A Humorous Poem
Afzal A. Khan
Syed Zamir Jaafri. Previously Ali Minai Sahib had posted his
wonderful poem on "Qawwals".
Sometime back, I had come across in some magazine a humorous
poem, which I am giving below for the enjoyment of our friends :
Mehfil men meri naGHma-saraai na poochhiye
Begum ki ghar men shola-nawaai na poochhiye
Main loot kar Mushaira lauta jo raat ghar
Phir apne ghar men daad jo paai na poochhiye
Bedaar mere paaoN ki aahat se ho gayi
Zanjeer-e-dar jo main ne hilaai, na poochhiye
Azaad nazm ban ke mire saamne thi woh
Meri GHazal ki jalwa-numaai, na poochhiye
Ik aur bazm-e-sher-o-suKHan ho gayi bapa
Mehfil woh us ne ghar men sajaai na poochhiye
Jo mil rahi thi us se mujhe sher sher par
Woh daad thi ke apni "duhaai", na poochhiye
Main ne diya jo baRh ke use misra-e-tarah
Us ne girah kuchh aisi lagaai, na poochhiye
Main ne taweel beh'r men kuchh sher jaR diye
Us ne bhi masnawi woh sunaai na poochhiye
Maqt'e men aa paRi thi suKHan-gustarana baat
Mushkil se main ne jaan chhuRai na poochhiye
Afzal
Ali Minai
>Recently, Jamil Sahib informed ALUPers about the sad demise of
>Syed Zamir Jaafri. Previously Ali Minai Sahib had posted his
>wonderful poem on "Qawwals".
>Sometime back, I had come across in some magazine a humorous
>poem, which I am giving below for the enjoyment of our friends :
>
> Mehfil men meri naGHma-saraai na poochhiye
> Begum ki ghar men shola-nawaai na poochhiye
>
>
> Maqt'e men aa paRi thi suKHan-gustarana baat
> Mushkil se main ne jaan chhuRai na poochhiye
>
Absolutely wonderful! Do you know who the poet is?
Of course, writing about the professional hazard of SHA'irI is something
that most humorous poets have attempted, but the above ghazal reminded me
of an incredibly funny poem by Vaqif Muradabadi called `SHA'irON kI SHAn
mEN qasIda KH(w)AnI, hamArI bEgum kI zubAnI'. Offhand, I can only remember
snatches of it, but I have it on tape and will try to transcribe as much
of it as I can for the enjoyment of ALUPers in the near future.
BTW, the tape I mentioned is from a famous musha'ira held in Karachi in
1961 (I think) to commemorate Jigar Muradabadi, who had died the previous
year. It was called `muSHA'ira-e yaOm-e jigar', and included some great
poetry.
Raz Allahabadi presented his ghazal that Habib Vali Muhammad later made
very famous:
ASHiyAN jal gayA, gulsitAN luT gayA, ham qafas sE nikal kar kidhar jAyeN gE?
itne mAnUs sayyAd sE hO gayE ab rihAyI milE gI to mar jAyeN gE.
though I must say that Raz' rendition of it was, if anything, even better
than Habib Vali Muhammad's!
Khumar Barabankvi, who at the time, was considered a junior but prominent
poet, recited a nice ghazal:
kabhi Ah-o naGHma ban kE, kahiN ANsuON mEN Dhal kE
vo mujhE milE to lEkin mile sUratEN badal kE
ye CHarAGH-e anjuman tO haeN bas Ek SHab ke mehmAN
tu jalA vo SHam'a aE dil jo bujhE kabhI na jal kE.
na to hOSH sE ta'Aruf, na junUN se ASHnAyI;
ye kahAN pohuNCH gayE ham teri bazm sE nikal kE?
ye vafA ki saKHt rAhEN! ye tumhAre pA-e nAzuk!
na lo in se kAm muSHkil mire sAth sAth CHal kE.
but what sticks in my mind are two ash'ar that he recited as a prelude:
bujh gayA dil, hayAt bAqI haE;
CHhup gayA CHANd, rAt bAqI haE!
hAl-e dil un se keh CHukE saO bAr;
ab bhi kehnE ki bAt bAqI haE.
Jagannath Azad had a ghazal in a zamin made famous by Jigar himself:
maEN garm-e safar thA, mujhe kuCHh bhI na rahA yAd:
naqsh-E kaf-e pA yAd, na manzil ka patA yAd.
tum A gaye jab yAd to yeh bhI na rahA yAd
kab tum ne bhulAyA mujhe, kab tum ne kiyA yAd.
allAh re yeh bE-KHudi-E SHaOq ka 'Alam:
kUCHE meN tirE A ke tirA ghar na rahA yAd!
Suroor Barabankvi came with his beautiful ghazal:
tu urUs-e SHAm-e KHayAl bhI, tu jamAl-e rU-e sahar bhi haE.
ye zurUr haE ke ba-IN-hamA mira ihtemAm-e nazar bhi haE.
ye mirA nasIb hae hamnaSHIN sar-e rAh bhI na milE kahIN,
vahi apna jAda-e justujU, vahi un ki rAh-guzar bhi haE.
Probably the best ghazal of the musha'ira was by Fana Nizami Kanpuri, with
every verse a gem:
ghar huA, gulSHan huA, sehrA huA,
har jageh mErA junUN rusvA huA.
maEN to pohNCHA TOkarEN khAtA huA;
manzilON par KHizr kA CHarCHA huA!
huzn kA CHehrA bhi haE utrA huA!
Aj apnE GHam ka andAzA huA.
GHaErat-E ehl-E CHaman kO kyA huA?
CHhOR AyE ASHiyAN jaltA huA! (See note 1)
GHam se baRh kar zabt-e GHam kI bAt haE.
yeh bhi daryA haE, magar ThehrA huA.
pursiSH-E GHam Ap rehnE dIjiyE,
yeh tamASHA haE mirA dEkhA huA!
yeh 'imArat to 'ibAdat-gAh haE!
is jageh ik maEkadA thA, kyA huA? (see note 2)
is tarah rehbar ne lUTA kAravAN,
aE fanA, rehzan ko bhI sadmA huA. (see note 3)
[Notes:
1. Fana lived in India and had come for the musha'ira. His reference
here was to those Indian Muslim leaders who migrated to Pakistan,
leaving Indian Muslims to face their problems. At the musha'ira, he
specifically addressed this she'r to Chaudhary Kaliquzzaman, a
prominent Muslim leader from UP who had emigrated much to the chagrin
of his followers in India. Chaudhary Sahib was in the audience, and
needless to say, the she'r brought the house down.
2. Again, referring to the decline of culture and the rise of barren
orthodoxy in Pakistan.
3. By 1961, the original fervor behind the creation of Pakistan had been
dissipated by a succession of inept and/or selfish rulers.]
Fana also recited another ghazal which included a memorable episode. Before
he recited the she'r:
meN CHalA SHarAb-KHAnE jahaN kOyI GHam nahIN haE
jisE dEkhnI ho jannat mire sAth sAth AyE.
he turned to Josh Malihabadi, and said, ``jOSH sAhib, suniyE gA!''. That
enhanced the effect of the first line on the crowd! Then, after the first
line, he paused and recited a qat'a:
aSHk-e GHam bE-hisAb pItA hUN;
talKHi-E iztirAb pItA hUN;
maEN SHarAbI nahIN huN, SHA'ir hUN;
istilAhan SHarAb pItA hUN.
Then he proceeded to complete the she'r. In this ghazal too, the matla' was
pregnant with political meaning:
ye bahAr kA zamAnA, ye hasIN gulON ke sAyE
mujhe Dar haE bAGHbAN kO kahiN nINd A na jAyE.
There were many other poets --- Josh, Ravish Siddiqui, Mahirul Qadri,
Zarif Jabalpuri, Tabish Dehlavi --- but I cannot recall their ash'ar right now.
Taskin Qureshi was there, but could not recite his ghazal due to a throat
problem, so Iqbal Safipuri recited it:
kis sE pUCHhEN ham ne kahAN voh CHehra-E raOSHan dEkhA haE?
mehfil mehfil DHUND CHukE haEN, gulSHan gulSHan dEkhA haE.
All said and done, however, the greatest hit of the musha'ira was Vaqif
Muradabadi, who presented several poems and qat'At --- humorous and serious.
The musha'ira was conducted in his inimitable style by the late Shaukat Thanvi.
Of course, this was before I was born:-), so my recollections are all from
listening to it on tape. My father and uncle, Isma'il Ahmad `Tasnim' Minai,
were among the organizers (and poets, I think), and some of the stories came
from their recollections. My apologies for errors I might have made in my
quotations since I'm writing this from memory. Apologies also for rambling
on like this, but I thought readers of ALUP may enjoy the poetry.
Ali
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haE AdamI bajA-e KHud ik mehSHar-E KHayAl;
ham anjuman samajhte haeN, KHalvat hi kyUN na hO. Ghalib
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--
Ali Minai
Khursheed Ahmed
He was a real master at making the most dreadful situations into a
laughing comedy. Here's one you will enjoy:
This is about the shortage of graves in Karachi. I shall translate the
uncommon words - enjoy!!
Aye Karachi, mulk-e-Pakistan ka shehr-e-haseeN
marnay walay ko jahaN milti nahiN do guz zamiN
hai yehi soorat to ek aysa bhi din aa jaaye ga
aanay waala daur murdoN per qayamat Dhaye ga
murdagaN bisyar hoN ge aur ho gi qabr tung
qabr kee taqseem maiN murdoN maiN ho jaaye gi jung
seat qabristaan maiN pehle woh murday paayeN ge
jo kisi murda minister ki sifaarish laayeN ge
(sifaarish=recommendation)
surkhiyaN nileN gi Jung, o, Hurriyat maiN, Dawn maiN
Daal diN haiN jughiyaaN murdoN ne qaburstan maiN
(surkhiyaan=headlines, Jung, Hurriyat, Dawn=Pakistani newspapers)
(jughiyaaN=huts, slums)
raat do murdoN maiN hangaama hua zer-e-mazaar
ek murda jail maiN hai doosra murda faraar
(hangaama=riot, faraar=at large, free)
raat do mrdoN maiN ek turbat pe sauda put gaya
ek murda 500 pagRhi ke lekar hut gaya
(turbat=grave, pagRhi=bribe to vacate)
Corporation kare ga ek resolution ye paas
KDA ab marnay waloN se kare yeh iltemaas
(KDA=Karachi Development Authority, iltemaas=request)
aap ko marna hai to pehlay se notice dijiye
yaani jurm-e-inteqaal-e-naagahaN mut kijiye
(jurm=crime, inteqaal=death, naagahaN=suddenly)
kuch mahinoN ke liye ho jaaye gi turbat allot
us ke baad aaye ga notice choRh dijiye yeh plot
turbat-e-shohar maiN uss ki ahliya so jaaye gi
mehve-hairat hooN ke turbat kiya se kiya ho jaaye gi
(ahliya=wife, mehve-hairat=amazement)
hum to samjhe thay ke hum hi haiN is jahaaN maiN be-qarar
uss jahaaN waloN ko bhi milti nahiN raah-e-faraar
(be-qaraar=restless, raah-e-faraar=path of freedom)
sirf zindoN ko hi fikr-e-aisho-aarayish nahiN
ab to is duniyaN maiN murdoN ki bhi gunjaayish nahiN
(aish=luxury, aarayish=facility, gunjaayish=capacity, room)
---- Dilaawar Figaar
Afzal A. Khan
Khursheed Ahmed wrote:
>
> On the topic of humorous poetry, few poets can beat Late Dilaawar > Figaar.
> He was a real master at making the most dreadful situations into a
> laughing comedy. Here's one you will enjoy:
>
> This is about the shortage of graves in Karachi. I shall translate the
> uncommon words - enjoy!!
>
> Aye Karachi, mulk-e-Pakistan ka shehr-e-haseeN
> marnay walay ko jahaN milti nahiN do guz zamiN
>
> ---- Dilaawar Figaar
Shukriya, Khursheed Ahmed Sahib
This was a sheer delight. One has heard of
the phrase "Zinda ba-dast-e-murda". YahaaN
to "murda ba-dast-e-zinda" wala mu'aamla hai,
the "zinda" in the second case being the
poet himself. But alas ! now he too has
joined the ranks of the Dead.
Afzal