5 verses · ~1 min
नहीं, ये मेरे देश की आँखें नहीं हैं पुते गालों के ऊपर नकली भवों के नीचे छाया प्यार के छलावे बिछाती मुकुर से उठाई हुई मुस्कान मुस्कुराती ये आँखें - नहीं, ये मेरे देश की नहीं हैं...
तनाव से झुर्रियाँ पड़ी कोरों की दरार से शरारे छोड़ती घृणा से सिकुड़ी पुतलियाँ - नहीं, ये मेरे देश की आँखें नहीं हैं...
वन डालियों के बीच से चौंकी अनपहचानी कभी झाँकती हैं वे आँखें, मेरे देश की आँखें, खेतों के पार मेड़ की लीक धारे क्षिति-रेखा को खोजती सूनी कभी ताकती हैं वे आँखें...
उसने झुकी कमर सीधी की माथे से पसीना पोछा डलिया हाथ से छोड़ी और उड़ी धूल के बादल के बीच में से झलमलाते जाड़ों की अमावस में से मैले चाँद-चेहरे सुकचाते में टँकी थकी पलकें उठायीं - और कितने काल-सागरों के पार तैर आयीं मेरे देश की आँखें...
(पुरी-कोणार्क, 2 जनवरी 1980)
इति
The Poet
अज्ञेय
Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Agyeya'
1911 · 1987
Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan, universally known by his pen name Agyeya, completely rewired the circuitry of modern Hindi literature. Born in 1911 in a British archaeological camp in Uttar Pradesh, his life was as fiercely untraditional as his prose. Before he became the architect of the Prayogavaad (Experimentalism) movement, he was an active revolutionary who spent four years in British colonial prisons for attempting to help Bhagat Singh escape. In those prison cells, he began drafting Shekhar: Ek Jivani, a psychological novel that shocked the literary establishment with its unapologetic exploration of the individual ego. He rejected the prevailing romanticism of the era and instead assembled the Tar Saptak series, bringing together a new generation of poets who wrote in free verse about alienation, intellect, and the fractured modern psyche. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1964 and the Jnanpith Award in 1978. Agyeya was a novelist, a combatant officer in World War II, a journalist, and a profound existential thinker. He gave Hindi literature the vocabulary to interrogate the inner self without the comfort of traditional morality.
Paired Painting
Girl from the Santhal Tribe
This evocative portrait captures a moment of quiet grace, reflecting the deep empathy the artist held for the indigenous Santhal community. Through the delicate interplay of light and shadow, the painter invites us into a serene rural landscape where humanity and nature exist in rhythmic harmony. The girl, portrayed with a gaze that is both innocent and deeply profound, rests with a gentle dignity that honors her connection to the land and the simple, sacred joys of village life in India. The work stands as a testament to an aesthetic that sought to celebrate the authentic spirit of tribal communities, preserving their identity with respect and a gentle, humanistic touch.
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