ASAD - 93

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

Similarity between different poems/lyrics is one topic we always explore in ASAD. Here is a special case today. The 2 shers we are going to see today are similar yet subtly different.

The first mega-hit album (Mehfil) of Pankaj Udhas contains this GHazal -

dono ke darmiyaaN, ye ajab faasalaa rahaa,
wo mere paas hoke bhi, mujh_se judaa rahaa
- Syed 'Rahi'

This sher tries to highlight the difference between 'physical proximity' and 'mental harmony'. Like a failed marriage. The couple is staying together but not living together.

Strikingly similar are the feelings expressed in the following sher from a very famous GHazal sung by Ghulam Ali.

faasale aise bhi honge, ye kabhi sochaa na thaa,
saamane baiTHaa thaa mere, aur wo meraa na thaa
- Adeem

Beautiful sher. This sher is more about a relationship which was good once but now has gone sour. Like a couple, meeting after the divorce. IMHO, this is the slight difference between the two shers. Even though they both use the similar idea of contrasting the body v/s the mind. (Of course it's not necessary to use marriage in interpreting the shers. I used it just to make the comparison easier. That's all.)

Interestingly, both the shers are the Matlas, the first shers of the respective GHazals. And more interestingly, the second sher of the second GHazal featured in the second article of this series and it too is similar but twice better than these two combined :-)

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