3 verses · ~1 min
कोई नहीं सुनता पुकार-- सुनती है कान खड़े कर सीढियों पर चौकन्नी खड़ी बिल्ली, जिसे ठीक से पता नहीं कि डर कर भाग जाना चाहिए या ठिठककर एकटक उस ओर देखना चाहिए।
कोई नहीं सुनता चीख़-- सुनती है खिड़की के बाहर हरियाये पेड़ पर अचानक आ गई नीली चिड़िया, जिसे पता नहीं कि यह चीख़ है या कि आवाज़ों के तुमुल में से एक और आवाज़।
कोई नहीं सुनता प्रार्थना-- सुनती है अपने पालने में लेटी दुधमुंही बच्ची, जो आदिम अंधेरे से निकलकर उजाले में आने पर इतनी भौंचक है कि उसके लिए अभी आवाज़ होने, न होने के बीच का सुनसान है।
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
The Birth of Shakuntala
This profound work depicts a pivotal moment in the epic tale of Shakuntala, born from the union of the sage Vishwamitra and the celestial nymph Menaka. The painting captures the raw emotion of the encounter in the tranquil forest, where the sage, consumed by his spiritual duty and the weight of his ascetic path, entrusts the infant to the care of the divine mother. Raja Ravi Varma masterfully balances the human fragility of the babe with the stoic, conflicted grace of the parents. Through his brush, the artist invites us to witness a moment of divine abandonment and parental sorrow, grounding a complex mythological event in the tender, relatable reality of human heartbreak and celestial responsibility.
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