Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Gazhals and the lover

What is it about gazhals, i wonder, that the heart,especially when already maudlin,yearns for it?does it help in romanticising pain and grief? Does it soothe it like alcohol...which is actually no soothing at all!

A lot,of course depends upon the singer,who in my opinion can be no-one better than Ghulam Ali. ALWAYS capable of infusing the drunken pathos of the lovelorn,defeated lover into his renditions, this man manages to evoke not just sympathy, but love-pathetically painful love for the lost lover,who still believes,loves and celebrates love..through life,poetry or death.

Many many many of his renditions evoke such images for me.



"sheher ki becharag galion mein,zindagi tujhko dhundti hai abhi,

koi taaza hawa chali abhi...dil mein leher si utthi hai abhi.."

sometime in the 1970's...a narrow alley of north kolkata or benaras perhaps...empty and dark save for one or two tungsten street lights...a tall young man,cigarette in his hands,or dangling from his lips...thinking of his lost love...hoping...hoping against hope that she might just emerge from a nook...and yet knowing for certain that she never will...

5 comments:

Apoplexy said...

listen to a few qawwalis..i can recommend..ashis nandy fan, huh?

THAT AUTISTIC CHILD said...

hmm!!!
of ghalib!!!

yeh na dekh ke kya hal hai mera terey piche
dekh terey chehrey ka kya rang hai mere agey!!!

was that written in some other way?
i do not remember but this is to both your posts...

what if they are still together somehwere, and she still dances with her children in the rain. what if that was their first meeting...
what if..they never met again!!!


http://sanjukta-only1.blogspot.com/
http://sanjukta-everyday.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

your blog reveals a lot abt ur character and i daresay abt ur persona!this is from the person who has lots of common frnds with u..hope u get the idea ....i can't reply to ur queries as a result of not being in ur frnd list nd thereby not being able to scrap you(i am blocked!)...its easy fr u to scrap me bt i cant reply so its terribly frustrating...gr8 to know u love ghazals...hope u like mehdi hassan as well...abt my profile pic..one can only say i am demanding a lot of answers from life or vice versa...tc..cheers!P.S-do let me scrap you coz this process sort of sucks!i am spamming ur blog and i don't like it...

Unknown said...

There was no way I could reply to your scraps in orkut, as your scrapbook has been locked...so just choose this route..sorry for this abrupt intrusion!

awrthoniti indeed was the subject I used to prefer...it was close to my brain rather than my heart which is quite a crowded room with kabir Suman and Willam Blake!

"tui tokari" toh bhalo jinish!:)

And, really, this was a fantastic post...loved it!

nonsensewares said...

i heard this particular ghazal lately, on your suggestion, to set the record straight. I was struck more by the eruptive celebration. is it not possible to just feel free when you are in love? why is ghazal always associated with poignancy, the lone, down, lover and so on? I am sure sure there is another dimension to ghazal. it celebrates the present, no matter how dark the past or how mysterious the future threatens to become. while writing i was reminded of this slow ballad from khuda ke liye-janie.