Why are we here
To stand, pause
And just stare?
Or wait
For a whiff of fresh air
Thoughts that surprise
Flowers that have no price
Grow In the garden
That is manured
By the tears uncalled
A journey to nowhere
But stalled
I m now
Here
Thanks to the steps
I faltered
You stopped
And halted
The sway of a storm
Untamed and
With a mind of its own
When I was in pain
When I was in pain
I was born again
You sculpted me afresh
In the rain
When I was in pain
The clay dissolved
The North Star moved
A bit away
From its well settled
Position, it held its sway
Now I m here
In pain again
Why have I suffered
The redeeming healing
Is it the fear
Of losing care
The truth
That I may not dare
To say and share
But why will I hide
The remarks you made
Vicious and snide
But does it really matter
Who cares, what will a pod scatter
Seeds ripe to sow the pain
Again
You sculpt me in the rain
You sculpt me in the Rain
do you miss it.., you asked
Do I miss that
You ask
In a yellow cafe
With blue curtains
Set amidst a trove of palms
Most are tall
But some might have
Sprouted
Recently
May be a few years ago
They are still trying to
Gather
Enough haughty strength
To bear with storms
May be in a desert
Of desires
To touch
to feel
And
To smell
The aroma of breaths
That often connect the purity of
Heart
Like passing through a tunnel
Of tense corridor of concern
And a smiling sky
Laden with a quilt of clouds
With no doubt
Little to hold
Little to choose
And you ask
Do I miss
A kiss
That engraves signature
Of timeless love
Of yesteryears hanging like a curtain
On a worn out window
With lose hinges
And who knows
The panes may give way
Next time you bang the door
In anger at my patience
And also the placidity
Of pure love
As if a green creeper on a dead tree
Embraces the breeze
And then with a twinkle in its eye
Smile at the snail
Who is walking slowly
To the same place
Where you asked
Do you really miss
Do you
Do
reflection in a broken mirror
distances could not drive the fear
out of a black small cat
she remained still
under a window
half open
as if
light had got tired of remaining inside
so started filtering out
slowly
just as curtain moved
and wind blew it away
i could see clearly
the reflection of a broken mirror
on that wall
on which calendar still showed a year old date
said the falcon
peaks are assailable now
said the falcon
and a storm took off
but like a love and hate relationship
between creativity and Skill
her wings flapped, and then faltered
her dreams had not foreseen
a avalanche
so severe
that all the fences
that farmer had built at the base of the mountain
will give way
her nest with young ones wasn’t around
had they flown away in time
she might find out soon
peaks are still assailable
in a lake of tears, embryo swims
embryo of love
was so sure
green as it was
but devoid of any doubt
it embarked upon its own journey
in a maze of sounds
lights and touches all over
but it needed to swim
in a lake of tears
which had washed the steps of the temple
where purity was worshipped
will you come with me to pray
come
pray
be pure
dont draw red lines only
all was in sync
but then something
held you back
from giving your best
was it a desire to explore
new avenues
or just
a wish to explore avenues for flying too high
but then
all layers are in sync again
dont draw too many red lines
blues are ok, pink will do too
may be a bit of yellow
but dont draw red lines only
On a platter
wasted tears
spent years
why would one scatter
all the rays
when the white sun was served on a platter
Stolen Childhood: greatest robbery of this century
Stolen Childhood: greatest robbery of this century
There couldn’t be a more opportune moment for remembering millions of children who toil in cotton fields, brick making Bhatta, construction industry, roadside dhabas and restaurants and above all, houses of the the elites.
Restoring Childhood ought to be the first priority of any civilised nation. Nobel peace prize to Mallala and Kailash satyarthi is a testimony that global conscience can’t not be kept unpricked any longer.
How to do address this complex problem and are there some solutions that can be tried in the short and long run.
Honey bee Network had the opportunity last year to take several Initiatives through a partnership with ILO india office.
We organised a summer school for students of technology from all over the country at sristi to explore opportunities for eliminating child labour. Details are available at www.sristi.org/nochildlabour/ showing how much difference could be made just in a month. If 35 students could tackle at least a few problems and take the resolution a few steps ahead, how much more could be done if thousands of students are challenged to address these problems on priority as apart of pedagogy for inclusive innovations.
We have all seen sugarcane juice extracting mills on hand carts or in shops. Generally when a sugarcane is put for squeezing first time, a child is standing on the other end to handover the partly squeezed cane back to the operator fir second squeeze.
A group of students came out with an idea to put just a curved tin sheet at the other end do that the cane bends upward due to the curve of the sheet. Operator can hold it and pull it for second squeeze. Child labour is no more needed.
Similarly, many people might have observed that palm leaves are beaten by poor workers including children and women on a wooden pls is having nails to make fibre out of it. These fibres are then bundled together into a broom.
Another group led by Raghunath lohar made a pedal operated machine and then another one made it smaller, even motor operated to reduce drudgery. Mansukhbhai’s innovation if cotton stripper for 797 variety of dryland cotton has almost eliminated child labour from cotton stripping function. But in other activities of irrigated cotton, child labour problem still remains. Farmers have to take a vow and so also the state and market so that those children are in school rather in the field bypassing education.
General principle seems to be that so long as productivity is low, child labour can not be removed from any task. Improve productivity, affordability and reliability and the child labour is eliminated. I m not saying that technology alone can address the problem. But I am indeed saying that children can be saved from labour with the help of technology which eliminates the tasks engaging them or Improves productivity of those tasks or/and improves income of parents to enable them to go school.
We need to decide whether indian aspiration to become a world power will ever be realised without getting rid of such blemishes in our social fabric.
Sent from my iPad
voice of children in chain
when the prayers are in vain
the struggles of the lost souls
demands
many more lamps to be lighted
the children who
lost the innocence
before they knew what it was
to be carefree
are not going to wait indefinitely
like a swarm of locusts
they will devour
all tbe flowers
you tend
in your garden
hoping that
nimble fingers that pollinated them
will remain quiet
for ever