The perfect click!

28 March 2020

11:05 pm

Sydney

Everyone is stuck up inside their homes. Frustrated, bored and whatnot, amidst this lockdown, everyone must be busy figuring out ways to kill time. I was using my Whatsapp too. Suddenly a message popped up, and it was Chavan Kaku, who sent me a childhood photo of me, Rinku and Ankush- the occasion was Rakshabandhan, I suppose. It brought an instant smile on my face. Guess, it was a picture more than 15 years back or so! So nostalgic!

This gave me a craving to dig into the Memories folder of my laptop, and I fell into the pit! I started digging deep and as long back as I could. I started sharing the pictures, with the people in them, thanks to facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram that I am still being able to connect with them.

And the next few hours literally went in sweeping time. Everyone got an instant smile on their faces, and started texting on the groups and on my personal chat. Most of them had a remark, "Kitna achchha samay tha yaar vo!" (It was such a beautiful time). And then everyone started talking how we had fun those days. This was so refreshing, memories came to the front page of life. These discussions went on for hours, which I am still re-reading in my chat. Some friends asked me, "aaj kaunsa folder nikaal ke baithe ho janaab!", and I replied, "yaado ka pitaara huzoor!"

And you know what, those days mobile phones didn't have so nice cameras. In fact some photos were clicked by Kodak film camera. Some pictures were not so clear, blurry. Of course, none of them 'photogenic' shots. Often our expressions were screwed up in the photo, or there was some photo bomb or the background wasn't so appealing. But still those pictures really had something in them. And that something was that they were not just photos. They were memories. Those days, I didn't even realise that these stupid photographs, in which I am looking like a monkey, will make all of us smile so much!

Today, my Instagram is flooded with pictures. Whenever I click a picture, I look for the 'Perfect' Shot. I don't want any photobombs, I don't want blurry ones, I want those perfect professional photographer's shoot. I will click at least 10 pictures at one place, choose the best one, use some photo editing software to enhance its beauty, and lastly put some appealing caption to it before I finally post it on social media. Purpose is to gain lots of appreciating comments, attention and likes.

People want pre-wedding and wedding shoots, so well planned and executed that their wedding must look like a Filmy Love Story! And then I feel sad when this filmy love story ends sadly within a year or two. I still remember seeing my granny's wedding photos, not that perfect, blurry, imperfect, no Cheese Smile expressions! But then those photos were not meant to keep in a laptop folder and forget them, rather she would often see them when she missed grandpa. She had a fulfilling life with grandpa.

But today's episode compels me to introspect, is it really worth it, the way I click pictures today? Those days, photographs used to be often bindaas, unplanned, and its just clicked. Not much labour is invested into it. Today I have spent nicely on a digital camera, a good camera phone too, and lots of time and efforts for all that social media attention. But is it really worth it? Like literally putting in so much of my mind, space of my life in seeking that social media attention? Often when you go a place, you forget to enjoy the serenity, to appreciate its real beauty and to feel it from within, because you are busy capturing photographs and making them look perfect and upload on social media. When you go to a concert or any musical or dance event, you see most of them have at least 100 hands raised, of people who are capturing videos, and photos- so much so that they don't enjoy the event by their own eyes, instead through the camera lens. Continuously our eyes are fixed to the camera, because we want that perfect video, undisturbed, etc. Hasn't this photo-social media eaten a bite from our lives?

I remember a friend saying to me, "dude, how much do you post photos on social media? and your photos aren't even that nice. Your captions are even shitty. Instagram is not meant for that. Look at Anusha, she takes so perfect shots and thinks so much before she comes up with a caption and then uploads a photograph." I replied to him, "Instagram doesn't have a defined purpose. Its social media. Its meant to reflect lives and stories. And my reflection of lives is not right or wrong based on what you think is Instagram made for. You may judge me for the way I upload half-baked and 'immature' photos on Instagram. But more important than your view of my life story is, what my life story means to me, myself!"

Memories are always special, and they will always make you smile, no matter how good you look in them, how perfect or imperfect they are or not. But what puts me into a question is, Is social media  consuming a portion of our lives, while it drags us towards itself, in a direction, which was or at least should not be intended towards? There was no social media back then; still Chavan kaku's that one  blurry, unclear, imperfect photograph triggered not only mine, but several other smiles in a chain, isn't it. Thinking this, I continued digging into Memories folder- not the one in my laptop, but the memories folder in my heart...!

ऋतुराग

मेरा पहला कथासंग्रह प्रकाशित- ऋतुराग

मुक्तिबंधन

"मुक्तिबंधन"

माँ-बाप की गोद में नन्हा सा लाल आया,

फिर स्कूल का पहला दिन आया, फुला नहीं समाया,

एक तप स्कूल में बिताया, एक अलग दुनिया घर में सजाया,

दिलों के तार जुड़े नहीं जुड़े, तो स्कूल से विदा होने का समय आया,

फिर पढने घर से कहीं दूर उड़ान भराया 

सोचा की इतने सालों बाद आज़ादी पाया,

पर खेद तो देखो, जब आजादी मिली तो पिंजरे से प्यार हो गया,

घौंसले से बिदाई का वो भी रिवाज पंछी ने कर आया,

आया, और देखो, एक नयी दुनिया भी बसाया 

उसके लिए थी वो एक नयी शुरुआत, जिंदगी में नया मुकाम आया,

स्वावलंबन का जीवन, उस जीवन ने जिम्मेदारी का पथ पढाया,

जश्न की रातें, और उत्साह भरे दिन लाया,

दोस्ती के रिश्तोने उस दुनिया को भी खूब सजाया,

पढाई-मस्ती की उस दुनिया में खुद को बहलाया,

धीरे-धीरे वहाँ दिल लगाया, नैनो में हज़ार सपने भराया,

उस दुनिया से लगन लग गयी, तो पंछी को ज्ञात हुआ,

कि अब तो यहाँ से भी अलविदा कहने का समय आया

काश इसका कोई अंत ही ना होता,

मित्रो का मेला ज़िन्दगी के गाव में हमेशा रहता, मस्ती के नगमे गुनगुनाता,

और ऐसे भारी कदमों से जाने का, वक़्त ना कभी आता

फिर मुड़कर माँ-बाप को देखा, गृहस्थाश्रम में कदम रखा,

नौकरी नाम से नया विश्व आया, पैसा और जीवनसाथी पाया,

पैंतीस वर्षा कैसे बीते पता ही ना चला,

नौकरी से निवृत्त हुआ, वहा से भी अलविदा मिला

विदा होकर घर और स्कूल से, नौकरी से अलविदा हुआ है,

बिदाई से मुक्ति मिली जब ऐसे लगा,

तो अब ज़िन्दगी से विदा लेने के दौर पर खड़ा है,

जीवन के हर पड़ाव, हर रिश्ते, हर समय को,

याद कर रहा है, तो सोच रहा है,

काश फिर मिलने की कोई वजह मिल जाए,

साथ जो बिताए वो पल मिल जाए,

चल फिर बनाते है सागर-किनारे रेत के मकान,

क्या पता अपना गुजरा हुआ कल मिल जाए 

आना-जाना ये रित ना होती,

ना होती बिदाई की रस्म, ना कोई पल्के रोती,

तो कितनी हसीं ये दुनिया होती,

ना फासले होते, और ना ही रिश्तो में कभी जुदाई होती 

किस फ़रिश्ते ने ये कुदरत सजाई है,

बहुत सही ये बिदाई की रस्म बनायीं है,

क्योंकि मिलने-बिछड़ने का ये खेल है,

इसी के बदौलत तो रिश्तों में मेल है,

तभी दोस्ती में जान और इश्क में खुदा है,

कही नजदीकिय, फिर भी अंतर्मन जुदा है,

तो कहीं दूरिय, फिर भी दिल एक दूजे पर फ़िदा है,

बिदाई नहीं कोई जुल्म, ये तो एक बंधन है,

तकदीर में मिलन के साथ खुदा ने भरा है जो,

बिदाई वो सप्तरंग है,

साड़ी दुनिया जोड़ राखी है जिसने,

दिलों में का वो स्पंदन है,

हाँ, बिदाई तो एक प्यारा सा बंधन है,

आज की शाम ने आनेवाली सुबह से किया जो, वो अभिवंदन है,
चुभता है, फिर भी ये मुक्तिबंधन है 

" यादें "

यादें आती हैं

यादें जाती हैं

ख्यालों के गहरे समंदर में

यादें चुभती हैं, यादें ही हंसाती हैं

यादें रुलाती हैं, यादें ही मनाती हैं

मातम-सा मौन हो या जश्न-ओ जीत का पर्व

झोका हवा का बन  यादें निकल जाती हैं

और अंत में इतिहास का एक धुल भरा पन्ना बन जाती हैं

कभी रूकती ही नहीं ये यादें, चुप चाप निकल जाती हैं,

जब छोड़ दे साथ अपना भी साया, 

देती हैं ये साथ, या कहूँ  कि यूँही सताती जाती है, 

क्यों जीवन के उस संध्याकाल में,

बस यादें ही रह जाती हैं ???