27/12/06 Ghalibs Birth Anniversary.
Delhi celebrated Ghalibs birth centenary on December 26 with a lot of fanfare. It made me feel good. As for me I celebrate Ghalib everyday. So many of his ghazals come to my mind when ever I imagine Ghalib walking in the by-lanes of ballimaran, but on his birth anniversary these couplets have a special significance,
“न था कुछ तो खुदा था कुछ न होता तो खुदा होता
डुबोया मुझको होने ने , न होता मैं तो क्या होता ”
“हुए मर के हम जो रुसवा हुए क्यों न गर्के दरिया
न कभी जनाज़ा उठता न कहीं मज़ार होता ”
These couplets show the deep desire to slip into oblivion, the state of nothingness. I do not know from where this inspiration comes to him, and the understanding of spirituality and the final goal of human life. Eventually it comes down to this that we reject every thing to reach a stage of nothingness, the absolute intelligence, be it a matter of several births or few.
But if this comes on it’s own to Ghalib - and he wasn’t exposed to spiritual texts- the beauty of the couplets gives us an idea of the unending vastness of what we call God. It’s strong in the sense that we can relate to the story of a boy who since birth was kept away from any sort of exposure to God, to prove that our sense of God comes from our surroundings. The boy was kept alone since birth on an island and was just observed. One morning to the surprise of the people, the boy, who was about 10 years old now, was seen doing surya namaskar. He was asked what he was doing the boy replied: this morning when I saw the sun something happened inside me and I bowed down. It means that all profound things come from such inner turmoil’s and are not figments of our imagination.
Ghalib’s poetry is about the deeper quests of life. His poetry can be made into a mantra which every time chanted can inspire writers to keep on writing amazing poetry. I somehow feel the reason he was here was to give us this- what he has given us in his poetry,
I read in a recent article in some people said regarding Ghalib’s personal life (his habit of drinking, relationships with women, gambling), that we should not be bothered by his personal life and that we should concentrate on his work. May I know why? His poetry, letters came from the kind of person he was. He was way beyond us. We are commoners in our thinking as compared to the thinking of that man, can’t we see the tremendous courage of that man who would do things openly. Can you imagine the freedom he enjoyed to do whatever he wished to do, and take world head on , saying “शायर to अच्छा par badnam bahut hai” I wonder how many elite poets of our age can forge friendship with a man in the street and be open about it, and mind you Ghalib’s pride can be compared to that of the King of the world. You cannot separate a man from his work. Ghalib, in his life and poetry is at times no less than a bare warrior standing alone in front of an army ready to fight. But his enemies were not visible enemies, and his wounds were not of the flesh. Nonetheless much deeper and painful.
Ghalib’s life in itself was poetry. It is both complex and very simple at the same time like the word ‘Love’. As in many places I see the ability of the man to gaze so deep as if a modern laser beam scanning the cosmos for a sign of life, and produce a couplet which suggests that life was there.
Meena kumari, who I feel should have been a full time poet rather than an actress said in one her poems “ jiska jitna daman tha utnee hee saugaat milee”
Now it really depends on your capacity how much you can take from Ghalib’s writing. Gulzar saab’s daman seems big as he was inspired to do that serial. There are many more for whom each couplet of Ghalib is like a sip of wine sipped after a long -long time.
“Jala hai jism jahan dil bhi jal gaya hoga
Kuredte ho jo ab rakh justju kya hai”
I am indebted to Ghalib for life. His Ghazals and whatever I have heard of him have touched the deepest core of my heart, only to reveal that it was not the deepest. His philosophy has guided me and keeps guiding me in all the stages of my life.
Azal
Delhi celebrated Ghalibs birth centenary on December 26 with a lot of fanfare. It made me feel good. As for me I celebrate Ghalib everyday. So many of his ghazals come to my mind when ever I imagine Ghalib walking in the by-lanes of ballimaran, but on his birth anniversary these couplets have a special significance,
“न था कुछ तो खुदा था कुछ न होता तो खुदा होता
डुबोया मुझको होने ने , न होता मैं तो क्या होता ”
“हुए मर के हम जो रुसवा हुए क्यों न गर्के दरिया
न कभी जनाज़ा उठता न कहीं मज़ार होता ”
These couplets show the deep desire to slip into oblivion, the state of nothingness. I do not know from where this inspiration comes to him, and the understanding of spirituality and the final goal of human life. Eventually it comes down to this that we reject every thing to reach a stage of nothingness, the absolute intelligence, be it a matter of several births or few.
But if this comes on it’s own to Ghalib - and he wasn’t exposed to spiritual texts- the beauty of the couplets gives us an idea of the unending vastness of what we call God. It’s strong in the sense that we can relate to the story of a boy who since birth was kept away from any sort of exposure to God, to prove that our sense of God comes from our surroundings. The boy was kept alone since birth on an island and was just observed. One morning to the surprise of the people, the boy, who was about 10 years old now, was seen doing surya namaskar. He was asked what he was doing the boy replied: this morning when I saw the sun something happened inside me and I bowed down. It means that all profound things come from such inner turmoil’s and are not figments of our imagination.
Ghalib’s poetry is about the deeper quests of life. His poetry can be made into a mantra which every time chanted can inspire writers to keep on writing amazing poetry. I somehow feel the reason he was here was to give us this- what he has given us in his poetry,
I read in a recent article in some people said regarding Ghalib’s personal life (his habit of drinking, relationships with women, gambling), that we should not be bothered by his personal life and that we should concentrate on his work. May I know why? His poetry, letters came from the kind of person he was. He was way beyond us. We are commoners in our thinking as compared to the thinking of that man, can’t we see the tremendous courage of that man who would do things openly. Can you imagine the freedom he enjoyed to do whatever he wished to do, and take world head on , saying “शायर to अच्छा par badnam bahut hai” I wonder how many elite poets of our age can forge friendship with a man in the street and be open about it, and mind you Ghalib’s pride can be compared to that of the King of the world. You cannot separate a man from his work. Ghalib, in his life and poetry is at times no less than a bare warrior standing alone in front of an army ready to fight. But his enemies were not visible enemies, and his wounds were not of the flesh. Nonetheless much deeper and painful.
Ghalib’s life in itself was poetry. It is both complex and very simple at the same time like the word ‘Love’. As in many places I see the ability of the man to gaze so deep as if a modern laser beam scanning the cosmos for a sign of life, and produce a couplet which suggests that life was there.
Meena kumari, who I feel should have been a full time poet rather than an actress said in one her poems “ jiska jitna daman tha utnee hee saugaat milee”
Now it really depends on your capacity how much you can take from Ghalib’s writing. Gulzar saab’s daman seems big as he was inspired to do that serial. There are many more for whom each couplet of Ghalib is like a sip of wine sipped after a long -long time.
“Jala hai jism jahan dil bhi jal gaya hoga
Kuredte ho jo ab rakh justju kya hai”
I am indebted to Ghalib for life. His Ghazals and whatever I have heard of him have touched the deepest core of my heart, only to reveal that it was not the deepest. His philosophy has guided me and keeps guiding me in all the stages of my life.
Azal
