ऐ नादान परिंदे

!!आईएएस का जिन्न !!

ऐ नादान परिंदे झूने आसमान को निकला था
सूरज को लड्डू समझ खाने को मन फिसला था
अभिलाषा का उन्माद मन में जोश उबलता था
विश्वास और जूनून की गर्मी से रग में ज्वार  गरलता था

आज बहुत चलने पर भी जब आसमान ओझल होता
थका हुआ मन थका हुआ तन अपनी किस्मत पर है रोता
मित्रमंडली से मिलता हूँ हर कोई पूछ रहा होता
क्या पाया इस अंधड़ में इससे अच्छा था तू सोता

लोग मुझे समझाते  हैं जीवन का विश्लेषण करकर
क्या खोया क्या पाया मैंने  इस अंधंड का हिस्सा बनकर
जीवन के उल्लास चरम को तपति ज्वाला में भुनकर
पैसे और भोग से हटकर तपक्रिया को चुनकर

पैसा खोया चैन गंवाया फिर भी हाथ नहीं आया
ऐसा लगता है मानो सब कुछ खोया कुछ नहीं पाया
नहीं नहीं मेरे प्रियमित्रों ऐसी गलती मत करना
रंगीनमिजाजी शौक सिद्धि से नहीं जूनून की तुलना

आकुल अंतर है शांत हुआ मन और अधिक गौरांग हुआ
करुणप्रेम संज्ञान हुआ ऊर्जाशक्ति का आवाह्न हुआ
मन थका नहीं तन रुका नहीं जीवन-दर्शन अधिक महान हुआ
आत्मशक्ति और संतुष्टि से परिपूर्ण परिंदा  बलराम हुआ

कर्मशक्ति और भाग्यशक्ति सदैव मेल नहीं खाती
पर अटल सत्य है कर्मशक्ति कभी बेकार नहीं जाती
जीवन क्षणभंगुर किस पल जाने साँसे छोड़ चली जाती
अन्तसमय में आत्मसंतुष्टि और आत्मसिद्धि है काम आती

प्रत्येक सांस से मन में प्रफुलता का संचार हुआ
हरेक फड़फड़ाहट से परिंदा और अधिक आज़ाद हुआ
पैसे से लोगों के  जीवन में खुशियां का आगाज़ हुआ
पर क्या पैसे से जीवन में संतुष्टि का साज हुआ?

जब तक जियो एक शौर्यवीर की भाँती चाल प्रचंड रखो
हर व्यक्ति प्राण ज्योति को लेकर मन भावों को निश्झल रखो
कोई बुरा कहे या अच्छा मन  में भाव सरल रखो
शांत चित्त संतुष्ट  ख़ुशी को  जीवन चेतन में लख़खो

अगर नहीं नादान परिंदा उड़ता सूरज को खाने
आकुल अंतर अपराधबोध से रह जाता बस मर जाने
पंख जले पर मरा नहीं है उसका अंतर्मन जाने
आसमान से धरती देखी इसका सौभाग्य अतुल माने || 

जिंदगी के रंगमंच

जिंदगी के रंगमंच में 
कुछ  ऐसे भी किरदार होते है 
जो ना हॅसते हैं और ना रोते हैं 
दुःख के सागर को अपने अंदर समेट कर ढोते हैं 
जिंदगी के रंगमंच में 
कुछ  ऐसे भी किरदार होते है 

कुछ अपने लिए होते हैं 
कुछ अपनों के लिए होते हैं 
पर कुछ खुद की परवाह ना करते हुए 
केवल औरों के लिए बोते हैं 
येही वो लोग हैं 
जो जीवन को रंगों से संजोते हैं 

कुछ लाचारी का पात्र होते हैं
जो रोते रोते अपने आप को खोते हैं
दुनिया पर बढ़ते बोझ के
यही जिम्मेदार होते हैं
कुछ संघर्षशील कुछ संतुष्ट
कुछ दार्शनिक कथाकार होते हैं
जो बहुत ही अद्भुत और मजेदार होते हैं 

जिंदगी को झेलने वालों के लिए 
यहाँ बस गोते ही गोते हैं 
जीवन की इस श्रंखला में 
अधिकतर लोग सिर्फ सोते हैं 
बहुत काम ही हैं जो वाकई में जीते हैं 
और हर गोते की कलमन्दी में गिरकर भी लौटे हैं 
ये वह लोग है जो अक्सर मुस्कराते रहते हैं 
और चमड़े के होते मोटे हैं 

इस रंगमंच के असली कलाकार यही  होते हैं 

जो लालच धूर्त मक्कारी से परे होकर

खुद पर हँस सकते  है और औरों के लिए रोते हैं 

जिंदगी के रंगमंच में 

कुछ  ऐसे भी किरदार होते है

A new twist in the Civil Serviecs

As per media reports, Modi government has proposed a change in the process of Civil Services recruitment and planned to make Academy training as the fourth leg of this grueling exam. This has once again put the spotlight on the issue of Civil services reform on which nearly 600 committees have been set up till date but none could find a way to out of the dustbin. All the reports became a victim of politician-bureaucracy tussle and power games. Politicians have a vested interest in keeping the door of civil servants in their hand so that they can tighten the noose whenever necessary. On the other hand, any reform is prone to be looked at from political coloring. Possibly this is the reason, Mr. Gandhi has come out against this move and calling it BJP's tactics to subvert the merit.

In this backdrop, let us evaluate the plusses and minuses of this move.  

Good move:

FC had become a picnic duration for many candidates. The culture of drugs sex alcohol and class bunks is no unknown in the academy. This acts as a detox or relaxation phase for people who look forward to settled life after many years of cut-throat competition. The training academy had been sending reports each year regarding declining standards of candidates who come for training. Hopefully, with this reform measure people will start taking it seriously.

This move will also play a role in diluting the role of Interview. The interview is playing too crucial a role in selection and service allocation. Despite all the experiences of Civil servants in dealing with interview candidates day in and day out, the method cannot be termed objective. In many cases, the same person who appears in the interview in two different years has a wide variation in interview scores. Internal biases, frozen mindset and 30 minutes of luck play too crucial a role in deciding your rest of the life. Moreover, the relative contribution of Interview is disproportionate. Though on paper interview is just 275 marks out of 1975 marks but in practice, the interview does not just make or break but it also a like a veto for you to get into service of your choice. Taking a lead of 50 or 60 marks in Mains require disproportionately high effort and getting the same lead in the interview is just a matter of 30 minutes performance.

And lastly, It'll reduce the news hype and sensationalism around Civil services specifically IAS. Too much social respect and felicitation without even any real contribution to society result in inflated ego and a false sense of enlightenment. Hopefully, some focus could be taken away and people will stop risking their career for such thing.

But does this mean that all the political brouhaha and allegation of merit compromise are baseless? Well in a vibrant system like India where ideological fights are more visible than in any other democracy in the world, such allegations cannot be brushed aside under the carpet. We need to evaluate the downside as well.

Downside:

Yes, it is true that transparency in the new system needs to be monitored. Else some bias may creep in allocation. Already there is a perceived fear in the society with regard to institutional hijacking by a particular political agenda be it Supreme court or office of governor or award ceremonies. Therefore, the government should come out with the fool-proof plan on the modalities of things instead of proposing a demonetization type potpourri. 

The most damaging part of this entire exercise is from the perspective of the candidates who prepare for the exam. The delay in service allocation means people will further go through 4 months of the grueling process. There is no guarantee if this extra level of scrutiny will add any other aspect of wisdom and testing which UPSC might have missed. But it'll increase the length of exam duration. Just like India has got tired of eternal election mode, even the candidates may develop severe mental and physical fatigue due to the lengthy process of examination. In fact, one positive aspect of FC is it acts as a cooling off period where candidates live in a relaxed settled atmosphere and grasp the finer points of administration. It helps in taking away the exam fatigue and facilitate bonhomie between young lads who are going to serve at important positions in the system. 

But the question we ought to ask ourselves is whether this is the panacea. Is this the magic wand we were looking for? Is the issue of civil services reform so small? Was it for this nearly 600 committees have been set up? Why are we so hesitant in taking big-ticket reforms? The need of the hour is to bring bigger reform along with this like independent transfer and appointment process just like for IRS cadre and as per recommendations of second ARC Report. Another could be brining police service reforms as per Prakash Singh case judgment. This will help in bringing down the scale of corruption and give greater stability to the life of civil servants. Further, bringing specialized cadre and recruit more people from private sector or academia at a mid-service level as per Niti Ayog recommendations may further help in making system more diverse and expertise oriented. The unnecessary perks are given to civil servants and the king like status given to them may be divided into 3-4 equal rank officers so that powers do not get centralized at the district level and all the media hype created around IAS will melt down. A beginning of this could be done by taking away the beacon and the big Bungalow. Just give a 4 BHK quarter to IAS. What is the need of big bungalow? Tap corruption by bringing technology and social audit mechanism in the work of IAS. In addition, any talk of reforms will be incomplete without reforming the state level agencies as they have become the real den of corruption.

A lot more needs to be done. But as the philosophy goes, good should never become enemy of best. All one can wish is that good should not turn out to be a half cooked plan and whatever changes occur, transparency, rule-orientation and objectivity should not be compromised. Hail modi, Hail UPSC and Hail the candidates.

State of Media

Open any news site and you can see very predictable polarised platitudinal news items. Few Sunny Leone and Sonam Kapoor news items, some on political boxing happening between heavyweights like BJP and Congress,  news on rape, theft and crime and some oft-repeated opinion mouthpiece. News has boring to the degree of predictability of traditionaBollywoodod movies that one may feel exhausted and irritated reading the same news item again and again. And as this was not enough, the poison of fake news acts as an icing on the cake. 

State of media in our country and around the world has become so abysmal that it would be unjust to call it the fourth pillar of democracy any more. The news anchors have become representatives of political parties. Rather than news presenters, they have become opinion makers and opinion feeders. They feed the ideology in the minds of people who remain glued to television channels in the hope of some good news. In fact, this hope is a euphemism for their hidden anger due to their inability to find my purpose in the life. The news opinion markers and feeders who were hitherto only presenters are tapping into this turbulence generated in the minds of people due to anxiety, tension, and fight for survival. In the process, most of them seem to have taken sides with one or other political party or ideology. They characterize the presstitute in the true sense. The sadness takes the toll when we see that even those who try to be neutral, become so sarcastic and caustic in their remarks that they are seen as anti-establishment. 

To make the matter worse, social media has emerged as the biggest factory of fake news, instant justice, trolls and negative commentary. Everyone seems to have an opinion and eager to express and defend it without having a thorough political economic and cultural understanding and least of it the knowledge of the subject being discussed. Seems like people have taken the 'Chai par churcha' bit too seriously just like the 15 lakh jumla of BJP and 'Garibi hatao' slogans of Congress. 

The problem lies in our narrowing vision. From a polychromatic multi-colored thinking, we seem to have degenerated to a binary vision where only the grammar of either-or, yes-no, for-against and national-anti-national find space. Rest all is brushed aside in one stroke under the carpet or on the fringes where it is left to be rotten just like people who live on the fringe channels. Sometimes it feels like society as a whole is going through a phase of depression. It has developed delusional thinking about people killing each other, one section trying to harm other and one destructive thought overpowering all other thoughts. The worst part is this depression is manufactured and media is playing a big role in it. The question we ought to ask ourselves is what is the remedy? 

Just like the best antidote to depression is activity, the best remedy for societal depression is the debate, discussion and free exchange of ideas. The word free assumes a huge importance here. It can not be manufactured. News readers and presenters should come back to their original role. Our education system should promote critical thinking and questioning so that people can form an opinion of their own instead of borrowing other's thoughts or speaking like parrots. But a big question which remains unanswered is can this really happen? 

Let us understand this with the analogy of an animal with four legs whose all four legs are tied with each other. Can he really walk? The answer is obviously no. Similar is the situation of present-day media. It is tied with the leg of economy and politics. Today businessmen are the politicians and they are the media moguls. In such a state of affair, does democracy really stands any chance?

Wisdom

Q. What is the best antidote to depression or negative thoughts?
1. Work/activity
2. Music
3. Devotion
4. Love

Q. What is the best way to stay happy?
1. Happiness is a choice. It does not happen naturally in the state of society.
2. It comes when you drop the words like want or wish or me from your dictionary.
3. Once a person came to Gautam Buddha and asked Guruji I want peace. The answer was simple. Drop I and want.
4. If you can't be happy in your present circumstances, you can never be in future.
5. Every incident in life has a positive and negative side. It depends on us from which eye or lens we wish to see the incident.
6. Love nature. One word key to staying happy. Love Sun, love the grass, love the animal and enjoy their innocence and devotion.

Q. How to get rid of guilt?
1. No clue. Just accept it as your destiny and learn from your failures/mistakes.
2. Dedicate everything to Shiva. Victory as his and defeat also his.
3. Be considerate and generous to others.
4. Understand the limits of human nature.

Q. How to stay calm in most difficult and testing circumstances?
1. Enjoy meditation and hours doing nothing.
2. Forgive and forget attitude for others.
3. Understand that nothing is yours.
4. Everyone is a product of his or her circumstances.
5. Try to experience the thoughts and feelings of other people.
6. Remember you are just an actor and your duty is to do your job.
7. Raise your character.

Q. Wisdom of life?
A. Think and rethink the deep meaning of the words like character, discipline, honesty, conviction, love, joy and service.
B. Whoever you see and whatever you see, with good health, wealth and peace for the person.

Q. How to react to someone who is trying to harm you?
1. Forgive. Ignore. Avoid.
2. Easy. Easy. Easy.

When a dream dies

When a dream dies,

Heart is sliced
Soul cries
Wisdom defies
Happiness belies

Things turn hazy
Mind go crazy
You become lazy
Feeling cagey

Faith becomes blurred
Wish feels cursed
Destiny pierced
Life teared

It feels as if a part of you has died.

Today, I got the answer to many questions.
Hardwork vs Luck, it is luck.
Life vs Death, it is death.
Love vs Hate, it is hate.
Truth vs Fake, it is fake.
Full vs Void, it is void.

Always wins.

Coming back to life

Teaching in BITS Pilani, Experiencing Dubai, Honeymoon, Marriage, Civil Services Interview, Assistant director income tax selection and so much more in last six months. It proves to be the most intense phase of my life. So much in so little time. preparing for civils was much more intense from the perspective of business but experiences were limited. In last six months, new experiences were raining on my head. Every day I get to see new things, new people, new situations and so much more.

It's like I am meeting with my own hidden self. Amid all this, one thing I missed badly is my habit of blogging. The sad part is I did not pen my experiences and encounters with the younger lot, with people of Dubai and with my own other self. 

Nearly 1000 times the thought came that I should pen down particular experiences, thoughts but somehow I could not. Something was amiss. Somewhere I faltered. Some guilt, some lethargy, some preoccupation of mind stopped me from capturing all these beautiful moments. So today I begin again with the compilation of my experiences with the first step being the revision of eleven cardinal principles of my life.

1. Good should never become enemy of best

2. Charaiveti Charaiveti (Keep walking keep walking)

3. You are just an actor, not the director

4. Be clean in your thoughts, deeds, and words

5. Give everyone around chance or a benefit of the doubt

6. Whatever happens, happens for a good reason

7. Every moment in the life is an opportunity

8. There is no right time for doing the right things

9. Helping others is the best way to help yourself

10. Wish peace, success, calm, happiness, love, money for everyone around

11. The basic quality of life is necessary for living worldly life in a happy manner

With this, I start my blogging process again after an unhappy break of  50 days. But as I said, it is better late than never. There is no right time to do the right things.