पुस्तक समीक्षा - मानस का हंस

अमृत लाल नागर जी द्वारा रचित कालजयी उपन्यास मानस का हंस महाकवि तुलसीदास जी के जीवन पर आधारित एक क्लासिक उपन्यास है। यह उपन्यास न केवल भाषा शैली या रचनात्मक दृष्टि से उत्कृष है अपितु मानव जीवन को सकारात्मक ऊर्जा भी प्रदान करता है।

इस उपन्यास में महाकवि तुलसीदास का आत्म संघर्ष वृहद रूप से दर्शाया गया है। नन्हा बालक रामबोला, जिसके जन्म लेते ही माँ की मृत्यु हो जाती है और पिता द्वारा जिसका शैशवावस्था  में ही परित्याग कर दिया
जाता है, ऐसा अबोध बालक किस प्रकार दुर्गम परिस्थितियों का सामना करते हुए संसार भर में पूज्यता को प्राप्त करता है, इस बात का सजीव वर्णन इस उपन्यास में मिलता है।

बचपन से ही निर्धनता और अकिंचनता का  महाभिशाप झेल रहे तुलसी के मन में किस प्रकार राम भक्ति की लौ प्रज्वलित हुई और किस प्रकार ये लौ ज्वाला बनकर उनके जीवन को प्रकाशमय करती है, इस उपन्यास में विशद चित्रण  किया गया है। युवा तुलसी के मन में मोहिनी नामक युवती के प्रति कामोत्तेजना और प्रभु राम के प्रति आस्था में द्वन्द का चित्रांकन अमृतलाल नागर के अलावा कोई और नहीं कर सकता। मूल रूप से तुलसीदास जी के काम लालसा पर विजय की गाथा का वर्णन इस उपन्यास के माध्यम से किया गया है। पत्नी रत्नावली एवं बसी बसाई गृहस्थी को त्यागने का मार्मिक विवरण पठनीय है।

इस उपन्यास में न केवल तुलसीदास जी के मनोविज्ञान का दर्शन देखने को मिलता है अपितु उस दौर के सामाजिक परिप्रेक्ष्य का भी सजीव वर्णन किया गया है।  इस उपन्यास के माध्यम से पाठक आध्यात्मिकता को एक नए दृष्टिकोण से देख सकता है।  निश्चित ही यह उपन्यास पाठक के जीवन को भद्रता, सौम्यता एवं शान्ति प्रदाय करता है।  

History of Awadh

Lucknow derives its name from 'Lakhsmanpur'.
Lucknow used to be a settlement of brahmins and kayastha earlier. In 1160 A.D, Mahmud of Ghaznavi came and his cousin Saiyyad Salar took control of the settlement and Sheikh Muslims started spreading in Oudh.

In 1590, Emperor Akbar divided his empire into 22 Subas. It was how the title of 'Subedar of Oudh' emerged. Subedars used to be changed after 3-4 years. They were generally rich people related to the empire.

1732, Saadat Khan was made the Subedar. Till then, all the subedars of Oudh used to live in Ayodhya. Saadat Khan built a fort in Ayodhya(Faizabad) and changed the name of Likna Fort of Lucknow to Machi Bhawan.

In 1739, when Nadir attacked Delhi, Mohammad Shah was the ruler in Delhi. Eventhough, Saadat Khan wanted to join hands with Nadir Shah against Wazir Nizam-ul-mulk, his plans did not materialize. He committed suicide by drinking poison.

After Saadat Khan, his cousin and son-in-law Mansur ali Khan (Safdajung) became subedar of Awadh. In 1747, he was made wazir of emperor at Delhi. From now onwards, subedars of oudh were called Nawab Wazirs.

1753, Safdar jung died and his son, Shuja ud daulah sat on the throne of Oudh.

1775,  After Shuja ud daulah, his son Asaf ud daulah sat on the throne. It was now that Lucknow became capital of Awadh. He didnot have any son. His grave is in Bada Imambada.

After the death of Asaf ud daulah, his adopted son Wazir ali sat on the throne only for 6 months. He was not supported by English and he killed Mr Cheri in a  rebellion in Benaras.

1795, Step brother of Asaf ud daulah, Saadat Ali Khan sat on the throne and ruled for 16 years. He has built many buildings.

1814, His son Gazi ud din haider sat on the throne. In 1822, he was granted title of King. The title of Nawab Wazir stopped to be in use.

1827, His son Naseeruddin Haidar, infamous for being perverted habits, became king.

1837, after the death of Naseerud din haidar, there was a fight for throne between his illegitimate son munna jan and his uncle naseer ud daulah. His uncle succeeded. Naseer ud daulah called himself Mohammad ali shah. He made imambara of husenabad.

1841, His son Amjad Ali Shah sat on throne. In 1847, His son Wajid Ali Shah succeeded. He is known for is interest in music ( He invented Thumri) and his harem of 1500 queens. He made building known as kesar bagh. 1857, his kinddom was annexed in British kingdom.


The Book 'Lucknow ki Kabr' is based on another book 'Private life of an eastern king' by William Knighton. He was a courtier in the court of king Naseerudin Haidar around year 1827.

I am boring because...

Everybody keeps on asking me the same question, why am I so boring? I haven't done any course in this department, but still I can compete with the best of the bests.

People call me all the time and ask the same question... wats new, wats up and wats happening ! I just feel so glad that they expect me to be new and happening. But I also feel sad that I can't match up to their expectations of new and happening. It is the learned helplessness syndrome [psycho!] that I have to encounter, where no matter what I say, they would retort with the same rhetoric "You are boring!".

And suddenly I feel a deep sense of compunction towards their utter disbelief that it is them who have turned boring! They want to hear something new, and when I tell them about the current affairs in India's diplomatic relations, again the same rant...You are boring! It is this incessant ranting that has led me to deliberate on this nugatory topic....Why am I so boring? ( Also, because I am free these days :P)

In the hindsight, I was never this boring. During my childhood, I used to sit all day on the window and watch the cycles pass by my house. I used to dig a hole whole day and then again fill it up. And yet, I never felt bored. I guess people didn't call me then to tell me that. This means that I wasn't born one, but I have been turned into a bore.

I remember my very first acquaintance with boredom....that was school. The soporific methods of teaching, the punishments that involved jotting the same answer 20 times, mugging up the answers even in social sciences, and the insipid manner of teaching poetry...They taught me to suck the creativity and amusement out of any activity!

Still, I managed to pass through it, thanks to the movies of Shahrukh khan (pun intended!) which helped me to develop this parallel universe in which my college life would be 'happening'!! "Kuch kuch hota hai" and "Main hoon na" made me believe that as soon as 'boring school' ends we will enter the gateway of 'happening college' (kuch kuch nahi bhi to kuch to hoga :P).

I guess this new found definition of "happening" made me even more boring when I saw that Shahrukh Khan was not there. My "Happening college" had a huge entrance; and the gate would open; and a huge building would stand in front of me; with lots of girls wearing red, green and yellow colors, adorned with absurd accessories waiting around so that the gate would open and I would enter wearing a kool denim and shades ....and we all would dance!. But alas! there was no huge entrance gate, they asked me to provide identity card; there was no huge building standing, I had to walk 1.5 km into the woods to reach a deserted building; there was no one... not to talk of girls ..not even guys. All I could see was skinny guys moving around like zombies in there bland t-shirts and thick spects. I hate Shahrukh :P. He is a liar (I used Fair and Handsome and wat do u expect after listening to him! )

College education further took away the fun out of maths, the epsilons and deltas, the differential equations and the approximations decimated my imagination! Moreover, there was no Sushmita sen to teach me :P. Had she been there, I would have shown to the department that I can also wear ironed clothes and I can also take shower.
Most of the time discussions would start with "kya boring hai yaar...kuch karte hain", and some sort of Pygmalion effect must have occurred !!

These were the days when I was exposed to a whole new world of boring people. They call this world - Orkut. People who would wait a day to get the answer to "aur be...kya haal chaal" and they would preserve the answer into some unknown servers just so that one day their grandchildren can read up to their legacy and be proud that their forefathers had a record number of scraps. Suddenly, sitting peerless on the computer, changing the profiles, joining communities just to look kool became fad. This made the parties and hangouts even more boring and they were turned into photo sessions just to put a kool pic on the damn orkut! I just don't get it that why would a bunch of losers take a snap and put it on orkut, and the same group members would comment on it and would find it kool :B. I guess I get it now...because its a group of losers!

But leaving orkut doesn't help, as boredom finds its own ways to corrupt your life. There is this instrument called cellphone. The boring sms shayaris about dil, dosti etc. divided my kool quotient by infinity. People have started putting boring songs as there caller tunes, I don't get it again why a loser would call someone to listen a song :P. I guess I get it now....because he is a loser!!

I guess I have added enough reasons and bored you enough to prove the point that I am not boring, its environment these days. Look at the TV, there is boring media with boring news channels, boring serials, boring movies ...we are filling the world with boredom. If climate change does not, boredom will kill.

Now I don't get why would a loser think so deep into it, and write a boring blog about a boring topic which nobody is going to read. I guess I get it now :)

Not because he is a loser....its because he is bored !!