Keep the faith . . .

Gutsy job !, originally uploaded by heartthatbeats.

"If God were perfect, there would be no disease, no death". And we expect doctors to cure all diseases without any complications & to help us purchase an eternal life.

Now that we have bags full of money, we look upon the hospital as though they were megastore where we could walk in and buy good health, cure for all the God-made-diseases, have the wrinkles on our face tweaked and book ourselves piped supply of youthful life delivered right into the comfort of our homes. We even want to buy this state-of-the-art on-demand available 24x7 erection of whichever part of our body and our spirits.

Well, To Insure Prompt service we can TIP (new-age name for consultation fee) the sales boys or girls (again new-age name for doctors). And because we pay them they have to deliver what we bought, deliver well-packed without a blot on the wrapper. Dare you remove the price tag, we want our friends to see that.

How very foolishly human we are !

Actually God made disease & death on purpose and He made them so perfect that no human can ever change that.

Think about it.

Only God is perfect !

This sonata of sarcasm has been inspired by recent reports of medical negligence and public unrest towards doctors and hospitals.

The general perspective towards human body & life has become warped these days. And the ability to spend money gives people a sense of omnipotence - so when they can afford to buy a perfect cure & a long life then why can't doctors & hospitals deliver? This is impossible because neither is human body a machine whose parts & processes are well-defined & predictable that could be re-engineered to perfection, nor are doctors Gods who by the stroke of their magical hands could make diseased, degenerating & dying bodies new.

I do not mean to endorse negligence or medical malpractices. For the people on the other side, I still maintain that medicine is not a business but a noble profession whose main objective is to deliver compassionate care and money is only a byproduct meant for sustaining the main product.

I do believe that all major & un-expected medical outcomes & mishaps should be investigated in detail to increase scientific knowledge and to rule out / confirm any negligence. All negligence should be penalized. But the natural course of the disease, unavoidable complications of a procedure and unexpected response of the body should not be construed as negligence.

The patient & family has right to know what happened but they also have the duty to understand it in the right perspective. They also need to believe.

No doctor ever wants his patient to have complications. No doctor ever wants his patient to die. It does not even make commercial sense for the doctor or the hospital.

It is a fact that many a doctors have become the victim of the same greed that plagues the rest of our society and corporates owning the "flourishing healthcare industry" focused more on the top lines and the bottom lines - life line gets blurred out somewhere in-between.

Be warned that it is very naive to believe that government hospitals or doctors working there are sacrosanct. The stories of happiness and the stories of sorrow are equally prevalent everywhere - and so are the stories of greed or negligence.

Our healthcare system is not ideal but there is no fool-proof system anywhere in the world. If our system lacks accountability then it may be disheartening to know that one of the most accountable system in the west has the highest rate of medical litigation.

I wish there were a system where money was never a consideration in the doctor-patient relationship. Where money would not be a factor in how the medical systems were established and the medicine practised. Where money would not be dictating a patient's expectations out of doctors, disease or death. A system where there was no money but still high values !

Yes, I know I'm a dreamer !

Whatever be the system in place, whatever be the reality on ground, let us not forget that we all have to die one day. Death is inevitable, it may come in different forms and shapes and sizes, it may come at different places and in different hands but come it surely will. And before she arrives she will send her messengers, her agents in the form of pain & disease. This is the natural culmination of the body, the natural culmination of life. The old torn and worn-out clothes have to be shed.

However, we always remain !

So, keep the faith.

Kutumb

Dhawans, originally uploaded by heartthatbeats.

We share the same roof, the same floor. Cry the same tear, laugh the same laughter, eat the same food and fight the same fight. We thank the accident of nature that brought us together. We share the same dreams and the same fears. Same are our likes and prejudices. Should the ruthless destiny ever rip us apart - we will still always remain - a Family !

Happy Valentine's Day !

On Valentine's Day the best expression of love is through a song. And how I wish I could have put here pictures of all the beautiful girls that I wanted to sing it for but survival instinct made me put my photographs of flowers instead !

I'm not a Valentine's day kind of a person and even my age doesn't permit me to be. But then what made me so loony & tuny?

दूरदर्शन पे एक समाचार देखा तो खून खौल उठा | हाथ में हथ्यार नहीं तो लेखनी से वार करने की इच्छा जाग उठी | देखा "राम की सेना" को कुछ "सीताओं" का तिरस्कार करते | योद्धाओं को देखा माताओं और बहनों के मुहँ पर अपना बल प्रर्दशित करते - प्रदर्शन जो की "रावन" को भी लज्जित कर दे | "राम सैनिक" जो भारतीय संस्कृति की सफ़ेद चादर में अपनी नपुंसकता छुपाये निर्बल नारियों को ज़मीन पे पटकते रहे | और बाकी रहा पौरुष दिखाना चाहते हैं St. Valentine पर |

So here's a special message to "Ram Sainiks" - Sita swayamwar was in no way less than any Valentine's day where a girl can exercise her right to choose her prospective groom. Dashrath did ages ago what later St. Valentine was to repeat. So on this Valentine's day all the "Ram Sainiks" should go home are revise their Ramayan.

But looking at those "Ram Sainiks" it's hard to even imagine if they would have ever looked at Ramayan, let alone read it.

सीता माता का पलन किसी पुरूष से कम नहीं हुआ | राम को दूर से देख कर ही सीता का हृदय विश्वस्त था की वोही उसके जीवन साथी होंगे | राजा दशरथ की विचार धारा शायद आज से भी युगों आगे थी | और ये पत्थर युग के मुट्ठालिक अगर शर्म से पत्थर भी बन जाएँ तो कोई राम इन्हे पाँव भी ना लगायें |

यह प्रेम गीत है सभी नारियों के प्रति प्रेम की अभिव्यक्ति एवं राम सैनिकों के लिए ललकार - अगर मुट्ठालिक जी ने दूध पिलाया है तो आओ और मुझे अपनी मर्दानगी दिखाओ |

Hey Ram !

The most abusive words - "stay calm".

Weapons from WW II, originally uploaded by heartthatbeats.

Kandhar, Delhi, Mumbai, Parliament, Redfort ...... "Bharatmata" (Mother India) is being repeatedly raped and gang-raped, and our most senior sons of the nation - our leaders come on national channels and utter the most abusive words, "stay calm". Watch your mother being raped while we workout a peaceful resolution of the crisis in the larger interest ... interests larger than the nation herself. "Stay calm" till you join many of your brethren in the calm of the death.

"If you watch while your women folk are being insulted and do nothing. It is not non-violence, it is cowardice" - said Mahatama Gandhi, the greatest proponent of peace. And today's politicians in power, the disciples of Gandhian philosophy, have been mute spectators to the terror "tamasha".

Do we need morose leaders who address the nation in slow motion and cold blood to only offer the impotent words, "stay calm"? Do we need leaders who let the nation die while clutching hard to the last breaths of their political life?

Where are the charismatic leaders who would shed the last drop of their blood to save the national dignity? Where are the politician who would dare to sacrifice even 100 of our own for eliminating every single terrorist, every single anti-Indian? Where are the ministers who would inspire in their fellow men, a will to die for the nation?

12 million jews were exterminated between 1939-1945 at the hand of Nazis, just because they stayed "calm" and so stayed the Americas and the Britains. The war against the Axis powers was foght for reasons other than humanitarian. For the dying jews there was only a sinister "calm".

If we stay "calm" or wait for the Americas and the Britains to come and help us out, then we will need to wait till our funeral. If we do not shed our "calm" then only the "calm" of death will prevail.

You can often hear the world politicians screaming that democracy will wield its magic wand and the terrorism would be gone. If democracy, peace, non-violence could deal with terrorism, there would never ever be any terrorism in India. A terrorist would pay heed to the meaning of the word "non-violence" if only it came from the lips of strong, powerful and potent people like the president of America and not from the Home Minister of India.

Masses are tricked into believing religion is the cause & cure of terrorism. The other religion killed your, so you go kill others'. Least do we realize that religion is just a divisive tool in the hands of politicians that help them stay in power. We, as fools, get controlled by it.

These days religion has got nothing to do with God. Religion dumped God a long long time ago and, therefore, God dumped religion.

Dad, I win !

My daddy strongest, originally uploaded by simran_anand88.

Son, you win, I win.

You lose, I die.

Move on

Move on, originally uploaded by heartthatbeats.

Two limbs that are there
two that are not
two too little to live in this world
two too much to move on ...

Zyklon B

Holocaust Memorial, originally uploaded by heartthatbeats.

Millions just swept away like particles of dust. And their memory as dead as they themselves. Children, women and old alike, killed as though they were "born to die", or like pests removed from harvest - the harvest of death. The science of murder predates the science of cloning by decades. Had heard of "neccessity is the mother of invention" but for Zyklon B & IBM Punch-card Machine - "death gave birth to these invention".

What is the final solution to human madness?

About 9-11 million people were exterminated in holocaust out of which 6 million were Jews (estimates ranging from 5.1 to 6.2 millions) in the death factories between the years 1939-1945.

Don't believe it? Following the links below for getting convinced:

The Holocaust (Wikipedia)

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Holocaust Survivors

The Holocaust History Project Homepage

The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust as Told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz

Commandant of Auschwitz : The Autobiography of Rudolf Hoess

If you feel sad learning the truth, don't blame me, just say a prayer...

Butterfly-by-night !

Nectoronics !, originally uploaded by heartthatbeats.

And there she sat in front of me. Her eyes enquiring, "what next?"

I hadn't fancied or fantasized encountering a butterfly although I had questioned myself as to how I would react to one. No wonder I was unprepared, I would not even recognize were she not introduced by another flower. While fellow flowers fluttered, I shyied away folding my petals and hiding in the dark of the night. I could have had all her skillful love for a little nectar - no but I would not part, I wouldn't exchange.

"Toss the dice", she said "and make fortune of the night". "I don't gamble", was my muffled reply. Before she could open her wings, I walked away.

The close encounter with a butterfly ended before it began.

Drama in Ladakh Sky

Drama in Sky, originally uploaded by heartthatbeats.

It was drama unfolding in the sky. The plot thickened to the climax as the sun descended. I heard the air whisper in my ears - drink it as much as you can and get drunk, tonight's your last here you may not return soon.

Now, I'm looking back, longing for Ladakh !

Smile in the face of adversity

When the going gets tough, originally uploaded by heartthatbeats.

आसमान को चूमती मेरी आकांक्षाएं

फ़ौलाद से बुलंद मेरा हौसला

प्रकाश की गति से तेज़ मेरी कल्पना

दुखों के पीछे भाग, उन्हें दूर भगाती मेरी मुस्कान

मत देखो मेरा शरीर, मत समझो मुझे अपाहिज

मैं मेरा शरीर नहीं ।

एक निरर्थकता का एहसास !

एक प्रश्न जो सभी बुद्धिजीवी सोच को निशब्द करता है - वह है:

मैं क्या हूँ और मैं क्यूं हूँ।

कईं रातें बेचैन करवटें बदलती रहीं, कईं शामें चाय की सुर्खियाँ भरती रहीं इसी प्रश्न के कारण । उत्तर जैसे रेगिस्तान का पानी, जितने कदम बढाये उसकी ओर उतना ही दूर पाया उसे अपने होटों से । चारों ओर बचा केवल एक निरार्थक सा एहसास और जीवन चल रहा है एक टीले से दूसरे टीले पर एक बूँद की तलाश में ...

Love is a wonder ...

Taj Mahal, Agra, India, originally uploaded by heartthatbeats.

Is she an imagination of a dreamer or a dream of a lover
Is it words of a poem or colors of a painter
Drawings of an architect or craftsmanship of a mason.
Whatever she is but she's surely the mecca of photographers all trying to capture her and take her home.
Wah Taj ! Or you may choose to say Wow Taj !!

More photos of Taj !

Taj - A Love Poem !

Taj - A Love Poem !, originally uploaded by heartthatbeats.

Peacefully she lays there enshrined by a monument of love. But she needs to wake up again in the heart of Mughal children and kindle the light to make them see that it's easy to kill but difficult to love. And that a killer is forgotten as easily but the lover lives on in every morning sunrise and everyevening sunset, in stones and in misty air.

More photos of Taj !

Kashmir screams ...

Sonmarg, Kashmir, originally uploaded by heartthatbeats.

I was so beautiful, so innocent - a much envied virgin. Then they came and ravaged me - sometimes in the name of men and sometimes in the name of God. So unrelegiously did they devour me as though there was no God - and probably there wasn't.
I see no light ahead. Will I ever be someone's wedded wife or will I always remain a mistress of no one?
It's me, Kashmir.

This image shot in June 2003 at Sonamarg, Kashmir, on a transparency - Reala 100 with Nikon F80 & 24mm F2.8 Lens - scanned.

Visit to Kashmir was a dream come true and living in a house-boat at Dal Lake, Srinagar is a truth that's so dreamy !

Ladakh - My Photographic Pilgrimage ...

Flights of Fancy, originally uploaded by heartthatbeats.

Breath-taking - literally & figuratively ! Yes she takes your breath away but inspires life in you. She is full of paradoxes - barren but beautiful. High gompas, high mountain passes and high altitude lakes are sure to give you a life's high that you would have never experienced before. And for the shutterbugs, Ladakh is the ultimate photographic orgasm or photographic pilgrimage - depending on whether you love photography or worship it !

This is the image of Pangong Tso ! For more photos of Ladakh click here.

नवजात शिशु !!!

ब्लॉग के संसार में मैं स्वयं का स्वागत करता हूँ । ना मैं लेखक हूँ और ना मैं कवि । बस अपनी भटकती कलम की पगडण्डी यहाँ बनाना चाहता हूँ ।