Pen What You Feel

बारिश में उसके साथ चलने का सुकून ही कुछ अलग था, छतरी पानी की बूँदो से तो बचा लेती थी, पर मेरी रूह जो उसके प्यार में भीग रही थी उसका मैं क्या करता, यूँ तो मैं अकेला रहना पसंद करता था पर उसका मेरा ख्याल रखना पसंद था, सड़क की ओर इशारा कर कहती, " ध्यान से कही फिसल मत जाना", काश कह पाता उस से की मैं तो बिन बारिश के ही फिसल गया था, कभी पानी में  बच्चों को खेलते हुए देखा है, कैसे वो पानी में खेलते कूदते हुए चेहरे पे मुस्कान लिए घूमते है, वो भी कुछ ऐसी ही नदनीयत की साथ खिलखिलाती है, पानी में तैरती हुई कागज़ की कश्ती में भी कुछ अलग सी बात थी, थोड़ी देर के लिए ही सही चेहरे पे मुस्कान लाने की ताक़त थी, पर उस एक पल को दिल में क़ैद कर संभालने की चाहत थी, कही भी जाने से पहले त्यार रहना पसंद था, ऐसा नहीं की उसे इस सबकी ज़रूरत थी, पर उसे ऐसे देखना भी अपने आप में एक सुकून था, शायद यह एहसास आम नहीं था, कुछ अलग था, पर जैसा था अपने आप में पूरा  था, नहीं नहीं, यह अधूरे प्यार की कहानी नहीं है, हर रिश्ता प्यार पे जा पहुँचे यह कोई नियम थोड़ी ना है, यह तो बस मेरी खुशियों को समेट कर रखने की कहानी है। 

All through our childhood we were taught stories of how people succeeded, how wars were won, how goals were achieved and in all these lessons we learnt of the sacrifices made, not only for the achievement of their goals but sometimes for the greater good. We learn to make these sacrifices ourselves and hope for the best to come out of it but sometimes it just doesn’t, we start to fear the very grounds we stand, a fear of irrationality. Did we ever ask why? The reason is because when we put everything we've got, our wisdom, our power, and our belief into one thing and still we fail it’s for so long we can lie to our own  conscience . It’s easy to stand on the side lines and wish better luck next time or asking the player to work harder next time without knowing what he went through. Sometimes you just give up, you feel like leaving everything and setting off to someplace without expectations; these are moments when you are too broken to be fixed. The world will always want you to ru...

कुछ तो ख़ास बात थी उसमे, उसे देख के चेहरे पर मुस्कराहट खुद ब खुद डेरा बसा लेति थी, होठों से नाँव वो बनाती थी पर डूब मैं जाता था, अपने बाल को आज़ाद क्या करा और कैदी मैं हो गया था, उसकी आँखों का रंग तो मुझे आज भी नहीं पता था, पर उनमे चमक लाने के राज़ सारे जानता था, मैं नहीं बता पाता था की तुम पार्लर से आयी हो, क्यूंकि मेरे लिए तो तुम हर पल में सबसे हसीं वैसे ही थी, किसी भी बहस में जीतने की ज़िद्द आज भी रखता हूँ, पर तुमसे बिन कहे  हार जाने को भी ठीक समझता हूँ, मुझे नहीं याद हम पहली बार कब मिले थे, पर वो रात याद है जब तुम्हारे सामने सब राज़ खोल दिए थे, मैं वाकिफ हूँ की मेरी कहानी किसी गाने या कविता जैसी नहीं है, पर इसका अंजाम क्या होगा वो भी तो जानना अभी बाकी है। शायद अधूरी ही रहेगी या अंजाम तक भी पहुँच सकती है, पर जैसी भी होगी इसकी मंज़िल, ये कहानी तो बस मेरी है। 

Story telling as an art is as old as the human civilization itself; through cave paintings, our mythological books and of course through recitation. Each generation has used it as a medium to share their life learnings and experiences. We as an individual cannot possibly experience everything ourself to incorporate the lessons accompanied, hence the importance for making sure we extract the knowledge we can from stories.  One such story book which was full of thought-provoking anecdotes I read as a kid was "Aesop's Fable" . It had a story I would like to share from it covers an aspect of human emotion which deserves a space in our life but fading somewhere i.e., gentleness . "The North Wind and the Sun" One fine day, the North Wind and Sun had an argument on who was stronger among them. As they disputed, they saw a traveler passing by wearing a cloak. They reached an agreement that whoever could strip the traveler of its cloak was the stronger. The wind sent out...

Credit card bills had been a treacherous nightmare for most Indians; for the sheer fact that missing a deadline even by day meant paying a hefty fine. But this was a sweet risk when compared to the cashbacks on online payments, discounts on online and offline purchases, complimentary lounges and much more. But then CRED came into the fold, a brand that made this deal more enticing with automatic payment reminders and getting more rewards to pay the bills. And has it been a game changer for all the consumers taking them to the platform in a split second. CRED, founded by Kunal Shah has showcased an exceptional market penetration. Founded in 2018, the company is now valued at close to  $2.2 Billion  with  10 Million+  downloads on Google Playstore and an active user base that constituted to approximately  22% of all credit card consumers  in India.  But what did actually made users to connect with CRED as a consumer? What made it so UNIQUE? 1. ...

In 1995, Indian Ministry of Health took a strong stance on the ban of advertising liquor and tobacco products. The ban was enforced after extensive research from the Indian Ministry of Health found that cigarettes and liquor have adverse effects on a person's health. Ever since the ban, brands like Blenders Pride, Antiquity, Teachers have been marketing their brand using products like Music CDs, soda and liquor glasses etc. to maintain a presence in the eyes of the customer. Such a campaign is known as  "surrogate marketing" . This literally means duplicating the brand image of one product to promote another product by the same brand. With both customers and brands shifting to digital marketing strategies, there was one brand that decided to use this new platform and it's flexibility to establish itself as the top contenders in its domain. This brand is "Dewar's". Dewar's is a blended scotch whiskey brand founded in 1865 by John Dewar Senior an...

Suppose you start a new business, what’s the first channel of marketing you could use to penetrate the market? Your friends & family and their word of mouth within their respective circles. The factor that leads to their contacts to believe them – trust . Now consider you have someone who people look up to, or appreciate for their work in a certain area; such people have been coined as influencers; the obvious origin being their ability to influence the decisions of people. Conventionally these people where patrons of the society, leaders of organizations, clubs or unions and even reputed leaders in respective fields. The modern day definition refers to someone who have a strong social media presence on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter. The influencer marketing trend has changed the conceptualization of advertisements. Old fashioned advertisements are a 15-30 second clip of a fairy tale world that the product creates whereas with this new marketing channel, the produ...

Karma has been something that has been influencing lives of people for as long as we know. For some, good karma is a way to have a peace of heart and mind whereas to some it’s a path to a better after life. And “Donation or Daan” has always been something with the power to cleanse your soul. We donate whatever we can, whenever we can to whoever we can to make their lives better, spread a little joy. But there’s so much more we can do. We don’t know if there’s something as afterlife or not; but what we do know is that we have the power to change someone’s life even after death. In a speaking engagement on Organ Donation by India’s Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, he pointed out that India alone has close to 5 Lakh deaths each year due to lack of organs for transplant. We have a ratio of 0.65 per 10 Lakh for organ donation, meaning just 1 in every 15.4 Lakhs ; seems unbelievable but true.   As per a rough figure provided by the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO) o...

25 Lakh Units , this was the shortage of blood supply in India; out of a total need of 135 lakh units i.e. an 18% gap between supply and demand . The outcome – an otherwise avoidable loss of human life. For years we have been struggling with a need for blood donation but still there are gaps which need to be filled. People often question about why do we actually need this much blood. So here’s a fact check for you: Blood can’t be manufactured or produced , we are the only available source of blood. Any pregnancy related complication requires 2 units of blood at an average, considering India’s birth rate and past data that’s close to 36.6 Lakh units of blood . A medical condition may have a blood transfusion requirement as close as low as 2 units for nutritional anaemic patient and as high as 15 units for a bone marrow transplant; compiling close to 105.69 Lakh units of fresh blood . Another 56.3 lakh units of blood is required to treat paediatric conditions alone. With an average of 12...

In case you are wondering, the above picture is the Bhalswa Landfill of Delhi. Looks gigantic right? It is, spread across 70 acres (big enough to accommodate Wankhade Stadium, your Fav football teams ground, a basketball court, a hockey stadium and would still have enough area to open a college building) & touching a height of 65 metres  (just 8 meter short of Qutab Minar) in 2019. That’s the outcome of the ongoing throwaway culture. This is a result of society’s move towards short lived or disposable items available at a lower cost rather than looking for durable items. Indian middle class households had been infamous for their approach towards buying long lived products & repair or what we call “jugaad” culture. But the last decade has witnessed a change in this with younger generations shifting to a more disposable life style, seeking cheaper alternatives rather than looking for quality and life longing products. And it’s not just about price; it’s about the social sta...

  Until a few years ago, we saw plastics at every shop right from street vendors to supermarkets but now in many parts across the nation we have witnessed a shift from low grade plastics to cloth, paper and recyclable plastic bags (minimum thickness 50 micron) and look for a recylable symbol  ♲   on them. This is one of the best examples of sustainable consumerism in the recent times. The government banned non recyclable plastics altogether and hence we made a shift to the better alternatives available around us. But this isn’t the end of the road, India still generates close to 26,000 tonnes of plastic on a daily basis . The rule of market is simple; a commodity is made available as long as there are consumers, the day we say NO to plastics around us, the manufacturers would not make it. And reducing our plastic consumption isn’t actually as tough as it may seem, here are a few steps to facilitate it: COVID & Single use plastics.   With fighting perhaps one of t...

As per the Britannica Encyclopaedia Ethical consumerism , form of political activism based on the  premise  that purchasers in markets consume not only goods but also, implicitly, the process used to produce them. From the point of view of  ethical   consumerism ,  consumption  is a political act that sanctions the values embodied in a product’s manufacture. Simply put, when you buy a product, you are also supporting the complete value chain of the product – its manufacturing process, the company’s conprinciples and all the benefactors and their practices. Ethical consumerism means being aware of this power you hold as a customer over the way a product is produced or sold. The most common motto used by sales professionals is “Customer is the King” ; and the king decides how a kingdom shall function Every time we buy a product manufactured using hazardous or inhumane labour conditions we are supporting the practice; when we are calling the underage kid at a ...

As a human we are all entitled to a defined set of human rights accorded to us by the virtue of being humans, among which perhaps the most important include the right to life & liberty and the freedom from discrimination. Most of us can’t even comprehend what it’s like to be discriminated but to a huge section of our society, this is still a luxury. Discrimination on the basis of caste has been a part of our society from centuries, people exempted even from basic human rights & dignity and yes we have come a long way since that but even today it’s prevalent in our society along with a different form of discrimination – one on the basis of choice. Sounds strange, right? But sadly, true; even in the world’s largest democracy people are discriminated and judged by the choice of their romantic partner or rather the choice to not have a partner, choice of profession and even belief (not just religious). We are alright with a public figure being openly gay or choosing to remain unma...

One of the biggest questions we need to be asked today is “ Do I have the sole right on the usage of a resource just because I can afford it? ” Subconsciously most of us feel – Yes, why not. Now allow me to rephrase “ Does my ability to afford something give me the right to waste it? ” In most cases we don’t even realise how unknowingly we sometimes forget the importance yet scarcity of many things just because we have an easy access to them. Say single side used paper, you can use it for rough work, self-notes, a compost or to an artistic mind as an art project. But a problem bigger than this is food. Ironically, despite being a self-sufficient country with enough production to fulfil the demands of 1.3 billion, nearly 1 in  every 8 person sleeps hungry each night . I am not saying here that you are the cause for it, but the fact that you have the power to be a part of the solution (not the homogeneous mixture of two or more substances). Nearly 25% of food goes to waste even befor...

As a child I had an idea, that education had the power to change everything, you make people aware of a problem in our system and they would work towards solving it. It wasn’t until later that my bubble broke and I was forced to ask the question “ Does knowledge make you wise? ” Contrary to my belief: No. Yes knowledge is one of the greatest tools mankind has been blessed with, the knowledge to read, use tools, develop technologies and what not have brought humanity a long way from where we stood years ago and that’s changing exponentially even today. But we forgot something else we read on our books: the right to equality for all, the right to choose, sustainable development, non-renewable resources to name a few. That’s where wisdom kicks in. Knowledge can make aware; its information whereas wisdom is using that knowledge to make a decision that would serve a goal. It’s same as the difference between a technology being there and the invention which ultimately used the technology. ...

ऐ इन्सान , सुना है तू मुझे अपने मेहबूब की तारीफ़ में रखता है, आज पर मैं उस तुलना से कुछ ज़्यादा कहने आया हूँ, अपनी ज़िंदगी खर्च तूने एक घर बनाया है, आज ज़रा उसमे बैठ के देख भी ले, जो इतने सपने देख परिवार सजाया है, आज ज़रा पास बैठ उनकि बातें भी सुन ले, मैं नहीं कहता तू ज़िन्दगी में तरक्की मत कर, पर कभी रुक के ज़रा ऊपर सर उठा के भी देख लो, तू दूर बैठे उस शख्स को तो अपने पास ले आया है , पर अपने साथ बैठे उस उदास चेहरे से कभी उसके दिल का हाल पूछा है ? तूने दौड़ना सीख लिया, ज़िन्दगी की दौड़ को जीतना सीख लिया, पर आज ज़रा रुकना भी सीख ले, अपने लिए तो बहुत जी लिया, आज ज़रा दुनिया के लिए भी जी ले, माफ़ कर देना मुझे जैसे मैने आज तक तुझे करा है, तेरे किसी अपने से तुझे दुर नहीं करना चाहता था, ना तुझे नुक्सान करना चाहता था, बस थोड़ी खुद को बचाने की कोशिश कर रहा था, मैं जानता हूँ तू मज़बूत है, मुझे कल हरा देगा, इस बात से मैं बेखबर नहीं था, बस तुझे कुछ बताने के लिए रोका था, हो सके तो मुझे यू दोबारा मजबूर ना करना, अपने उस मेहबूब की तरह थोड़ा मेरा भी ख्याल रख लेना, और अपने साथ बैठे से ज़रा उसका हाल भी पूछ लेना, जाते हुए...