This is great.

This is great. Three anthologies in a month. Poems From Third World.(six poems), Safina (15 poems) and Mandela Tributes (one poem).

व्यथा, अन्धकार की

व्यथा, अन्धकार की

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रात्रि का अन्धकार

मूक, बधिर, उपेक्षित

जीवन के आधारभूत मुल्यों को टटोलता

इंसानो के अंतर्मन को समझने के कोशिश करता

आँखे फाड़े, गहन वेदना के साथ

सन्नाटे को साथ लिए

करता है फ़रियाद, विधाता से,

"कि रात्रि के आँचल में क्यूँ रखा उसका वास ?

क्यूँ खामोशी उसकी प्रकृति को आयी रास ?

क्यूँ अमानवीय कर्मो का घटित होना

नहीं होता उसको भास ?

क्यूँ रात्रि उसकी सहभागी बन

झेलती है इतना त्रास ?

फलते-फूलते षड्यंत्रों का वह

चश्मदीद गवाह

अपने ही घर में

आस्तीन के सांपों को पालता

वीभत्स, निंदनीय,घृणित क्रियाओं का

सी सी टी वी के समान

अपने अंतरात्मा पर चित्रित करता

थक गया हूँ, हे भाग्यविधाता

कब समाप्त होगा यह संताप

कब मुक्ति मिलेगी इस त्रासदी से

अन्धकार को रात्रि से और रात्रि को अन्धकार से. "

शायद कभी नहीं

नियति निश्चित है

अन्धकार और रात्रि

सहगामी हैं,पूरक हैं, हमसफ़र हैं

चिरकाल तक, सम्पूर्ण प्रलय तक.////

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सर्वाधिकार सुरक्षित/त्रिभवन कौल 

The Mistake ( a short story)

 THE MISTAKE  ( a short story)

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The train started moving.

“Hi going to Mumbai,” he asked. He looked a rough and tough guy though smartly dressed.

“Yeah,” she replied sternly resenting that he chose only her to talk to.

“I too” he smiled but did not get any further response.

She was toying with her mobile chatting on ‘whats up’ when she heard him saying to a couple seated opposite birth.

“I am in Air Force”

“ Wow ! Are you ? she asked him suddenly.

“ Yes.” He was pleased and exhilarated by her attention.

“ Civilian or uniformed ? “

“ Uniformed”

“ What rank?”

“ Sergeant, I am commanding a squadron”

“ Which one ? You see I have a great fascination for men in uniform”

“ Maratha squadron” he said priding himself.

“ So you are in Air Force, a sergeant and commanding a squadron” She started fiddling with her mobile pretending not to be attentive to him. The couple remained cosy within themselves oblivious of others in the coupe. He started listening to his IPOD.

At Baroda station, the compartment was crowded with Air Force and local police. His bags were searched. RDX was found alongwith pistols and ammunition. He was taken into custody. He was totally bewildered, confused, surprised and perplexed.

“ Hey Mr. I am Nishi. Squadron Leader Nishi of 29 Squadron, Indian Air Force. AF squadrons are christened by numbers and not by names and a squadron is never commanded by a sergeant. She said to him while  he was being whisked away by the police.

Her last words were ringing in his ears in jail and he was cursing his masters/handlers who had trained him across the border.

-------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------All rights reserved/Tribhawan Kaul

kaultribhawan@gmail.com

kaultribhawan@yahoo.co.in

Stone and Pain

On 15^th January,2014 at 0630hrs in Delhi I had an acute and excruciating pain radiating from back to abdomen. Doctors diagnosed it a stone in kidney. My son brought me to Thane ( a suburb of Mumbai on 18^th Jan 14)  This poem originated as some friends at www.verdurez.com desired that I should write a poem on Stone and Pain. So the poem was written on 21 Jan 2014

Stone and Pain

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A dam allowed not to be built

Till opposition decided to be so

Thinking it will stop the flow

Agitated protesters gathered in mass

But invain

Daily routine went to toss

Rolling stones, I was told

Gathers no moss

But gathered it, for sure

There seemed no immediate cure.

A 6 mm stone threw the life, out of gear

Piggy back was pain

Turning the sane Govt., insane.

Mob swelled applying pressure

Threatening barricades ,blocking the lane

Testing the endurance with excruciating pain

Govt. gave up, signalling a truce

Allowing opposition to play their malicious game

Supporting its agenda yet with disdain

Waves after waves, it waxed and waned

Hitting the shore

Back and forth, time and again

Absent were nausea, fever and vomiting

That was some silver lining.

A foreign hand intervened

Dictated a policy expertly framed

Road map was drawn for prosperity

Of an aging but agile entity.

You dear stone and dear pain

Owe, it to you as I

Came to know

My body better than before

And its governance 

Which you tore.

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All rights reserved/Tribhawan Kaul

मन

My poem, a part of the anthology 'Lamhe' brought out by Poets Corner Group during Delhi Poetry Festival (09-12/01/2014)

मन

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मन

कभी चंचल, कभी स्थिर

कल्पनाजनित भ्रमजाल उत्पन करता

आशा,निराशा,अपेक्षाओं और व्याकुलताओं का

मायाजाल बुनता हुआ, कभी

सत्य को मिथ्या और मिथ्या को सत्य में

परिवर्तित करता

यह मन

युद्धरत है निरंतर

विजय पाने को

दुष्टता और बुराई पर

मन

दौड़ लगाता है

अच्छाई और भलाई की

सीमा रेखा छूने को

एक कछुए की तरह

खरगोश रुपी दुश्विचारों को मात दे कर

मन

पथ डूंड लेता है अंतर्मन में झांक कर

सब पाप कर्मो का बहिष्कार कर

अन्तःत विजयी होता है एक दृढ निश्चयी

मन.

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सर्वाधिकार सुरक्षित/त्रिभवन कौल

Politics

Politics

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Cruel is the world

No substitute for mercy

Moon is paying for its deeds

To sleep only with fading stars

The universe is not made of moon alone

Planets gather to conspire

To keep the sun always in good humour

Bright is eclipsed too, forget not

Caste, creed, sex, notions always matter

Statutes are burned by insiders

White and black painting the town red

In born nature of a man coming out in open

Progressive and regressive thoughts fight it out

For the supremacy.

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All rights reserved/Tribhawan Kaul

OLDIES- a short story

OLDIES – a short story

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Bow..bow…bow…

Browny, the dog in the Sharma’s household was constantly barking in pain. Their neighbourer Shuklas were cursing the day when Sharmas shifted into the flat opposite theirs with their old ailing dog.

Rajnarain Shukla tossing in his bed shouted as if to try to make his voice reach to Sharmas,“what the hell ? I come back from office to have peace and look I am not allowed even that privilege in our own home. I don’t know, why people keep pets if they cannot get them treated. Our life has been made miserable by this dog ever since they shifted in our vicinity.” Sheela, wife of Rajnarain also made her displeasure known making noises in the kitchen.

“I shall be talking to Sharma first thing tomorrow morning and also to the secretary of the society.”

“Sure, you should. How long are we going to suffer like this? Let them shoot the dog to alleviate it from its sufferings.”

In the adjacent room, aged father of Rajnarain who was suffering from severe bronchitis had started coughing.

Khow…..Khow…..Khow

Bow….Bow….Bow

 Khow…..khow…..khow

Raj’s father tried to reach to cough syrup also calling Raj in the process. Rajnarain first thought to ignore his call but getting irritated by his father’s constant coughing, he charged into his father’s room.

“Kya Baba, what happened now. Why can’t you take the medicines yourself ?  Neither that dog nor you allow us some peace after a day’s hectic schedule”, Rajnarain said in the tone which was short of admonition.

Panting, his father could only show the empty bottle of the cough syrup and mutter, “ Raj, I told you yesterday…khow..khow…khow….”

“Don’t remind me what I have to do and what I have not. I shall ask Sheela to make kadha*( an ayurvedic medicinal preparation) for you. Take that ayurvedic medicine  till I bring a new one. Do you know how much these allopathic medicines cost?” Saying so, he left the room.

Bow…..bow…boo..bo..b…, the dog’s barking on the other side was getting little subdued as if the dog had no strength to bark.

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It was 11 pm and half of the families in the society were in the process of getting into sleep mode when Rajnarain heard the door bell. He asked his wife to open the door who showed her reluctance by tying her head with a cloth. He had no option but to get up and open the door. At the door, he found Sharma’s daughter with a glass.

“What is it now ?” he asked disgustingly as if dog’s barking was not enough that she had now come to disturb him personally.

“Uncle, Browny is very sick. It has to be given medicine with milk. The milk is finished in our house. If some milk can be spared….,” before she could finish the sentence, Sheela shouted from inside,

“no, there is no  milk. Why don’t you people push that old dog out of the house ? Why don’t you call municipality to take away that dog and kill him.”

“ No, no…aunti. Please don’t say that….please don’t give the milk but don’t say that…” sharma’s daughter ran back to her flat bursting into tears.

Khow……khow…khow

Rajnarain’s father staggered out of his room. Seeing his father Rajnarain got hyper, “kya Baba, why can’t you sit inside the room. Did you take the kadha?”

His father was still coughing intermittently and trying to speak, “you know….Raj….kadha does not suit me, Raj….khow..khow…khow….can you contact my friend ,Doctor Siridharan tomorrow morning .”

“No baba no, I don’t have time tomorrow morning. Take the kadha and sleep.” He replied and gestured Sheela to make the medicine who was least interested in doing so. Baba started gasping for breath. Sheela made no attempt to make her father-in-law  to sit on the chair. She went inside her room beckoning her husband to follow. However Raj caught hold his father and helping him to his bed asked him curtly to sleep and went to his room. Rajnarain’s father drank a glass of hot water from the thermos which soothed her cough a little.

Bow….bow….bow..boooooooo. Browney, the dog again…….

“Do something about that dog,” Sheela asked her husband.

“Yes, I will. Tomorrow morning I shall be going to my friend in Municipality and ask him to take action.” Rajnarain made her wife comfortable before going to sleep. For him complaining to the municipality regarding Browny -the dog was more important than procuring medical aid for his ailing father from Dr. Sridharan.

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Next day in the morning, Rajnarain opened the door and was surprised to find some people gathered outside Sharma’s flat. Someone informed him that Browny had died during the night. He sighed a relief feeling unburdened of some calamity but could not understand why people were so sad and mournful. He was about to turn back into his flat when he saw Sharmas coming out of his flat, holding the  garlanded corpse of Browny in a white cloth followed by his family members including her daughter who had come to ask for the milk yesterday. The respect and reverence with which Browny was carried to his grave could not be digested by Sheela and Rajnarain. They laughed and made fun of Sharmas when some one informed them the real story behind Sharmas love for Browny.

Browny had been with Sharmas since it was a puppy. It was bred and treated nicely. Time and again it proved a saviour for the Sharma family before they had shifted to their new location, the present flat. Once it had saved Sharma household getting robbed when no one was at home. Another day it had alerted Sharmas of possible drowning of their daughter and she was saved in time.  It  had remained glued to Mrs. Sharma’s bed when she fell seriously sick as if praying for her well being without taking any food and water for days together. Everyone thought that because of Browny’s prayers, Mrs. Sharma got well. Sharmas never forgot its contribution even when Browny was growing old and getting older thus unable to render any help. They tended it as best as they could giving it all possible care and treatment even from the best veterinary doctors available in India.

Rajnarain was rendered speechless. He was thinking of his old father. Sharmas’ love & care for their old dog and his own indifference towards his old father made him to  sweat and tremble with unknown guilt. He thought himself to be the murderer of the dog having refused the milk demanded by that little Sharma girl and now he was going to commit another murder, that of his own father. He felt ashamed and Sheela could not meet his eyes too. The mirror images flashed before his eyes of the days when Baba used to bathe him, take him to school, play with him in the garden, spend hours at his bed to watch him recover from illness, take loans for his education and training and always praying for his well being. Rajnarain felt reeling under the enormous lack of moral and worldly obligations. He saw no place to hide. He wanted to repent and repent fast. He immediately rushed out of his house, kicked his scooter and raced to Dr. Siridharan’s house. He wanted to atone for his omissions and commissions.

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Tribhawan Kaul

kaultribhawan@yahoo.co.in

kaultribhawan@gmail.com

kaultribhawan.blogspot.com