Abhi To Main Jawan Hoon Song

[Tony Phan]

Bornin a village in Jammu in 1912, Pukhraj began training very early. When she was five, she was singing nohas (lamentations) and marsiyas (mournings) with such depth that her parents sent her to Delhi to learn music and dance from such famous musicians as Ustaad Momin Khan, Ustaad Mollah Bukhsh Talwandi and Ustaad Ashiq Ali. Pukhraj learnt thumri singing from Ustad Mamman Khan and kathak dance from Lachhu Maharaj in Mumbai.

At the age of 17, she left Jammu for Lahore where she married Syed Shabbir Hussain, a writer of Urdu short stories. Here she began performing for All India Radio and also began singing ghazals, dadras and thumris in private concerts. In the 1930s, along with Begum Akhtar, Pukhraj made a name for herself as an indomitable voice in semi-classical singing. Exposure to literary greats such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Hafeez Jallandhari (who wrote Abhi toh main jawaan hoon besides the national anthem of Pakistan) and her popularity on radio brought maturity to her artistry.

Pukhraj tried her luck in films, but a few days after shooting for a Wadia Movietone film song, she fled. In this rare video clip you can see her walking listlessly around a drawing room, singing a love elegy. Her powerful vocal chords do not require any accompanying instrument as she towers over the composition with the throw of her voice.

Maharashtra politician Sharad Pawar, virtually the lone opposition leader campaigning for the October 21 state election, responded to the ruling BJP's digs on "touring at this age" with a famous song: "Abhi Toh Main Jawan Hoon (I am still young)."

Sharad Pawar, 78, is seen to be the only leader of the opposition Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance that has been addressing rallies in the run-up to the election in which the BJP and its partner Shiv Sena expect a smooth victory.

"They say I am 80 years old. Do you think I am old? I won't sit quiet until the Sena-BJP government is removed in this state. And for that 'Abhi toh main jawan hoon. Koi chinta karne ki kaaran nahi hai (I am still young. No one needs to worry)," Mr Pawar, the NCP chief, said at a rally in Kolhapur today.

"The Congress and NCP are in bad shape. Their state of mind is that of defeat. Rahul Gandhi is holidaying in Bangkok. He knows they are going to lose in Maharashtra and he does not want to come here. (Sharad Pawar) Pawar Saheb is on tours. But even he knows his party is on the brink of collapse. Half his party has left before elections and the other half will leave after elections. Sushil Kumar Shinde says we are so exhausted that after elections Congress and NCP will merge," Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said at an election rally in Dhule.

Malika's Abhi to main jawan hoon ghazal has become an evergreen song that she recited 90 years ago in 1927 in the court of the then ruler Maharaja Hari Singh and earned a fabulous award of Rs.350 in appreciation. The reward at that point of time when she was 15-year-old child was not a small amount as with it she could have bought about 228 grams of gold at that time which would today cost more than Rs.7 lakh.

The rare receipt of the reward on one Anna revenue stamp of the Bhaderwah Jagir of the Maharaja was available in the royal record. At the age of 13, she visited Jammu and recited some song at the coronation ceremony of Maharaja Hari Singh, who was so overwhelmed by her voice that he appointed her as a court singer. She, however, became a world famous ghazal and folk singer but she did not forget her roots in Jammu.

It was just like a festival for people of Jammu when Malika Pukhraj along with Tahira for the last time came here in early 1980's and performed in a jam-packed theatre. She also visited her house in the lanes of Kanak Mandi, which is now known as Rajinder Bazar.

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