ASAD - 82

This sher was alos discussed in ASAD - 46.
Originally posted on rec.music.indian.misc in 1997

What's in a name ? A famous question, with it's answer included in the tone of it. Let's see a different answer today.

Consider the following sher.

koi samjhaa'e, ye kya rang hai maikhaane ka,
aaNkh saaqi ki uTHe, naam ho paimaane ka !

Would you accept it if I told you that the Shayar is Iqbal ? It's a good sher, but by the standards of great Iqbal it's a cheapo. The style of presentation is also unlike him. It's really difficult to associate his name with this sher.

This is a GHulam Ali ghazal. Long time back, my friend told me that the name written on the cassette cover is Iqbal. I couldn't swallow it.

Now, a couple of years back, I found this sher in one of the books, and was 'relieved' to find the name of the shayar to be 'Iqbal Safipuri'.

Does anyone have this GHazal in original cassette ? What is the name of the Shayar written on the cover ? If it's just 'Iqbal' then IMHO it's a very wrong thing to do. Because just Iqbal means Mohammed Allama Iqbal. No one else. That's how it should be with the names of such great poets like GHalib, Meer, Jigar and others. For other poets sharing the same alias, complete name should be used.

So what's in a name ? Respect, I would say.

- Abhay.
ASAD _also_ means "A Sher A Day" !