The Taste of Words: An Introduction to Urdu Poetry (15 page)

Bhoole na kisi haal mein aadaab-e nazar hum

Mud kar na tujhe dekh sake waqt-e safar hum

Jeene ka hamen khud na mila waqt to kya hai

Auron ko sikhlaate rahe jeene ka hunar hum

I never did lose sight of the protocols of the gaze

Thus did not turn to say goodbye as we went our ways

I admit I had no time to lead my own life but

My advice guided so many through its tricky maze.

A little birdie persistently whispers that Jan Nisar Akhtar (1914–76) ghostwrote many of the film songs that Sahir got credit for. Such rumours are not particularly useful, since they cannot be confirmed, but they do serve as a reminder that Jan Nisar’s style was similar to Sahir’s, and his command over poetry was as strong.
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Akhtar himself is credited with quite a few song lyrics, such as the haunting ‘
Ye dil aur un ki nigahon ke saaye
’ (‘This heart, and the shadow of the gaze’) from the 1973 film
Prem Parbat
, and ‘
Ai dil-e nadaan
’ (‘O naive heart’) from the 1983 film
Razia Sultan.

Jan Nisar gave up a career as an academic and moved to Bombay, where he mostly hung out with Mulk Raj Anand, Krishan Chander, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Ismat Chughtai—the so-called ‘Bombay Group of Writers’. He published several anthologies of his work, including
Khaak-e Dil
(The Dust of the Heart; 1973).

I have translated two of his poems. The first, ‘
Ash-aar Mere
’ (‘My Verses’), was rendered beautifully by Mukesh in a non-film work.
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The second poem hews more to the progressive tradition. ‘
Aakhri Lamha
’
(‘Last Moment’) is part of a long poem dedicated to his daughter Uneza. The poem incorporates narrative sweeps, shifting rhyme schemes and combines personal narrative with broader social concerns.

Ash-aar mere yoon to zamaane ke liye hain

Kuchh sher faqat unko sunaane ke liye hain

Ab ye bhi nahin theek ki har dard mitaa den

Kuchh dard kaleje se lagaane ke liye hain

Aankhon mein jo bhar loge to kaanton se chubhenge

Ye khwaab to palkon pe sajaane ke liye hain

Dekhoon tere haathon ko to lagta hai tere hath

Mandir mein faqat deep jalaane ke liye hain

Socho to badi cheez hai tahzeeb badan ki

Varna to badan aag bujhaane ke liye hain

Ye ilm ka sauda, ye risaale ye kitaaben

Ek shakhs ki yaadon ko bhulaane ke liye hain

My poetry of course for the entire world I deploy

But some verses are set aside for that one person’s joy

Some deep wounds are meant to be kept in the heart closely guarded

No joy can compensate if those unique pains are destroyed

Store them not inside your eyes, they will sting you like sharp thorns

Place those sharp shards of dreams on your eyelashes, to enjoy

When I look at your wondrous hands, I do strongly believe

To light lamps in temples, they are destined to be employed

Considered one way, the discipline of the flesh is vital

Think differently, and the body’s merely a pleasure-toy

This lofty intellectual demeanour I affect, sir

Is but a vain attempt to forget someone—a mere ploy.

Tum meri zindagi mein aayi ho

Mera ek paaon jab rikaab mein hai

Dil ki dhadkan hai doobne ke qareeb

Saans har lahza pech-o-taab mein hai

Toot-te bekharosh taaron ki

Aakhri kapkai rabab mein ha

Koi manzil, na jaada-e manzil

Raasta gum kisi saraab mein hai

Tum ko chaaha kiya khayaalon mein

Tum ko paaya bhi jaise khwaab mein hai

Main sochta thha ke tum aaogi, tumhe paakar

Main is jahaan ke dukh-o-dard bhool jaaoonga

Gale mein daal ke baanhen jo jhool jaaogi

Main aasmaan ke tare bhi tod laaoonga

Tum ek bel ke manind badhti jaaogi

Na chhoo sakengi havaadis ki aandhiyan tum ko

Main apni jaan pe sau aafaten utha loonga

Chhupa ke rakkhoonga baahon ke darmiyan tum ko

Magar main aaj bahut door jaane vaala hoon

Bas aur chand nafas ko tumhare paas hoon main

Tumhe jo paa ke khushi hai, tum is khushi pe na jaao

Tumhe ye ilm nahin kis qadar udaas hoon main

Kya tum ko khabar is duniya ki, kya tum ko pataa is duniya ka

Masoom dilon ko dukh dena, ik sheva hai is duniya ka

Taareeq bataayegi tum ko insaan se kahaan par bhool hui

Sarmaaye ke haathon duniya ki kis tarah mohabbat dhool hui

Jeene ki hara tarah se tamanna haseen hai

Har shar ke bavajood ye duniya haseen hai

Dariya ki tund bhaad bhayaanak sahi magar

Toofan se khelta hua tinka haseen hai

Sehra ka har sukoot daraata rahe to kya

Jangal ko kaat-ta hua rasta haseen hai

Chaman se chand hi kaante main chun saka lekin

Badi hai baat jo tum rang-e gul nikhaar sako

Amal tumhara ye taufeeq de sake tum ko

Ke zindagi ka har ek qarz tum utaar sako

Raushni der se aankhon ki bujhi jaati hai

Theek se kuchh bhi dikhai nahin deta mujh ko

Ek chehra mere chehre pe jhuka jaata hai

Kaun hai ye bhi sujhayi nahin deta mujh ko

Sirf sannate ki awaaz chali aati hai

Aur to kuchh bhi sunaai nahin deta mujh ko

Ye meri nazm mera pyaar hai tumhaare liye

Ye sher tum ko meri rooh ka pata denge

Yehi tumhe mere azm-o-amal ki denge khabar

Yehi tumhe meri majbooriyan bataayenge

Kabhi jo gham ke andhere mein dagmagaaogi

Tumhari raah mein kitne diye jalaayenge

Aao is chaand se maathe ko zara choom to loon

Phir na hoga hamen ye pyaar naseeb aa jaao

Aaakhri lamha hai seene pe mere sar rakh do

Dil ki haalat hui jaati hai ajeeb aa jaao

Na aizza na akhibba na khuda hai na rasool

Koi is waqt nahin mere qareeb, aa jaao

Tum to qareeb aa jaao

You have come into my life now

When departing, I have one foot on the stirrup

When my heartbeat has begun to get faint

And every breath is a tortured effort

A final sound escapes, as if

From the frayed strings of a harp

Neither a destination, nor a pathway to one

My path is ghostly, like a mirage

I had desired you in my thoughts

And now have found you as if in a dream

I had thought that when you came, your presence

Would help me forget all the woes of this world

That when you swung in my joyous embrace

I would bring you back the stars from the sky

You would grow tall like a sturdy vine

The storms of circumstance would not reach you

A hundred calamities I would take upon myself

Keeping you safely nestled in my arms

But today, I am headed to a place far away

I am your companion for a few short moments

Do not go by the happiness I feel in your presence

You have no idea how sad I am

What do you know of this world, what do you reckon of this world?

To torture innocent hearts is a pastime of this world

History will show us where humanity lost its way

How love was ground to dust by the merciless hand of capital

Every will to live is beautiful

Despite all its flaws, the world is beautiful

The storm of a river in spate is scary, but

That stubborn floater in the maelstrom is beautiful

The stillness of the desert does terrify, so what?

The path that cuts through the forest is beautiful

I was able to remove very few thorns from the garden, but

It would be great if you could bring colour back to the roses

May your effort give you the wisdom

That you may repay every debt that you owe to life

The light in my eyes has begun to dim

I can no longer see anything with clarity

A face bends over mine

But whose is it? I can no longer tell

The only sound is the sound of silence

I can hear nothing else

This poem is an offering of my love

These verses will show you the way to my soul

It is they who will tell you of my struggle, my effort

It is they who will show you my constraints

When you will reel in the darkness of sorrows

It is they who will light so many lamps in your path

Come, that I may kiss that bright moonlike forehead

We may never be destined for such love, come

It is the final moment: rest your head on my chest

My heart has begun to experience strange feelings, come

No friends, no relatives, no God, no prophets

There is no one near me, come

At least you be close, come.

Majrooh, likh rahe hain vo ahl-e vafaa ke naam

Hum bhi khade hue hain gunahgaar ki tarah

Majrooh, the names of the faithful they write

Like a sinner, I await my name, quiet

Asrar-ul Hassan Khan ‘Majrooh’ (1919–2000) was born in Sultanpur, and studied in relatively conventional settings, becoming a qualified
Unani
hakim, a career he gave up to become a full-time poet. His high-risk career choice was to pay rich dividends; he became arguably the most successful
poet of the progressive tradition after Sahir, writing extensively for movies.

Majrooh’s leftist leanings were evident from the start, as was his lyricality. He combined both by writing exquisite ghazals in praise of socialist nations (the maqta of one of his ghazals was: ‘
Meri nigaah mein hai arz-e Moscow, Majrooh / Vo sarzameen ke sitaare jise salaam karen
’; ‘My eyes are fixed on the horizon of Moscow, Majrooh / The land that is saluted even by the stars’). Despite his activism during the independence movement, Majrooh escaped incarceration in the pre-1947 phase. Ironically, he was jailed in 1949 (along with fellow lefty film-wala Balraj Sahni and fellow PWA member Ali Sardar Jafri, among others) by the government of newly independent India, which reflected the troubling reality of how newly independent nations devoured their socialists after decolonization.

The ghazal I have translated below is a tongue-in-cheek look at how lovers and revolutionaries bragged about their misfortune to mark their superiority.
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To do justice to Majrooh’s phenomenal success as a lyricist (he is, after all, the only lyricist to have won the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award), I also include a film song. His most popular songs were ‘
Chahoonga main tujhe saanjh savere
’ (from the 1946
Dosti
), the execrable ‘
Angrezi mein kehte hain ke I love you
’ (from the 1982 film
Khuddar
) and ‘
Papa kehte hain bada naam karega
’ (from the 1988 film
Qayamat se Qayamat Tak)
. I would, in good cricketing tradition, do a ‘well-left’ to all three. I have chosen the song ‘
Ek din bik jaayega maati ke mol
’ from the 1975 film
Dharam Karam
, especially since it truly showcases Majrooh’s lyrical ability, and simultaneously demonstrates how a song is different from a traditional poem.

Hum ko junoon kya sikhlaate ho, hum thhe pareshan tum se ziyaada

Chaak kiye hain hum ne azeezo, chaar garebaan tum se ziyaada

Chaak-e jigar muhtaaj-e rafoo hai, aaj to daaman sirf lahoo hai

Ek mausam thha, hum ko raha hai shauq-e bahaaran tum se ziyaada

Ahd-e vafaa yaaron se nibhaayen, naaz-e hareefan hans ke uthaayen

Jab hamein armaan tum se siva thha, ab hai pashemaan tum se ziyaada

Jao tum apni baam ki khaatir saari laven sham’on ki katar lo

Zakhmon ke mehr-o-maah salaamat, jashn-e chiraaghan tum se ziyaada

Hum bhi hamesha qatl hue, aur tum ne bhi dekha door se, lekin

Ye na samajhna hum ko hua hai jaan ka nukhsan tum se ziyaada

Zanjeer-o-deevaar hi dekhi tum ne to, Majrooh, magar hum

Koocha koocha dekh rahe hain aalam-e zindaan tum se ziyaada

Do not teach me about passion, I’ve suffered hurt way more than you

I have torn in lost love, my friend, four more good shirts, way more than you

Wounded hearts demand repairing, my garment is red with my blood

Once there was a blighted autumn, when I sought spring way more than you

Faithful was I to well-wishers, and smilingly bore the betrayal of foes

More than you I was passionate; now I’m shamefaced way more than you

Hide behind your darkened secrets, cut the wicks off prying tapers

Yet, my wounds will light up the night: illumination way more than you

Though I was always killed in action, and you always watched from safety

Do not imagine that I suffered annihilation way more than you
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Walls and chains were all you knew, but know this, Majrooh, even then

Every street is like a prison: incarceration way more than you.

Ek din bik jayega, maati ke mol

Jag mein reh jayenge pyare tere bol

Dooje ke honthon ko de kar apne geet

Koi nishani chhod, phir duniya se dol

Anhoni path mein kaante lakh bichhaaye

Honi to phir bhi bichhda yaar milaye

Ye birha, ye doori

Do pal ki majboori

Phir koi dilwala kahe ko ghabraye

Taram pam . . .

Dhara jo behti hai milke rehti hai

Behti dhara ban ja, phir duniya se dol

Ek din bik jayega, maati ke mol

Jag mein reh jayenge pyare tere bol

Parde ke peechhe baithi saanval gori

Thaam ke tere mere man ki dori

Ye dori na chhoote, ye bandhan na toote

Bhor hone wali hai ab raina hai thodi

Taram pam . . .

Sar ko jhukaye tu baitha kya hai yaar?

Gori se naina jod, phir duniya se dol

Ek din bik jayega, maati ke mol

Jag mein reh jayenge pyare tere bol

A day will come when you will be sold for the price of dust

Remember, all that will be left will be your poems, just

Donate your songs to strangers’ lips and they’ll keep you alive

Leave this eternal gift for them, and then move on you must.

Chance will strew a million thorns on your path till the end

While fortune will unite you with old forgotten friends

This autumn, this parting

A brief pain, a smarting

Why should the brave of heart be scared of fortune then?

Taram pum . . .

Watch when the river flows: many eddies, one thrust

Become the flowing stream, and then move on you must

A day will come when you will be sold for the price of dust

Remember, all that will be left will be your poems, just

Look, behind the curtain sits a brown beauty divine

She holds in her hands a string, controls your mind and mine

Let not that string break; let not that relationship fade

For it will soon be morning, and a harsh light will invade

Taram pum . . .

Don’t sit, bowing your head, my young friend robust

Lock eyes with that beauty, and then move on you must

A day will come when you will be sold for the price of dust

Remember, all that will be left will be your poems, just.