण्यासाठी करावयाचा उपाय म्हणजे उपवास. 

उपवास या शब्दाची फोड उप + वास. म्हणजे एकाद्या जवळ वास करणे.  अन्नाची मात्रा नगण्य घेऊन परमेश्वराजवळ सान्निध्य अशी उपास आणि उपवास या शब्दांमागील संकल्पना आपण समजून घेतली तर आपणांस तो करावा की करु नये असा प्रश्न पडणारच नाही तर वैज्ञानिक दृष्ट्या आपली प्रकृति उत्तम रहावी व मनःस्वास्थ्य चांगले रहावे यासाठी असलेली संकल्पना अंगिकारावी असेच वाटेल. 

By

Padma Dabke

Pune, India