3 verses · ~1 min
प्रार्थना के शब्दों की तरह पवित्र और दीप्त वे बच्चे
उठाते हैं अपने हाथ¸ अपनी आंखें¸ अपना नन्हा–सा जीवन उन सबके लिए जो बचाना चाहते हैं पृथ्वी¸ जो ललचाते नहीं हैं पड़ोसी से जो घायल की मदद के लिए रुकते हैं रास्ते पर।
बच्चे उठाते हैं अपने खिलौने उन देवताओं के लिए– जो रखते हैं चुपके से बुढ़िया के पास अन्न¸ चिड़ियों के बच्चों के पास दाने¸ जो खाली कर देते हैं रातोंरात बेईमानों के भंडार वे बच्चे प्रार्थना करना नहीं जानते वे सिर्फ़ प्रार्थना के शब्दों की तरह पवित्र और दीप्त उठाते हैं अपने हाथ।
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
Krishna Drishta
In this deeply tender and spiritually resonant masterpiece, Raja Ravi Varma captures the sacred intimacy of devotees beholding the divine child Krishna. The scene unfolds within the warm, flickering glow of oil lamps, casting gentle shadows across devoted faces filled with awe and tender devotion. A mother holds the radiant infant close, while surrounding women offer prayers, flowers, and light, their eyes locked in reverent wonder upon the young god. Varma brilliantly employs European academic realism to elevate indigenous Puranic narratives, transforming mythological storytelling into a visceral, deeply human encounter with the divine. Every fold of fabric and every soft contour of light breathes life into an eternal moment of grace.
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