This article was published in Greater Kashmir on September 08, 2008
Ahmad Faraaz remembered through his selected verses
Zindagi
tayri atta hai to YEH Janaywala
Teri bakhshish teri dehleez pe dharr jayega
Zabt lazim hai magger dukh hai qayamat ka Faraaz
Zaalim ab kay be na royega to marr jayega
If my life is your bestowal
This wayfarer shall cast
The gift on your threshold
Perseverance is good but
Like hell the pain rages, O Faraaz
If you weep not now
Surely you will die.
With renewed adamancy the lines of Faiz Ahmad Faiz; Speak – your lips are still free, echoed in my head ever since I mailed the translation of his poem Yaad, and found other master pieces of his Poetry of Resistance cascading to prompt me onwards. Who knew in the death of Syed Ahmad Shah Faraaz the literary world would lose another Poet of Love and Defiance within two score years. Ah! Faraaz is no more.
Yaad aya bichhadna tayra
Phir nahi yaad ki kya yaad aya
Jis tarah dhund main liptay hovay phool
Aik aik naqsh tera yaad aya
When I remember your separation
What else surfaces on my memory,
I can’t tell
Like the flowers bosomed by fog
Each and every contour of yours
flashes on my mind’s screen.
Master of modern Urdu poetry, Ahmad Faraaz, died after protracted illness, on 25 Aug (2008), aged 74. He had done his Masters in Urdu & Persian. Prior to chairing Pakistan Academy of Letters Faraaz taught at Peshwer University. In recognition of his literary achievements Faraz was awarded Hilal-e-Imtiyaz in 2004. Like Faiz Ahmad Faiz, he wrote excellent poetry of resistance during the years of self-imposed exile but his simplistic style kindled the romantic hearts of young and old, alike. Faraaz saw role model in Faiz and Sardar Ali Jaffery, from his college days, when both were considered the symbol of revolt. On hearing about his death ghazal lovers of Valley might have refreshed the lilting tune of his poem Ranjish He Sahe that graced our lips in 1970s – when rendition of Urdu ghazals and nazams by maestros like Mehdi Hassan first made forays, widely. To refresh memory I recount two couplets of is ghazal that swayed romantic hearts.
Maana ki mohabat ka chupana hai mohabat
Chupkay say kisi roaz jatanay kay liye aa
Jaisay tujhay aatay hain na aanay kay bahanay
Aisay he kisi roaz na janay kay liye aa
Agreed, concealment of love betrays your secret
Do come secretly to profess the love, someday
As you conjure excuses for not meeting me
Likewise, someday, come up with excuses to stay.
Teri bakhshish teri dehleez pe dharr jayega
Zabt lazim hai magger dukh hai qayamat ka Faraaz
Zaalim ab kay be na royega to marr jayega
If my life is your bestowal
This wayfarer shall cast
The gift on your threshold
Perseverance is good but
Like hell the pain rages, O Faraaz
If you weep not now
Surely you will die.
With renewed adamancy the lines of Faiz Ahmad Faiz; Speak – your lips are still free, echoed in my head ever since I mailed the translation of his poem Yaad, and found other master pieces of his Poetry of Resistance cascading to prompt me onwards. Who knew in the death of Syed Ahmad Shah Faraaz the literary world would lose another Poet of Love and Defiance within two score years. Ah! Faraaz is no more.
Yaad aya bichhadna tayra
Phir nahi yaad ki kya yaad aya
Jis tarah dhund main liptay hovay phool
Aik aik naqsh tera yaad aya
When I remember your separation
What else surfaces on my memory,
I can’t tell
Like the flowers bosomed by fog
Each and every contour of yours
flashes on my mind’s screen.
Master of modern Urdu poetry, Ahmad Faraaz, died after protracted illness, on 25 Aug (2008), aged 74. He had done his Masters in Urdu & Persian. Prior to chairing Pakistan Academy of Letters Faraaz taught at Peshwer University. In recognition of his literary achievements Faraz was awarded Hilal-e-Imtiyaz in 2004. Like Faiz Ahmad Faiz, he wrote excellent poetry of resistance during the years of self-imposed exile but his simplistic style kindled the romantic hearts of young and old, alike. Faraaz saw role model in Faiz and Sardar Ali Jaffery, from his college days, when both were considered the symbol of revolt. On hearing about his death ghazal lovers of Valley might have refreshed the lilting tune of his poem Ranjish He Sahe that graced our lips in 1970s – when rendition of Urdu ghazals and nazams by maestros like Mehdi Hassan first made forays, widely. To refresh memory I recount two couplets of is ghazal that swayed romantic hearts.
Maana ki mohabat ka chupana hai mohabat
Chupkay say kisi roaz jatanay kay liye aa
Jaisay tujhay aatay hain na aanay kay bahanay
Aisay he kisi roaz na janay kay liye aa
Agreed, concealment of love betrays your secret
Do come secretly to profess the love, someday
As you conjure excuses for not meeting me
Likewise, someday, come up with excuses to stay.
Or
relish the one from his ghazal Abkay hum bichday to shayed……sookhay hovay phool kitaboon …
Tu khuda hai na mera ishq farishtoon jaisa
Donu insaan hain to kyoun itnay hijaboon main milain.
This time as we separate,
in dreams we may meet
Like we come upon dry flowers
kept in books
No deity you are, nor my love Angel- like
Human we are, why meet behind so many veils?
In his death I renewed a pain –considered hitherto long forgotten, when the caller recited this verse of Faraaz before breaking the sad news of his demise:
Ab kay tajdeed e wafa ka nahi imkaan janaa
Yaad kya toej ko dilayein tera paimaan janaa
Youn he mousam ki ada daikh kay yaad aaya hai
Kis qader jald badul jatain hain insaan janaa
Now that there is no chance of renewal of trust, dear Love
To what avail should I then remind you of your promise
On seeing the shifting weather incidentally I remembered
How quickly humans too volte- face, dear Love
To conclude I offer readers two couplets of my choice from a poem of Faraaz and say adieu to leave you pondering what we have lost in his death:
Karoon na yaad mugger kis terah bhulawoon oesay
Ghazal bahana karoon aur goengonavoon oesay
Woh khar khar hain shaakh e gulab ki manind
Main zakhm zakhm hoon phir bhe galay lagaloon oesay.
How not to remember her whom I can’t forget
Apparently a poem in reality she lives on my lips
Thorn studded she is, like a branch of roses
Though bruised and wounded, I embrace her still
Tu khuda hai na mera ishq farishtoon jaisa
Donu insaan hain to kyoun itnay hijaboon main milain.
This time as we separate,
in dreams we may meet
Like we come upon dry flowers
kept in books
No deity you are, nor my love Angel- like
Human we are, why meet behind so many veils?
In his death I renewed a pain –considered hitherto long forgotten, when the caller recited this verse of Faraaz before breaking the sad news of his demise:
Ab kay tajdeed e wafa ka nahi imkaan janaa
Yaad kya toej ko dilayein tera paimaan janaa
Youn he mousam ki ada daikh kay yaad aaya hai
Kis qader jald badul jatain hain insaan janaa
Now that there is no chance of renewal of trust, dear Love
To what avail should I then remind you of your promise
On seeing the shifting weather incidentally I remembered
How quickly humans too volte- face, dear Love
To conclude I offer readers two couplets of my choice from a poem of Faraaz and say adieu to leave you pondering what we have lost in his death:
Karoon na yaad mugger kis terah bhulawoon oesay
Ghazal bahana karoon aur goengonavoon oesay
Woh khar khar hain shaakh e gulab ki manind
Main zakhm zakhm hoon phir bhe galay lagaloon oesay.
How not to remember her whom I can’t forget
Apparently a poem in reality she lives on my lips
Thorn studded she is, like a branch of roses
Though bruised and wounded, I embrace her still
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