Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Faiz Ahmad
Faiz is in news these days.
I came
under the spell of Faiz’s poetry about two decades back. I was
endlessly thrilled by the unmatched elegance of his language, throbbing imagery
of emotions in his sophisticated words and poignancy of human condition
expressed with engaging fluidity and with infinite sensitivity in his poetry. I
came across Saare Sukhan Hamare, complete collection of his poetry in
Devanagari script, around the same time. I read it entranced. Many times over.
And continue to derive illimitable pleasure from it till date.
Bits of
his poetry float in my mind haphazardly. Some time back, I jotted down on a
paper, in my words, what Faiz’s poems mean to me. I liked the exercise. It
brought me closer to his poetry and gave me much joy. I have persevered with
this joyful activity for almost a year now.
A few
weeks back students at a university sang one of his iconic Nazms, ‘Hum
Dekhenge’, during a protest against Citizenship Amendment Act. Religious
zealots, a dime a dozen in country these days, interpreted some of the phrases
of the nazm in a most convoluted and preposterous fashion. Nazm haunted me
incessantly till I put down in words how it impinges on my mind. Here’s the
effort.
Sir the translation is better than the original poem. You are simply genius.
ReplyDeleteOh! That's sacrilege. No mortal can equal Faiz. If my words can just hint towards the majesty of Faiz's poetry, I would be eternally satisfied.
DeleteI must thank you nevertheless.
Dr Rajeev, you have outdone yourself
ReplyDeleteThanks Sanjiv. Faiz's words are sublime. Any one who likes poetry can not deny the echo of his nazms and ghazals that reverberate in one's mind, long after one read the poem. It's my effort to discern the meaning of these sounds in my own words. If my interpretation conveys to slightest extent the world painted in Faiz's exquisite words, I would feel I have earned vastly undeserved awards.
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