सर्दियों का भोजन - परम् सुख

सर्दियों के मौसम में खाने का आनंद कुछ ऐसा है...

उस पीली मक्के की रोटी से जब सरसों के साग को उठाते हैं, क्या गज़ब कलर कॉम्बिनेशन नज़र आता है,

गर्मा गरम गोभी के पराठों पर तैरता हुआ मक्ख़न मन को जो लुभाता है, स्वाद की इन्द्रियों को वो जगाता है,

अदरक वाली चाय में जब काली मिर्च पड़ जाती है, बिस्कुट भी बड़े प्रेम से उसमे डुबकी लगता है,

हरे चने की कचोरी पर जब पढती है खट्टी मीठी इमली और ताज़े धनिया की तीख़ी चटनी, परम् सुख वो कहलाता है,

गर्म जलेबी से तरती हुई चाशनी, उसके केसरिया रंग को निखरती है और हमारी आँखे उसे निहारती है,

आलू बड़े में से जब नाज़ुक से मटर छुप कर हमें देखते हैं, लगता है मानो हमें पुकार रहे हो,

गाजर का हलवा भी कहाँ पीछे रह पाता है, दूध मलाई , मेवे में सिकाई और वो सौंधी सी खुशबू जीवन का सार बताता है,

तिल तिल कर बढ़ते ठंड के दिनों में तिल गुड़ की मिठास मुँह में घुल कर स्वास्थ्य बढ़ा जाती है,

केसर बादाम का दूध जब एक ग्लास से दूसरे ग्लास में और फिर पहले ग्लास में मिलाया जाता है, मन कहता है उसकी नज़र उतारी जाना तो बनता है,

गर्मा गर्म कुरमुरे मसालेदार गराडू जब प्लेट मे इठलाते है, हमारे मन को मंत्र मुग्ध कर जाते है,

सर्दियों मे खाने के जो आनंद आते है उसका कोई तोड़ नहीं, जीवन के परम सुखों मे सर्वप्रथम है यही।

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बचपन

याद आता है बचपन का वो फ़साना

ना रोने का कारण ना हंसने का बहाना,

कागज़ की नाव बना कर बारिश में नहाना,

ठंड में ढूंढना स्कूल ना जाने का बहाना,

भाई बहन के झगड़े में रिमोट का टूट जाना,

"super mario" को टीवी में कुदाना,

दीवाली के पटाखे बीस दिन पहले से जलना,

होली पर पानी की पिचकारी में भी आनंद था सुहाना,

ना सुबह की खबर, ना शाम का ठिकाना,

थक कर स्कूल से आना, फिर भी बाहर खेलने जाना,

ना youtube की swiping ना PS 4 के बटन दबाना,

चित्रहार, महाभारत, तरंग के इंतज़ार में चहकना,

छोटी सी साईकल पर फेरी लगाना,

गुड्डे गुड़िया और गिल्ली डंडे का खेल लगता सुहाना,

नया पेंसिल बॉक्स आने पर चार दिन खुशियां मनाना,

स्कूल में बर्थडे पर क्लास में टॉफ़ी बांटना,

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एक प्याली चाय

ज़िन्दगी भी चाय की ही तरह है,

घूंट घूंट कर इसे पी लीजिए,

शक्कर की मिठास का लुत्फ़ उठाना है,

तो दूध सा निर्मल हो लीजिए,

इलाइची का सुकून, अदरक का तीखापन मिलता है इसमें,

ऐसे ही सुख दुख की कुल्हड़ छलकाते रहिये,

मिलने दीजिये कड़क चायपत्ती भी,

धैर्य रखें, फिर रंग और स्वाद का कमाल देखिये,

तपिश आएगी जाएगी समय समय पर,

उबाल आने तक इंतज़ार कर लीजिए,

छन छन कर मुश्किलें थम जाएंगी,

फिर प्याला भर आनंद ले लीजिए,

सोच विचार चिन्ता फिकर में क्यों बिताएं पल,

सामने रखी चाय ना ठंडी होने दीजिए,

कप, प्याली, कुल्हड़ या गिलास चाहे जिसमें पी लीजिये,

जीने का तरीका अपना अनोखा चुन लीजिए,

बिस्कुट और पकोड़े साथ हो ना हो,

ये अकेली भी कहाँ बुरी है पी लीजिए,

अपनों संग ठहाके लगाएं, सुख दुख बांट लीजिए,

चाय की चुस्कियों संग रिश्तों की बहार सजा लीजिए।

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माँ का जन्म

जब एक बच्चा जन्म लेता है,

तब माँ का भी जन्म होता है,

कैसे उसे सुलायें,

कैसे नहलाएं,

पेट भरा या नहीं कैसे जान पाएं,

भूखा तो नहीं कैसे बतलायें,

इतना क्यों रोता है,

ठीक से क्या वो सोता है,

कितनी डरी सहमी वो रहती है,

आख़िर माँ भी तो अभी जन्मी होती है,

इंजीनियर डॉक्टर बनने में सालों लग जाते हैं,

कोचिंग और इंटर्नशिप भी करवाते हैं,

माँ को तो सीधा परीक्षा में ही बैठते हैं,

योग्यता और तैयारी के प्रश्न कहां आते हैं,

पूरा जीवन वो मातृत्व सीखने में लग जाती है,

लेकिन हर पल नवजात सी वो घबराती है,

सवालों के जवाब आजीवन देती जाती है,

कटघरे में खड़ा ख़ुद को पाती है,

बच्चा क्यों दुबला है, क्या ठीक से नहीं खिलाती हो,

परीक्षा में कम अंक आये, क्या उसे नहीं पढ़ाती हो,

इतनी व्यस्त रहती हो क्या बच्चे पर ध्यान दे पाती हो,

तुमने उसे बिगड़ा है, क्यों नहीं आंख दिखाती हो,

अपने परों को समेट कर उसने आँचल बनाया है,

माँ ने ख़ुद को भुला कर उसे अपनी पहचान बनाया है,

अपने मन की तरंग को विराम उसने लगाया है,

तब जा कर उसने माँ के रूप में जन्म को सार्थक बनाया है।

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Being Me

Being the flawless mother,

And a sublime partner,

A cook, advisor, and a teaser,

Crazy and hazy nagger,

From the weekend laundry,

And the weekday crockery,

The stack of grocery,

And the shack of cutlery,

The ardent worker,

And the workforce docker,

Ready to take all the failure,

But I am not a loser,

I know it's a phase,

But life's become a race,

I know I have to be skeptical,

And be adaptable,

I adore this with ultimate vanity,

Because this is life's beauty.

I can't be none of thee,

So I adore being me!

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निराला

उसके चंचल चेतन में, छोटे से मन के उपवन में,

अनेक सवाल उठते होंगे, अद्भुत खयाल आते होंगे,

ना जाने क्या सोचता होगा, क्या उसको समझता होगा,

विचित्र दुनिया का हर कोण होगा, विचार वृद्धि का वेग होगा,

पेड़ पौधे उपवन आंगन पहेलियों की कड़ियाँ,

सड़क पर दौड़ती गाड़ियां, पशु पक्षी की किलकारियां, अचरज की होंगी झड़ियाँ,

भाषा और शब्दों की श्रृंखला में टटोलता होगा,

वो कभी अपरिचित अनोखी कहानियां,

क्रोध क्लेश का भावावेश, 

क्या समझे वो करना द्वेष,

ना हंसी ठिठोली करना आये, उसको ना आये परिहास,

कपट विषाद निरीह निराला ना जाने वो त्रास,

किसका धन और कैसी माया,

रिश्तों का बंधन है किसने बतलाया,

ना देव दानव को वो पहचाने, ना कीर्तन भजन जाने

वो बैरागी,

सरल चित्त से करता विश्वास, विशुद्ध उसका मन अनुरागी,

पूजा अरज से ना साधे काज वो निस्वार्थ,

प्रतिफल और प्रतिकार है विचार निरर्थ,

सदैव रहता है निश्छल निर्मल नदी सा वह 

उत्साहित ,

असीम हो कर छलकती उत्सुकता की गागर,

क्या अपना क्या पराया कैसे रक्त का कौन है जाया,

जिसमे उसने प्रीति देखी मनोवेग ले वो मुस्काया |

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Too Blessed to Be Perplexed

Life is too short and too magical to be unhappy. Whether you are a stay at home mom, an office going mom, or stepping into both their shoes while working from home.

Being a stay at home mother, during my maternity leave days was hard, gave me constant learning about how the joys and challenges of motherhood go hand in hand. I used to long to return to work, get some me-time en route, listen to cool music and later enjoy an uninterrupted cup of coffee. At the same time, upon returning to work, those days which demanded more work and had tough deadlines, I was determined to escape and nurse my child, mechanically living the hush hush routine. Now, trying to work from home during these pandemic times is, indeed, harder. My head spins and I feel like loosing my sanity. Working in 25-minute shifts leaves you with a jittery feeling and a gives sense that you are failing both. It fills you with guilt to the brim, the guilt of not attending to either of them enough, and the guilt of entirely forgetting yourself. At the same time, it fills you with joy to be able to see your child growing in front of you and not missing on his activities, to be able to feed him by yourself and him not being stuffed by any of his daycare center's caregivers. Also, no worry to rush home from work is a bliss.

Now that I have done all the three, I know each of these has its own challenges and delights.

This juggling goes on in a parent's life and leaves you puzzled. Nevertheless, every phase of your child's growth makes you feel that he is as dependent on you as much as he is free. Just as every child is different, every mother also is. No one can teach you how to mother your child, you learn from experiences, and your motherhood, rather, your parenthood grows along with the child. Nothing persists, whatever you are doing and however you are doing, be proud of yourself.

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Lessons I Learnt From My Toddler

My toddler is 17 months and 9 days old as of today. His newly discovered skill of walking all by himself is undoubtedly his reason to rejoice. His excitement for life and every object and creature that he sees is noteworthy.

One fine evening when we took him for a walk, he startled us by chasing a stray dog to the extent of scaring it and finally making sure that the dog disappeared. The walk doubled up for us as jogging.

Unaware of the laws of the universe, he doesn't know that he is supposed to be scared of dogs and not be otherwise, and that they may bite or run after him.

The irrationality the kids have at this age drives parents to the brink of sanity, along with their constant fits and tantrums. But at the same time, their simple actions and perceptions make us learn big life lessons like these...


1. Express yourself. Scream when you want, weep if you feel like. Don't hold back your tears. If it does nothing, atleast it is good for your lungs.
2. Sleep when you are tired, and not when you ought to. Sleep as many times a day as you want, and wake up all perked up.
3. Eat if and when you are hungry, and eat only to satiate your hunger and not to empty your plate.
4. Live life in the moment, don't die planning your future.
5. Learn something new each day, and be excited about what you learn. Be curious about your surroundings.
6. Be contended in yourself and love all those you want. You can't make 6 billion people on the earth happy at the same time.  
7. When you don't get what you want, cry for it, fight for it or in the end, leave it.
8. Celebrate yourself, expect others to join in.
9. When you hear no, make it a yes.
10. Don't care about what others think of you. Let yourself be their problem, not yours! Like I say, tension lene ka nahi, dene ka
11. Take risks, be adventurous and never be anxious.
12. Have faith. Faith that everything will be okay, and faith in those who love you.
13. Don't hold grudges, forgive quickly and move on. Negative emotions must be drained. If you don't like something, move. You are not a tree.
14. Given a choice, choose to be happy. Toddlers find happiness in things as simple as a cardboard box, a spoon or a flying paper.
15. Don't complicate life. Accept that you won't get it, unless you ask for it.

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Overloaded Pandemic

"Sharing is caring, sharing is fun. We can all share together..." These are a few lines from one of the nursery rhymes which my toddler keenly watches these days on YouTube. For kids, it simply implies sharing personal belongings or meals. For adults, we can infer sharing work!

In our society, a husband doing household chores means "helping" the wife. On the contrary, wife doing them signifies it as her duty, a thankless job, that came along with the package of the feras of her marriage. A working husband is someone who earns the bread and butter for the family since ages. A working wife, with all certainty is passing her time. We stay in a society where people frown at the mention of a lady not being able to cook, chuckle on hearing if a man does. They generously use the word "lucky wife" on hearing if the husband prepares evening tea for the exhausted wife. In the same society a child is the Raja beta or Papa's Pari, who is allowed to reject home-cooked food, or bargains eating against extra 30 minutes on iPad. The child learns what he/she sees, of course!

Despite of all this, the societal norms are mutating and a faithful balance is being developed slowly but eventually. The newer generations are westernizing and accepting that the burden of household chores are to be bore by the household, and not the house-lady. Exclaiming at a particular gender's participation in the process is subsiding.

Like many, we are navigating uncharted waters: e-learning and working remotely from home; social distancing is taking away everything. Being together is a huge advantage we have as families right now, but we might be too close to it to see it as a gift. It is a real blessing to have each other in this.

In a nuclear family setup like that of ours, taking care of a 1.5 year old child is not a child's play. They say it takes a village to bring up a child. During these social distancing times, our village lies in our household. A growing child needs a lot of attention, and with parents working from home, its a dire challenge. To be able to understand that mother is not just responsible for changing the soiled diapers and handling a crying baby, while the father is sitting on the couch hooked to the TV, waiting to play with the child. In our family, the father is as good as the mother :) We have divided our chores and very well manage them along working from home for our full time jobs. This is how we #ShareTheLoad !

When it comes to daily chores, for which we as urban Indians used to be heavily dependent on maids and cooks, relationships are put to test. My husband chops vegetables and I prepare them. I handle the tantrum throwing toddler, his father cleans the utensils. When I clean the house, he does the laundry. This is what brings harmony in the relationship, and you see your fondness for each other grow on knowing well how your better half understands you, and the family needs. At first, you are awed to see each other doing all that they have never done. Being brought up in a cozy environment, where your parents did all the chores while you sat studying, or pursuing your hobbies, and later depending on maids, all this comes as a shock. Gradually you get used to it, and that's how you grow old together. #ShareChoresMultiplyLove is the mantra.

We never know when these unprecedented times would end. Amidst everything gloomy and the earth still rotating on the axis of Corona, a pinch of affinity in the family is much needed.

Don't forget to watch how Ariel motivates us to  #ShareTheLaundry.

I will #ShareTheLoad and help in household chores in association with Ariel India and BlogAdda

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A Pinch of Humour

Meanwhile,  amidst everything serious, and the earth rotating on the axis of Corona, I thought of adding a pinch of humor and wit to our world !

On planet Facebook, some ladies are nonchalantly sharing their "saree clad" pictures. They call it a "challenge".  Really! If that's a challenge, I wonder then how our mothers and grandmothers had been living such challenging lives. They also say, that these pictures are posted to bring smile on their friends' faces in these gloomy times. I awe at how people are doing data entry jobs for free! On a sarcastic note, how do such moronic ideas click to only certain humans. 

Nevertheless, sarcasm is like electricity, half of the country doesn't get it.

Meanwhile, as one of the popular jokes states, people are busy vanishing maida and sooji from the earth, by demonstrating their culinary talent. Opened Whatsapp status this morning to see one of my friends just burped of Biryani, the other posted 5 photos of some ugly looking deep fried snacks and someone just prepared fresh out of oven half baked chocolate cake garnished with Gems.

Looking at the messages on my Whatsapp and Telegram groups, I got a mischievous idea. I clubbed multiple messages together, copied and shuffled them. This created a humorous chain. Read below to gain a smile -

Any good tailor nearby? Hi, we shifted here yesterday, waiting to catch up...

This is ridiculous, some dog pooped in front of the club house?  Please assemble in front of the Club House for flag hoisting.

My son's crocs are missing from the playground. Please suggest some good temples nearby. 

Can someone suggest the nearest gas agency. The flush of my toilet is not working... ?

Someone has parked their car in my parking. Please contact me if someone wants to buy my 2BHK.

The maid Jaymala has not yet arrived. If someone has a spare granite slab, please DM me. 

Please don't feed pigeons in the balcony. The builder has reserved that area for STP.

What are the charges for vegetable chopping every day? It is clearly mentioned in our sale agreement.

I wonder if we are going to emerge alive out of this pandemic. Ever wondered that we never remain satisfied with whatever life gives us. What has come, shall go someday. These times, may be good or bad, your perspective, but shall end someday. And that day, we may miss how staying home was a bliss and not a punishment. Though, a balance is a must, but remember there have been days when we longed for staying back, away from the life's race. 

I read this somewhere, sometime -

वक़्त अच्छा जरुर आता है....

बस कमबख्त वक़्त पर नहीं आता...!!

पल-पल तरसते थे जिस पल के लिए...

वो पल भी आया कुछ पल के लिए...!!

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