Shiv Kumar Batalvi

Continuing with the questions about mysterious events in this world, today I bring to you yet again a mystifying figure, the person who was famous, yet so mystique, one who did break the code of life, yet couldn’t save self from the strings of death, one who died to live as a legend, or lived dying the death forever in his living. He was a great poet, a magical composer, an un-ordinary lyricist, a charming & adorable person, a lunatic lover, a charismatic individual and the undying patriot.

The person talked here is the great legend, Shiv Kumar Batalvi. He was someone who understood the meaning of life, accepted everything that was everything in the spiritual world, rejected everything that was anything in this materialistic world, with such an in-depth wisdom and enlightenment of peace within, free from external world and surroundings. Nobody would ever be certain about his unexplained death, the death of a young soft spoken lad born on the land of the warriors, the death of a romantic lover who loved in the land of turmoil, the death of a poet who explained the life in his work.
Shiv Kumar Batalvi was the son of a tehsildar in Punjab, who never knew that one day, he would go on to become one of the greatest poets in Punjabi Literature.

He was an alcoholic, who was made to drink by his companions to exploit his genius, got disease ridden by epilepsy at a very young age, but simultaneously wrote great works in poetry and songs by the age of 28 and died at the age of just 34 years. Truly, he was the legend in poetry brethren and the undying soul in this morbid world.

Above is the interview of the great whose message of love, pain, hatred, patriotism, brotherhood, friendship, needs to be spread around the whole world and in all literature. The interview shows the pain in his voice, the morbidity he sees in sorrow, the love in his passion, the attachment with people, and sadness in the way we are progressing. Salute to the greatest legend of all time!!!

One of his works:-

Thought

Life can not be explained with a mere definition,

it is something for which there exists no definition!!!

-Raghav

Destiny

Ever wondered what life is? Neither did Neo (from Matrix) must have thought what he was expected to do for the mankind and what all sacrifices he’ll have to make to achieve what he’s not destined for!!! Had he been a complete controller of his life, he would not have been the selected anti-Agent Smith to win the battle against evil machines. Was he the complete controller or a person selected as an anomaly by someone to break the matrix???



I never thought about the hackneyed yet so intriguing question about life!!!
And I still don’t see myself able to solve the mystery behind it, behind life and death, sadness and happiness, love and hatred, destiny and faith etc.

It feels like standing at the same place where I was originally and would continue to be at the same place where I am chronologically. Who asked me to write this piece here, what made me sit in front of the computer & made me think about life today when I’m supposed to be working for the job I get paid for? Is destiny driven by my control, all the actions I perform in daily musings, or is it the fate that defines my course of action for the future (that too whose??), and chalk out a plan about which nobody else knows; why would anybody else know even!!!

What is destiny?? I thought of it as something written for you by some supreme entity, which designed this universe, and dictated all the contents engraved on it. What I experience, what I live, re-live, learn, un-learn, grow, recede, is all as per my destiny. Or is not? Isn’t destiny something that is not controlled by me or by my actions? I’ve heard people telling me various paths available to reach to the desired destiny, I ask, what is desired destiny then??? How would an individual desire something cherishing out of a ‘thing’ that is pre-defined by the LORD (if so ever he/she exists!!!) himself? How can numerous paths change the destination if all of them points towards the same thing?

Yes, alternative paths are available to race towards your destiny, but what’s the point of running a single individual race where you would anyways reach one fine day (death)!!! Isn’t destiny an end where all our expectations begin? Isn’t it a black hole (an anomaly) from where all our desires emerge? I could never find answer to any of those questions and the quandary continues within.

Prevalence of GOD:-

Nobody knows whether GOD actually exists as some supreme entity that defines this universe or not! Even I have belief in Him, but the logics somehow do not allow His Omni-presence to intercept within my soul infinitely.

If everything in this world has a beginning, what was the beginning of the almighty?
If He has been there forever, then why isn’t there anything in this universe that doesn’t have an end?
If time flows, then what was the time when it was zero (t=0) and what was the time when it was below zero, c’mon tell in those Newtonian mechanic terms?
If evolution is answer to human development questions, then what is the relevance of Adam & Eve?

If I go as per my belief that God definitely exists, and it is because of the almighty that we are progressing the way we are, then aren’t we heading towards something that the Lord himself doesn’t want? Or is He trying to test humans to see to what extreme extent of negativity we can reach? But for everything negative, there’s positivity attached to it. God creates a balance in everything, day n night, male n female, sun n shade, left n right, right n wrong, good n evil, almost everything. But if positive aura is also present around, then isn’t this whole balancing act helping God to reach nowhere.

Another question that raises in my mind, if we people define our own destiny, then why can’t we get what we desire? Why do an ailing child can’t born in a resource rich country by deciding his/her destiny at the time when it is present in mother’s womb?
If destiny is individual controlled, then shouldn’t the destiny of everyone be independent from each other? But they aren’t. Our actions generate an equal reaction in every tangible/non tangible entity that exists around us. If destiny is so human controlled, why cant most of the people change from what they are & what they intend to be for their entire life even if they want to?

I suppose there would be 100’s of those questions left unanswered within my soul and would either have to wait for my destiny to show me the answers for all of them or have to turn the stones around to find an answer for all of these bugging questions (of course by changing the destiny); don’t know what would happen, asks you out there to solve this real life Rubik’s cube with those 6 exhilarating faces of life, death, sadness, prosperity, love & hatred!!!

Letter to TOI

Article published in TOI on 18/06/08

Environment Inc(Anand Soondas)

Those of us who have some hope of remaining alive for the next 20 years will be very worried about the doomsday predictions for the environment. Looks like the world won’t just be a hothouse, but a very bleak house — ACs in Srinagar, no rain in Cherrapunji, Londoners without overcoats, Bangladesh under water and base camps almost at the top of Everest because the mountain sans snow and fog won’t be half as treacherous as it is now. Of course, the Chinese would have made the whole thing easier by building metal roads that would take truckloads of T-shirt clad tourists right up to where Hillary and Tenzing planted their victory flags, but that’s besides the point. The issue, really, is that in the absence of proactive steps by governments across the world, who obviously choose economics over ecology, letting developing countries do the emissions saving for them in the name of carbon credits, who will take care of the environment, global warming, vanishing pandas and tigers? The capitalists, who else. Just privatise the environment and see what a difference it makes. For money, they will gladly make a business of it and even go to the extent of saving humanity from imminent collapse. This is how the model will work. Each eco-entrepreneur — let’s call them that until something more apt is coined — will bid for “spaces” in an auction by the government. Ghaziabad will go to someone and Noida to someone else. Mumbai, of course, will go to one of the Ambanis. It’ll be the sole responsibility of the winners to ensure that their space is as clean as what is mandated by a global body. This will mean that the air in their specific areas of operation is permissibly clean, the rivers have no effluents, endangered species don’t go extinct, the water table doesn’t dip further, the hills don’t become naked without pines and both flora and fauna are secured well. For his hard work — because he will have to tackle the industry, poachers, agriculturists, bus operators and autorickshaw guys, almost everyone who’s out to make a fast buck at the cost of earth — the eco-entrepreneur will get a good portion of the taxpayers’ money. Everyone will be happy, except maybe netas fattening up on huge cuts from various cartels. In which case, we can go one step ahead and privatise politics.

Thoughts (An Opinion sent to TOI Editor):-

Privatization of the environment?

Sounds good, but not an ideal solution in this far stretched world out there. Where we have sub-Sahara African countries like Mali etc., to places in Middle East and other developing nations all sustaining at the whims & fancies of the great super powers of the world, one just cannot anticipate the participation of private players as a blessing in disguise for protection of environment.
To quote a few; Africa (read as resource rich nature), being a nation with a hugely growing vegetation & highest rate of forests growth in the world, is cut down by countries like US (read as those private advanced nation players) excessively just to serve their own interests. Another example to quote here is again of US economy causing most terrible impact on environment. Kyoto protocol did create a technique of saving eco-system using Carbon credits, but the day wouldn't be far when an equal encouragement to pollute would be made to earn more profits monetarily in one place on the expense of the other (nation) just like arms race.
Privatizing the space-width would not be a wise decision for protection of the environment. It reminds one of the novel 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelly which had a living being named Frankenstein with all likelihood of a human, but went on to be a lot more powerful and a gruesome monster. Playing with the forces of nature and taking control over them would never result in anybody's good, the race can go beyond all human expectations one day!!!
In the article, author talks about the sharing of space geographically amongst the big shots for the good of the environment, plants and animals. But that idea has a very acute & dominating limp attached to it. When individuals run business, ethics & moral values receive a toss, and stakes are automatically higher when it is the question of safeguarding our environment. The tendency to save the environment using capitalism would definitely lose it's objective in long run and eventually one day become a warring battle between players to make the most out of it. The only entities that would bear the brunt would be plants, animals, common man and the environment. Privatization would lead to privatization of basic amenities of nature, which may include inhaling a clean air, drinking clean water, eating a non-genetically induced vegetation. And on same hand, it would lead to severe catastrophes like cloning of the endangered species, creating of artificial food, revoking the rights of the individuals, tussle between people for agricultural land, security concerns over other's industrial set-ups, exploitation of workers, inflation going overboard, government losing control etc.
Protection of environment, reducing greenhouse gases, planting trees, reducing effluents discharge are the objectives for the future. But more viable, feasible, practical and environment friendly steps need to be devised as a course of action needs to be carved out. Use of more renewable source of energy, employing the benefits of carbon credits, creating awareness amongst individuals and nations, exploiting the best use of Solar energy, nuclear energy etc would help in protecting the eco-system. Alternative fuels like ethanol etc. can be studied as a replacement for combustible fuels. As the adage goes, with great power, comes greater responsibility. Now it is the responsibility of humans to define a track that would define future for us and our generations to come.

A perfect example of out of the box thinking!!!

I read this mail some time ago and was very impressed with the ability of an individual to think differently. Well, if you dont think so, i must say, do read it once to reconsider your decision:-

"Some time ago I received a call from a colleague. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while the student claimed a perfect score. The instructor and the student agreed to an impartial arbiter, and I was selected.
I read the examination question:
"SHOW HOW IT IS POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE THE HEIGHT OF A TALL BUILDING WITH THE AID OF A BAROMETER."
The student had answered, "Take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to the street, and then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of the rope is the height of the building."
The student really had a strong case for full credit since he had really answered the question completely and correctly! On the other hand, if full credit were given, it could well contribute to a high grade in his physics course and to certify competence in physics, but the answer did not confirm this.
I suggested that the student have another try. I gave the student six minutes to answer the question with the warning that the answer should show some knowledge of physics . At the end of five minutes, he had not written anything. I asked if he wished to give up, but he said he had many answers to this problem; he was just thinking of the best one .. I excused myself for interrupting him and asked him to please go on.
In the next minute, he dashed off his answer, which read:
"Take the barometer to the top of the building and lean over the edge of the roof. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch. Then, using the formula H = 1/2 x a x t 2 , calculate the height of the building."
At this point, I asked my colleague if he would give up. He conceded, and gave the student almost full credit.
While leaving my colleague's office, I recalled that the student had said that he had other answers to the problem, so I asked him what they were.
"Well," said the student, "there are many ways of getting the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer.
For example, you could take the barometer out on a sunny day and measure the height of the barometer, the length of its shadow, and the length of the shadow of the building, and by the use of simple proportion, determine the height of the building."
"Fine," I said, "and others?"
"Yes," said the student, "there is a very basic measurement method you will like. In this method, you take the barometer and begin to walk up the stairs. As you climb the stairs, you mark off the length of the barometer along the wall. You then count the number of marks, and this will give you the height of the building in barometer units."
"A very direct method."
"Of course. If you want a more sophisticated method, you can tie the barometer to the end of a string, swing it as a pendulum, and determine the value of g at the street level and at the top of the building.
From the difference between the two values of g, the height of the building, in principle, can be calculated."
"On this same tact, you could take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to just above the street, and then swing it as a pendulum. You could then calculate the height of the building by the period of the precession".
"Finally," he concluded, "there are many other ways of solving the problem. Probably the best," he said, "is to take the barometer to the basement and knock on the superintendent's door. When the superintendent answers, you speak to him as follows:
'Mr. Superintendent, here is a fine barometer. If you will tell me the height of the building, I will give you this barometer."
At this point, I asked the student if he really did not know the conventional answer to this question. He admitted that he did, but said that he was fed up with high school and college instructors trying to teach him how to think.
The student was Neil Bohr (known for quantum theory of physics & mechanics,hydrogen atom etc ) and the arbiter was Rutherford .
THINK DIFFERENT!!!!"

A Short Story

This is my first fiction story, hope you all enjoy!!!

Truth never seems to die so easily and so is the inevitability of death. Yes, I loved him. No matter what my beliefs were and to what extent would they fall in sync with others’ thoughts, I stood firm with them. He has been more than a friend to me; rather I simply adored him and wanted to spend my entire life with him. The adolescence of my age just did not give me enough time to judge between right n wrong, but the unconditional love for someone made me think of doing right whatsoever I could do at my end. I never happened to make many friends. To be liked by someone is something great; I was not even looked upon by others. People found me scary and other boys used to think of me as a secluded/unusual child. Even when I would want to play with them, I was shoved off and utterly ignored. Then there was the opposite sex, or the so called fair sex. Considering them as someone who would really like to listen what you want to deliver was something I always thrived upon. There were few who would listen to my tantrums, the others would simply push me away, but they did find a friend in me, but that again someone highly uncommon. The ubiquitous friendliness just did not sting me ever. We were a nuclear family, and nobody knew for how many generations would the principle of an isolated family continue?

My father has always been a middle class employee, just fighting hard to earn those two basic meals for the day. He could not ever find time for me, neither as a son nor as another individual present in his abode, even when I required at the so called ‘evolutionary’ stage. I used to wait for him at the courtyard anticipating his coming back home after a strenuous day at work and pick me up and feel rejuvenated on seeing a smiling cuddle of human lump in his hands. Alas, that was never meant to happen. There were financial crises strangling him with his arms criss-crossed in the ropes from which he couldn’t break free. Mother was another typical house-wife who shared the same space and time with me, but I would never be able to guess whether she supported me or loved me. I could not find a friend in her that I was in need of!!!
The days we spent there, I wished time could flow like a flash of a light and things suddenly changed, but in this world not all wishes gets fulfilled.

The story continued for a very long time, till one day, I got a chance to visit my grand parents. My grand-pa was so old that since my birth I always saw him the way he was now, as if some how, he had broken the code of life, preventing any further decay. I wasn’t much delighted as nothing gave me motivation to feel happy. He was old and ailing at times. And for having not spent much life with them, I couldn’t feel the same pain he was going through for the time. Life did show the other facet which was missing for so long for me at least. I found a friend in this small town, whom I loved and shared my feelings with as and when possible. He was my soul-mate, my companion, my caretaker and my partner I would anticipate for this short life. Time flew like wind and I could see myself sailing along in full throttle. We used to spend most of the time together except when I had to get back home and study.
The trip was a very eventful one, but it did not last long. And in a fraction of few nanoseconds, I started missing my love, my friend!!! After having spent best time of my life in grandpa’s small town, I decided to visit them again and come back again in near future. The place helped establish a strong bond with someone eagerly waiting for me. The impetus was to get back to someone whom I loved, who would always be waiting for me and would understand me what nobody from my family could ever do.
I started growing up in his company. He would treat me like nobody else ever did. He would adore me, caress me, feed me and play with me when I was with him. My grand parents were much elated to see me coming back to them again and again but were perplexed about this new craze. They wanted to discover my needs of making frequent trips to them when on contrary, their son don’t even get time to even call them up. But, I always kept myself free from all shackles of the real world. I tried keeping myself in sight of someone who could die for me. I never doubted my friends’ expertise at hand as compared to everyone else. My father did bring me to this world, but my friend made me learn the subtlety of life. I started enjoying every day and waited for new dawn to come and raised hopes to meet my friend, yet again.

Never did I realize that this small town would also find me uninviting one day. I was given a much discarded look by people around. There were questions like, “Why does he come so often here? Who is his friend here who loves him so much while nobody else does including his family?” The semi-urban used to ponder and wanted to save their kids from very shadows of mine. Except this lonely individual, nobody was ready to understand me. I was asked to come back home and wasn’t even sure whether the pressure would even let me go back to grandpa’s town again!!! What bothered me was my friend whom I loved so much and wanted to live my entire life with. I did realise my father’s plight and concerns but other than being sorry, I couldn’t do much when life has made me like that. As per my father, the need of the hour was to sit with my friend and chalk out a life that would prove good for me. But when he came to know about me and my friend, he remained in utter silence. I could comprehend his silence all in my favour, till the day I proved fatal with this take on life for someone. My father did advice me to make friends and start exploring life rather than putting up with one mate. But nothing could have changed me and it never did. I remained the same till I had my friend standing next to me.

Today, life has changed, times have changed, and so is my scary face become normal with growth, but one thing never changed and those are my thoughts and feelings. Yes, I had a rotten face since birth and nobody knew why. And what more I don’t have today is my mate, but his love, support and feelings would live with me forever. No matter what my father warned me about my grand-pa’s health, I stand no regrets and pray to God to bless me as the prodigy of just one individual in all my births and that is my very dear friend, my support, my life, and my companion, my old, ailing, no more Grand-father!!!

Romantic Poem

zindagi ka aangan tha suna,
is mein ek din ek nanhi kali khili,
andhere mein gum patange ko,
jaise door deepak ki roshini mili!!
rishte ki buniyaad thi pyar aur dosti par,
mar mitne ka ehasas tha,
ek dusre ke bina lagta tha dar,
milkar duniya se ladane ka abhas tha!!!
pyar kab junoon banaa, n jaan saka mera mann,
thithurta hai dil voh barish ki boondon se, voh pehli ghta, voh pehli pavan!!!
ishvar kii terah basi hai mann mein,
raat din sirf tera hi khyaal hai,
dukh ke pal badle ja sakte hain kabhi??
mar ne se pahle bas yahi ek swaal hai!!!
mann ne jise chahaa khud se jyada,
vo hii pyar udasii ki salakhon mein bandha hai,
hamesha hansane ka kiya tha jis se vaada,
voh hi chehra sookhe ansuon ki mitti mein dhansa hai,
saath bitaye pal nahin bhoolte,
yaadon kii chhaayien nahin hoti gum,
kahe shabdon kaa nahin koi prayashchit,
aye dost, saf mann kii vaani ko sun!!!
mila tha samudr ka anmol moti,
sunehra patthar samajh kar uss se khel liya,
jis kali ne diya baag ko rang,
us kali ko phoolon mein khilne se rondh diya!!!