Monsoon Season and Pleasure of Reading 3

continued...

Some books really brings us out of our shell , makes us aware of so many things. Actually I am living in Mumbai for last 35years but have very little and superficial knowledge about the city. This novel gave me all inside information about the real life of most of the Mumbaikars. It includes Dharavi slum and star bungalows as well as middle class like us.

As I was reading my candle burnt off and I lit up an oil lamp. After some time lamp began to run out of oil and it produced a pale light but still I read on through the night ,when light went off I slept.

Next morning when I woke up it was still raining heavily. 26 July 2005 had the most devastating floods in Mumbai . Life came to a stand still. Schools and colleges , offices all were closed. No electricity no TV ,no radio,no mobile ,no lift ,nothing(ha ha ). Life was as if we were living in some primitive age. But I felt light harted .( no door bell,no kamwali bai,no jhaduwala, no istriwala,no nashta banao,no tiffin pack karo ,no work at all).Wow ! Immediately I continued reading the novel Shantaram for 15 hours a day continuously for 3days. I cut off from the world. Totally engrossed in the novel. I did not feel the pangs of hunger. The book for those three days became my sole companion. Due to pleasure of reading I was the happiest person in the world. Reading enraptures us and transport us to a world of imagination far far away from the world of reality.

Friends ,floods in Monsoon Season was like a blessing in disguise . I could experience the "real Pleasure of Reading" . Wish you a happy reading.

Mansoon Season and Pleasure of Reading 2

Continued
Then I contacted my elder son he was safe in his IIT hostel at Powai. My husband was at DELHI due to some official work,he was safe but could not comeback due to floods on the runway and airport was closed. Oh!what a great relief all my family members were safe during those disastrous floods. I thanked God.

After that by the evening electricity was cut off. I lit the candle and plunged hungrily into reading Shantaram . Though I was alone at home I was not lonely. I was totally engrossed and absorbed in the theme of Shantaram . Robert the author committed a series of robberies while addicted to heroin and was sentenced to nineteen years inprisonment in Australia . After two years he escaped from a maximum security prison in broad day light and became Australia's most wanted man. He made a duplicate passport . Hiding in Mumbai's Dharavi slum , he helped slum dwellers during a fire. He had diploma in first aid .people started calling him doctor, he established a medical clinic. He always used to work quietly to hide identity. He used to be quiet therefore Shantaram name was given to him by his maharashrian friend's mother. He also worked as a counterfeiter ,smuggler and gunrunner for the mafia.
Shantaram novel also attracted me because it is a tale of opposites ,slums and mansions, romantic love and prison torture , philosophers and assassins, mafia gang war and Bollywood films, meditation on good and evil. It is an authentic evocation of MUMBAI life, which carried me from one page to the next without my noticing the passage of time . Reading helps us to see thing from broader perspective .
                                                                                                                   Continue ............

Monsoon Season and Pleasure of Reading 1

Dear Frinds,

Friends,books and precisely novels were the first mass produced commodity and newspapers were the first mass media. Together they enlightened the entire human population and brought them forward from medieval age to the modern age. They were born out of print a mechanical invention .

Now I would like to share some personal experiences with you regarding this Monsoon Season and The Pleasure of Reading. It was in the month of July 2005 , "Shantaram " was the best seller book of that year written by "Gregory David Roberts" an Australian citizen.A novel of high adventure ,great story narration and moral purpose , based on an extraordinary true story.

Shantaram novel was purchased by my elder son and completed reading it in one weekend . Then my younger son also finished reading it within a week, total 933 pages. Now I was also eager to read it , because we always used to discuss the book the author his idea everything at home.

I was curious to know that despite the author being an Australian person and the novel based on his life , why the name Shantaram was given to it ? Being a working woman and a mother I could not get sufficient time to read the book .(ha ha silly excuse ) I started but could not progress beyond fifty pages.
On the afternoon of 25July 2005 it rained heavily.So my lecture was cancelled and with great difficulty I reached home through knee deep water.Immediately I started calling my family members to know their whereabouts . My son called and informed me that his VJTI college was accommodating  all students in the hostel because all roads were submerged under the water.

चिमणा

चिमणा
इटुकला चिमणा आला
             भुर्रकन उडून गेला .
                    पिटुकला चिमणा आला
                           भुर्रकन उडून गेला .
इटुकला आणी पिटुकला
         दोघे चिमणे आले अन्
                 चिवचिवाट करून गेले
                            घरट रिकाम सोडून गेले .
त्यांची उंच भरारी
   मन अचंबित करुन गेले
          त्यांच्या पंखातील बळ
                 मन तृप्त करून गेले .
स्मिता घाटे
१५/०६/२०१५

मेरी परछाईं (हिन्दी)

मेरी परछाईं

प्रातः ईश्वर के सामने शीष झुका कर
एक मंगलमय दिन की प्रार्थना की ,
तब मेरी परछाईं मेरे पीछे शांत खड़ी थी ।

सूर्य को अर्ध्य देकर सूर्यनमस्कार कर
योगासन करने लगी तब ,
मेरी परछाईं मेरे साथ कसरत कर रही थी ।

सबेरे के घरेलू काम निपटाकर
डिब्बा तैयार कर जब काम पर निकली,
तब तेज रफ़्तार से मेरी परछाईं मेरे साथ हो चली थी।

दोपहर की तेज धूप में बैंक जा रही थी,
पोस्ट आॅफिस से कुरीयर भी ले आना था,
उस समय एक छोटी सी परछाईं मेरे पाॅव तले थी ।

शाम सब्ज़ी मंडी होते हुए घर आ रही थी,
तब एक लंबी सी परछाईं बड़ा सा झोला लिए,
मेरे पीछे पाॅव घसीटकर चल रही थी ।

चाय पीकर ,रसोई निपटाकर,
एक गहरी साँस ली तब ,
लगातार मेरी परछाईं मेरा साथ दे रही थी ।

अब फ़ुरसत में देर रात इन्टरनेट खोल बैठी,
मेल चेक करने थे,फ़ेसबुक भी एक बार देखना था,
कुछ पढ़ना था कुछ लिखना भी था ।

मैंने अब देर रात परछाईं से कहा,
तुम तो अब सो जाओ,मेरा साथ छोड़दो,
अब भी कुछ पेपर चेक करने है जो कल ही देने है ।

मेरी परछाईं ने मुझसे कहा,
मैं तुम्हारी रिश्तेदार ,संबंधी या पड़ोसी थोड़े ही हूँ ,
जो मंज़िल पहुॅचे बिना ही अकेले छोड़ दूँ ,
जब तक शरीर में आत्मा है मैं तुम्हारे साथ हूँ ।
मैं धिमा सा नाइट लैम्प लगाकर सो गई ,
तब भी एक धुँधली सी परछाईं मेरे साथ थी ।

मेरी परछाईं ।

अॅगस्ट क्रान्ति स्कूल (हिन्दी)

अॅगस्ट क्रान्ति स्कूल

उस बच्चे का चेहरा मेरा जाना पहचाना था ।
मैंने देखा था उसे मॅकडोनाल्ड के सामने ।
ट्राफिक सिग्नल पर ,सेंटर वन के सामने ।

मैंने देखा था उसे बोरा ढोते हुए ।
क्योंकि, जिस राह से मैं रोज़ गुज़रती थी,
वही राह उसका गुज़ारा करती थी ।

फिर मैंने देखा उसे ' अॅगस्ट क्रान्ति स्कूल' में ।
मैंने देखा उसे पढ़ते-लिखते -गाते हुए ।
देखा उसे गणपति की मूर्ति गढ़ते हुए ।

आज भी उसका चेहरा मेरा जाना पहचाना है ।
पर अब उसकी आँखो में चमक और ओंठो पे मुस्कान है ।
कुछ पा जाने की ख़ुशी और बहुत कुछ कर दिखाने की उमंग है ।

स्मिता घाटे
१३/०८/२०१४

मी खुळी

मी खुळी

मी बाई अशी कशी ..............खुळावले ?
आोव्या,कविता,करता करता........नादावले ?
शब्द, आोळी,अर्थ भावार्थ...............वेड़ावले?
नाद, ताल,लय आणी ठेका...............सुखावले?

मी बाई अशी कशी ..................खुळावले ?

स्मिता घाटे
०८/०८/२०१४