[Reader-list] A Poem by Faraz
Kashmir Affairs
kashaffairs at yahoo.co.uk
Fri Aug 29 14:27:57 IST 2008
Shuddha,
Thanks.
Of course it is a very very powerful poem. whenever i have read it, its power has captivated me. Faraz stood firm on the side of those victimised by the state, 'ideology' and jackboots. This poem conjures up images of suffering Kashmiris - who are being ruthlessly massacred, starved by the blockade and humiliated at every point in the name of 'national integration' and what not.
I sincerely hope that it all ends soon and Kashmiris can live as freely as any other people in the world.
best,
Murtaza
--- On Thu, 28/8/08, Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
From: Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] A Poem by Faraz
To: kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com
Cc: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Thursday, 28 August, 2008, 10:23 PM
Dear Kshmendra, Dear all,
Many thanks, Kshmendra, for the posts on Ahmed Faraz's death, news of
which will leave all those who love Urdu poetry with a sense of loss.
Thank you also for your translation, and for the link to online
editions of Faraz's poems, which I am sure will introduce the many
non-Urdu speakers on this list to a sense of Faraz's work.
In many parked cars all over north India, middle aged gentlemen
sipping clandestine whisky alone by themselves, or with a sad
companion, sometimes play the song 'Ranjish hi sahi" or 'At least
let
there be rancour' in a saccharine sweet rendition by Ghulam Ali,
without knowing that they are listening to the words of Ahmed Faraz.
To most, Faraaz is the consummate poet of male melancholia, of
unrequited love and the bittersweet ironic cadences of unspoken (or
unspeakable) desire, sometimes smothered by the over-the-top voices
of many Indian and Pakistani Ghazal singers. I have a certain
affection for this Faraz, as I do, in my own way ,for his melancholy
fans.
But there is also an angry, acerbic Faraz. A Faraz less likely to
feature in the CD players of punjabi gentlemen as they pour
themselves another large measure of Blenders Pride, or if they can
get it, Scotch, before they return to loveless marriages and
sleepless nights thinking about falling interest rates.
And this is Faraaz the traitor, the Faraz I love.
Ahmed Faraz is one of the few poets who earned himself the
distinction of imprisonment under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as well as
exile under Zia ul Haq. His words spoke a trenchant opposition to
every henchman that has occupied the postition of paramountcy in the
sad and bleak political landscape of Pakistan. Neither Nawaz Sharif,
nor Parwaiz Musharraf escaped his scathing tongue. And he returned
his Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian decoration given to
Pakistanis in disgust at the excesses of Musharraf's military
dictatorship.
Faraz may have been loved by people all over the Urdu speaking world,
but he has had his fair share of hatred from many Pakistani
nationalists, and was considered by many to be a traitor, a
seditionist, especially after his poem 'Pesheywar Qatilon Tum Sipahi
Nahi!' spoke openly and critically of the genocide unleashed by the
Pakistani Army in erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and
massacres in Balochistan.
Here is my rough, random and incorrect attempt at translation of
some of the lines of this poem. The Urdu (romanized) fragment is
first, the English version follows.
Pesheywar Qatilon Tum Sipahi Nahi!
Mein ne ab tak tumhare qaseeday likhe
Aur Aaj apne naghmo se sharminda hoon
.....
seena chakan-e-mashriq bhee apnay hee thay
jin ka khooN mooN pay malnay kay tum aaey they
.....
in kee taqdeer to kya badaltay magar
in kee naslain badalnay ko tum aaey thay
.....
aur marg-e-bangal kay baad bolan main
shehrioN kay galay katnay aaing gay
-------------------------------
You are professional killers, not soldiers
for whom I had written elegies till now
today I am ashamed of my poems for you
......
Those in the east, flesh of our flesh,
they were ours too, whose blood you painted on your faces
.......
You went to change their fortunes, and look what you did
their children are the progeny of your rape
.....
and after soaking in the bloodbath of Bengal you turn
to slit the throats of so many in Bolan - (Bolan is a place in
Balochistan)
--------------------
Ahmed Faraz's direct and fearless indictment of the Pakistani Army's
massacres in East Pakistan and Balochistan (Bolan is the site of a
famous massacre, which was undertaken as part of the crushing of an
uprising in Balochistan in the '70s) earned him the eternal wrath and
ingratitude of Pakistan's ruling elite. From being the darling of PTV
mushaira circuit he suddenly became yet another 'invisible
intellectual' under the mind numbing years under Zia Ul Haq. In doing
so, he joined the ranks of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Eqbal Ahmed and many
others, who opposed the tyrranies they saw unleashed by successive
ruling elites in Pakistan with courage and forthrightness. They spoke
up for the Bengalis in Pakistan when that needed to be done. When not
to have spoken so would have meant being complicit in the most brutal
violence,
I say this, especially because there has been a lot of talk of late
of how 'seditious' writers, who have spoken up for the people of
Kashmir, must be dealt with in India.
What is unstated in all this is how close in spirit those who want to
charge writers with sedition in India are to their peers in Pakistan.
However much they may hate to admit it, the hard line nationalists of
India and Pakistan are like identical twins. If Pakistani nationalism
had unleashed decades of brutality in the erstwhile East Pakistan and
Balochistan, then Indian Nationalism too conducts its own grotesque
opera of terror in Kashmir and the North East. If on one side of the
border the tendency is to blame every unpleasantness on the R&AW,
then on the other side of the border, the favourite suspect is the
ISI. If Pakistani zealots set churches on fire in the Punjab, then
Indian zealots burn churches in Orissa. If Pakistani goons massacre
Hindus and Bhil tribesmen in Sindh, then Indian thugs massacre
Muslims in Gujarat.
if Paksitan's angry elite habitually charges writers with treason and
sedition, (Faraz is not the only persecuted writer in the history of
Pakistan) then Indian elites too yearn to do the same.
Even my unbeliever's heart likes to hope that somewhere, in some
corner of a writer's heaven, there must be a patch of 'Azad' ground
reserved for those who with their words, enacted an honourable
treason towards their nations in the name of the deeper and more
abiding claims of an un-namable humanity. If there is indeed such a
heaven, then I hope that it has welcomed Ahmed Faraz with open arms.
Meanwhile, the Indian writers charged with sedition by angry patriots
are earning their place in that traitors heaven with every word they
write on Kashmir, next to Ahmed Faraz. I hope no one amongst them is
in a hurry to get there ahead of time.
We need such traitors, many more traitors, and we need them to live
well and live long, for they alone can save us in India from the
shame we remain complicit in, at least as long as Kashmir is held by
force in our name.
I hope we can all learn from the quiet and honorable sedition of
Ahmed Faraz.
regards,
Shuddha
On 28-Aug-08, at 5:25 PM, Kshmendra Kaul wrote:
> In one of his Ghazals, Faraz writes:
>
> Jisko bhi chaa'ha, ussay shiddat se chaa'ha hai Faraz
> sil'silaa too'taa nahi dard ki zanjeer ka
>
> My impoverished translation:
>
> That what I desired, I desired with ferocity
> Unbroken links of pain, I ever enchained
>
> Pakistan has struggled since it Independence to come out of the
> clutches of Military Dictatorship, that allowed it only every now
> and then to flirt with Democracy. In this period Pakistan has an
> impressive literary history, especially from amongst the poets in
> both their writings and public demeanour, wherein they have not
> only been critical and questioning of 'dictatorship' but also
> revolted. Faraz is one such Poet.
>
> A poem (a lamentation) below by Faraz which though written for
> Pakistan would be equally applicable to India. My apologies to
> those for whom Urdu is alien. It is beyond my capability to
> translate it
>
> Kshmendra
>
> ab kis kaa jashn manaate ho us des kaa jo taqsiim huaa
> ab kis ke giit sunaate ho us tan-man kaa jo do-niim huaa
>
>
> us Khvaab kaa jo rezaa rezaa un aa.Nkho.n kii taqadiir huaa
> us naam kaa jo Tuka.Daa Tuka.Daa galiyo.n me.n be-tauqiir huaa
>
>
> us parcham kaa jis kii hurmat baazaaro.n me.n niilaam hu_ii
> us miTTii kaa jis kii hurmat mansuub uduu ke naam hu_ii
>
>
> us jang ko jo tum haar chuke us rasm kaa jo jaarii bhii nahii.n
> us zaKhm kaa jo siine pe na thaa us jaan kaa jo vaarii bhii nahii.n
>
>
> us Khuun kaa jo bad_qismat thaa raaho.n me.n bahaayaa tan me.n rahaa
> us phuul kaa jo beqiimat thaa aa.Ngan me.n khilaa yaa ban me.n rahaa
>
>
> us mashriq kaa jis ko tum ne neze kii anii marham samajhaa
> us maGarib kaa jis ko tum ne jitana bhii luuTaa kam samajhaa
>
>
> un maasuumo.n kaa jin ke lahuu se tum ne farozaa.N raate.n kii.n
> yaa un mazaluumo.n kaa jis se Khanjar kii zubaa.N me.n baate.n kii.n
>
>
> us mariyam kaa jis kii iffat luTatii hai bhare baazaaro.n me.n
> us iisaa kaa jo qaatil hai aur shaamil hai Gam_Khvaaro.n me.n
>
>
> in nauhaagaro.n kaa jin ne hame.n Khud qatl kiyaa Khud rote hai.n
> aise bhii kahii.n dam_saaz hue aise jallaad bhii hote hai.n
>
>
> un bhuuke nange Dhaa.Ncho.n kaa jo raqs sar-e-baazaar kare.n
> yaa un zaalim qazzaaqo.n kaa jo bhes badal kar vaar kare.n
>
>
> yaa un JhuuTe iqaraaro.n kaa jo aaj talak aifaa na hue
> yaa un bebas laachaaro.n kaa jo aur bhii dukh kaa nishaanaa hue
>
>
> is shaahii kaa jo dast-ba-dast aa_ii hai tumhaare hisse me.n
> kyo.n nang-e-vatan kii baat karo kyaa rakhaa hai is qisse me.n
>
>
> aa.Nkho.n me.n chhupaaye ashko.n ko ho.nTho.n me.n vafaa ke bol liye
> is jashn me.n bhii shaamil huu.N nauho.n se bharaa kashkol liye
>
>
> Reproduced from the most brilliant web-resource for Romanized Urdu
> Poetry - Urdupoetry.com http://www.urdupoetry.com/faraz42.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _________________________________________
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Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net
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