Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM
(Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi—an ex Naval Officer, possesses a multifaceted personality. Presently, he is serving as Senior Advisor in prestigious Supercomputer organisation C-DAC, Pune. An alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad is involved in various Artificial Intelligence and High-Performance Computing projects of national and international repute. He has got a long experience in the field of ‘Natural Language Processing’, especially, in the domain of Machine Translation. He has taken the mantle of translating the timeless beauties of Indian literature upon himself so that it reaches across the globe. He has also undertaken translation work for Shri Narendra Modi, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, which was highly appreciated by him. He is also a member of ‘Bombay Film Writer Association’.)
We present an English Version of Ms. Neelam Saxena Chandra’s mesmerizing poem “खिड़की …”. We extend our heartiest thanks to the learned author Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi Ji (who is very well conversant with Hindi, Sanskrit, English and Urdu languages) for this awesome translation.)
Ms Neelam Saxena Chandra
(Ms. Neelam Saxena Chandra ji is a well-known author. She has been honoured with many international/national/ regional level awards. Ms. Neelam Saxena Chandra ji is an Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Indian Railways, Pune Division.
☆ खिड़की … ☆
वो कच्चा सा मिट्टी का घर,
और उसपर टंगी हुई वो खिड़की…
ऐसा लगता था जैसे
उसे किसी का इंतज़ार है…
किसका इंतज़ार था उसको?
उस घर के आसपास
न ही कोई मकाँ थे, न कोई सड़क…
जब मैंने उसे छूते हुए, उससे पूछा यह सवाल,
उसने मेरी आँख में आँख डालते हुए कहा,
“मुझे इंतज़ार है रास्ते का!”
मैं आश्चर्य से भरी लौट गयी…
पर अगले साल जब फिर उधर जाना हुआ
तो मेरी आँख खुली की खुली रह गयीं…
एक कच्चा रास्ता वहाँ वाकई बन गया था!
उस रास्ते को वो खिड़की बड़ी मुहब्बत से
देख रही थी, मानो वो दोनों ख़ामोशी में ही,
कुछ बातें कर रहे हों!
कई साल तक उधर जाना ही नहीं हुआ,
पर जब अब कई बरसों बाद फिर पहुंची तो देखा
कि उस कच्चे रास्ते की जगह,
कंक्रीट का पक्का रास्ता बन गया था
और छुप गया था वो कच्चा रास्ता उसके नीचे…
मुझे लगा शायद अब खिड़की बहुत खुश होगी-
आखिर उसके पास से ही एक नया रास्ता गुज़र रहा था…
पर उस खिड़की को मैंने बहुत उदास पाया!
उससे जब मैंने पूछा कि “क्या हुआ है उसे”
तो वो तुनककर बोली,
“पहली मुहब्बत को भुलाया जा सकता है क्या भला?
वो रास्ता भले ही कच्चा था,
पर वो सिर्फ और सिर्फ मेरा था
और केवल मुझसे ही मुहब्बत करता था-
अब इस पक्के रास्ते के चारों तरफ
हज़ारों पक्के मकाँ बन चुके हैं,
उनकी खिड़कियाँ भी बहुत खूबसूरत हैं,
और वो नया रास्ता मुझे देखता भी नहीं!”
उस रास्ते पर चलकर जब मैं वापस आने लगी,
तो कहीं से उस दबे हुए कच्चे रास्ते की हलकी सी आवाज़
आ तो रही थी, पर वो पक्का रास्ता उसे दबा दे रहा था,
उसपर बेधड़क चली जा रही स्टाइलिश गाड़ियों से!
© नीलम सक्सेना चंद्रा
आपकी सभी रचनाएँ सर्वाधिकार सुरक्षित हैं एवं बिनाअनुमति के किसी भी माध्यम में प्रकाशन वर्जित है।
☆ The Window…. ☆
That mud clay house,
adorn with the ageless window, precariously hanging on it …
As if, endlessly
waiting for someone…
Always wondered,
what could it be waiting for?
Since, around that house
Neither were there any houses, nor were any roads…
Delicately tapping it,
I asked quizzically about the reason,
It said, staring straight into my eyes,
“I’m waiting for the pathway!”
Bewildered, I returned with astonishment…
But the next year,
when I visited it again
My eyes were literally
awestruck to see…
A rough dusty road was indeed there!
And, the smitten window was chitchatting with it gladly
As if, they were both greatly in love with each other,
oblivious of the passersby!
Time flew off,
Couldn’t visit the place for a long time,
But soon, got the chance to visit it again,
Found that instead of dusty pathway,
a concrete road was laid majestically,
And that rustic pathway was hidden somewhere under it…
Thinking, maybe the window must be very happy now-
After all, a new flashy road was passing below it …
Alas! I found the window to be very sad…
Curious about the reason of its sombre state, I inquired: “What happened to you?”
It retorted nonchalantly,
“Can you ever forget your first love?
Even though that path was raw-and-rustic,
It was mine and mine only…
And it used to love me only-
Now around this concrete path thousands of new houses have been made,
with plenty of enchanting windows which are way beautiful than me,
And that new path doesn’t even care to look at me!”
Dumbfounded, I started my return journey…,
The meek sound of that buried rustic road
was barely audible
As if, the new concrete road had choked its throat, excruciatingly…
With swanky dashing vehicles zooming past, deafeningly revving over it…!
© Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM
≈ Blog Editor – Shri Hemant Bawankar/Editor (English) – Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM ≈
