Mirza Ghalib ka janmadin

Mirza Ghalib ka janmadin

(Mirza Ghalib’s birthday)

The 27^th of December came and went, and I did not read about any ‘cake-cutting’ ceremony to celebrate the birthday of one of the greatest Urdu poets, Mirza Ghalib, who was born in Agra this day in 1797.

Yet, every few months, there comes a Whatsapp forward saying -it is Ghalib’s birthday today, so let us pay tributes to him by recalling some of his shers (Urdu couplets), and what follows is a collection of pedestrian level Urdu poetry. It happens a few times during the year. I guess people just forward these messages as and when they receive it. Doubtful about their authenticity, I check with a couple of learned people and every time, without fail, I hear a clear- no, Ghalib wouldn’t have written such substandard, run-of-the-mill verse.

That tells us something about this Shakespeare of Urdu - if you are not forced to think or to find the interpretation, then it cannot be Ghalib’s writing. After all, when Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan chose the pen name Ghalib or conqueror, he went on to win the hearts and minds of those who read and enjoy his poetry. So, every time somebody forwards me the verse reportedly written by Ghalib, I waste the next couple of hours checking, but more so, debating whether to tell them it is not Ghalib or that it is a misquote. They would insist Ghalib wrote it, cite sources where they took it from; never mind, if the source itself is authentic or not. 

An example of a simple, harmless misquote- all of us have been guilty of humming along dil dhoondhta hai hir wahi fursat ke raat din… while what Ghalib (Yes, it was he) wrote was jee dhoondhta hai fursat ke raat din…although both mean the same ‘the heart longs/looks for those days of leisure’.

No, I shall not discuss Ghalib’s poetry. I leave it to the experts. On the last day of this week, month and year, I am merely trying to look for some lessons to be learnt from his life. 

So, lesson No. one from 2022, consider it your moral and social responsibility to agree with everything sent to you on WhatsApp. Type out a string of emojis, and thank and congratulate the sender for his/her great contribution.

My concern is-how come nobody does it with Shakespeare’s writings even though some researchers have said that it was not one person, but a group of people who had written the plays and sent them under one name - Shakespeare? Shakespeare’s language is as knotty as Ghalib’s and sometimes, you have to read twice and wonder if he meant what you think it means. Even then, different people may deduce differently. 

Lesson No. two, feel free to share how you interpret a great creative mind’s artistic expression. Forget the new perspective, it would throw open a whole new can of worms for people to stay busy with.

For a man who led a life almost in penury, Ghalib wrote richly of love, wine and philosophy of life. He admitted to his weakness for alcohol and gambling which strangely, give a touch of truth to his poetry. No wonder, celebrated ghazal singers- Mehdi Hasan, Ghulam Ali, Abeeda Parvin, Talat Mehmood, Akhtar Bai, and Jagjit Singh, to name a few, have composed music for his verse.

Lesson No. three – Continue with your addictions and weaknesses; that is how others look at your good qualities.

Ghalib, rooted in the Sufi ethos, was anti-fundamentalist, liberal and ahead of his times, so was a controversial poet too. A giant in literature, he was a human after all, known for his love for something as simple as mangoes, even considered a connoisseur of the fruit; so much so that he is credited with writing a masnavi – ‘dar sifat-e- ambah’ in praise of mango.

Mujh se poochho tumhein khabar kya hai

Aam ke aage neshkar kya ha

(Ask me what I know of this heavenly fruit. Where does sugarcane stand in front of mango!) 

Funnily, he is also the only poet who is addressed as ‘chacha’ (uncle).

Lesson No. four- When people talk of exotic things, mention how you prefer simple pleasures, preferably, in words they have to seek interpretation of.

Though there is only a line or two somewhere about the news of celebrating the birth anniversary of the greatest of Urdu poets, there is a flood of news and titbits about Bollywood actor Salman Khan who shares his birthday with Ghalib. It is possible that the latter, a bachelor beyond his mid-fifties, took a lesson from Ghalib who had said of marriage, I am not sure if in jest or otherwise,

“Allah! Allah! ek woh log hain jo teen teen dafah is qaid say chhoot chukey hain aur ek hum hain ke ek aglay pachas baras say jo phansi ka phanda galay mein pada hai to nah phanda hi toota hai nah dum hi nikalta hai” 

(God, there are some who have been freed from this prison three times and yet, for the past 50 years I have had this rope around my neck; neither does the rope breaks nor does it take my life!)

Lesson No. five: Life is too short to make all the mistakes yourself. Take lessons from others.

Now I have shared my gyan of 2022 with you even though you might not agree. I know some of you are thinking you would have written a better year-ender!

Hum ko malum hai Jannat kee haqeeqat lekin,

dil ko khush rakhne ko Ghalib yeh khayal achchha hai.

(I know the reality of paradise, but the thought is good for keeping the heart happy.)

Wishing all of you and your loved ones a happy 2023. Sending special good wishes to those who are going through a tough time due to reasons beyond their control. 

                                                                 - Anupama S Mani