He made a poem alive
This post is about two things. First - a poem, and second - a person who gave it a meaning.
The poem "Kyonki sapna hai abhi bhi", composed by my favourite, Dharmavir Bharti on his birthday in 1980, came to my mind after a long span of time yesterday. Starting lines are:
"kyonki sapna hai abhi bhi
isliye, talvaar tooti, ashwa ghaayal
kohare doobi dishaayein
kaun dushman, kaun apne log sab kuchh dhundh dhoomil
kintu kaayam yuddha ka sankalp apna hai abhi bhi
...... kyonki sapna hai abhi bhi"
The poem goes on and the striking lines come.....
"vida bela, yahi sapna bhaal par tumne
tilak ki tarah aankha tha
(ek yug ke baad ab, tumko kahaan yah yaad hoga)
kintu mujhko to isi ke liye jeena aur ladna
hai dhadhakti aag mein tapna abhi bhi
...... kyonki sapna hai abhi bhi"
and the poem continues......
This was all about the poem, and now about the person. He is Patrick, who was a cleaner in TIFR, now aged 65 plus and retired, still comes and works. When he was employed at TIFR, golden lifts near A - Block Reception looked as is they are really made of gold - without exaggeration not even an scratch! While at cleaning those lifts daily in the evening, if you make any remark and say something like "aap to lift ko bahut achchhe se rakhte ho", he would turn back and say "haan, Bhabha saab ne bola hai na achchha rakhne ko"! And thus Bharti's lines
"vida bela, yahi sapna bhaal par tumne
tilak ki tarah aankha tha
(ek yug ke baad ab, tumko kahaan yah yaad hoga)
kintu mujhko to isi ke liye jeena aur ladna
hai dhadhakti aag mein tapna abhi bhi
...... kyonki sapna hai abhi bhi"
come alive!
There is an interesting trivia about Patrick. In TIFR Hostel Quiz 2000, when the Quiz was over, the Quiz-master (it was Arvind Nair, I guess) asked an open question - "Who is the most hard working person in TIFR"? Without taking any time, 4-5 people among audience shouted - Patrick! In deed, it was the right answer!
The poem "Kyonki sapna hai abhi bhi", composed by my favourite, Dharmavir Bharti on his birthday in 1980, came to my mind after a long span of time yesterday. Starting lines are:
"kyonki sapna hai abhi bhi
isliye, talvaar tooti, ashwa ghaayal
kohare doobi dishaayein
kaun dushman, kaun apne log sab kuchh dhundh dhoomil
kintu kaayam yuddha ka sankalp apna hai abhi bhi
...... kyonki sapna hai abhi bhi"
The poem goes on and the striking lines come.....
"vida bela, yahi sapna bhaal par tumne
tilak ki tarah aankha tha
(ek yug ke baad ab, tumko kahaan yah yaad hoga)
kintu mujhko to isi ke liye jeena aur ladna
hai dhadhakti aag mein tapna abhi bhi
...... kyonki sapna hai abhi bhi"
and the poem continues......
This was all about the poem, and now about the person. He is Patrick, who was a cleaner in TIFR, now aged 65 plus and retired, still comes and works. When he was employed at TIFR, golden lifts near A - Block Reception looked as is they are really made of gold - without exaggeration not even an scratch! While at cleaning those lifts daily in the evening, if you make any remark and say something like "aap to lift ko bahut achchhe se rakhte ho", he would turn back and say "haan, Bhabha saab ne bola hai na achchha rakhne ko"! And thus Bharti's lines
"vida bela, yahi sapna bhaal par tumne
tilak ki tarah aankha tha
(ek yug ke baad ab, tumko kahaan yah yaad hoga)
kintu mujhko to isi ke liye jeena aur ladna
hai dhadhakti aag mein tapna abhi bhi
...... kyonki sapna hai abhi bhi"
come alive!
There is an interesting trivia about Patrick. In TIFR Hostel Quiz 2000, when the Quiz was over, the Quiz-master (it was Arvind Nair, I guess) asked an open question - "Who is the most hard working person in TIFR"? Without taking any time, 4-5 people among audience shouted - Patrick! In deed, it was the right answer!
9 Comments:
Yeah everytime I see him cleaning the lift while I am going up to my office to check mail the n'th time...I feel that I am slacking off...
Does he still clean the golden lifts? I dont think so. I see him mostly in the colony.
Now-a-days the rumours are that he accosts people at night with weird remarks like "See how much I clean the colony. In tifr, there are three people to clean the same amout of space that I alone do."
No, he doesn't clean lifts any more. Spending more than 40 years in TIFR, he is very much institutionalised and even if he makes such (not very untrue) remarks (at this age), one should not take them offensively. Though, I am not of aware any such incident.
In any case, nothing can put a question mark on his dedication for TIFR, which I wanted to emphasize in my post.
Ok so I saw someone else possibly...but lesson taken nonetheless :-)
Yeah :-)
@Aditya: Seems you have seen my post Shawshank Redemption very keenly! Good :)
What a moving piece of poetry! Thank you for introducing me to Dharmavir Bharti.
TIFR...hmmm... I have a friend there who used to be with BELL labs and moved there a few years ago.
@id it is: Dharmavir Bharti is known more for his novels and essays. He has written very few peoms, but each of them a masterpiece!
Is your friend a faculty in Computer Science at TIFR?
I'm not sure, his last name is Karmarkar. We lost touch once he left, but would love to touch base again.
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