Friday, May 27, 2011

Of Dreams and Him



I was going through some old pictures and came across this one. There is something about this picture that I think is very deep and meaningful. It takes me to some lines of a beautiful poem I read when I was probably 7 or 8. 

आदमी का स्वप्न ? है वह बुलबुला जल का,

आज उठता और फिर कल फूट जाता है,

किन्तु फिर भी धन्य ठहरा आदमी ही तो,

बुलबुलों से खेलता, कविता बनाता है|

This poem is called 'Chaand Aur Kavi' (The Moon and the Poet) written by one of the most celebrated Hindi poets of the modern era: Ramdhari Singh who wrote by the name 'Dinkar' which means 'The one who brings the day' or the Sun.

The poem talks about the moon talking to a poet, and expressing his exasperation at the tendency of man to create his own problems and then to get entangled in them. What amuses him more is the fact that in all such situations, man decides to stay awake and restless all night, and to weave dreams. In the lines above, the moon says, "What are human dreams but bubbles of water that are born today and gone tomorrow. But man - he incorrigibly plays with these bubbles and creates poetry." The poem goes on with the poet's retaliation which talks of the impossible things dreams and the power of imagination can achieve.

A lot of what I write tends to center around dreams. I think dreams are special. I think they make us more than complete. They make us look forward to the unknown, to go on when things are tough. They are something like the idea of Him, the higher power, that I believe in, not because of reason, but because of faith. Because it feels right to me. It calmed down the monsters of night in my childhood, it brought me home when I was a lost little girl, and it taught me to hope, and to dream for something more in every day of my small but magnificent life.

P.S.        I had once written a story around dreams, interestingly on the same day that this picture was taken. You can read it here.

P.P.S.     Yes, the girl in the picture is me.

6 comments:

Kartik said...

Main na wah jo swapna par keval sahi karte,
aag mein usko gala loha banata hoon,
aur us par neev rakhta hoon naye ghar ki,
is tarah deewar fauladi utthata hoon..

Most beautiful lines of the above poem..

Jyoti Mishra said...

आदमी का स्वप्न ? है वह बुलबुला जल का,

आज उठता और फिर कल फूट जाता है,
this is the magic line of the poem !!
nice post.

Subhrashis Adhikari said...

beautiful post...yes, dreams keeps us alive....without it we loose our human touch...

Tulika Verma said...

:)

Stranger said...

We are human and like to feel and share what we feel. Poetry allows both.

Lovely picture. I'm a big fan of blowing bubbles - although I am no longer a child, those spheres swimming in rainbows seem magical. Like poetry. Like being alive and sharing our experiences through art, whatever that art may be.

Tulika Verma said...

Agree with you! You said it so beautifully! :)