5 verses · ~1 min
चीटियाँ इतिहास में नहीं होती: उनकी कतारें उसके भूगोल के आरपार फैल जाती हैं; किसी चींटी अपनी नन्हीं सी काया पर इतिहास की धूल पड़ने देती है ।
चींटियाँ सच की भी चिंता नहीं करतीं: सच भी अपने व्यास में रेंग रही चींटी को शामिल करना ज़रूरी नहीं समझता ।
चींटी का समय लंबा न होता होगा: जितना होता है उसमें वह उस समय से परेशान होती है इसका कोई ज्ञात प्रमाण नहीं है ।
इतिहास, सच और समय से परे और उनके द्वारा अलक्षित चींटी का जीवन फिर भी जीवन है: जिजीविषा से भरा-पूरा, सिवाय इसके कि चींटी कभी नहीं गिड़गिड़ाती कि उसे कोई देखता नहीं, दर्ज नहीं करता या कि अपने में शामिल नहीं करता ।
कवि की मुश्किल यह नहीं कि वह चींटी क्यों नहीं है बल्कि यह कि शायद वह है, लेकिन न लोग उसे रहने देते हैं, न इतिहास, सच या समय ।
इति
The Poet
अशोक वाजपेयी
Ashok Vajpeyi
1941 · 2008
Ashok Vajpeyi occupies a towering position in contemporary Hindi letters as both a prolific poet and a master architect of cultural institutions. Born in 1941 in Durg, he joined the civil service and subsequently shaped India's modern arts landscape by founding institutions like Bharat Bhavan. Despite his immense public responsibilities, his poetry remains fiercely dedicated to the intimate and the personal. He views poetry as a civilizational defense against the crushing impersonality of the modern world. In collections like Shaher Ab Bhi Sambhavana Hai and his Sahitya Akademi Award winning Kahin Nahin Wahin, Vajpeyi explores the themes of love, death, nature, and absence with remarkable linguistic precision. He writes in free verse, employing a sparse and exact vocabulary to capture fleeting moments of domestic quiet or sudden metaphysical dread. His work has been translated across the globe, bringing modern Hindi sensibilities to a vast international audience. Vajpeyi demonstrates that a writer can navigate the complex machinery of the state while keeping the solitary flame of the poetic conscience brilliantly alive.
Paired Painting
View from Ugneswur Ghat, Benares
This delicate lithograph serves as a poignant window into the soul of Benares, revealing a world where the sacred and the mundane exist in perpetual harmony. Through the observant eye of James Prinsep, we are invited to stand upon the stone steps of the Ugneswur Ghat, feeling the gentle lap of the Ganges against the shore. The image captures the profound devotion of pilgrims, the architectural majesty of distant temple spires, and the quiet dignity of life by the water. It is not merely a topographical study, but a reverent tribute to the eternal spirit of a city that has witnessed the passage of countless generations: a testament to the enduring sanctity of the ghats that remain the heartbeat of India.
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