Mafahamat by Parveen Shakir

Zindagi ke liye
Ab tumhara rawaiyya, achanak bohot sulah juu ho gaya hai
( samundar ki sar kash hawao'n ko
Joo-e-shabista'n ki aahista gaami Mubarak ! )
Yeh achcha shagun hai
Hawa ke muqabil
Agar phool aaye
Tau phir pankhudi pankhudi
Ujle badal ke khwabo'n ki soorat bikhar jaye gi
So aise mein, jhukne mein hi khair hai !
Baarish-e-sung mein
Khwab ke sheesh mahalo'n ko kab tak bachaye rakhe'n
Itne haatho'n mein patthar hai'n
Koi tau lag jaye ga
Aur phir
Ghupp andhere mein kab Tak nazar kirchiya'n unn ki dhoo'nde
Kya yeh behtar na ho ga
Ke aisi qayamat se pehle hi
Inn sheesh mahalo'n ko hum
Maslahat ki chamakti huii ret mein dafan kar de'n
Aur phir khwab bunti huii aankh se m'aazrat kar le'n !
So tum ne bhi ab
Ek haari huii qaum ke rahnuma ki tarah
Apne hathiyar dushman ke qadmo'n mein rakh kar
Nai dosti ka larzta hua haath uss ki taraf badhaya hai
Aur ---- meri samajh mein nahin aa raha hai
Ke hathiyar dene ki iss rasm mein
Kya karu'n
Tumhari chamakdaar, matrooka'h talwar ko
Badh ke choommo'n
Ke apne gale par rakhu'n ?

Skimming Ghalib

If one has to compile a list of the World’s greatest poets, it would undoubtedly be incomplete without the mention of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib.

Ghalib stands tall as an equal, or maybe even a notch higher than most world greats of both the yore and the contemporary times.  As Ali Sardar Jafri, who compiled a compendium of Ghalib’s work- the ‘Deewan-e-Ghalib’ wrote, “The genius of Ghalib was not that he had the ability to break shackles and gather the restiveness of his era in his poetry but in the fact that he created poetry that itself stirred a restiveness which reflects the ethos of not just the times before Ghalib, but stands true centuries after him as well”. This is reflected in the Urdu deewan (compilation) which starts with a thought-provoking question:

“Naqsh fariyadi hai kiski shokhi-e-tahreer ka

Kaaghazi hai pairahan har paikar-e-tasveer ka’

As one leafs through the deewan one comes across many more such questions that flummox one with the intricacies of reality. Ghalib was a masterstroke who embraced the nuances of each of Life’s colours rather than just painting it in stark black or white. His poetry surges with a sea of human emotions at their crest, with each of his couplets doling out a philosophy by itself, uncannily reflecting idealism, mysticism, realism, rationalism and scepticism, all at once.

Ghalib shaped the traditional form of Ghazal into a summation of myriad feelings, problems, thoughts and experiences, to become a medium of concise yet non-conflicting expression. His Deewan is an exemplary reflection of Ghalib’s varied genius; sometimes sucking one into his forceful thoughts, while at others joining him in play with imagination drawn to a joyous toy, like a naughty child. All his ghazals are a surprise cauldron of happiness, surprise, sorrow... They are perhaps also a reflection of Ghalib’s own troubled personal life, which was full of strife sadness that peeks through some of his ghazals:

“Gham-e-hasti ka asad kis se ho juz marg-e-ilaaj

Shama har rang mein jalti hai seher hone tak”

Tinged with sadness, it is this aspect of his poetry that wrenches hearts and appeals to most. Like the master himself recited:

‘Kehta hai kaun naala-e-bulbul ko be-asar

Parde mein gul ke jigar chaak ho gaye”

Beyond all this there is one other facet that shares space with life, mysticism, love, beauty in Ghalib’s poetry- Death. And he like a true blue philosopher takes on death, in its face, in all starkness:

“Ishrat-e-qatra hai dariya mein fanaa ho jaana

Dard ka had se guzarna hai dawa ho jaana”

While the darkness of death and the heaviness of philosophy can mislead one into thinking of Ghalib as nothing but serious, yet the effervescence of his personality sears through some of his most celebrated ghazals and couplets, that carve him out as probably, the greatest ever romantic Indian history has ever seen. As I end my note, I shall leave all with this side of Ghalib, as he expresses with a frenzy that can only belong to a lover:

“Ishq se tabiyat ne zeest ka maza paaya

Dard ki dawa payi, dard, la-dawa paaya”

Skimming Ghalib

If one has to compile a list of the World’s greatest poets, it would undoubtedly be incomplete without the mention of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib.

Ghalib stands tall as an equal, or maybe even a notch higher than most world greats of both the yore and the contemporary times.  As Ali Sardar Jafri, who compiled a compendium of Ghalib’s work- the ‘Deewan-e-Ghalib’ wrote, “The genius of Ghalib was not that he had the ability to break shackles and gather the restiveness of his era in his poetry but in the fact that he created poetry that itself stirred a restiveness which reflects the ethos of not just the times before Ghalib, but stands true centuries after him as well”. This is reflected in the Urdu deewan (compilation) which starts with a thought-provoking question:

“Naqsh fariyadi hai kiski shokhi-e-tahreer ka

Kaaghazi hai pairahan har paikar-e-tasveer ka’

As one leafs through the deewan one comes across many more such questions that flummox one with the intricacies of reality. Ghalib was a masterstroke who embraced the nuances of each of Life’s colours rather than just painting it in stark black or white. His poetry surges with a sea of human emotions at their crest, with each of his couplets doling out a philosophy by itself, uncannily reflecting idealism, mysticism, realism, rationalism and scepticism, all at once.

Ghalib shaped the traditional form of Ghazal into a summation of myriad feelings, problems, thoughts and experiences, to become a medium of concise yet non-conflicting expression. His Deewan is an exemplary reflection of Ghalib’s varied genius; sometimes sucking one into his forceful thoughts, while at others joining him in play with imagination drawn to a joyous toy, like a naughty child. All his ghazals are a surprise cauldron of happiness, surprise, sorrow... They are perhaps also a reflection of Ghalib’s own troubled personal life, which was full of strife sadness that peeks through some of his ghazals:

“Gham-e-hasti ka asad kis se ho juz marg-e-ilaaj

Shama har rang mein jalti hai seher hone tak”

Tinged with sadness, it is this aspect of his poetry that wrenches hearts and appeals to most. Like the master himself recited:

‘Kehta hai kaun naala-e-bulbul ko be-asar

Parde mein gul ke jigar chaak ho gaye”

Beyond all this there is one other facet that shares space with life, mysticism, love, beauty in Ghalib’s poetry- Death. And he like a true blue philosopher takes on death, in its face, in all starkness:

“Ishrat-e-qatra hai dariya mein fanaa ho jaana

Dard ka had se guzarna hai dawa ho jaana”

While the darkness of death and the heaviness of philosophy can mislead one into thinking of Ghalib as nothing but serious, yet the effervescence of his personality sears through some of his most celebrated ghazals and couplets, that carve him out as probably, the greatest ever romantic Indian history has ever seen. As I end my note, I shall leave all with this side of Ghalib, as he expresses with a frenzy that can only belong to a lover:

“Ishq se tabiyat ne zeest ka maza paaya

Dard ki dawa payi, dard, la-dawa paaya”

Religion, sex aur elections

Iss duniya mein do cheeze'n dhadalley se BIKTI hain; Sex aur religion. Internet par hi check kar lijiye kaisi websites ki HITS sab se zyada hai'n.

Sex tau log khud apni khushi se khareed lete hain lekin religion, mazhab, DHARM mein ek pech hai. Mazhab ke naam par information ho ya phir rituals par chalne ki seekh. Nafrat ho ya phir ek doosre par ke had uchlalne ki muhim, sab log apni khushi se shaamil nahin hote. Kuch tau iss darr se saath nibhate hain ke hamare " bade " hum se naraaz ho jayen ge ya phir iss liye ke chalo, isi bahane " power " ka kuch hissa apne haath bhi lage ga.

Aane waale elections mein aap ko religion aur sex ka mila-jula ek naya roop dekhne ko mile ga... Details, filhaal bata nahin sakta hu'n. phir kabhi.

Political Speeches by Haali ( abridged )

Yeh sach hai ke jaadoo hai bya'n mein tere, lekin
Kuch sahar-bayaani ka teri dhang naya hai

Hai dil mein nihaa'n ek shikaayat ka toomaar
Aur lab pe jo dekho, tau na shikwa, na gila hai

Jo sulah ki baate'n, so hai'n shahad se sheeri'n
Aur Jung mein kuch lutf-e-sukhan iss se siwa hai

Khulta nahin kuch iss ke siwa tere baya'n se
Ek murgh hai Khush -Lahja, kuch bol raha hai

Adabi Manzanaama by KhalidBasheer Ahmed ( Kashmiri Poet )

Har kas-o-na kas ki Urdu se shanasaaii huii
Kuch na kuch she'rr-o-adab ki bhi pazeeraii huii

Saheb-e-Deewan LALLU KHAN jab se ho gaye
Hai udhar khatoon-e-khaana wajd mein aaii huii

Kal Samad dhobi ka majmoo'a-e-sukhan chapne ke baad
Sajida dohban se jaada'h paimaii huii

Saare naii aur pansari yaha'n ahl-e-adab
Aur uroos-e-fikr-o-fann hai unn ke ghar ki daii huii

Shahar mein ab naanbaii kar rahe hain book release
Marthaba, Urdu zabaa'n ki izzat afzaii huii

Inn ke " haalato'n " ka matlab kuch nahin " haalat " hai
Jinn ke haatho'n, rasm-e-ajra, rasm-e-ajraii huii

Raqeeb... a poem dedicated to....

Soorat aaine mein apni
saara din dekhna kaam uss ka
sab se pyara duniya mein
uss ko hai bas naam uss ka

Har zaaviye se apni tasveer
dekhte rehna usse pasand hai
husn khud mein nazar aata hai
auron ke husn se aankh band hai

Apna hi zikr chaahe hai woh
sun'na har kisi se subah shaam
khud apni tareef karna
ek yahi usse bhaata kaam

Usse khud hi se mohabbat hai
koi doosra nahin habeeb uss ka
khush naseeb hai woh bohot
iss ishq mein nahin raqeeb uss ka