Today is 13th February, the birthday of my friend Ranjani. She and I go back a long, long time. What brought us together all those decades ago was a love of poetry. At a time, when our class-mates, giggly teenagers just like us, were devouring romances or action comics, we were poring over Urdu and Hindi poets' books and swapping favourite bits on the last pages of our school-books.
13th February is also the 100th birthday of one of the greatest poets to have walked on South Asian soil: Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Many learned people have said much about Faiz - this one being a notably learned and non-hagiographic piece.
I'm only going to quote a small poem which is a great favourite of Ranjani's (and, by corollary, mine), written by Faiz:
Nahin nigaah mein manzil to justajuu hi sahi
Nahin visaal mayassar toh, aarzuu hi sahi
Na tan mein khuun faraaham na ashq aankho.n mein
Namaaz-e-shauq to vaajib hai be-vazuu hi sahi
Kisi tarah to jame bazm maikade waalo.n
Nahin jo baada-o-saagar to haa-o-huu hi sahi
Gar intezaar kathin hai to jab talak ae dil,
Kisii ke vadaa-e-fardaa ki guftaguu hi sahi
Dayaar-e-ghair mein maharam agar nahin koii
Toh 'Faiz' Ziqr-e-watan apne ruu-ba-ruu hi sahi
I came across a translation of this classic in English. Deeply unsatisfactory, but it may give those who do not follow Urdu an idea of what the poet says:
Though our journey's end eludes sight, let the quest be;
Though union defies attainment, let the longing be.
The body lacks blood, the eyes lack tears;
Yet the prayer of desire is obligatory, without purity though it be.
Let the gathering come alive somehow, O those of the tavern;
If not goblets of wine, let light-heartedness and laughter be.
If the wait is unbearable, then in the meantime, O heart;
On someone's promise of tomorrow, let conversation be.
In this land of strangers, if there be no confidante,
then Faiz! Let the invocation of homeland with yourself be.
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