Hindu

Read yesterday that Julia Roberts has turned Hindu . She's now practicing the religion . I am born as a Hindu or so I believe as I am raised as Hindu. I never thought what it really means to " practice" a religion . Perhaps it is the way I live my life , eat or cook my food , believe in Karma ,treat people,celebrate things. Trying to figure out what it really meant to me to be a "Hindu" .

In the schooldays while studying History, we all have come across the forceful conversions of Hindus into Islam or Christianity.I remember how amused I was at that tiny age also by the fact how people thought of themselves converted if they ate a bread made by the Christians. Thousands of villages had been " converted" into christains by the bread(paav ). Religion might mean faith and followers of the same breed. But then we all are humans , we are not animals looking different from each other and possessing specific skills .

I am born in India . Lived here for 25 years of my life , visiting temples , doing "Artis" at home , not eating "non-veg" food on Thursdays and Tuesdays and in Shravan. Then I had the chance to be in USA for five years where I learned to eat meat on any given day as vegan choices were limited (and bland !) Hardly I visited temples or tried to find the Almighty by driving miles and miles away . Was I a half-hindu then ? My daughter was born in USA . She never knew names of deities or she couldn't put her hands together for a " namaskar". I doubt what religion she would have practiced if she continued to live there .

As for Julia Roberts , sharing this news with media just before release of her movie leaves many brows raised.

Krushn ..

तुला नाही सूर्य झाकता आला
आणि घूँघट ओढून अंधार झाला ,असा देखावाही नाही करता आला
राधे ,तुझ्या चेह्र्यावर त्या दिवशी प्रत्येकाने पाहिली .... मुकी कासाविस संध्याकाळ.,
आणि नंतर दूर डोंगरात धडाडून पेटला ...वणव्याचा केशरी जाल

अर्ध्या रस्त्यात सोडला हात तुझा घात केला त्यानं
बिनमोलाचं केलं अवघं आयुष्य एक निरोप घेण्यानं..
हात हललेला तू पाहिलास !
रथ चाललेला तू पाहिलास!
पण खिळून राहिलीस ठायिच , नाही धावलीस मागे आवेशानं..

कळलं न तुला
शेवटी मनापासून मन दूर जातं
तेंव्हा कुणाला कशाचाच अडसर उरत नसतो ..
ना अंगाचा वास ,ना शपथांचा फास
श्वास अडतो की घुसमटतो याचा विचार ही नसतो ,जनारयाच्या मनात .
काल होते हात हातात , आज नाहीत .
संबंधाचा अर्थ सामवातो एवढ्याच साध्या वस्तुस्थीतित .

हवं ते हवं तेंव्हा घेतो तो , मिळवतो , खेळवतो ... मालावतो .
त्याच्यातून त्याच्याचसाठी उगवतात स्वीकार ..नकार
जग त्याच्याभोवती तो सहज वळवतो


त्याच्या ओळखीआड असते एक अदय अनोळख
तो यमुनेच्या जळात कधी कान्हा होउन हसतो ..
तर कधी कालिया होउन डसतो ..
राधे,, पुरूष असाही असतो ...

aruna dhere.

Anay ..

Anay ha Radhecha navra ..

अनय

नक्षत्रांच्या गावातून उतरली होतीस तू त्याच्या घरात;
मेघश्याम आभाळाची ओढ तुझ्या रक्तातच होती
हे समजलं होतं त्याला, अगदी पहिल्यापासून.
तुझ्या बाईपणाची जात विजेची, शेजेला घेता न येणारी
ओळखून होता तो आतून, आतून, खोल मनातून.

तुझ्या झिळमिळ स्वप्नांच्या मोरपिसांना
त्याने कधी देऊ पाहिले नाहीत आपले डोळे,
आणि नाही गढूळ केले कधी तुझ्या देहात हिनकळणारे
धुंदमदिर निळे तळे.

त्याच्या मृण्मय आयुष्यात उमटली होती
अमराचा अळता लावलेली तुझी पावले.
घरात तुझ्या असण्याचा अविनाशी गंध होता;
काठोकाठ भरून होता तो नुसत्या तुझ्या आसपास वावरण्याने;
तुझ्याशी खोलवर कृतज्ञ होता.

पाहिलं त्यानं तुला उंच बेभान उसळताना;
रात्रीच्या रसज्ञ काळ्या अंधारात मिसळताना;
मधुर विषाचे घोट खुळ्या ओठांनी आकंठ घेताना;
पिसावताना, रसावताना,
अस्तित्वाचा कण न्‌ कण
प्रेमाच्या चेहऱ्यावर उत्कट उधळून देताना.

कळली त्याला तहान तुझ्या तृप्तीला लागलेली अतृप्तीची;
दु:खाचं नख लागलेल्या काळजाची तडफड कळली शर्थीची;
कळली कशी असते प्रेमात स्त्री भरतीची आणि सरतीची.

तू हरलीस हे त्याला कळलं, पण निरर्थाच्या वाटेवर
हरवली नाहीस, स्वत्व सांभाळून उरलीस तशीच, हेही कळलं.
त्यानं पुढे होऊन तुझ्या पापणीवरचा शोक टिपला,
त्या क्षणी, राधे तुला तुझा पुरुष भेटला.
पुरुष-जो क्षमा करून नाही ऋणी करत;
पाठ फिरवून नाही उणी करत;
घेतो समजून, सावरतो, आवरतो, उराशी धरतो;
आपल्या नसलेल्या स्वप्नांसाठीही आपल्या काळजाचं घर करतो.
राधे, पुरुष असाही असतो!

- अरुणा ढेरे, ’मौज दिवाळी’ २००४

Life in a Love ..(Robert Browning )

Life In A Love


Escape me?
Never---
Beloved!
While I am I, and you are you,
So long as the world contains us both,
Me the loving and you the loth
While the one eludes, must the other pursue.
My life is a fault at last, I fear:
It seems too much like a fate, indeed!
Though I do my best I shall scarce succeed.
But what if I fail of my purpose here?
It is but to keep the nerves at strain,
To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall,
And, baffled, get up and begin again,---
So the chace takes up one's life ' that's all.
While, look but once from your farthest bound
At me so deep in the dust and dark,
No sooner the old hope goes to ground
Than a new one, straight to the self-same mark,
I shape me---
Ever
Removed!

Robert Browning

Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies।
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,The curl of my lips.
I'm a womanPhenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand orFall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,And the joy in my feet.
I'm a womanPhenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,The grace of my style.
I'm a woman Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump aboutOr have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me

i carry your heart with me(E E Cummings )

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)

i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)
i want no world (for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing

here is the deepest secret nobody knows(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

The Female of the species -Gauri Deshpande

The female of the species



Sometimes you want to talk

about love and despair

and the ungratefulness of children

A man is no use whatever then .

You want then your mother

or your sister

or the girl with whom you went to through the school,

and your first love ,and her -

first child -a girl-

and your second.

You sit with them and talk .

She sews and you sit and sip

and speak of the rate of rice

and the price of tea

and the scarcity of cheese.

You know both that you 've spoken

of love,despair and ungratefulness of children.

- Gauri Deshpande

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One passage from her short novel" teruoo" (which means" rising Sun" in Japanese ):

"प्रेमात पड़णे किती ग्रांड असते नाही तेरुओ, प्रथम प्रेमात पड्ण्यात नुसता आनंद होता ,नंतर नंतर मग ,त्या प्रेमात डावपेच,मालकी ,असूया ,निराशा ,स्वप्नाभंग सारं काही येत गेलं आणि एकेक वेळा ही पुढची सारी दुःखे टाळ्ण्यासाठी प्रेमच टाळावासं वाटू लागलं"

Or

"..जन्मभर स्वतःला कसलेही गहन प्रश्न न विचारत बसता नाकासमोर वाट चालत गेलेल्या तेरुओ ने अखेर माझ्या हातात माझ्याच आयुष्याचे सार देऊन टाकलं !लेटिट बी .असू दे .प्रेम असू दे. आनंद असू दे .मिलन असू दे. विरह असू दे,दुःख असू दे, वियोग असू दे ,निरोप घेणे असू दे ,मृत्युही असू दे.नको फ़क्त खंत .जे आपण घड्वीत असतो ,जे घडत जातं ,ते हातात उरतंच .गळून जावा खेद अणि फुका पश्चाताप."