ye saara jism jhuk kar bojh se…

by dushyant kumar

ye saara jism jhuk kar bojh se dohra huya hoga
main sajde mein nahi tha, aapko dhoka huya hoga

yahan tak aate-aate sookh jati hain kai nadiyan
mujhe maloom hai paani kahan thehra hoga

gajab ye hai ki apni maut ki aahat nahi sunte
wo sab-ke-sab parishan hain wahan par kya huya hoga

tumhare shahar mein ye shor sun-sun kar to lagta hai
ki insaano ke jungle mein koi haanka huya hoga

kayi faake bitakar mar gaya, jo uske baare mein
wo sab kehte hain ab, aisa nahi, aisa huya hoga

yahan to sirf goonge aur behra log baste hain
khuda jaane yahan par kis tarah jalsa huya hoga

chalo, ab yadgaron ki andheri kothri kholein
kam-aj-kam ek wo chehra to pehchana huya hoga

hmmm. the noted emergency era poet, dushyant kumar has been my father’s favourite. he has written mostly
anti-establishment, political, revolutionary mindset ghajals. and is given the credit of bringing the ghajal in to hindi domain. this is a ghajal from his last and most celebrated collection, ’saaye mein dhoop.’ anybody who reads him today can feel the pain and anguish of those times, and wonder, how it still applies to today’s india.

dushyant ji says in his introduction to this collection, “…main sweekar karta hoon, ki urdu aur hindi apne-apne sinhasan se utarkar jab aam aadmi ke paas aati hain to unmein fark kar paana bada mushkil hota hai. meri neeyat aur koshish yahi rahi hai ki in dono bhashaon ko jyada se jyada kareeb la sakoon. isliye ye gajhlein us bhasha mein kahi gayi hain, jise main bolta hoon.”

i’ll be posting more from this excellent collection of words and thoughts. some of most favourite ‘ashaars’ are in there. this was an introduction for my dear freind ’sigma’. and yes twin, this time atleast, its not reflecting my state-of-mind. =)