पशोपेश

बालेवाड़ी की वो सन सन करती हवा
मेरी कांच की खिड़कियों से टकराती हुई
एक दस्तक देती है कि बाहर निकल
जिन्दगी पुकारती है बाहर निकल

काम बहुत थे और थी जद्दोजहद बड़ी
मन को समझाता बस एक और फिर सही
मगर मन को रोक न पाया मैं
ऊंची उठती उन लहरों को रोक न पाया मैं

बंद किये सारे झमेले के पिटारे
खोला मन का वो कोना
फिर निकल ही गया बाहर
जिंदगी से कहा चलो मुस्कुराएँ। 

Jokers on the road

Pune road is filled up with jokers on the road. They simply don't care about their lives or of the lives of others.

Take for example a joker, who is riding a motorcycle. Suddenly a call comes in. Now this joker will not stop driving. Instead what he will do is bring out his smartphone from pocket, put it between his shoulder and ear. Now in this awkward position he will keep on driving with his both hands on the handle. Everyday i see 5 such jokers on the rode in my 2 hour daily commute.

Then there are others who will be checking their email or sms while they are driving car on a busy road or crossing an intersection. Buddy what is that important that you cannot wait for few minutes and then park your car on roadside and check it.

This list can go on and on and i am sure this is not just a Pune phenomena.

एक दुपहरी

इस राख को इतना न कुरेदो कहीं चिंगारी दबी होगी
ना  खुरेचो मेरे जज्बातों को  सूखे से अश्क छलक जायेंगे।
ऐ शाम तेरे दीदार की तमन्ना तो है मगर जल्दी नहीं, 
थोड़ी देर तो ठहर अभी धूप ढली कहाँ है। 
दिल की हसरतें हैं  तो अनेक मगर इंतजाम नहीं
साकी थोड़ी सी पिला दे तो बीमार को आराम मिले।

Helplessness of Pune Traffic Cops

Traffic chaos is not a new thing in Pune. But this one incident happened couple of days back is still fresh in my mind and worth writing as it both amused me and made me think.

As usual i was driving on Baner Road to reach my office in Yerwada. At the intersection of Baner and Aundh, there was red signal so i stopped. One noticeable change these days is that there are lots of cops near intersections looking for people without helmets. So there were 2 cops on that intersection both of them separated by some distance, so that they can catch traffic violators.

Now a red hatchback car, jumped the red signal. Seeing this first one asked him to stop, but the driver simply ignored him and kept driving. Now at the sight of this second cop, started waving frantically at car with unmistakable intention to stop. But driver chose to ignore him and kept driving.

When second cop saw that car will not stop, he started whistling. I saw that there was a third cop standing little farther away. Now i thought that this fellow is in big trouble, as this cop will surely catch him. But to my amazement, driver simply accelerated and put on more speed and he simply went away.

Third cop just gave a shrug and went back to look after other vehicles. Now this is alarming that if 3 cops are not able to stop one traffic violator, how well equipped are to handle serious criminals.
It is a clear cut case of shortage of police force in context of growing urban population and lack of infrastructure to communicate and record basic details (ex. 3 of them noticed the registration plate and it could be easily recorded).

Hope it changes soon.