About another Gandalf :)

Sometimes, when the wanderer in me takes over, I find myself in one of those frames of mind where I'm more than willing to leave the entire world behind and take a trip on my own, even if all of it is inside my head. If I could take only one thing from this world on these jaunts, though, it would have to be Gulzar's poetry. And if a benevolent genie materialised before my eyes and asked me to name a wish, I would ask to be given a mind like Gulzar's.

I have talked about my love for his poetry, and where it comes from, before. The love of words runs in the family, but in being completely besotted with Gulzar's poetry, I take after my father. Sometimes, it takes my breath away to see how simply he states the most convoluted truths, how perfect his poetry is. And then I wonder just how intelligent, original, eccentric, sensitive, quirky, perceptive, playful, innocently irreverent, whimsical, imaginative and, above all, free, must the mind be that yields those words. Everything just right, never more, never less. Gulzar's poetry is like the river - it has a mind and life of its own; it will be only itself and nothing else, and it will do so measuredly, only in amounts it deems fit. It makes me smile, forces me to think, keeps me going, makes me believe. And that is why I consider his poetry a religion greater than any sort of institutionalized entity.

Gulzar is always in his element, no matter what the subject. Wry humour, melancholic rumination, searing sadness, sprightly cheeriness, unbridled lunacy, haunting recollections, passionate love...there is no emotion he isn't capable of handling, no shade he is unfamiliar with.  It makes you wonder how deep his feelings must run, and how astute his knowledge of human nature is. This man is an artist: he effortlessly paints whole murals and tapestries in your head. The words flow with an ease that belies the all-encompassing imagination and originality fuelling his poetry. The best part of it all is the utter magic he can work with words. Regular, everyday words start talking, building landscapes, creating people. His poetry, as simple as it is rich, could be a self-contained course in Urdu or Punjabi literature. In an interview that I read years ago, he talked about an imaginary childhood friend of his. There weren't too many children in his village, he said, so he simply made up a little boy called Tunna, and talked to him constantly, worrying his parents into believing he needed help. Once he created Tunna, he said, he was never lonely again. Apparently, every time Gulzar needs inspiration, Tunna comes calling. No wonder there is a touch of the other-worldly in Gulzar's lyrics...that imaginary little guy must be quite an influence!

So here, in no particular order, are excerpts from some of the songs Gulzar has written. I have no idea how many I am going to list...but I do know that I couldn't enumerate all of them if I sat all night. Here's some sheer beauty:

Jal gaye jo dhoop mein toh, saaya ho gaye

Aasmaa ka koi kona odha, so gaye

Jo guzar jaati hai bas, usmein guzar karte hain...

Aaina dekhkar tasalli hui

Humko is ghar mein jaanta hai koi...

Nainon ki mat maniyo re, naino ki mat suniyo, naina thug lenge...

Nainon ki zubaan pe bharosa nahin aata, likhat-padhat na raseed na khaata...

Jiska bhi chehra dekha, andar se aur nikla,

Masoom sa kabootar, naacha to mor nikla...

Yaad hai, peepul ke jiske ghaney saaye thhey,

Humne gilehri ke jhoothe matar khaaye thhey,

Ye barkat un hazrat ki hai...

Hawaa chale, sar pe liye

Ambar ki thandi phulkariyaan

Hum hi zameen, hum aasmaan,

Khasmaanokhaaye baaki jahaan...

Jitne bhi taye karte gaye, badhte gaye ye faasle

Meelon se din chhod aaye, saalon si raat leke chale...

Hazaar raahein, mudke dekhi,

Kahin se koi sadaa na aayi

Badi vafaa se nibhayi tumne

Hamaari thodi-si bewafayi...

And, of course, the theme that Indian childhood has consistently identified with for the last 25 years...

Jungle-jungle baat chali hai, pata chala hai... :)

We have any number of people in the world who'll tell us that life is beautiful. Gulzar proves it. It's that simple, really. :)

Spirals of Smoke

Waqt rukta nahin kahin tik kar
Iski aadat bhi aadmi si hai

(Time is a lot like man -
It can never stay put.)

- Gulzar

Forgive me the poor translation. If there ever was a textbook case of meaning getting lost in translation, this would be it! But it is a beautiful line; again, from Marasim.

Winter is gradually making itself at home. For the first time this season, it was foggy all through today. The mornings are beautiful; the evenings, picturesque.

I was about to post some poetry, but I think it can wait.

Life smells and tastes of ginger and cinnamon. Perfect.

Genda Phool!

I think this track deserves a post to itself.

From surprise to dubious trials to bemusement (is that a word??) to helpless laughter to appreciation of the expert melding of genres to reflexive jigging and foot-tapping to finding it, one fine day, on my '25 Most Played' list, I've had one hell of a trip with Genda Phool. I find it as incredible as hilarious that, at one point long, long ago, I thought this song wasn't exactly worth an opinion. It is an interesting track alright, but also endearingly funny, even absurd, at places. That nasal oye hoye hoye - a very clever prelude and interlude - is surpassed only by the hip hop rhythm that barges in where you thought it least belonged, before proceeding to make itself right at home with the folk song from Chhattisgarh. Makes you wonder why no-one ever thought of this before. And like all things nice, this one's also short and sweet. I don't know the first thing about the nuances of classical or folk music or hip hop, but here's a big thumbs up to Genda Phool from a layperson bopping merrily to the music!

...jiski zubaan urdu ki tarah...

Coming, as it does, several days later than it was meant to, this post does not claim a critical analysis of the movie, or of Rahman's or Gulzar's work. I ran out fifteen minutes into the movie (not necessarily the first 15 minutes of the film), and am way too great a Rahman fan, and too much in awe of Gulzar, to presume to analyse their work.

There are better A.R.R. songs, not that Jai Ho isn't great. And if I've spent the last fifteen years spellbound by every Gulzar song I've heard, Jai Ho was no different. No, I'm just plain happy that, for once, award-winning work is work that I understand! (Blame it on the limited gray matter. I read The God of Small Things three times before I could begin to understand it - maybe it was partly because I was 13 at the time; I never got past page 40 of The Inheritance of Loss. At the risk of sounding like I have neither understanding nor appreciation of good literature, I have to confess that the latter bored me to tears.)

Gulzar's lyrics are poetry. He doesn't simply write a song - he writes a nursery rhyme, or a dirge, or a lampoon, or a prayer...I've loved it all since the time I couldn't understand it. Simple, meaningful, beautiful, tongue-in-cheek, heartwarming, playful, natural...I've grown up on his lyrics. Every song a slice of life, every word deceptively simple.

And as a total layperson, I wouldn't even dare evaluating Rahman's music - except to say that it's the sort you want to listen to endlessly when you first hear it - and that you'll want to keep going back to it later too...and that is more than one can say about a lot of other music.

Anyway, the whole point of starting this post was to celebrate two of my favourite artistes getting the Oscar. Yipee!

P.S. Rahman and Gulzar together at their best - try Ae Ajnabee from Dil Se on a quiet evening, and Chhaiya Chhaiya on the highway.