कुछ सवाल ऐसे भी

राजमाता भाषा के दरबार में आज हिंदी कुछ सवाल लेकर आई है,

वो पूछती है,

मेरे अंशो से बनी प्रेमचंद की पुस्तक,

क्या वो पुस्तकालय में सिर्फ पड़ी है ,

या वो तुमने कभी वक़्त निकालकर सच में पढ़ी है ?

वो प्यार के चंद लफ्ज़,

जिससे इस देश के शायरों ने सिर्फ मुझमें बुना है,

कभी सोचा है,

की कुछ तो उन्होंने भी सोचा होगा ,

जब ‘तेरे घर के सामने घर ‘ बनाने के लिए उन्होंने ‘GH’ नहीं पर ‘घ’ को चुना है ।

 

तुम्हें हर किताब ने ये पढ़ाया की अंग्रेज़ी को भारत में गोरो ने बढ़ाया ,

मेरे जीवन जा पहला सवेरा कब आया ,

ये कितनी किताबो ने तुम्हें बताया?

अंग्रेज़ी में बात करने पर तो हम सबको अभिमान है,

जो कोई दोस्त चंद शब्द हिंदी में भेज दे,

तो बड़ी अकड़ से कहते हैं,

अंग्रेज़ी में लिख यार,

हिंदी का अब कहाँ ज्ञान है?

 

जनतंत्र के चौथे स्तंभ की डगमगाती चाल है,

मनोरंजन का क्षेत्र पूर्ण हिंदी है,

पर कहाँ है हिंदी में बेखौफ पत्रकारिता,

ये बड़ा सवाल है,

घर में बस बड़े बूढ़े पड़ते हिंदी का अखबार हैं,

पापा कहते बच्चों को,

अंग्रेज़ी की vocabulary बड़ा बेटा,

जो आज के समाज में औदा न बढ़ाये,

ऐसी भाषा पढ़ना बेकार है।

 

आज इस भरे दरबार में राजमाता मैं आपसे पूछती हूँ,

आज मात्र भाषा को पीछे छोड़ रहे,

काल मात्र भूमि को पीछे छोड़ देंगे,

कुछ कीजिये,

ये ‘आज के लोग’

कल अपनी हर एक जड़ से नाता तोड़ देंगे।

–  Paranjaya Mehra

 

 

The hypocritical Indian mentality

Say the word Indian mentality and I will say the word hypocritical. Hypocrisy sadly is inbuilt in the Indian mentality. (Yes I am an Indian and I am calling Indian mentality hypocritic.) We aren’t turning our back to the ancient cultures and are also not following the west completely and thus we land face-first in the puddle of hypocrisy. In a common man’s language, hypocrisy is double standards.

The comfort level of Indians while talking about “the S word” (I am a true Indian. I don’t say the word SEX) is inversely proportional to the size of India’s population. We will soon be the youngest country in the world. We face a population boom and yet somewhere in one corner our nation a father just changed a channel because a condom ad was coming on the channel, a mother just answered bhagwan ji se laye on being asked how are children born. Why do we even claim to be the land of Kamasutra?  I think no economic or foreign policy but proper sex-ed is the answer to how to not outnumber China in terms of population in the coming years. Don’t you think we will successfully go past the issue of depleting availability of basic resources for all if we educate our population about sex?

We had put up rainbow display pictures when America legalized gay marriages but we still kill our youth in the name of honour killing if they dare marry in a different caste. As many news reports say – Honour killing in India increased by almost 800% from 2015-16 to 2016-17. Let’s solve our own issues first? Our politicians are caught watching porn on the internet during Parliament sessions and interestingly, that is what they end up banning for the population.  Practice what you preach – Heard of it? In India, if counted, the cases in which the police arrested people kissing in public will surely be more than those in which people were arrested for peeing in public. If you show your affection in public, or kiss in public, you will most probably land in jail. Peeing in public might not land you in prison. Welcome to India.  What do we say to a man being beaten by a lady –  “आदमी होकर औरत से मार खाता है।” What do we say to a man beating a lady? “आदमी होकर औरत पर हाथ उठाता है।” Poor guys!  On one hand we proudly take part in protests against women harassment and on the other what do some of us do there? We inappropriately touch the women present there. (case in point – protests against December 16 rape case accused). Our society and law doesn’t even give due consideration to male rape cases because “MEN CAN’T GET RAPED.” We refuse to accept that women can inflict sexual violence on men. When was the last time you read about a male rape survivor’s case being reported in an Indian daily? When was the last time we made a rape accused feel ashamed of the act and not the victim? Our society looks down so much upon a rape victim that this factor at times prevents cases from being reported because ladki ki izzat ka sawal hai. We are anti-dowry but pro-alimony why? We are anti dowry because “why should a woman pay a man for marrying her?” I support that but then let’s be anti-alimony too. Why can’t a woman earn on her own after a divorce? If you are not together anymore why do you expect money? Stand up, use your educational qualification and earn for yourself. Amir Khan says ye karykram samaj ke prati mera kartavy hai but charges in crores per episode. Pehle lakshmi pooja fir kam dooja? #SamajSeva

I am not asking you to change your notions about things or your societal beliefs. All I am asking is that whatever you believe in, make sure that belief doesn’t change from time to time and from person to person. Your belief should be the same no matter your girlfriend is standing in front of you or your colleague. Let’s practice what we preach. Let’s support inter caste marriage first and then think of supporting gay marriages. Let a crime be a crime no matter the gender of the victim. As Tennessee Williams quotes, “The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite.” Let’s not be liars. Let’s accept that somewhere in all of us is a hypocrite. With acceptance will begin the change.

– Paranjaya Mehra