6 verses · ~1 min
माँ को कैसे पता चलेगा इतने बरसों बाद हम फिर उसके घर आए हैं?
कुछ पल उसको अचरज होगा चेहरे पर की धूल-कलुष से विभ्रम भी – फिर पहचानेगी हर्ष-विषाद में डूबेगी-उतराएगी।
नहीं होगा उसका घर विष्णुपदी के पास याकि हरिचंदन और पारिजात की देवच्छाया में वहाँ भी ले रखी होगी उसने किराए से रहने की जगह वैसे ही भरे-पूरे मुहल्ले और उसके शोर-गुल में।
फिर पिता आएंगे शाम को घूमकर और हमेशा की तरह बिना कुछ बोले हमें देखेंगे और मेज पर लगा रात का खाना खाएंगे और खखूरेंगे अलमारी में कोई मीठी चीज़।
हम थककर सो जाएंगे अगले दिन जागेंगे तो ऐसे हम एक घर छोड़कर दूसरे घर जाएंगे ऐसे जैसे कि वही घर हो।
(1990)
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 Pandavas arrive in Hastinapur
This profound composition captures the pivotal moment when the young Pandava brothers, accompanied by their mother Kunti and Draupadi, arrive at the majestic gates of Hastinapur. The atmosphere is heavy with destiny, as the royal family steps into a city that is simultaneously their birthright and the site of their future trials. The artist masterfully portrays the quiet dignity of the five brothers, standing in contrast to the opulent, yet foreboding, architecture of the Kuru capital. It is a moment of immense vulnerability and grace, marking the threshold where the fate of the Bharata lineage begins to unfold toward the inevitable events of the Mahabharata.
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