ऐरणीच्या देवा तुला....

ऐरणीच्या देवा तुला ठिणगी ठिणगी वाहू दे
आभाळागत माया तुझी आम्हावरी राहू दे

लेऊ लेणं गरीबीचं, चनं खाऊ लोखंडाचं
जीणं होऊ आबरुचं, धनी मातूर माझ्या देवा, वाघावानी असू दे

लक्षीमीच्या हातातली चवरी व्हावी वर खाली
इडा पीडा जाईल, आली किरपा तुझी भात्यातल्या सूरां संग गाऊ दे

सुख थोडं, दुःख भारी, दुनिया ही भली बुरी
घावं बसंल घावावरी, सोसायाला झुंजायाला, अंगी बळ येऊ दे

कुठे शोधिसी रामेश्वर....

कुठे शोधिसी रामेश्वर अन् कुठे शोधिसी काशी
हृदयातिल भगवंत राहिला हृदयातून उपाशी

झाड फुलांनी आले बहरुन, तू न पाहिले डोळे उघडुन
वर्षकाळी पाउसधारा, तुला न दिसला त्यात इषारा
काय तुला उपयोग आंधळ्या दीप आसून उशाशी

रुद्राक्षांच्या गळ्यात माळा, लाविलेस तू भस्म कपाळा
कधी न घेउन नांगर हाती, पिकविलेस मातीतुनि मोती
हाय आभाग्या भगवे नेसून घर संन्यासुन जाशी

देव बोलतो बाळमुखातुन, देव डोलतो उंच पिकांतुन
कधी होऊनी देव भिकारी, अन्नासाठी आर्त पुकारी
अवती भवती असुन दिसेना, शोधितोस आकाशी

या जन्मावर, या जगण्यावर, शतदा प्रेम करावे.....

या जन्मावर, या जगण्यावर, शतदा प्रेम करावे

चंचल वारा या जल धारा, भिजली काळी माती
हिरवे हिरवे प्राण तशी ही रुजून आली पाती
फुले लाजरी बघून कुणाचे, हळवे ओठ स्मरावे

रंगांचा उघडूनिया पंखा, सांज कुणीही केली
काळोखाच्या दारावरती, नक्षत्रांच्या वेली
सहा ऋतूंचे सहा सोहळे, येथे भान हरावे

बाळाच्या चिमण्या ओठांतून, हाक बोबडी येते
वेलीवरती प्रेम प्रियेचे, जन्म फुलांनी घेते
नदीच्या काठी सजणा साठी, गाणे गात झुरावे

या ओठांनी चुंबून घेईन, हजारदा ही माती
अनंत मरणे झेलून घ्यावी, इथल्या जगण्या साठी
इथल्या पिंपळ पानावरती, अवघे विश्र्व तरावे.....

Mauritius…….Places of Tourist Interest

In fact, the whole island is a place of tourist interest. The places which are known as ‘places of tourist interest’ are the places considered to be more scenic and beautiful as compared to other sea shores. The island is very small; length: just 61 km north south and width: 45 km east west. The whole island is surrounded by coral reef which acts as natural filter for sea water. The clean and clear water on all beaches is the result of filtration though the coral reef. The reef does not exist at some places such as Port Louis, the capital city. At some places the reef is broken. At such places you find the sea just like what we see at the beaches of Goa. Otherwise, the sea is light green, blue or gray. At some places such as Baie Du Cap, you can see combination of three colours spread over vast expanse.
The west coast is more beautiful than the east coast. Obviously, maximum number of places of tourist interest are at west coast. Commercially, the northern tip of the island is more important because some of the most beautiful places are at northen tip. However, I personally do not agree with that because due to commercialization, the north part is very congested and crowed. I found equally scenic and quite beaches and lagoons at south west end of the island.
I found the following places interesting:
In the North
Trou aux Biches, Mount Choisy, Bain Boeuf, Cap Malheureux, Coin de Mire and of course the capital city of Port Louis and the Fort. The Caudon water front at Port Louis is worth visiting at the evening time. It has most expensive mall and restaurants of Mauritius. So for a person like me, it’s just window shopping there! However, as we call in Mumbai, this place is the “in thing” here.
One of the most amazing place is Pamplemousesses. It is a botanical garden where wonderful varieties of plants, palm trees and water lilies can be seen. In particular, the palm trees and the water lilies are wonderful.
Caudon water front and Bain Boeuf may be familiar to many Indians because they are the most pictured spots in our Bollywood and Tollywood movies. The hero and the heroine are shown here jumping and shaking their bodies randomly. (sorry, I can’t say “dance” to what they actually do)
In the West and South
Wolmar (aka Flic en Flak), Tamarin,Casela Bird Park, Ile aux Benitiers, ( its an island, to be seen from the view point on the adjoining mountain)Chamarel Water Falls, Chamarel Coloured earth (7 colours of earth) and above all…..my most favorite belt…….Le Morne--Baie du Cap--Bel Ombre--Ilot Sancho--Gris Gris. I am going to write separately on this belt.
In the south, there is very beautiful temple of Lord Shiva which is believed by the Mauritians to be the 13th Jyotirlinga and the only Jyotirlinga outside India. The complex is called as Ganga Talao. Its worh visiting when we venture out in the south.
In the East
Ile aux Cerfs, Pointe d’Esny, Blue Bay, Ile de la Passe (it’s an island again)
Each of the place deserve detail narration. I shall try to do that with pictures taken by me as early as possible.

Ile Maurice...some pics

Note three different colours of sea

Sea.....so clear that you can see the bottom

me........on the jetty built for the convinience of boats.

The sea is quite deep here.

Ile Maurice

Mauritius!
"Mauritius was made first and the paradise was copied after it" Mark Twain, the famous American wrote in his book "Following the Equator".
When you are coming out of the International Airport of Mauritius, you see a huge sign board put up by the airport authority saying “Welcome to Paradise”.

After having seen the entire country, I believed that it is indeed paradise at many places. I came to Mauritius for the first time in 2005 and then in 2006 for professional work. My work again brought me to this beautiful island this year. During last 5 months, I am almost here except a week in August and 2 weeks for Diwali in India. Major advantage for a proclaimed “roamer” like me is that during weekends, entire Mauritius is on holiday. No work at all. Some staunch believers of weekend “chutti” go the extent that they even do not pick up their phones. I take full advantage of this situation and I am ready with all my “roaming” material even before I go to sleep on Friday night! Why I am using this word “roaming” has special reason. In India, when there is no mobile signal, we call it no signal or no network. Here it is called no roaming! In India roaming has different meaning. Here, since the entire island is one circle, there is no roaming as what we understand in India.

On Saturdays and Sundays I am out on some beach or on mountains. Well yes, being an island of volcanic origin, Mauritius has both. The greatest natural advantage Mauritius has is that mostly it is surrounded by coral reef. At very few places the reef does not exist or is broken.
Coral reef gives two advantages to Mauritius. One, it is protected from the violent waves of Indian Ocean. Two, it act as natural filter for the sea water and hence you see very clean and clear water on almost every beach. It is this reef which protected Mauritius from the horrible Tsunami which created havoc few years ago in Indian Ocean region.
The weather in Mauritius is very pleasant throughout the year. In many parts, it rains every day. But not heavy rains like Mumbai but thin showers for few minutes. Some crazy people in India call it “hajam favara”. Mauritius has only two seasons. Summer and winter. Summer roughly from November to April and winter from May to October. Simple!
This year, I had been in Mauritius during entire winter. It was simply great. The temperature goes down to about 18 to 19 degrees C, but due to winds, the cold just chills you down. I chose to walk during the evenings and to see different cities. Due to walking, I did not feel the cold much.
The summer has just started and I am still comfortable because the maximum temperature is about 25 degrees C. The highest recorded temperature here is 35 degrees C. So, for me, it’s no problem at all because I am used to 42 to 45 degrees C in Maharashtra.
All in all, the tip is that, you can visit Mauritius any time during the year. However, if you wish to go in the sea, better visit in summer. If you do not intend to go in sea at all and prefer just to appreciate the beauty of beaches from shore, then visit in winter. Because, in any case, winter is more enjoyable than summer.

Mahjabeen.........

March end came and gone, as usual. We all are busy during the last week of March every year to complete the year end work. People in taxation and finance like me are particularly running from piller to post for clients and self. Often I feel that all this last minute rush is due to human tendency of procrastination. We all know well the deadline, 31st March, but every year the rush is common.
There is a day, 30th March, which is almost forgotten for one thing. That's Mahjabeen's anniversary. In Urdu, in the context of a girl, Mahjabeen means as beautiful as the moon. In the film world, she was known as Meena Kumari. Her real name was Mahjabeen and I like that name rather than Meena Kumari. She is one of the two old time actress I like. The other is Mala Sinha.
I have seen all films of Mahjabeen. But I liked two most. First, Choti Bahu and other is Pakeeza. Her performance in both the films was fantastic! Her expressions were unmatched. If seen in the context of the background story, you can just 'read' her expressions.
When I was studying at VJTI, I attended a small course of one week duration on Film Appreciation at Dadar. I think that was organised by some film society. They explained all the aspect of film making and acting. They also explained how to appreciate the technicalities of the film and the acting performed by various artist. The most important of that was to understand the story and the psychology of each character and how it is presented by the Director and performed by the artist.

I have seen Pakeeza umpteen times. Each time, I experience and find something new in the film. The most dominating aspect of Pakeeza is not the Ghazlas or story; but its the tehjeeb what is shown all through the film. To understand and enjoy Pakeeza throughly, one must know the notions and customs prevailing in northen India at that time. Unless you have at least some exposure to that, you can't understand that movie. I came across many persons, who wrote off Pakeeza as a film merely on life of a girl who unfortunely landed in the vocation of what we call as naach-gaana. Even if that is taken as the theme of the movie, the fact that the performance of Mahjabeen was ultimate by any count can not be disputed.