By: Dr. Mohammad Aleem, Editor-ICN Group
Ai Dile Nadaan tujhe hua keya hai
Akhir is dard ki dawa keya hai
(O my naive heart, what happened to you? And what is the remedy of your pain and agony?)
NEW DELHI: It was two years ago when I got a unique chance to attend a program on the great poet, Mirza Ghalib at India International Centre, New Delhi. The allurement for me at that time was that a well-known Pakistani artist, Mr Ziya Mohiuddin was going to read the famous letters of Ghalib, which he had very painstakingly written during his troubled and trying times. The other charm with it was that famous Indian Ghazal singer, Radhika Chopra was going to sing his famous Ghazals in her melodious voice.
Zia Mohiuddin is an accomplished actor, producer, director and television broadcaster who has appeared in both Pakistani cinema and British cinema throughout his career. He was born in Faisalabad, British India. He passed his early life in Karachi.
Both artists, Ziya Mohiuddin and Radhika Chopra had done commendable recitations of the letters and Ghazals, The selected poetries of Ghalib like Bazicha-e-itfal hai duniya mere aga, Hota hai shabo roz tamasha mere age (the world is like a nursery of children for me and I witness their plays every day.)
Ziya Mohiuddin had selected the best letters of Mirza Ghalib, which helped in portraying the overall character of Ghalib. It is the beauty and attraction of that man who even after two hundred centuries of his death, still has the power to captivate, mesmerize and shock the audience with his wit, words of wisdom and simplicity of life. Ghalib was really a man of great talent and contradictions. At one time, he spoke about the apocalyptic days of his time when the last shred of Mughal empire was also going to be destroyed by the British imperialist, and on the other hand, he spoke very openly about his own poverty, religious beliefs and social ills. Ghalib was a very egoist poet and it shows that which type of man he was. But what makes him awful that on the one hand, he desired to live his life on his own terms, but, at the same time, did not shy away from asking favors from the British Masters. Sometimes, we feel that his major part of his life was spent in arranging his own meager finances along with writing good poetries and letters. In spite of his low income, his style of living was like a rich man. He did not live without costly wine and servants in his house.
He lived, witnessed and experienced the historical city, Delhi more than a half century of his precious life as a poet and thinker. No any other poet of his time could depict the life and times of his age so deeply as he has done so. That makes him truly immortal in the world of literature.
Those letters which were chosen were interspersed with the beautiful and melodic voice of the singer Radhika Chopra, who had chosen the best and simple Ghazals of Ghalib. It was beautified much more by her musical accompanists.
Most of the audience came from the elite background and they were all eyes and ears to the presenters of this program.
It shows that people still love this slowly dying language, Urdu, but do little help in keeping it alive in a practical way. Their love is limited to such entertaining programs only. They don’t encourage their children to learn this beautiful language of India, which sadly been targeted as a language of Muslims and Pakistanis.
Such programs should be organized regularly, but, I also urge these Urdu lovers to do something practical and energetic to save this language from complete annihilation. India has always been a mysterious land of fables, poetries and spiritualism. And Urdu is one of it’s treasured trove which should be protected with love and care.
Mohammad Aleem is an award winning novelist, playwright, script writer and journalist.
