दो राहें...

उलझन में डालतीं वही दो राहें
पास बुला कर तरसातीं वो दो राहें

मिलन की चाह कभी क़दमों को गति देती
आज उन क़दमों के निशाँ यह नज़र है ढूँढती

धुँधला गया एक चेहरा, शून्य ताकता वहाँ अब
खालीपन से सराबोर, अधरों ने साधा है मौन अब

साँसें गईं थम, चेहरा हुआ ओझल, आवाज़ है गुम,
हैं अब मेरी भावनाएँ, जज़्बात और तमन्नाएँ सुन्न

बस एक...

एक जीने का बहाना, एक सबल सहारा,
एक ज़िन्दगी का आधार, मेरे मन की पुकार

भावनाओं का आवरण एक घरोंदा
पंखों की उड़ान एक उल्लास भरा मन

एक सहचर, एक मनमीत, एक रूह का साथी
बने जो संचालक, सारथी, एक उपदेशक |

Fractions : Word Problems

1. 2/3rd of the construction is done. If 25 buildings are to be constructed still. How many buildings are to be constructed in all?

2. Together with my friends, I ate 2 1/3 pizzas. The remaining 1 2/3 are 15 pieces. How many pieces of pizzas did we have in all?

3. A writer writes 15 pages in a day. She has completed 2/3rd of her bool. How many days would she require to write the rest of the pages if total pages are 900?

4. I have used 1/4 th of my pen refill and I have written with the same pen for 8 hours. After how many hours of writing would I need another refill?

5. I want to put 3/5 cups of cocoa powder in a recipe but I only have chocolate slabs. If I put one slab of chocolate for 1/5 cup of cocoa powder, how many slabs of chocolate would I require?

6. A recipe requires 2/5 cups of tomato puree. If I replace it by 1/4 tbsp of tomato ketchup instead of 1/5 cup of puree, how much tomato ketchup do I need?

7. A box is full of beads, 2/3rd of them are red, 1/4th of them are blue and the rest are yellow. There are 35 more red beads than blue ones. How many beads are there altogether?

8. 2/5th of the total cards are black in colour and the rest are red. If red cards are 15 more than the black cards, how many total cards are there?

9. Reema and Samy have 38 marbles in all. 1/3rd of Reema's marbles are 3 more than 1/5th of Samy's marbles. How many marbles do they have individually?

10. 1/3rd of Arun's marks in mathematics exceeds half of his marks in English by 30. If he got 240 marks in 2 subjects together, how many marks did he score in English?

11. I have 3052 books, out of which 1/4 are fiction, of which 2/7 are short stories. How many short fiction do I have?

12. Sheena has read 3/4 of a book consisting of 288 pages. How many pages are left to be read?

13. Leena reads a book for 1 3/4 hours everyday. She reads the entire book in 6 days. How many hours in all were required by her to read the whole book?

14. A sugar bag contains 30 kg of sugar. After consuming 2/3 of it, how much sugar is left in the bag?

15. For every 1/3 cup of cocoa powder, I use 1/4 tsp of chocolate powder. How much chocolate powder do I need for 2 cups of cocoa powder?

16. A bucket contains 24 3/4 l of water. How many 3/4 l jugs can be filled from the bucket to get it emptied?

विराम

छोड़ दिया वह आवरण कभी न पहनने के लिए
तोड़  दिया वह बंधन कभी न बांधने के लिए
आवरण के वो रंग अभी बिखरे हैं यहीं
बंधन के वो निशाँ अभी ताज़ा हैं मन पर कहीं

यह है अर्ध या न बदलने वाला पूर्ण विराम
क्या कह दूँ मन को जो अभी भी ढूंढें अविराम
क्या यूं ही जीते रहना है उस खोये धागे के अभाव में
या अधूरे जीवन को जीना है पूरा करने के इंतज़ार में

उड़ान

न बाँधो इस अनवरत उन्मुक्त उड़ान को
समय की बेड़ी से इसे सरोकार ही क्यों हो ?
आंतरिक संयम को बाहरी चर्या क्यों,
मन के भावों को शब्दों का बाना क्यों ?

शायद कभी क्षितिज को न छू पाऊँ,
शायद कभी सबसे ऊँचा न उड़ पाऊँ,
शायद क्षमता की सीमा में बंध जाऊं,
पर मन की स्वछंदता को क्यों न पाऊँ |

लौट कर आऊँगी अपने घरोंदे पर फिर भी,
विस्तृत आसमान अधिक अपना सा लगे तो भी |
मन की एक तार काया के बंधनों से है जुडी,
चाहे बाकी सब अपने आशियाँ में हैं सिमटी |

मनःस्थिति

वही जानी पहचानी सी राहें बुलाती हैं मुझे,
कभी जिन राहों को कहीं छोड़ आयी थी मैं,
वही कुछ अपनी सी राहें जो खो गयी हैं कहीं,
आज फिर पीछे से आवाज़ दे कर बुलाती हैं मुझे

कुछ अधूरी चीज़ों को अभी पूरा करना बाकी था,
कुछ तस्वीरों में अभी रंग भरना बाकी था,
कुछ यादों में अभी खुशबू महकाना बाकी था,
कुछ टुकड़ों को अभी पोटली में बांधना बाकी था

कानों में गूँज गया वो प्यार सा सम्बोधन,
न था उम्र का बोध जहाँ न समय का था कोई बंधन
क्षितिज जहां दूर न था, हाथों में था जहां आसमान,
तसवीरें धुंधली हुईं पर खनका फिर वो प्यारा सम्बोधन

धूलि धूसरित चेहरों में चमक थी जो बचपन की,
समय के साथ यादों ने ओढ़ी है वह चादर धूल की,
उन्मुक्त ह्रदय में परछाई थी उन्मुक्त फैले आस्मां की
एक अजीब से खालीपन ने घेरा है उस स्वछंद मन के भाव को

हकीकत से याद बनने का सफ़र इतना छोटा होगा किसे पता था
यादों को समेट कर तरतीब से लगाने का काम रहता है अभी
कैसे रोकूँ समय कि धIरा को जो अपनी गति से बद्ध है
कैसे चुराऊँ एक भी पल उन अनगिनत बीते पलों के कोष से

Wait Makes the Arrival Sweeter

Every single day I have waited for it, thinking this would be the day when it actually arrives. But hours melted into days and days into months and yet no trace of it. My desire to watch it, transformed into urge which gave birth to desperation and I soon reached the stage of hopelessness. But it was not under my control so I had to resign. I stopped looking for it, a little annoyed and a little angry within my heart at its treachery. Why did it make me believe in the first place that it would follow me wherever I go and in which ever state I be. It was supposed to be my dear friend in thick and thin and it has been so since the time I felt the unusual bond with it. I know it may seem illogical for a reasoning mind but I prefer to have faith on this saying more than on any sort of reason - 'Mano to bhagwaan nahin to pathar'.

No I am not talking about any God here, this time it is my one and only beloved rain. Not just rain, everything that comes with it - the dark clouds, the cool breeze, the threatening lightening and the deafening thundering because they set the stage perfectly for the magnum opus. Everything amuses me, humbles me, brings out the appreciation for the divine creation of a perfect being. Since the time I remember having developed this strange association with seemingly inanimate phenomenon, it has never let me down. My happiness has always been reflected back by its jubilantly dancing raindrops and my sorrows have been drowned in its uninterrupted downpour, on not one but almost all the instances. There was no reason to believe otherwise but the fact that we were pals extraordinaire.

But since I left my abode of last seven years, there was not even a trickle of water from the heavens high above us. It felt as if I am left abandoned by my companion to face the vicissitudes of life all alone. Life has not been the same because the feeling of being watched over by someone, the assurance that someone would mend anything for me, is priceless. Well, some things cannot be forced to happen just because an individual feels so strongly about it.

Anyway, months passed hopelessly and very unpretentiously there it was one day thundering, roaring, raring to go in all its regality and affluence, not with a single element missing. The spectacle was one that I had never witnessed before, completely out of this world. It soaked everything from dusty green leaves which were now fluttering and displaying their shiny green colours, the parched ground, the thirsty fauna, the withering flora, to my melancholy heart. It compensated much more than what I had hoped for. Because this time, it brought the realization that sometimes the wait makes the arrival of a dear one even more special and significant. Once the feeling of granted starts seeping in, the fun of appreciating the other and the uniqueness itself start getting compromised.

I think I needed this message at this time. How wonderfully a simple natural process never fails to bring home a subtle point which feels so appropriate at any given time. I know someone high above is really watching over me and would not abandon me because His messages have been loud and clear to me always.