AANE WAALE KE MAN MAIN ASMANJAS -----

Dar saa lagtaa tha,
When 'Dada Ji' used to sleep in the 'Baithak' on 'Chataai'
The main room in the house was called ' Baithak'
It was reserved for the head of the family
Or guests,
And 'Dada ji' was the head of the family'
Ghar main wo 'Kharaaun' ( Wooden slippers ) pehente the,

So when 'Atal Ji' says,

BABA KI BAITHAK MAIN BICHI CHATAI,
BAAHAR RAKKHE KHARAAON,
AANE WALE KE MAN MEIN ASMANJAS,
JAAOON YAA NAA JAAUN ."

Some thing in the heart, __ connects

Papa ji would not speak to him, unless spoken to
he would never look into his eyes
Nor would any of his brothers, my Tauji or ChachaJi,

but it was different with us
We were grand children
We could get away with any thing
Almost

He would return from the shop every day,
He would have brought some thing for us children,
'Jalebi', or 'Kalakand' or 'Rabri'
He would ensure we all got our share equally'

During Summers it would be 'Mangoes'
Or 'Kharbujaas' or 'Tarbooj' in a big 'Baalti' full of water,
in winters it would be ' Gaajar kaa Halwa '
made in a big 'Karahi' in the big 'Aangan'

His 'Radio' , the only one in the house,
Would take ages to come to life,
And would play only 'All India Radio'
News, some times classical music
Playing movie songs was , well, Sin
And no one dared change the rules.

He would quote from 'Bhagwat Geeta' or 'Mirza Ghalib'
'Kabeer' or ' Ramaayan' at every occasion
He knew the tables from 2 to 100
With fractions in between
Table of 2.25, of 2.50, of 2.75' and so on
He was a walking talking calculator
He had been a Munim at some point of time in his life.
He would take us children to 'Company Baag' every morning
And we would go through the ordeal, still sleeping.
He was strict but a simple soul
We would cheat on him often
Or so we thought,
And he would get cheated,
willingly , smilingly
now we know.

He would eat four 'Phulkas' sharp at eight in the night,
He would chew every morsel 'thirty two' times,
He would walk hundred steps after dinner,
'Shatpadi' it was, he told us,
Just about adequate for proper digestion after dinner,

Festivals will be centered around him
He will do the 'pooja' only then we could touch the Diwali 'crackers',
Or the Holi 'colors',
he would eat, and than we would get to eat
the 'Halwa Poori' and ' Kheer'

He was the living 'Deity'
What we learned around him, we never learned in any school,

All of this and more flashed in front of my eyes as I entered the
family home after some twenty years. I had gone for a marriage
of my elder cousin's son. Bhai Saahib, my cousin too has departed
since than and so many others, Dadaji, Maaji, Ashok and Anil Bhaisaahib ,
Tauji, Taiji, both the Chacha Ji's and Vidya Chachi, my foster mother
Almost every one who made that house, the home that it used to be.

I stopped going there, I just couldn't
and than I entered the house again, after more than tweenty years
it was amazing, how every thing was same and yet nothing was femiliar

Us 'Makaan' main to pahunch gayaa par us 'Ghar' ko dhoondta raha,

Ab Baithak ke baahar Kharaaoon nahin hain
na kisi ko koi dar yaa asmanjas hai, andar jaaoon yaa naa jaaoon
Dadaji ab so chuke hain,
sadaa ke liye

Kuch puraane log mile bhi, to waqt ki raftaar se haare thake se.
khud main bhi to ab wo kahaan raha .
samay bahut aage le aaya hai hum sab ko

Chalo sab na sahi
par kuch log to abhi hain
jo mujhe usi dunia main hone kaa ehsaas
ab bhi de jaate hain,
itna bhi kyaa kam hai ?

KABHI KISI KO MUQAMMAL JAHAAN NAHIN MILTAA