A humming word

 फ़िल्मों ने बड़ा बदनाम किया,  लड़का और लड़की की दोस्ती को  ऊपर से बेकरी या कॉफ़ी शॉप में जो घूरते रहते हैं, दुपट्टा भी शर्मा जाए |     हमारी दोस्ती एक एनजीओ के प्रोग्राम से शुरू हुई । वो मुझसे छोटा था... पर बहुत समझदार ।  हम अक्सर लाइब्रेरी में मिलते  थे, किताबे पढ़ते थे ।  और फिर लाइब्रेरी से जुड़े एक कॉफी शॉप में बैठ, खूब सारी बातें करते थे । हर हफ्ते लाइब्रेरी और घर के बीच ये मुलाकात बढ़ने लगी । एक दिन उसने पूछा, कितना अच्छा होता अगर हम  ऐसे ही मिलते रहे । साल बीत गए...हम अपने-अपने रास्ते चल पड़े । और आज उसको जवाब देने का मन करता है । हा.. बहुत अच्छा होता । बिन मतलब के मिलते रहना । और किताब पढ़ना .. Note: This is written on the prompt by Garima Mishra ji at the May 19 Bansa Hindi Writing Program.  Thank you for helping with the edits too, Garima ji.

काश बचपन में ही सिखाया होता, अपना साथ कितना ज़रूरी होता है | इतने बरस हम ज़ाया न करते, जो नहीं है उनके याद में तड़पते हुए | रिश्तों की चिता को, प्यार की गर्मी समझते हुए | खुद को संभल हम भी निकल पड़ते,   अपने आप से ढेर से वादे करते,   उनको निभाते हुए दिन गुज़ारते | जाने कितने दिल टूटने से बच जाते | कितने लम्हे किसी को खोने के डर से, उसके होने के एहसास में बिताते |   काश बचपन में ही सिखाया होता, अपना साथ कितना ज़रूरी होता है,   अपना साथ कितना ज़रूरी होता है... Note: Shukriya Garima ji, Shrey ma'a for your thoughts.

I was never good at academics. I did not wish to run the rat race but rather play instead and have a fun time at school. I was inclined to reading though.  The love for reading was fueled by the chetak library uncle who would visit our apartments in Hyderabad and many other apartments in our galli. He was a pot-bellied, middle aged, medium height man who would ride a chetak and fill the dikki with books -- tattered comics that he would loan for 25 anna per week.  Few of our friends would borrow them and we would read it and exchange these books within that week. And then again wait for the chetak library uncle to come. This continued till we grew up and grew out of these books. The love for libraries and books were sowed though.  During high school, i'd follow the library principle in bookstores too and would read one or two there and pick another and come home. I would calculate, i read 3 at the price of one.  Growing up, i found a few libraries which were my home t...

  /inspired by Shravan's music piece/ clink clink (on a footpath) the bare wristed  bangle seller  * another round of chai! (a loud voice)  pours tea into a cup,  the emaciated chaiwala * outside KFC   a litter of puppies  watch children  share a bucket

This blog post is an ode to our supporters and friends who were gracious to open their doors for us.  Here are a few lessons learnt at Lampshade Readings.  Grateful to: In Hyderabad: MR uncle of MR bookstore, Rahul Reddy of Octospaces, Kavitha ji of Akshara bookstore, Zainab of Ofen, Yk Sir, Bala and team of YK Antiques, Abhilasha of Kaveh Qaneh, Team at Cafe Rasasvada (also, a home for books), Omana ma'am of Kaleidoscope, Shilpa and family of Luna books.  In Kolkata: Sonia and the team at Hip Hop Studio and now, Storyteller bookstore.  Little did we know that we would one day end up collaborating with Penguin Publishers by sheerly being ourselves and doing our bit. Thanks to Storyteller bookstore, Kolkata and our Kolkata family we are collaborating with Penguin Publishers for a Reading on 19-May.                                                Here ...

  Shloka Shankar, a Best of the Net nominee, Pushcart Prize nominee, and an award-winning haiku poet, is also an editor, publisher, and self-taught visual artist. But this conversation focuses on the community of artists and poets, she was instrumental in creating. And why? The collective will soon be launching their e-commerce store featuring art prints, framed prints, postcards, amigurumi dolls, crochet and macramé pieces. Come, let's understand how she and the community of artists and poets thought of this endeavor with a brief conversation with Shloka Shankar (SS). TBS: Please can you share your journey from a poetry group to an online store collective   SS: I started conducting online poetry workshops quite extensively during the pandemic and worked with various platforms, including  Lampshade Writers . It took a certain amount of faith to “go solo” and begin conducting workshops through my own website and brand,  bric-à-brac: the art & poetry shop. Along th...