In the picture you can see: Mrs. Sheela Dutt (Medical Superintendent, Batra Hospital Delhi), Mrs. Sudesh Chawla (who has won the battle of breast cancer very recently), Mrs. Bina Jain (the bold woman behind this group’s activities), Mrs. Manjeet Brar (The eldest amongst us but the youngest in terms of traveling the whole Delhi either on foot or in Metro), Mrs. Tripta Kapoor (a calm & smiling persona who dresses beautifully), Mrs. Kusum Mehra, Mrs. Manju Sundara and Mrs. Renu Jain
People in my circle often think that why I am always surrounded with the people almost double, or even more, than my age. My fields of interests are unique in terms of the normal likings of urban women. One is Jain Philosophy and the other is Hindi literature. Ironically both of these fields are considered to be the interest fields of the aged (where the first one is a rare area of interest even for the oldies for we are a devotion friendly society). However if a person is interested in English literature that is fine, because as Indians somehow we have not learnt to respect our own mother tongue. And ironically we have the stamina to make fun of those who take interest in a religious philosophy, by asking her shamelessly, ‘are you going to be a sanyasi soon?’For they have never ever tried to understand the core of their own religion.
Anyway coming back to my literary quest. When I joined this small group of ladies highly interested in Hindi literature, I was confused about what will I get from there! But I am happy that I was proven wrong because I have learnt so much from all the women that I can’t tell in words. But I have tried to bind my feelings in form of poetry.
वे सब मुझ पर ढेर सा प्यार एवं आशीष लुटाती हैं
मेरी प्रत्येक उपलब्धि पर मेरी माँ की भाँति फूली न समाती हैं
जब मानसी* में प्रवेश हुआ
अनमनी सी, दुविधा में थी
जाने क्या होगा, कैसा होगा
इससे अनभिज्ञ थी कि
यहाँ मुझे माँ एवं नानी की कई प्रतिछवियाँ मिलेंगीं
प्रत्येक सदस्या जो अपने जीवन संघर्षों से उबरकर
अपने आज तक के अर्जित ज्ञान को सहेज कर
अपनी बुद्धिमत्ता सब संग साझा करती है
हाँ, वे सब अपनी एक अलग सोच रखती हैं
हम भिन्न विषयों पर चर्चा करते हैं
युवाओं से लेकर परिवार से होते हुए वृद्धावस्था तक
देश में हो रही हलचल से देश की राजनीति तक
समय-समय पर भिन्न लेखकगण आते हैं
जो हम सबका भिन्न विषयों पर ज्ञान बढ़ाते हैं
इस ज्ञानार्जन की यात्रा पर उम्र में बृहत् अंतर होने के बावजूद
हम सब साथ हैं
यह मेरा सौभाग्य है कि मेरे सिर पर
आप सबके प्रेम एवं आशीर्वाद से सराबोर हाथ हैं
*मानसी is the name of this group
The thing is literature & philosophy are here to broaden our point of views, to help us learn & grow and this is my strong belief that we can never know about our own country until we don’t read the literature in its mother tongue; but most people prefer to spend their time in the pursuits publicised the most for selfish reasons.
Thanks for your time friends.
Love & peace
Medhavi
