Grecian Urn

  Mirza Ghalib’s death anniversary on February 15, which coincided with Basant Panchami this year, passed without the enthusiasm witnessed on his birthday (December 27). A visit to  Gali Mir Qasim Jan in the morning, unfurls nothing unusual at his haveli, part of which has been turned into a memorial. On setting my feet in I found an old man was standing outside with his grandson, waiting for a rickshaw to take the boy to the madrassa.  Asked about Ghalib, he frowned his brows and went on, “You are talking, about someone who did not set a good example all his life. He passed his days in romantic reveries and the evenings at mushairas or in drinking and courting dancing girls. Such a Mussalman hardly needs to be remembered. Even though he lived next to a masjid, he hardly ever visited it.” To show off his scholarship, made a wisecrack of a couplet: “Masjid ke zer sai ek ghar bana liya hai /Ek banda-i-qamina hamsai khuda hai”. If the man thought of himself as such a wretche...

    Source : Internet  There will be a push without a warning. All your shackles will be torn apart. Defenseless, you will be tumbled, The thorns will make you bleed. You will be clueless, critised Untill one day you will start walking, Without the pair of crutch. Still bleeding on the same road, thorny But without an 'Ouch'.  ©️Souraseni

Those who smile — beneath the smile  are the real ones.  What can speak  without a grammar,  and gives a meaning  to laugh, hate, or scream  Is the real one.  Those who loved,  and were not loved back,  who forgave and forgot, and stood again—  were the real ones.  Those who said ‘No’,  when ‘No’ one did — were the real ones!  Those who said ‘Yes’  the only one to say  were the real ones.  Reals lack a definition  Is a definition real?   Souraseni, Kol-6/5/22

How many times in school have you uttered the name — ‘Hiuen Tsang was a Chinese traveller who came to India during the reign of Harsha Vardhana”! Well, an introduction dedicated to this magnanimous personality is both an audacity, at the same time a fool’s attempt! However, Personally speaking, I was really astounded when I came to know that this personality travelled all the way to India, from China, risking his own life? I was probably in class seven when this piece of information struck my head hard. How can someone possibly on earth be such a simpleton? For learning…risking own life! But now at 25 when I am a tad bit mature I can understand what an indelible impact this man had left on the making of Oriental history! Historians rely a great deal upon his book Born into a family of scholars for generations, Hiuen Tsang, alternatively Xuanzang, received a classical Confucian educational prodigy in his youth. But his younger brother cultivated in him a keen insight of kn...

To combat is science but to succumb is religion H.G.Wells, the literateur puts that science is simply "the evolution of human thinking".* Religion appeared far before science. The father of sociology Auguste Comte, claims that human knowledge developed in three concurrent stages: Theology, Metaphysics and Positivism. Theology is the study of God’s and religious beliefs, Metaphysics—is the practice to think about abstract ideas ( 'knowledge' ,' Identity', ‘Time' and 'space') and Positivism is 'the approach of science'(Comte). Thus as civilization progressed religious beliefs transmuted into science. However, this transmutation of ensconcing science over religion has not been very easy. For example, we may consider the Renaissance period of the West. During this period, pupils from new modern Universities questioned popular beliefs, viz. witch burning, black magic and more such superstitious practices. For prop...

The partly decadent Aravalli, Tropical desert forest, picturesque Jain temple, gurgling hilly brooks, and nature’s deadliest predators--- constitute the world of Ranakpur: A lifetime trip down memory lane. The two are simply different: a ‘Tour’ to somewhere, and ‘Travelling’ that place, in real. The former is making an itinerary, booking the transport, conforming accommodation in the best possible hotel, and finally ticking against the checklist of a few ‘Tourist’ spots. However, ‘Travelling’ is more of a conscious experience on parts of individuals and is a process of continuous exchange between the ‘Other’ and ‘I’. It is more than just visiting the places of popular interest, buying souvenirs, or finding the perfect frame for a catchy social media feed. I remember, somewhere I came across a beautiful description about who a ‘Traveller’ really is, by the French litterateur Baudelaire. The man delineates: a ‘Traveller’ is ‘An observer, is a prince, who is everywhere in possession of hi...