This book by India'sformer Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee was released on his 83rd birthday on 5 December 2006 at FICCI Auditorium in New Delhi. Shri Vajpayee, born with a poet'sheart, reveals in this book that poetry was given to him as his food, what with his father being a Sanskrit scholar, historian and astrologer. The poems in this book reflect his feelings on self-respect, patriotism, sacrifice, revolt against injustice, belief and presentation.
In his poem ?Geet Naya Gaata Hoon,? he says who will hear the whimper of the broken dreams, which after piercing the heart, come and rest on the eyelashes. But undeterred by it all and without accepting defeat, the poet in him still continues to write new songs.
In another poem entitled ?Jhuk Nahin Sakate?, Shri Vajpayee says that though we may fail in our fight against the establishment without any weapon or armament, we will not bow down. ?We will place everything on board; we will not stop. We may break but we will not bow down,? he concludes.
In his poem entitled ?Jang Nahin Hone Denge,? he says that we are propagators of world peace and hence will not allow war to erupt. By drawing comparison between blood and agricultural fields, the poet says that no more blood will serve as manure in fields, nor will death be harvest in the fields, nor will the sky spew sparks, nor will Nagasaki burn again through the atom bomb, nor will we allow ?our dream of a world without war to be broken. We will not allow a war to take place.?
The poem ?Maut Se Than Gayee? the poet-author says that though there was no intention to fight death, but who knew that it would meet him at the turning, standing in the path as though it was bigger than life itself. He continues that the life of death is not even two moments; life is not a continuous stream of today and tomorrow. ?I lived life to the full; I want to die with my heart, but I will come again, so why should I fear death?? asks the poet.
Another poem strikes a very sentimental note when Shri Vajpayee says, ?It'snot that there have been no sorrow; pain of my own and others are no less. I have no complaints against the love received from my enemies nor from the people who are my own.? He ends the poem by saying, ?I have faced all challenges bravely, lighted lamps in storms. Today the fierce typhoon shakes me; my boat is a guest in the arms of the waves. But the determination to reach the destination, on seeing the strength of the storm annoys me as I confront Death.?
The translations of the poems cited above give only their gist and can be enjoyed only in the original Hindi language. A notable feature of the poems selected personally by Shri Vajpayee is that they have been caligraphed beautifully by artist Ram Kasture.
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