Prashn (Questions)

Bheegh raha tha badan
aur gagan se prashn the,

paroksh kyun hai khadi,
yeh insaaniyat kee nagnta
kyun kaat-te khushi ko hum,
aur atript kyun hai mann sadaa.

Badh rahi hai kyun bhala,
yeh bhawna droh kee,
jo din naye to aa rahe,
par karm wahi kyun paap kaa.

bujh raha hun mein abhi,
yeh paheli garbh kee.
paap pehle tha khadha
yaa janm hua insaan kaa.

muk hun aur lad raha,
in ashruon kee dhaar se.
jaar-jaar hai badan,
prashn ab yeh hans rahe

Bheeg raha hai badan,
aur rang lahu kaa hai.
Chot yeh aparoksh see,
magar gagan se prashn hai…
magar gagan se prashn hai…

Entangled with stars (Non literal translation) – Firaq Gorakhpuri

सितारों से उलझता जा रहा हूँ

सितारों से उलझता जा रहा हूँ
शब-ए-फ़ुरक़त बहुत घबरा रहा हूँ

तेरे ग़म को भी कुछ बहला रहा हूँ
जहाँ को भी समझा रहा हूँ

यक़ीं ये है हक़ीक़त खुल रही है
गुमाँ ये है कि धोखे खा रहा हूँ

अगर मुमकिन हो ले ले अपनी आहट
ख़बर दो हुस्न को मैं आ रहा हूँ

हदें हुस्न-ओ-इश्क़ की मिलाकर
क़यामत पर कयामत ढा रहा हूँ

ख़बर है तुझको ऐ ज़ब्त-ए-मुहब्बत
तेरे हाथों में लुटता जा रहा हूँ

असर भी ले रहा हूँ तेरी चुप का
तुझे कायल भी करता जा रहा हूँ

भरम तेरे सितम का खुल चुका है
मैं तुझसे आज क्यों शर्मा रहा हूँ

तेरे पहलू में क्यों होता है महसूस
कि तुझसे दूर होता जा रहा हूँ

जो उलझी थी कभी आदम के हाथों
वो गुत्थी आज तक सूलझा रहा हूँ

मुहब्बत अब मुहब्बत हो चली है
तुझे कुछ भूलता-सा जा रहा हूँ

ये सन्नाटा है मेरे पाँव की चाप
“फ़िराक़” अपनी कुछ आहट पा रहा हूँ

 

Amazing poetry by Firaq Gorakhpuri.

Chand rupyo kee baat…

में गंवार, क्या जानू,
कोन सी धुन, कब पहचानू,
पल्लू में बंधे सिक्को से पूछूँ,
या अपने आप को खुदगर्ज़ मानू…

Shiva – A multimillennial marker of India’s social construct

As much a religious person I am, I think its time, especially so in India that we take religion out of religious texts and put them in philosophy or sociology classes. I dont know when is that going to happen, but sooner is better. I think we are at least a generation away from that happening as a natural transition. Natural transition will be when religious conservatives will ask academia to take religion and save it in its purest form or say in its entirety.

Lets come back to the Shiva. Oh! what a topic it is, what a character it is. Quintessentially a tribal creation dating back to earliest civilizations, Shiva is a concept as wide as multidimensionality of Hinduism and as singular as singularity of physics. Since we have sample of Shiva’s representation from past several millenniums, he therefore becomes a more than decent marker of social change throughout Indian history. One, just have to run a radio-dating on such a marker. Taking liberty and furthering my radioactive analogy; in totality the half life of Shiva as a concept is just wonderful.

When we talk about Shiva, the comparison with other members of holy trinity will always be around the corner. No discussion on either Shiva, Vishnu or Brahmaa is complete without putting them together in one frame. More importantly, the comparison of Shiva and Vishnu is always enlightening to both the trained and untrained. Like the above two paragraphs, the idea highlighted in this para deserves a blog, no, a thesis, no… several thesis on its own. But just to highlight the difference between Shiva and Vishnu; both made different kind of transitions through different epochs of Indian history. Shiva did have advantage of early start, because the unrefined nature of early concepts helped it to travel far and wide.

So, how come, am I writing about it today? Thanks to a photo blog on which I stumbled upon, which has several pictures from the Shaivism branch of hinduism.

http://nirarbuda.tumblr.com/

Indeed an interesting photo blog and the picture used in this post is also from that blog, as the original post does not refer to the artist, I am unable to do so.

Bhojpuri Pop – A defining genre.

Where was I, when all of it was brewing? Why am I having this cold coffee now? At 3:30 am in night, I am watching bhojpuri pop song after song. I want to laugh, but all I can come up is some severely restrained laughter, coming in form of air pumping and silent head banging; as I my room-mate is supposedly asleep.

One serious thought that came to is regarding the appropriateness of these songs, which are filled with sexual innuendos, being published far bellow the eye sight of any sort of censoring body. Not that they require any sort of censorship, but similar stuff may not pass through censor bodies present for mainstream media in India.

They are a sociological puzzle to me… and I guess if I continue watching them then I may decide to drop out from my masters program and take Film Studies program or apply for PhD in film and cultural studies.

I guess it is the intention to display brazen sexuality under some sort of restrain that make these video funny. About the wordings, well that somehow reflects the society or treads societal needs. Whatever; as a note to untrained ears, I want to tell you that the guys in this videos are not singing about homosexuality, they are straight guys singing about their lust for two beautiful women who are ripe for some sort of consumption.

For me it is important to not to fall in ‘feminism’ trap, which I believe will not allow me to look at these videos as objectively as I want to. To me these videos, specially the one posted along with this post are commentary on suppressed male sexuality than anything else. But then again, such a view limits the understanding of environment in which ‘Bhojpuri Pop’ is being produced, and honestly I am ill equipped to pass a judging comment.

So, I will take leave and leave you with the video that made me laugh, because of its wordings, singing, production quality, and imagining how a person without the understanding of the language might perceive this song.

I wish I were ‘tomorrow’

काश में ‘कल’ होता, ‘आज’ से कहीं दूर मेरा भी एक पल होता,
मेरे करीब ना मेरा धर्म, ना लोग, ना जश्न होता,
आज से दूर, सत्य का सोम पिये, मेरा हर कदम रक्स होता,
आज की सोच से मुक्त, नयी स्याही से नया ख़त लिख रहा होता,
काश में ‘कल’ होता… काश में ‘कल’ होता…

Tags: poem, Poetry, hindi

Winter morning

Kya ous kee bunde jami hai, yaa pura sama tham gaya hai,
ek safed chaadar hai, kuch kadamo ke nishaa hai,
mein chalun unke peeche, yaa pura jahan hee unpe chala hai,
mein sochu ab yahi, kya yahi mera gulistaan hai…kya yahi mera gulistaan hai…

Color it all

है सुबह तो रंग दो, है रात तो उसे रंग दो,
है चुनर, है कफ़न, उन्हें भी रंग दो,
रंग बचे तो जमीन भी रंग दो,
जान रहे तो आस्मां रंग दो,
रंग देना, हो बस, तो हर इंसान को,
जब ख़तम हो जाये रंग तो संग बैठेंगे,
जब थकोगे तो संग सोचेंगे,
पता नहीं अब जात तो दिलों में काटें कैसे,
अब रंगे है सब तेरे मेरे ख्वाब से,
तो इस दुनिया को बाटें कैसे….

Tags: hindi, Poetry

Mother – a short poem

तुम बहती हो, तुम नदी हो,
तुम जो कहती हो...तुम सही हो...
तुम लय हो, तुम समय हो...
तुम एक क्षण का प्रेम हो,
तुम एक क्षण का श्राप हो,
तुम क्रोध हो, आक्रोश हो...
तुम प्रेम हो, ख़ुशी का आगाज़ हो...
तुम दूर हो, तुम पास हो...
तुम भोर की औस हो,
तुम सांझ की ओज हो...
तुम ताप हो, शीतल सा एहसास भी हो...
तुम अंत हो, अनंत हो...
तुम क्या हो, तुम क्या हो...
तुम प्रथम स्वर हो... तुम माँ हो... तुम माँ हो...

Tags: hindi, maa, mother, poem

Threads

Sometimes I really wish to write in english, but boorish innocence of writing in hindi just keeps me stuck to writing in hindi…

These few lines are on time, threads of time. Well time has been compared with various objects, time is both continuous as well as ephemeral, its the way you look at it. These lines are on the continuity of time…

धागे है, यह रेशे है, यह कैसे है,
इन्हें बहने दो...
कच्चे है, छोटे है, जैसे भी है,
रोको न इन्हें, बहने दो...

फिर उन्ही रंगों से रंगे, नाज़ुक है,
इन्हें सजने दो...
इतराते है, बलखाते है, फूस-फुसाते है,
यह समय के है, मन-मर्ज़ी इन्हे करने दो...