पहली मुलाक़ात और बरसात

याद है तुमको?

हमारी पहली मुलाक़ात 

और वह एकाएक बरसात!

उस दिन बूंदों ने मुझे पहली बार छुआ था,

तर-बतर तो मैं पहले भी हुई थी,

लेकिन अहसास तब अंजाना-सा हुआ था।

तब से, हां तभी से,

शायद मुझे भी प्यार हुआ था।।

झीने हमारे अंबर से होकर,

बारिश तन में समायी थी,

सिंचित हो रहा था उर मेरा,

प्यार की पहली कली तब खिलखिलायी थी।

लाल हुए थें कपोल, आंखें झुकी,

प्यार ने हया की चुनर ओढ़ायी थी।।

हवा भी जैसे खूब हठी है,

मुझे छेड़ती; संकट में मेरी जवानी थी।

उस रात मैंने प्यार लिखा,

मेरी कलम भी तुम्हारे नाम की दिवानी थी।

कलम में स्याही उत्तेजित और 

मेरे रगों में तुम्हारे प्यार की रवानी थी।।

एक अरसा हुआ, तब से ना मिले हम,

स्याही भी सूख-सूख जाती है।

हवा चंचल, फिर याद बनकर 

तभी मुझसे खेलने आ जाती है।

गहरे अंबर को छाते देख फिर 

मेरी उनींदी आंखें शरमाती हैं।।

उस पहली मुलाक़ात के बाद,

मैं बिना छतरी, घर से निकलती हूं।

मुझे मिलना होता है तुमसे,

मैं बारिश के बहाने खुद को छलती हूं।

फिर बूंदें छुती हैं मुझको,

मैं तर-बतर होती, ऐसे तुमसे मिलती हूं।।

आज फिर बरसात हुई, मैं भीगी

और बूंदों में मुझको तू दिखा है।

तेरे-मेरे मिलन से जलकर,

कलम ने आज फिर कागज से मिलना सिखा है।

हां, तुझसे मिल लेने के बाद,

मैंने आज फिर प्यार लिखा है।।

-आरती मानेकर

Book Review- The Highway Man : short stories

Good evening fellows!

Today after having good reviews on my post, I read a good book and all the two things really made my day. So here in gonna tell you whether you should read it or not. The book “The Highway Man” is from the pen of author J. Alchem.

Description: The book contains three Short stories. And all the three stories are written as first person, thrice of a different genre. 1. Catherine, 2.Sidzy:for a day and 3. The Highway Man are the stroies.

About the author: J. Alchem is a voracious reader and a critically acclaimed author. He is the winner of StoryMirror season 1 (a nationwide writing competition), Superhero Storyteller and NaNoWriMo-2015. He has written in several magazines and newspapers and received the appreciation for the same. His stories have been published in numerous Anthologies such as Blank Space, Love Bytes and Mighty Thoughts and on various online channels as well.

He is actively involved in writing quotes and short write-ups which are often seen being circulated among the youth in Facebook, Whatsapp and other Social networking sites. Recently he has signed a short movie contract on his award winning short story.

My view on the book: 

The book contains three short stories. The first one – “Catherine”- A story of a romance writer, who himself falls for his imaginary character and hence became insane. Catherine is a mystery tale, which has written very beautifully by the author.

The second half of the book is a part love story. “Sidzy: for a day”, I liked this part very much. The description of women’s day celebration is beautiful. I actually wish, my man would do this for me. 

And here comes the third story,  on which the writer gave the name to the book- “The Highway Man”. We all are broken, some less, some more. Some carries the pain all along the journey of life, on the other hand, having forgot one’s pain, one shows others the way of happy life. This is a story of an unknown person, who makes everyone happy with his #KuchBhi jokes, hiding his tears behind his smile.
Not a large book.

Those who don’t like outing on Sundays, can read the book for making their day. 

Great work by author.

Much appreciated!

Star rating: 5/5 *****

You can find the book here The Highway Man .
Thank you for reading.

Stay tuned…

-Arti Manekar