Category: ललित

  • A little haiku visits my home

    A little haiku visits my home

    A little haiku came to me, while I was going through some of the photos I had clicked. It whispered in my ear and enticed me with its beauty. Before this spark of creativity, I had dabbled on some of the online haiku platforms where you could collaborate with others to stitch up a haiku by contributing one line to it. However, I was unsatisfied. Results were patchy, unappealing and sadly it put me off from this wonderful form of poetry

    It seems, haiku had some other plans for me. It came back in my life holding the hand of two stalwart poetesses of Marathi literature, Shirish Pai and Shanta Shelke. These two ladies introduced and popularised haiku into Marathi literature. While reading their little haikus, I started understanding the nuances of this form. I will not dare to claim an understanding of the form, but I have managed to get a bit of a hang of it.

    My journey with Haiku

    My journey which started with stitching one line into someone else’s piece has reached to writing the complete haiku on my own. Fitting the complete thought into just three lines while following the rules of the form is a tough task. Thankfully, these two lighthouses of Marathi literature have adapted the form to suit the nuances and structure of Marathi language and changed some rules which couldn’t be followed because of the nature of the language itself. As I read more and more Marathi haikus, my own work was improving. I was able to muster up courage and publish a desk calendar for 2024 with my friend which had my haikus and her lineart.

    I was again browsing my photos to find inspiration to start my season of Half Marathon with Blogchatter, that little bird whispered in my ear again for a photo from my last year’s Banaras Retreat which keeps inspiring me time and again. This time, I tried one in Hindi.

    Hope you enjoy it.

    Hindi Haiku 29-08-2024
    Marathi Haiku July 22, 2020

    This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon 2024

  • Crime Fiction And Much More

    Crime Fiction And Much More

    I have been fascinated about the crime fiction novel series called ‘Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries’ written by Carola Dunn and have written all about them on my social media many times. As I have been away from my blog for a long time, you guys haven’t heard about it at all. This is the first mention of Daisy Dalrymple Mystery on Adi’s Journal and I am sorry it’s coming as late as book #22 from the series. So, before telling you about this book in particular, I have to tell you all about Daisy.

    Daisy Dalrymple is a remarkable woman living in the 1920s in London. She’s a daughter of the late Viscount Dalrymple of Fair Acres. After losing his elder brother to World War and father with its shock, she moved to London with her mind made up on earning her own living as a Writer living in London. She stumbles across a dead body as she embarks on her first writing assignment for a magazine article. During the course of investigation she joins forces with Scotland Yard and so begins the journey of Daisy Dalrymple and DCI Alec Fletcher.

    What to expect from this?

    I have been enjoying the audiobook version of this series over the past year and just finished listening to the ‘Superfluous Women’. Carola Dunn has done a great job throughout the series to keep you interested in the story but not with the usual trick of the trade by putting a graphic crime scene right at the beginning. As this is a part of a series where the protagonist is not your usual police officer or a professional investigator, the story has a lot more than just crime fiction juices.

    As all the stories set in England of the 1920s, it has a lot of references and backdrops of post war social situations. ‘Superfluous Women’ in particular comments on a peculiar situation of women in the post war era. After the first World War, Britain had over 2 million women more than that of men. They were called surplus women or superfluous women. It is difficult to understand the situation of these women in today’s day and age after a century. However, during that time, living your life alone had a completely different set of challenges. Carola Dunn has done a great job weaving a story around this issue.

    When Daisy and her husband DCI Alec Fletcher visited her friend for dinner on a Sunday evening, a locked cellar door was mentioned for which a key was missing. When Alec picks up the lock with a hope of some wine bottles left behind by the previous owner, they were hit by a stench of a dead body instead. With a Sunday dinner plan foiled, friends become suspects and DCI is a witness in local Inspector Underwood’s murder investigation. As expected, Daisy with her insatiable curiosity starts poking around to clear her friends’ name as Alec joins forces with local chap becoming ‘Officially Unofficial’ expert from Scotland Yard.

    About the book

    • Name of Book: Superfluous Women
    • Author: Carola Dunn, Lucy Rayner
    • (Narrator)
    • Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc.
    • Publication date: March 26, 2018
    • Lenght: 11 hrs 32 min
    • ISBN: 9781538485958
    • Kindle e-book Price: ₹ 574

    My ratings

    Stories: 4.5/5
    Writing Style: 4/5
    Cover Design: 4/5

    Overall Rating: 4/5

    Special Mention: a commentory about a social issues faced by women of 1920s in England makes it more interesting.

    Where to get your copy

    Should you read it?

    If you are a fan of crime fiction, I would recommend the whole series. Though you can enjoy the books as a stand alone mystery, I am sure you will like the series. This one is one of my favourites from 22 titles I listened to from the series. I will take your leave now and probably dive into the last one remaining from the series, The Corpse at the Crystal Palace

    For more about my views on books, click here.

  • Remind me, It’s a wonderful world…

    Remind me, It’s a wonderful world…

    Remind me, it's a wonderful world...
    Remind me, will you?

    Today, when I sat down to write this, I found it to be a nice coincidence. My last post on my blog is a free verse about finding joy in small things. It seems this thought hasn’t left my mind and I have something more to talk about. Being a poet, I have a habit of distilling thoughts into a concise and crisp form of expression. So, it’s very unusual for me. I haven’t felt an urge to write something more on a topic about which I have already written a poem.

    When I wrote that free verse, I was thinking about the possibilities of stumbling on unexpected happiness. The joy it sparks when you wake up to a beautiful symphony of birds singing from your balcony. As if it’s a private concert just for you! Imagine the happiness when you come home after a tiring day and someone offers you a chilled glass of sharbat in summer or a hot cup of tea or coffee on some cold day. These are the moments of happiness in this wonderful world on which we stumble upon.

    But today, I want to talk about us missing out on the joy of these small moments, which seem insignificant in our race to paint the “big picture”. In today’s day and age, we all live in a very competitive world. Everybody is chasing one goal after the other, trying to reach the next milestone as soon as you reach the earlier one. It’s such a rush that we forget to even take a breath and celebrate the achievement of reaching the milestone itself.

    Some added pressure to spice it up…

    I feel social media has added a layer of new pressure to track the numbers. Especially for the creators like us, who have not yet made it large. Numbers do matter to us, but sometimes, the traction of numbers takes us away from the joy we used to get from being creative. Sometimes, we feel stuck in a place where we can’t create anymore. Some say it’s our mind playing tricks with us. But today, when I read Yashavi’s post on her blog, I felt that I am not alone who thinks that creative block is real. We have to make a conscious effort to find that spark of joy. That too, if we are lucky enough to understand that we have lost it in the first place.

    For the past few days, I had been mulling over these thoughts. It feels that one should revisit his or her reservoirs of joy to get rejuvenated. These reservoirs are very personal springs or fountains of joy, exclusive for themselves. For some it might be a trip to the mountains or a wilderness. One might find his fountain just around the corner in shelves of a local library. A music festival might replenish someone’s canteen while others can get recharged just by an early morning jog. 

    Basically, the point is to remove that blockage and get that water flowing again. Remind yourself that it’s a wonderful world out there. Take a moment, and look out.

    For my other posts, follow this trail…

  • हो, जग सुंदर आहे!

    हो, जग सुंदर आहे!

    पावलो पावली जाणीव होते, हो, जग सुंदर आहे!

    जग सुंदर आहे जेव्हा तुम्ही सकाळी उठता आणि काही पक्षी तुमची गॅलरीमध्ये वाट बघत असतात.
    हे सुंदर जग शीतल होतं जेव्हा अचानक तळपत्या सूर्यासमोर आलेला एक कृष्णमेघ तुमच्या डोक्यावर सावली धरतो.
    कधी तरी दमून भागून घरी आलात की न मागता तुमच्यासमोर चहा/कॉफीचा वाफाळता कप येतो. किंवा अचानक पाणीपुरी पार्टी ठरते. तेव्हा जग खरंच सुंदर असते.
    अर्थात जग सुंदर होतेच जेव्हा तुमच्या जवळ तुमचा हक्काचा जिवलग असतो.
    आणि जवळ नसला तरी विरहाची सुंदरता फक्त तुम्हालाच जाणवते.

    सकाळच्या धावपळीच्या वेळेत ट्राफिकमध्ये नाही अडकलात तर! न आढेवेढे घेता कॅज्यूअल मंजूर झाली तर!
    आमच्या कोकणातल्या चाकरमान्यांना गणपतीमध्ये गाडीची तिकीटं आणि शिमग्याला सुट्टी मिळाली तर!
    अर्थातच जग सुंदर असतं!

    चित्तथरारक डिटेक्टिव्ह कथा सुंदर असते, मनाला भिडणारी कविता सुंदर असते.
    चुकून आलंच मित्राच पत्र तर तोच काय, पुढचे अनेक दिवस सुंदरच असतात!

    एकूण काय, तर  जग सुंदर आहेच, आपला चष्मा तेव्हढा स्वच्छ हवा..
    —
    आदित्य साठे
    २५-०५-२०२४ 

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  • दोस्त…

    दोस्त…

    दोस्त….

    आज तुम्हारी बड़ी याद आ रही है।
    अब याद भी नहीं की आखरी मिले कितना समय गुजर गया।
    पर वो याद आज भी ताजा है,
    जब पहली बार हम मिले थे।
    वैसे ये कहना झूठ ही होगा की,
    उस मुलाकात का हर पहलू मुझे याद है।
    लेकिन कुछ बारीकियां दिमाग में जैसे के तैसी बैठी है।
    हमारी माताएं दोस्त थी, हमारी दोस्ती होना तो लाजमी था।
    लेकिन दोस्ती निभाना हमारा अपना निर्णय।
    जिस पर सालों से हम कायम है।

    मां की उंगली थामे होती हुई अपनी मुलाकाते
    आगे पाठशाला की रह पर चल पड़ी।
    हर रोज कॉपी, किताबों में मिली,
    धूप में क्रिकेट खेलते ग्राउंड में पकी दोस्ती
    और गहरी होती गई।

    फिर आया वो मकाम,
    जब रोज साथ में चलते रास्ते में एक मोड़ आया।
    जिंदगी की रह पर चलने का समय आया।
    तुमने अपना रास्ता चुना और मैंने अपना।

    मुलाकाते अब रोज नहीं होती।
    अब सालाना दशहरा – दिवाली की छुट्टियों में मिलना होता है।
    ना, ऐसी बात नही है के मैं बिल्कुल जस्बाती हूं,
    और हमेशा पुरानी यादों को लेकर रोता रहता हूं।
    पर कभी कभार, कुछ गाने, कोई चित्र, कोई खुशबू,
    ले जाती है मुझे अतीत के सफर पर।
    आज वैसे ही, तुम्हारी बड़ी याद आ रही है।
    जब आज सुबह मैंने देखा,
    दो माताएं अपने अपने बच्चों को गोद में उठाए बड़े मजे से बतिया रही थी…

    —
    आदित्य साठे
    २२-०५-२०२४

    For my other posts, follow this trail…

  • Bhakti – an eternal flow of devotion and surrender

    Bhakti – an eternal flow of devotion and surrender

    I never have been a morning person as far as I remember. And yet today I remember about those dawns. Announcements airing on Akashwani Nashik, FM 101.4 MHz around 6:00 am always disturbed my sleep. Soon after, the station used to air traditional Marathi abhangs penned by saints like Tukaram, Namdev, Ramdas, etc. The Voices of legends like Bharatratna Bhimsen Joshi and Lata Mangeshkar used to fill the atmosphere.

    I used to be reluctant to wake up this early and the noise of the radio irritated me. Yet these tunes and words have formed strong memories. These songs gave me a basic introduction to Bhakti as a feeling. I was very young to understand it of course however, the impact these songs had on me was great.

    My encounter with Alwar literature

    My recent experiences of writings of some unfamiliar saints from other parts of India recalled this memory from my childhood. In the 2024 edition of Pune Kabir Festival, I was fortunate to listen to Priya Purushotamman, a fantastic vocalist of Agra Gharana. She presented renditions of Alwar saints, Akka Mahadevi, Basavanna and Kabir. I was clueless about the vast expanse of works of 12 Alvar saints. She sang a few couplets written by two of them. The meaning, she explained, blew my mind even though it’s Tamil literature. I would like to share a glimpse of the concert in which Priya sings Mirabai’s नाव किनारे लगाव प्रभुजी.

    Priya Purushottaman sings Mirabai’s नाव किनारे लगाव प्रभुजी.
    Moments from a concert of Mandar Karanjkar and Dakshayani Athalye
    Moments from a concert of Mandar Karanjkar and Dakshayani Athalye

    A few months ago, I came across writings of Saint Ravidas and Paltudas. My familiarity of Bhakti tradition from north India was limited to a few Mirabai and Kabir Bhajans. I am thankful to a duo of my favourite vocalists, Mandar Karanjkar and Dakshayani Athalye, for this introduction. One of my favourite couplet which stuck in my mind was

    ना मै किया ना करी सको, साहेब करता मोर,
    करत करावत आप है, पलटू पलटू शोर.

    Saint Paltu Das

    Common grounds in Bhakti tradition

    Even though these wise people were from different eras, separated by centuries, they have some common message. What Paltu Das says in पलटू मन मुवा नही, चले जगत को त्याग is very similar to Sant Dnyaneshwar’s कर्म मी करेन। किंवा ते सोडेन। बोलणे हे जाण। अज्ञानाचे।।. While explaining works of these saints, Mandar emphasised on the similar examples, same words used by all the saints like Kabir das, paltu das, Gorakh nath, etc over 8 centuries.

    These two concerts piqued my interest in exploring the writings of various saints from Bhakti tradition of India. Wisdom spread across in those writings in very simple words. If you get a chance to listen to any of these artists, don’t miss it. It’s a treat for ears even if they chose a different subject to present. They are wonderful musicians.

    And if you have any memories about particular bhajan, hymns, and kalam which you cherish, do share them in comments.

    Read more of my blogs here.

    This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Bohemian Bibliophile.