Too Many Leaders.................

We live in a state that is inundated with leaders.From Block Vice Presidents  to State General Secretaries.From Gram Panchayat member(and their proxies read husbands of members selected from Women reserved seat) to Chief Ministers(working on proxy till sometime back;In Bihar)
A vibrant democracy,so vibrant that the resonance is enough to harm you eardrums.Vibrating for last 64 odd years,resulting in the voter becoming sensible enough to not to vote any one party.However.having been left with Hobson's choice, electing to power a conglomerate of parties with leaders of different hues, colors, tones,statures,personalities with nothing in common but a desire to be in Power and to stay in Power at any cost.The Desire resulting in  such diverse Leaders being bed partners that even Freud would not be able to brand the underlying complex.
Vibrant democracies various vibrancy(s) have resulted in a cacophony that would put Cacophonous(of Asterix and Obelix) and his defamed music in demand.

Vibrant democracy plodding slowly but dexterously towards an undefined aim and in the process more often by accident than ever by design achieving;something;anything.And we the People rejoice and sing,Phir bhi Dil Hai Hindustani.The lower rung leaders pounce on this 'anything' achievement and say,'Humara Neta ne Leader Mahan'......................communication gap and the Aam Admi hears 'Mera Bharat Mahan' and leader goes back to making cacophonous noises and Aam Admi to his endless toil to be......yeah, tojust Be.

Now this mass of humanity called Our Nation and the Aam Admi therein over the past 64 yrs saw a pattern emerging; a pattern that showed him that the Political Factory is delivering Leaders at an ever increasing frequency.Leaders who,as Samuel Johnson said, have come to politics since it is the last resort for the scoundrel and I amend it to read as the First resort of the scoundrel in our vibrant democracy.
So..................sick of these ASSEMBLY LINE products of various hues but same chassis(read character and Aim) We The People started looking for SOMEONE to eulogise,someone whom we could admire,our leader of our very own Jasmine revolution.OUR HERO
So here was a NATION of  1 Billion and pregnant(pun intended) with many a myriad leaders but bereft of a Hero.Our Knight in White armour was found fast and made into a Hero overnight.He loved it,We loved it.And the coterie surrounded him fast.Coterie of self styled (men and women) epitomes of virtue,honesty,incorruptibility.We saw our jasmine revolutions dawn and cried Blood(democratically, nonetheless as dramatically  as the Arab one)
Did No One tell this Coterie about the age old saying,'Pehla pathhar woh mare jisne Paap na kiya ho,jo paapi na ho'.
Well, our hero did turn out to be an honest , virtuous but simple AAM AADMI.Yes,Anna Hazare is a GOOD man but he is just the AAM AADMI on whom greatness has been thrust.He is relishing it,playing along because he knows no better.Reminds me of Raju of 'The Guide' (Dev Anand starrer) and the protagonists similar rise to Cult Hero status only to die for a cause he didn't believe in and ;in the case of Anna; HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND.There are a lot of clean good men and women in this country AND that is not enough to brand them as 'The People's Heroes'.
We need sensible,pragmatic,thinking leaders, heroes, visionaries all rolled into one.So what if they gulp a drink or two as the sun sets.Don't cane them as Anna states( what he says is good for Ralegaon Sidhi but we are talking about the biggest,largest democracy in the world).Use their statesmanship.Please don't make them Heroes;Find them first,give them the JOB.Give them TIME,be PRAGMATIC ask for achievable GOALS.Look at the RESULTS discerningly but not with a jaundiced eye.Wait.................  and then say PASS or FAIL.
This Nation doesn't need any Revolution,it needs its own form of Democracy,tailor made to suit this bustling mass of largely good people.It needs Constitutional amendments to make the constitution more relevant to the ground realities. 
There is some more to be said but I'm tired so later.......

The Original Couplet on which I have based tis was written when I was 16 BUT the present version was written Yesterday at 49+

Badahkhwari is kadar hui,                 (Was such a drunkard
Maykhane sang kabar hui,                 they put a bar next to my grave
Insaan se murda hue,                        since i became a corpse courtesy liquor                                                         hence the respect,love,consideration care)
chunancha yeh kadar hui,

Kadar hui...................                       ( Got respec.................re
Baat yeh sadar hui,                                 This became known all over
na peete to yuheen marjate,                 had i not become a drunkard,i would have died unannounced
kya baat hai kadar hui                          courtesy drinks I got respect,love................re)

Kaise hui,kyoon hui,                              (  How and why,
kadar hui............                                      but i got resp................re)
na mili  pak kamon se,                             didn't get it by being pious,
 na  kisi ko rijhane se,                                nor by being a sychophant)

macca bhi ho aaya,                                   ( been to Mecca,took a bath in Ganges,
ganga naha liya,                                         been to all teerth sthan,
 teerath bhi kar liye                                       Even fell into the ultimate human feeling;love
mohabbat bhi;                                              but i only got it in the the company of liquor)
mili to aa mili maykhane mein

kadar mili...................                                Got respec.............................re
insaan se murda hue,                                   became a corpse from a human being
Kadar mili.......                                             But got respec......................re)

Maykhane aane wale                                  (Visitors to the bar
sajda karte hain,                                            Pay obeisance at my Grave
chadar charhate hain,                                    Pay their respects
mannatein karte hain                                     Wish for fulfillment of their needs/desires)

vali khafa hue,                                                (Angels got angry,
khuda se arz ki,                                              approached GOD complained
namakool,badahkhwar insani murda,                 and said,Useless,Drunkard human Corpse
piron fakiron ki shirkat kar raha hai huzoor!!!!!!!   is  being venerated like Peer and Fakir)


vali humein jaante hain,                                   (  Oh My,the Angels,know me,
kadar hui                                                            I got respec....................re
pahchante hain ,                                                  They recognize me,
kadar hui                                                          I got respec......................re)

Allah ne dekha hamara hisaab,                        ( GOD went over my deeds and misdeeds
bole......................                                            And said,
bura naheen chaha,                                           he never held any ill will towards anyone
na kiya kisi ka bura,                                          nor did he ever harm anyone
bantee muhabbat,                                              he only spread love
rahaa bawafa                                                     always remained loyal to  my laid down tenets)

is ko  mere paas lao,                                      ( Bring him to me,
main akela hoon,                                               I AM ALONE,
koi darja na do isko,                                        Don't give him any venerated titles like peer,fakir,VALI
main akela hoon,                                             I want him here,I AM ALONE)

na peer banao,                                                Give him repec..................re
na do vali ka khitab                                         He doesn't want to be called an ANGEL
kadar do isko,                                                 He just wants respec......................re
yeh...... iske kabil hai,                                       GIVE IT TO HIM , HE DESERVES IT
mere paas lao                                                   BRING HIM TO ME,
yeh........... iske kabil hai                                   HE DESERVES IT

....................................                                    .......................................

kadar MILI.....................                                 I finally GOT................respect..................re)

My Beautiful life.

I was born on 11th March,1962.I was a very happy infant,always happy,always smiling,giggling.My mother,hence called me 'Hasni'(endearing feminine gender nickname that mothers generally use to their hearts content's mutilated form)Got named as Ashwini.Try rhyming,feeling loving towards me(i know its difficult,but then so is Yoga) you will get the connection.

And then i grew up,supposedly became a Man.Got married,had two fab kids.And here i am.4+ lines of a life of 49 yrs+.
God gave me whatever i asked for and then made me feel stupid,'Oh,No I should have asked this instead/too,'
Its not as simple as it sounds;he gave me beaches but took my legs away.
The legs are there but only to flee.From MYSELF.
Now that's a cliche that even novices try but i'm 49+.
Had I been anyone else i would not have liked to be ME.
I am not trying to say anything to anyone ,I'm just accepting loudly what i've felt for a lifetime but not said.
That Done.
Now let me see life from a different perspective.
Happy,well off(sort of),loving,lovable people in life but
a leering yearning KE YOON HOTA TO KYA HOTA.
No and I'm not talking about lecherous,greedy,lusty desires alone(let me accept I AM NO SAINT BUT ONLY A GOOD MAN) I'm asking for my legs back.Legs that can only make me jump,run(not humanly possible at 49 unless one is Milkha/Fauja Singh) across MY BEACHES and are not ONLY meant to flee.
My God Is a Smart God.He does what is destined but blames it on the wordings of my demand.
OH GOD! I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU,YOU HAVE TO LET YOUR OWN CHILD DOWN.AND PROBLEM IS,YOU CAN'T EVEN WISH AND PRAY TO ANYONE TO LET IT BE DIFFERENT
I empathize.Not to worry,I'll manage without the legs on the beach but i'll not complain.I LOVE YOU and as well said by some sad lover 'Aaashiq aur Maashooq ka Gila hi kya Shikwa hi kya,Jab woh aa kar lage gale saara gila jataa raha' So since I have to meet you someday my dear lover(My God) I'll sort it out then,when I finally hug you.

Zindagi saharon sang guzar gai,
Maut sahara maangti naheen,
Ai maut abhi mat aao,
Humein tumhari abhi aadat naheen.

Tum akele aati ho,
badtar..................,
kehti ho akele chalo,
saharon ki aadat hai humein,
pur zor palee hai,
Abhi mat aao,
Humein abee tumhari aadat naheen.

Akele.......................
marnaa bhi seekhna hai,
aur marke jeena bhi,
tumhein to aadat hai marke rahne ki,
beaulad ho tum,
behayat ho tum,
bin bulaye chali aati ho,
be abru nikal jaati ho,
aadat si ho gayee tumko yun jeene ki,
Par..................................................
Humein abhi tumharee aadat nahein.

Aana to parhega,
maksad hai tumhare vajoo ka,
Ban dhan ke aana,
hoori ka chehra lagakar,
pasand aaogi to le jaana,
warna meri bala se.
tumhare vajoo ka khayaal hum rakhenge,
jaan dedenge par ye baat rakhenge,
haseen lagogi to chal parhenge sang,
Badsoorti ki abhi humein aadat nahin.

Pure.

Sittting in the central lobby of the building,I was trying to selct candidates for an important task.Boys lined up  along the corridors emanating from the lobby and the girls looking down at me from the staircase across threatening to tear down the self made barricade and inundate my surroundings.Cacaphony,disorder,pushing and jostling for a place to be there,rampant.This when the name was to be called out for coming over to me.Could'nt understand the reason for all the hullabaloo.But then I think it is in the nature of young ones to be restless.
She came down the stairs wearing well fitting jeans and a Kurta from the crowd of churidars and uniforms.My boss sitting next to me,nudged,indicating this could be the candidate that we were looking for.Having worked the whole evening trying to find one such specimen who could fit the bill,she appeared like a relief.I could'nt dare show the relief least she flees.Girls that age are very volatile and imaginative.Relief could easily have got understood as being interested,my 42 yrs notwithstanding and that would have been curtains for the evenings celebrations over the lucky find.She was attractive,soft spoken  intelligent and interested in doing what we offered.Our offering being,lots of physical and mental hardwork to achieve a  goal to be selected as the Best.She knew she was better than what we needed but humoured us and kept up from thereon with me for reasons...........To cut the beautiful story short,I'm still standing where i left her and wondering ,Yoon Hota To Kya Hota......Stupid.And I am 49.