Aah ko chaahiye ek umr asar hone tak

Aah ko chaahiye ek umr asar hone tak

Kaun jeeta hai teri zulf ke sar hone tak



Aashiqee sabr talab aur tamanna betaab

Dil ka kya rang karoon khoon e jigar hone tak?



Hamne maana ki taghaaful na karoge lekin

Khaak ho jaayenge ham tum ko khabar hone tak



Partav e khoor se hai shabnam ko fanaa ki taaleem

main bhi hoon ek inaayat ki nazar hone tak

Gham e hasti ka “Asad” kis se ho juz marg ilaaj?

Sham’a har rang mein jalti hai sahar hone tak

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जिस्म
मुझे मेरा जिस्म छोड़कर बह गया नदी में
अभी उसी दिन की बात है
मैं नहाने उतरा था घाट पर जब
ठिठुर रहा था-
वो छू के पानी की सर्द तहज़ीब डर गया था।
मैं सोचता था,
बग़ैर मेरे वो कैसे काटेगा तेज़ धारा
वो बहते पानी की बेरुखी जानता नहीं है।
वो डूब जाएगा-सोचता था।
अब उस किनारे पहुँच के मुझको बुला रहा है
मैं इस किनारे पे डूबता जा रहा हूँ पैहम
मैं कैसे तैरूँ बग़ैर उसके।
मुझे मेरा जिस्म छोड़कर बह गया नदी में।
(The poem’s been taken from anubhuti-hindi.org)
The most beautiful (and the most troublesome) vista of poetry is that the only person who understands the context and the intended meaning of a poem is the poet who wrote it. The reader can ONLY guess and (hence put more appropriately) is merely an *interpreter*.
With this indirect disclaimer, I present you my interpretations (in a tone that depicts as if I’m the poet) of Jism, a poem by Gulzar Saab.

Mujhe mera jism chhodkar beh gaya nadi mein।
Abhi usi din ki baat hai
Main nahane utara tha jab,
Thithur raha tha-
Woh chhuu ke paani ki sard tehzeeb darr gaya tha।

Literal:
The soul is the narrator here. She says that its body has left her and sailed in the river. She then recalls a certain day when he (the body) descended down the bank to take a bath and was shivering with cold. He was scared of the extremely cold _nature_ of water. Notice the beautiful usage of “I” (by the soul) in the third line to denote an action desired by the soul, and performed by the body.

Metaphorical:
The poet uses the analogy of aatma (soul) to the lover, and her body to the beloved. The opening line indicates a painful separation between the two. The narrator’s says that his beloved has left him and sailed in the big-bad world. He remembers the times when he tried to get her out of her dreamy idealistic world, and get her habituated to the society. Needless to say, she was hurt by the coldness of people.

Main sochta tha,
Bagair mere woh kaise kaatega tez dhaara
Woh behte paani ki berukhi nahi jaanta hai ।
Woh doob jayega-sochta tha main ।

Literal:
The soul always wondered whether the body would be able to sustain the currents in the river. After all, he isn’t aware of the apathy of the waves. How would he be able to survive the forces of the ruthless currents!

Metaphorical:
He used to wonder if his beloved would be able to survive the fast paced and uncaring life in the real world. The world outside her dreams is extremely cruel. It couldn’t care less for her feelings. She may be emotionally shattered.

Ab us kinaare pahonch ke mujhko bula raha hai ।
Main is kinaare pe dubta ja raha hoon paiham ।
Main kaise tairoon bagair uske ।

Literal:
Quite contrary to the concerns of the soul, the body’s reached the other end of the river and is now calling the soul to join him… the soul, however, has now realized that she can not travel without her body.

Metaphorical:
Slowly and steadily, the beloved has shattered all the concerns of her lover… she’s now become accustomed to the world and its cruel ways. On the contrary, the lover, who always seemed engrossed with the fragility of his beloved is the one unable to cope-up. He’s now coming to terms with his own weaknesses.


Mujhe mera jism chhodkar beh gaya nadi mein ।

Literal:
Smashing all the concerns and worries, the body has left the soul and set out on his lone voyage. It wasn’t really the body who needed the soul, rather it was the soul who required a body to survive.

Metaphorical:
The lover has finally recognized his own frangibility. All the time he worried about his beloved, when in reality, his strength was a farce… completely relative to someone else’s weaknesses. Now when his beloved is strong enough, he’s coming to terms to the harsh and bitter realities.

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Posted in Gulzar Saab, love, metaphor, pain, relationship


It is one of my favorite poems, written by the Ghulam Farid.

Kis-wal akheya we Majnu-nu, O teri Laila disdi kaali we!
Majnu ne jawab ditta, O teri ankh wekhan-waali we!
Je tu dekhe meri ankh naal, Teri surat na jaaye samhaali we!
Ved bhi chitta ter Quran bhi chitti, Vich shyahi rakh ditti kaali we!
Ghulam Farid jitthe ankhiyaan lagiyaan, Utthe kya gori, kya kaali we!
Contrary to the common notion, Laila wasn’t really fair. The peom talks about Majnu’s reaction, when someone states that Laila is black. To this Majnu replies, “Your eye hasn’t been able to see her real beauty. If only you could see through my eyes, you’ll be awed and wouldn’t be able to handle it“. He then goes on to say my favorite lines, “Although Ved (Hindu holy scriptures) and Quran are nothing but white papers, the real value comes with the ink, which is black in color“. Ghulam Farid closes the stanza by saying that if Ghulam Farid has fallen for someone, the back-white color matters no more.

As with all the Sufi poets, Ghulam Farid basically uses Laala-Majnu as mere symbols to express lot deeper messages.



Gulzar: Random Couplets from Triveni 1
Udd ke jaate hue panchhi ne bas itna hi dekha,
Der tak haath hilaati rahi wah shaakh fiza mein.


Alvida kahne ko? Ya paas bulane ke liye?


Here Gulzar Saab uses the relationship between a bird and the branch of a tree. Literally it means that the bird which flew away from the branch could see that the branch moved to-and-fro (probably because of the pressure that the bird put on it before flying). The motion resembled very closely to the hand movements of a human being.

The bird, however, could not make out whether the movement was to wish the final Goodbye… or to call him back…

———————————————————–

Bas hawa bhari hai golon mein,
Sui chubh jaye to pichak jayein.


Log gusse mein bam nahi bante.


This couplet depicts the situation when a kid/beloved gets angry. The cheeks swell and resemble a balloon filled with air. A tip of a needle would do the magic of bringing the situation back to normal.

After all, people don’t become bomb in anger

———————————————————–

Na har saher ka woh jhagda, Na shab ki bechaini,
Na chulha jalta hai ghar mein na aankhein jalti hain.


Kitne aman se ghar mein udaas rahta hoon.


Relationships are strange… and one such strange face, can’t-live-with-you–can’t-live-without-you, is described in the above lines… very neatly. Gulzar saab says that neither do I have those every morning (saher) quarrels, nor any mental distress at nights (shab).

I live peacefully upset in the house.