Sunday, February 1, 2009

ASAD - 104

Originally posted on rec.music.indian.misc in 1997

Sikandar Ali was his real name. But he is better known as ...

Jigar Muradabadi !!

A bit of diversion before we proceed. All this suspense thing was not done to test your knowledge. It was mainly to stress the importance of this great poet and also for some fun. As I said in the very 1st article I know it wasn't such a big suspense. :-) ... Still ... I will emphasize that, there is NOTHING terrible, if it was a suspense for you.

Because some shers are so famous, that they are routinely used as idioms or "muhawara"s etc. and we often do not know the names of the creators. So just because you didn't know the name of the poet who wrote one particular sher, doesn't mean that you have a long way to go etc. Anyway. Back to Mr.X ...ooops... Jigar :-)

Now that we have observed Jigar to be the creator of many famous shers, let's turn our attention to other achievements by him.

Musha'ira is a very important thing for poets and lovers of poetry. And Jigar's impact was on the Mushaira too. He is also famous for his GHazal recitation. To understand what impact a good recitation can have on the audience, you have to attend a mushaira. A sher like ...

yuN zindagi guzaar rahaa huN tere baghair,
jaise koi gunaah kiye jaa raha huN maiN !

can get the entire crowd on its feet, if recited by someone who is good at it. Here the stress is on "gunaah". Story goes that, people tore away their shirts in frenzy, when Jigar presented such delicate shers in the Lakhnow mushaairas.

The following sher too can evoke the cries of "once more" many times, due to the sheer beauty of thought. And also because it's so subtle.

lutf = fun ( "mazaa" )

kya lutf, ki maiN apanaa pataa aap bataauN,
kije koi bhooli hui, khaas apani adaa yaad !!

What's the fun if I tell my 'pataa' myslef ? Why don't you remember your own special 'adaa' which you seem to have forgotten ? Aisi hi ek adaa par to maiN apane aapko kho baTHaa thaa ! Ab mera koi pataa nahiN ! Puchhanaa hai to apani hi kisi adaa se puchho ! (Any other interpretations ? Please share them if you have.)

- Abhay.
ASAD _also_ stands for "A Sher A Day" !

1 comment:

  1. kije koi bhooli hui, khaas apani adaa yaad !! Ashiq mahboob kee khaas adaon ko nahee bhoolta aur dil me ye maanta hai ki wo khaas adaa sirf usake liye hai.... Shayar ye samajh rahaa hai ki agar mahoob ko uskee bhoolee hui adaa yaad aa jaayegee to us adaa se judaa aashiq kun naa yaad aayegaa

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...