Tribute to Dharmendra in Zee Cine Awards 2026

 

Stuck Elevator and its Comic Consequences

I was always aware that elevators could go rogue. Habit of reading newspapers from my teenage always made me more aware of generic risks in the world than one could otherwise. All sorts of things can happen with elevators: elevators can get stuck anywhere and anytime, can simply decide to have a free-fall along with its occupants, or someone’s pet dog can decide to role-play a lion and attack you, or if you are a woman, you risk more types of crimes if the guy standing next to you actually happens to be a vampire. At the back of my mind, I was always aware that a day could come for me too and not knowing when and how was part of it. After all these years and decades, finally the D-day arrived a couple of weeks back in my society’s lift.

After returning from office late evening on one ordinary day, I got into the society lift. It started and had barely crossed a floor when suddenly it stopped. The light inside the lift was gone too and it went completely dark, with nothing visible. I understood what had happened, and decided to wait for a couple of minutes before doing anything. Society lift had a backup power, so I thought the issue should not be with power. The lift goes out-of-order many times and I guessed it was one of those days. After about a minute, I checked my smartphone and found it had “no signal”, so it won’t help if I had to call the security guard! After a few moments, I could hear that the security guard had arrived, and he shouted and asked if anyone was in the elevator. I answered and informed him about myself. Then I heard that a lot of kids had gathered near the elevator door on the floor, while the guard was trying to open it. The kids started discussing the matter among themselves; some were sounding very excited and even happy at this situation. Then a boy shouted, “darna mat!” to me and everyone started laughing. I could hear at least a dozen of kids laughing aloud, and then all of them started emulating the boy, telling the invisible man inside the stuck elevator to wait, not to panic, that they were rescue him soon, and so on. I was a bit embarrassed at the situation but was very surprised at how the kids were trying to help me. From the news reports in the newspapers, I had never imagined that community kids would be part of the experience.

In a couple of minutes, the security guard opened the external door and asked me to open the inside door which I was able to open easily. Then I came out of the elevator all smiling, amidst loud cheers by the kids, as if I was some celebrity or a hero who had won over some obstacle, like it happens at the end of the fairy tales. The security guard informed that it happened because diesel for the backup DG set had got exhausted. I quickly went to the stairs to avoid any more scene, but while leaving, I could see a girl telling the security guard, “uncle, next time someone gets stuck like this, please do not do anything but allow us to rescue him”. The guard replied, “ok, ok”. I don’t know how honest the promise was, but I could note how courageous the kids are, by nature.

With the situation over, I did notice that my elevator had stopped only a foot below the main floor and hence I just had to climb a foot while coming out. What if the elevator stops in between with significant gap with the floor? I guess they will drop a ladder in the elevator and ask the person to climb it. Fine.

This way, I finished my long due stuck elevator experience. Along with its comic consequences. 

- Rahul  

पुस्तक समीक्षा: "एक चुटकी उदासी" - अनुमिता शर्मा - ख्याति प्रकाशन

मैंने लेखिका अनुमिता शर्मा की कई पुस्तकें पढ़ी हैं, और उनके अंग्रेजी लेखन का कायल हूँ। "एक चुटकी उदासी" एक हिंदी कहानी संग्रह है और मैं चुकि लेखिका को एक अंतराल के बाद पढ़ रहा था, तो अपेक्षाओं और पिछली लेखनियों का कोई बोझ मेरे ऊपर नहीं था। मैंने ऐसा महसूस किया जैसे मैं इस लेखक की पहली पुस्तक पहली बार पढ़ रहा हूँ।

इस पुस्तक की पहली चीज जिसने मुझे आकर्षित किया, वो था इसमें प्रयोग किया गया हिंदी का "फॉन्ट" और उस फॉन्ट का "साइज" भी। मुझे नहीं मालूम कि इसमें किसी खास फॉन्ट का प्रयोग किया गया था या ये बस हिंदी के अक्षरों की नैसर्गिक सुंदरता थी जो मैं एक अंतराल के बाद अनुभव कर रहा था।

जब मैंने इसकी भूमिका पढ़ी, जो कि मुश्किल से एक पृष्ठ की थी, मैं फिर से भाषा और साहित्य के सुन्दर समंदर में गोते लगाने लगा। हर वाक्य जैसे मोतियों से पिरोयी हुई माला। और उनका भावार्थ गूढ़ और सुंदरता से भरा हुआ। ऐसे सुन्दर हिंदी साहित्य को पढ़ कर मन उल्लास से भर उठा।

फिर मैंने इसकी पहली कहानी पढ़ी, जो कि पुस्तक के शीर्षक वाली कहानी ही थी। लेखिका की "ट्रेडमार्क स्टाइल" हर वाक्य, हर अनुच्छेद में साफ झलक रही  थी। इनके लेखन को पढ़ना इतना आनंददायी है कि शब्दों में वर्णन कठिन है। इन पृष्ठों में पाठक प्रत्याशा, रोमांच, भय, संतोष, ऐसे अलग-अलग भाव महसूस करता है और एक रोमांचकारी यात्रा का अनुभव लेता है। "एक चुटकी उदासी" एक बेहद परिपक्व कहानी बन आयी है जो लेखन की अप्रतिम दक्षता और गहराई को दिखलाता है। इस कहानी की जितनी प्रशंशा की जाए, कम है। "वह मोहल्ले की उस तरह की फुसफुसाहट थी जो बातों में किसी कागज की नाव की तरह कुछ देर तैरती तो थी, लेकिन गहराई में कभी नहीं उतरती।" एक और, "और उसके सामने बैठा रोहन ऐसा लग रहा था जैसे कोई पन्ना आधा पलट रह गया हो।"

एक आश्चर्य की बात ये थी कि पहली कहानी पढ़ने के बाद मन ऐसा तृप्त हुआ कि आगे दूसरी किसी कहानी को पढ़ने का मन बनाना मुश्किल था। संग्रह की दूसरी कहानी "साँझ के देवता और.." गरीब बच्चों के जीवन पर आधारित कहानी थी और दिलचस्प थी। "मध्य रात्रि के पथिक" पढ़कर डर लगा क्योंकि समाचार की दिल्ली हिंसा की घटनाओं के लिए  भी कुख्यात है। "दास्तानगोई" एक और कहानी थी जिसका सार मुझे पसंद आया। अंत की कुछ कहानियाँ अभी भी पढ़ना शेष हैं।

कुल मिलाकर मैं ये कहना चाहूँगा कि "एक चुटकी उदासी" कहानी संग्रह साहित्य और पढ़ने में जो नैसर्गिक सुंदरता है, उसकी मिसाल है। इसकी कहानियाँ मोड़ों और उलटफेर, या लोकप्रियता के लिए समझौता करती हुई नहीं, बल्कि लेखन और अवलोकन की नैसर्गिक सुंदरता के लिए जानी जाएँगी।

आप भी पढ़ें और अमेज़न  फ्लिपकार्ट से खरीदें।

- राहुल

Travelogue: Bhosari Lake and Garden (Bhosari Sahal Kendra Udyan), Pune, Maharashtra

 

Travelogue: Gateway of Landewadi, Pune, Maharashtra

 

Travelogue: Sculpture of Bullock Cart Race at a Roundabout in Bhosari, Pune, Maharashtra

 

Bharat Taxi launched: But did anyone ask for it?

Bharat Taxi has been launched, but someone needs to ask, "why?" Where was govt when local auto/taxi drivers used to loot customers, and hence Ola solved the problem? Now that Ola/Uber are struggling, govt is trying to take away their business, to get us back to the old days.

All that govt needed to do was to regulate ride hailing companies, to make the rides safe and fair for the public. But with Bharat Taxi, they are going in a totally new direction. Perhaps the motive is to create "vote bank" of drivers, as it will be beneficial during elections.

We already saw how the govt nearly brought down India's best airline - IndiGo - by its random policy change. All that the govt needed to do was to get "readiness status" from each airline before implementing the policy. But govt was just sitting duck. Hence, thousands suffered.

At the time of taking oath, PM Modi had promised "minimum government, maximum governance". But alas, the govt is trying to make life difficult for everyone by "over-activity" - unnecessary interference in things already working fine. Whatever govt touches, loses its shine. 

As a bottom line, I think the govt should not have launched a govt-backed taxi service, but should have focused on its real job instead. 

Travelogue: Darbhanga Airport, Bihar

 

Travelogue: Vaishali, Bihar

 

Hindu Temple: Shri Vikramaditya Chaturmukh Mahadev Dham, Vaishali, Bihar

 

Travelogue: Vishwa Shanti Stoop (World Peace Stupa), Vaishali, Bihar

 

Travelogue: A Siege of Herons in a Village Farm, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

When you zoom in:

Travelogue: Ma Saraswati Puja in Muzaffarpur, Bihar