Shesher Kavita

The little that I have read Tagore is in hindi or english. Not qualified to comment on the finer aspects of his works. So will confine myself to one of his lesser known books. Hind Pocket Books (long live Hind Pocket Books!) had published the hindi translation of 'Shesher Kavita', titled 'Judai ki Sham'. It is in prose format, a novel, unltil one starts reading it. Not sure if one can have the patience to read past first few pages. It comes as surprise as Tagore was equally good at stories (Chokher Bali is such a fluent story). Its so loose and superficial in the begining and has an absolutely nonsensical end. Its not cohesive throughout. What the heck.. . And still, somehow...
Talk of feelings and love, and this novel hits my mind even before 'Badi Didi' and 'Dutta' (Sharat).
'Vanya (Lavanya) and Meeta (Amit) are the two names ingrained in the memory since I first read the book some 25 years ago. Was sure not a very impressionable kid and had already read more celebrated titles like 'Devdas', 'Gunahon ka Devta', 'Chokher Bali', apart from the above mentioned classics.
What makes this book such a special one? Not sure. Perhaps my own imagination and personal preferences! Why investigate? Why argue with myself? I remember couple of lines of a poem that Meeta reads to Vanya:

Din gaya sandhya hui, sab samay uRta ja raha hai
Bandhano.N me.N bandha jeevan deep bujhta ja raha hai
ToR de.N yeh jirn bandhan aur bhay ko choR de.N ham
Aa tujhe pahchan, dil pran apna joR le.N ham
Aur sapna sarthak ho jaye hamara, hey aparichit.

Madhubala

It was long back when it happened. Sometime in 1992! Archies (not sure though) had just released a wonderful b/w poster of Madhubala that I pinned up near my bed. One evening was just reading one of my favourite poems in the light of a table lamp. All of a sudden I raised my head and there she was! Smiling down at me from the veil of darkness! Striking an unsuspecting innocent young person with all her stunning unearthly charm! It was saddening.... I was devastated. I almost fainted out of an unknown grief and fear! Were the dimly lit room and my loneliness playing prank on me? Was it the overwhelming power of darkness ? It took a while before I slowly came back to life, still scared and mortified. And I said to myself, 'God! she is dead! Madhubala is dead'!

Jab chalte chalte raste me.N yeh gaun teree rah jayegee
Ek badhia teree mittee par phir ghaas na charne payegee
Yeh khep jo tune ladee hai sab hisso.N me.N ba.N.t jayegee
Dhee, poot, jamayee, beta kya banjaran pas na ayegee

sab ThaT paRa rah jayega jab laad chalega banjara

kazzak azal ka raste me.N jab bhala mar girayega
koi taj sumeTega tera koi gaun siye aur Tankega
ho Dher akela jungle me.N tuu khak lahad ki pha.N.kega
us jungle me.N aah Nazeer ek tinka an na jha.N.kega

sub ThaT paRa rah jayega jab laad chalega banjara.

(from Banjaranama by Nazeer)

blog ki duniya

There are certain things that we always keep with us. Not that we need them very often. But when we need them, we need them desperately. Books belong to this category. Dont know how I missed Nazeer but that was how it was destined to happen. In desperation I tried the net and it led me to a blog where I could actually listen one of his poems. Nazeer is wonderful but a difficult proposition for a singer and a musician because he never paid much attention to the discipline that makes Urdu shayari such a favourite with singers.
The world of blogs is fast becoming quite independent in the sense that we need not look for an external search engine if we need something. Many things we get moving from one blog to another through the links provided. Before I knew, I was hearing those wonderful nazm of Faiz in his own voice (and other singers' voice too). From one link to other and soon I realized what a wonderful world I was in, accessing Dushyant now, listening Ghalib next!
God bless all those merciful souls who take great pain and keep their blogs updated and meaningful.