Nastik (Sandeep Khare)

Okay, I realise 2 things as I start writing this post:
a) I have not written in a long time, but I have managed to make a comeback of sorts, and not doing exactly what I did not want to do here.
b) As the title suggests, this post is about the famed कविता by the same name by Sandeep Khare.
(it took me about 3 minutes to type in that piece in देवनागरी , which is why I skipped writing the name of the poem or the poet again :-p).

I know that this poem has been talked about as well as posted on *n* number of blogs, websites, as well as communities. So it makes no sense for me to put it up over here. But the extent to which I have been able to identify with this piece of prose, I could not *not* put this up here (maybe for no one else's reading pleasure, but my own :-)).

So here goes ......

एक खराखुरा नास्तिक जेव्हा देवळा बाहेर थांबतो
तेव्हा खरे तर गाभार्यातच भर पडत असते
की कोणीतरी आपआपल्या पुर्ता सत्याशी का होइना
पण प्रामाणिक पणे चिक्टून राहील्याच्या पुण्याइची !

(When a true atheist stands outside a temple
Some offering is actually being made to the altar
Of the goodwill, that at least someone, loyally stands behind his belief,
Even if it is a selfish one)

एक खराखुरा नास्तिक जेव्हा देवळा बाहेर थांबतो
तेव्हा होते निर्माण
देवाने आपला आळस झटकून देवळा बाहेर येण्याची !

(When a true atheist stands outside a temple
It generates a need for God to shirk his sluggishness
And step outside the temple)

एक खराखुरा नास्तिक जेव्हा देवळा बाहेर थांबतो
तेव्हा कोर्या नाजरेने पाहत राहतो
सभोवतालच्या हाल चाली, भाविकांच्या जात्रा.......
कोणितरी स्वतःचे ओझे , स्वतःच्या पायांवर
सांभाळत असल्याचे समाधान लाभते देवालाच !

(When a true atheist stands outside the temple
He listlessly looks upon the happenings in his surroundings,
hordes of believers.......
God Himself feels the satisfaction
that somebody is bearing his onus on his own shoulders !)

म्हणून तर एक खराखुरा नास्तिक जेव्हा देवळा बाहेर थांबतो
तेव्हा देवाला एक भक्त कमी मिळत असेल कदाचित !
पण मिळते अकंठ समाधान एक सहकारी लाभल्याच

(Which is why when an atheist stands outside the temple
Maybe God gets deprived of a follower
But He feels the enormous satisfaction
of having gained a colleague)

देेऊळ बंद झाल्यावर एक मरट आळस देऊन
बाहेर तातकाळलेल्या नास्तिकाशी गप्पा मारता मारता
देव म्हणतो, "दर्शन देत जा अधून मधून...............
तुमचा नसेल विश्वास आमच्यावर,
पण आमचा तर आहे ना !"

(When the temple closes down,
As God has a lazy chat with the atheist stranded outside,
God says to him, "Keep visiting...............
You might not believe in me,
But I believe in you !")

देवळा बाहेर थांबलेला एक खराखुरा नास्तिक
कंटाळलेल्या देवाला मोठ्या मिन्नत्वरिने पाठवतो देवळात
तेव्हा कुठे अनंत वर्षे आपण घेऊ शकतो दर्शन
आस्तिकवातच्या भर्जरी शालित गुद्मरलेल्या देवाचे.................

(The atheist standing outside the temple finally sends the
weary God back into the temple with much persuasion
Which is when, for countless years to come, we can pay homage to
the God, who is smothered in the expensive shawl
showered upon Him by theists.................)

True Sandeep Khare fans, please excuse me if I have not been able to translate the words so as to hold true the exact meeting intended, but this is what I understood and related too :-)

Also, I have very desperately wanted to put the actual stanzas in the देवनागरी script, but believe me that is a hell of a tedious job. However, I intend to keep converting it into the देवनागरी script as I get time.

Be spiritual, not religious !!! :-)

Update: Thanks to Google (and Salil), I have been able to convert the text into the देवनागरी script in almost no time (compared to what it took for me to write कविता using KDE Keyboard Map :-p). I know there are still a few mistakes, which will be sorted out soon. :-)