i am typing this while listening to Madam Noor Jehan sing Faiz Ahmed Faiz's 'aa ke wabista hein tujh se' a poem dedicated to the other lover of the beloved, which tells the story of why the person in question spent his time after such a love.
urdu poetry has always provided me the words to say things which i thought were impossible to say. be it the times of loss, sadness, failure or time of triumph and rejoicing and hope, urdu poetry was always there. i dare say that i have never read anything as beautiful as urdu ghazal anywhere...
i was eleven years old when i heard a class fellow practice a 'nazm' of Iqbal and i went to her and told her that if you understand what it says, it'll become easier to sing it [i can't sing even if my life depended on it!!!] and that was the day when i realized that this is a poem and i understand it. and i have never seen back since. during that time [1996-97] Nasir Kazmi's 'ghum hai ya khushi hai tu' was aired frequently on PTV sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and it was amazing. the utmost sadness 'go-to' tune.
During grade 9th my friend and I just fell in love with urdu poetry head over heels, gone was the time when understood it merely and now we were writing it and enjoying it and memorizing couplets [ashaar] by heart and looking for the ghazals and nazms to memories. my grade 9th urdu book played a vital role in this with Bahadur Shah Zafar's ghazal
"Na thi haal ki jab apni khabar, rahay daikhtay auron ke aib-o-hunr
pari apni buraiyon pe jab nazar, tou nigah mein koi bura na raha"
[when i was unaware of my own follies, i kept looking at others and pointing their faults out, but when i realized my shortcomings, i don't find anyone bad anymore]
and then it was "Sahir Ludhyanivi, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed Faraz, Perveen Shakir, Meer Taqi Meer, Ghalib and whoever you can name. We spent hours talking to each other in poetry and dictating it to each other and maintaining volumes of the poetry.
And then came "bait Bazi" competition at school and it gave us whatever encouragement we needed to spend more time with poetry.
Urdu poetry gives me a thrill every time i hear something very grand said in very few words like this couplet that i discovered other day
"misl-e-parwana nahi kuch zar-o-maal apnay pass
hum tum pe faqat fida karnay ko jaan rakhtay hein"
[just like a moth i own nothing but the life that i could give for you]
and Faiz Ahmed Faiz's "Khuda Woh Waqt Na Laye" and Noon Meem Rashid's "Admi Se Dartay Ho" and the poems by Ibn-e-Insha
"Farz Karo hum ahl-e-wafa hon, farz karo deewanay hon
farz karo yeh dono batein jhooti hon afsanay hoon
farz karo yeh nain tumharay such mukh ke mekhanay hon
farz karo tumhein khush karnay ke dhoonday hum ne bahanay hon"
there is the revolutionary poems of Jalib, Faiz, Sahir and so on...
there is Nasir Kazmi, Qateel Shifai, Amjad Islam Amjad, Ahmed Faraz, Ada Jaffery and Kishwar Naheed.
There is an unending list of poets and my favorite poems, there is also an unending list of topics that urdu poetry covers, and emotions and ideas that it gives voice to .
i leave here tonight with a wonderful website of Urdu Poetry "Rekhta" the language is set to Urdu but there is an option of English and Hindi.
Sugandh
urdu poetry has always provided me the words to say things which i thought were impossible to say. be it the times of loss, sadness, failure or time of triumph and rejoicing and hope, urdu poetry was always there. i dare say that i have never read anything as beautiful as urdu ghazal anywhere...
i was eleven years old when i heard a class fellow practice a 'nazm' of Iqbal and i went to her and told her that if you understand what it says, it'll become easier to sing it [i can't sing even if my life depended on it!!!] and that was the day when i realized that this is a poem and i understand it. and i have never seen back since. during that time [1996-97] Nasir Kazmi's 'ghum hai ya khushi hai tu' was aired frequently on PTV sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and it was amazing. the utmost sadness 'go-to' tune.
During grade 9th my friend and I just fell in love with urdu poetry head over heels, gone was the time when understood it merely and now we were writing it and enjoying it and memorizing couplets [ashaar] by heart and looking for the ghazals and nazms to memories. my grade 9th urdu book played a vital role in this with Bahadur Shah Zafar's ghazal
"Na thi haal ki jab apni khabar, rahay daikhtay auron ke aib-o-hunr
pari apni buraiyon pe jab nazar, tou nigah mein koi bura na raha"
[when i was unaware of my own follies, i kept looking at others and pointing their faults out, but when i realized my shortcomings, i don't find anyone bad anymore]
and then it was "Sahir Ludhyanivi, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed Faraz, Perveen Shakir, Meer Taqi Meer, Ghalib and whoever you can name. We spent hours talking to each other in poetry and dictating it to each other and maintaining volumes of the poetry.
And then came "bait Bazi" competition at school and it gave us whatever encouragement we needed to spend more time with poetry.
Urdu poetry gives me a thrill every time i hear something very grand said in very few words like this couplet that i discovered other day
"misl-e-parwana nahi kuch zar-o-maal apnay pass
hum tum pe faqat fida karnay ko jaan rakhtay hein"
[just like a moth i own nothing but the life that i could give for you]
and Faiz Ahmed Faiz's "Khuda Woh Waqt Na Laye" and Noon Meem Rashid's "Admi Se Dartay Ho" and the poems by Ibn-e-Insha
"Farz Karo hum ahl-e-wafa hon, farz karo deewanay hon
farz karo yeh dono batein jhooti hon afsanay hoon
farz karo yeh nain tumharay such mukh ke mekhanay hon
farz karo tumhein khush karnay ke dhoonday hum ne bahanay hon"
there is the revolutionary poems of Jalib, Faiz, Sahir and so on...
there is Nasir Kazmi, Qateel Shifai, Amjad Islam Amjad, Ahmed Faraz, Ada Jaffery and Kishwar Naheed.
There is an unending list of poets and my favorite poems, there is also an unending list of topics that urdu poetry covers, and emotions and ideas that it gives voice to .
i leave here tonight with a wonderful website of Urdu Poetry "Rekhta" the language is set to Urdu but there is an option of English and Hindi.
Sugandh
