Reading or writing ghazals can become a passion, though it gives relaxation and solace to the mind. To get over the current phase of melancholy during the COVID-19 pandemic, many admirers of this poetic form on the Indian subcontinent, and elsewhere, have taken to reading or listening to ghazals to keep their blues away.
A ghazal is a short poem comprising five or more rhyming couplets written in Urdu. Unlike any other format in poetry, the couplets in a ghazal may or may not have the same theme running in them. Woven around the central emotions of love and separation, ghazals gained popularity among the elite, thanks to the patronage provided to it by the Mughals, the Nawabs of Awadh and some other dynasties of northern India, and also due to the genius of poets like Meer, Daag, Zauq, and Ghalib, who took ghazal-writing to great heights during the 19th century.
Composing a ghazal is an emotional experience. An even bigger challenge is to master the exact nuances of the words and their pronunciation ( talafuz ) before attempting to recite or sing it. Though by profession a scientist, I took to writing Urdu poetry as a hobby in 1995, and have published two books of my Urdu ghazals, titled Izhaar and Ehsaas in 2004 and 2014, respectively.
A ghazal can powerfully reflect the moods of the moment. Last year, during the strict lockdown conditions, I wrote: “ Bandh rahiye apne ghar mein, ban gaye halaat aise; eik jarra hum sabhi ko de gaya ho maat jaise (Situation has emerged such that we stay back in closed homes, because a tiny particle has defeated us all, as if).”
Then came the sharp surge of COVID-19 during April-May 2021, causing much loss of lives. The poet in me stirred up to compose a poem of patience, precautions and positivity addressed to a group of about 30 former officemates, who are now 75 or above. I wrote: “ Ab retire huye eik arsa hua, koi kissey suna, khilkhilate raho; Khoob thi apne maazi ki rangeeniyan, yaad sab doston ko dilate raho; Phone par hi sahi, saath unke raho, kuchh kaho, kuchh suno, gungunaate raho! (True, we retired quite a while ago, but all of us can recall happy anecdotes from our past and create some laughter; Keep reminding about some very colourful events of our past to all friends; Even if just on phone, keep company, say something, hear something, hum something!)”
Public rendition of ghazals was popularized by singers like Begum Akhtar, K.L. Saigal and Talat Mahmood; and through recitation on stage by Ustad Mehdi Hassan, Ustad Ghulam Ali, and Abida Parveen.
Though no longer a medium of instruction for the majority of Indian schoolchildren, Urdu has been sustained through a variety of efforts. Among them, credit goes to Bollywood films for keeping it alive by its generous usage in lyrics and dialogues. To cite an example, the song Chalo ek baar phir se (‘Let us once again’), penned by Sahir Ludhianvi for the 1961 Hindi film Gumrah , is a lyrical classic. The richness of dialogues in chaste Urdu in Mughal-e-Azam , the 1960 magnum opus, made an invaluable contribution to the popularity of Urdu among the masses. Dialogues in court scenes in Hindi films have largely been in rich Urdu phraseology. Posters continue to mention the name of each Bollywood film in Hindi, English and Urdu.
Hind Pocket Books published dozens of books of Urdu poetry from 1960 to 1990, though in Devnagari script, for its vast readership. The 1988 TV serial Mirza Ghalib brought the ghazal live to the drawing rooms of Indian homes. Finally, the website Rekhta puts on record each and every poem or couplet ever published in Urdu! At the flick of a button, one can choose to read them there in any of the three scripts — Persian, Devnagari, or Roman. Both my above-mentioned books, too, have been uploaded on the website.
I maintain a circle of close friends who are fond of ghazals. The eldest in this group is MI, a chemistry expert, now 81. He is an avid reader of Urdu poetry and keeps a large collection of books on it. During lockdowns, he has been reciting his favourite poems to me on phone. In turn, I have been reciting my own poems to him, to blow our pandemic blues away.
Another very active member of my group is CJ, a systems engineer, now 77. He is very resourceful on Urdu vocabulary and ghazals. To benefit from that, I have recited each of my poems, just after its completion, to seek his Islaah (suggestions). This continued during the pandemic, like before since 1995. CJ maintains his own blog. Making use of the leisure period during the lockdown, he published a book of his ghazals, Poetical Meandering , in August 2021. My favourite line from one of his ghazals in this book is: “ Mera maazi hi mera haasil hai (My past reflects my achievements)”.
A third member of this group is ML, a materials engineer, now 75, who is a regular listener of old classic ghazals. During COVID, his particular favourite has been the three, sung by Saigal for the 1946 film Shah Jehan , which had music by Naushad.
However, ML’s all-time favourite is Pandit Bhushan’s ghazal, “ Aye qaatib e taqdeer mujhe itna bata de (‘Tell me, O writer of Destiny’)”, sung by Saigal for the 1944 film My Sister , which had music by Pankaj Mullick.
Both Pankaj Udhaas and Jagjit Singh lent world-wide popularity to ghazals by singing it on stages across the world. A ghazal can go straight to the hearts of audiences, when a singer sings every line soulfully, rather every word with the right emotion. Pankaj Udhas is able to do that in a masterly manner. Each time when he sings Chithhi ayee hai (‘A letter has arrived’) from the 1986 film Naam on stage, many among the audiences are moved to tears, forgetting all their blues.
(The author has changed the names of his friends for privacy considerations.)
