The 1971 classic Anand didn’t just give us gorgeous music and great performances courtesy Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan — it also gave us the trope of Murari Lal, which is what Anand (Khanna) called the common man.
Decades later, Murari Lal is back via a series of poems written by Gulzar, who was part of the team that wrote Anand. The lyricist and writer uses the character of Murari Lal to describe the classic Indian everyman, his mundane concerns, his worries, his trials and tribulations. Be it onion prices or police brutality, Gulzar addresses each issue with his trademark wit, humour and pathos.
Now, Murari Lal has turned attention to the coronavirus pandemic that is engulfing India. In his latest poem, Gulzar has placed Murari Lal’s worries within the context of a conversation between famed 19th-century poet Mirza Ghalib and his wife, at their home in Gali Qasim Jan in Old Delhi’s Ballimaran.
Read the original poem and its translation by Bharat S. Tiwari, and watch the video, which features Tiwari’s footage from Gali Qasim Jan today, in the middle of the pandemic.
गली क़ासिम जान – 2020 – ख़ुदा ने ख़ैर की है़
मुरारीलाल के माथे से बल नहीं जाते…
वबा फैली, तो ग़ालिब ने कहा था अपनी बुढ़िया से
इकहत्तर साल का मैं, और तुम सत्तर की बुढ़िया
कोई भी एक मरता तो समझते, हाँ, वबा आई
वबा आई तो क्या वबा आई
वबा आई है फिर से बल्लीमारां में
गली क़ासिम से गुज़री है
मोहल्ले वाले लेकिन, इस तरह ग़ालिब हुए हैं
किसी का कुछ नहीं बिगड़ा
ख़ुदा ने ख़ैर की है़
Gali Qasim Jaan – 2020 – God has been very kind
Worry lines won’t leave Murarilal’s forehead…
When the epidemic spread, Mirza Ghalib said to his wife
I am seventy-one and you are seventy.
Had one of us popped off, I would have felt it on my pulse,
Epidemic, my foot!
Epidemic has struck Ballimaran again,
It has passed by Gali Qasim,
But the people in the lane have trampled it down,
To hell with the epidemic,
God has been very kind.
Gali Qasim Jaan – 2020 – Khuda Ne Khair Ki Hai..
Gali Qasim Jaan – 2020 – Khuda Ne Khair Ki Hai… मुरारीलाल के माथे से बल नहीं जाते..वबा फैली, तो ग़ालिब ने कहा था अपनी बुढ़िया सेइकहत्तर साल का मैं, और तुम सत्तर की बुढ़ियाकोई भी एक मरता तो समझते, हाँ, वबा आईवबा आई तो क्या वबा आईवबा आई है फिर से बल्लीमारां मेंगली क़ासिम से गुज़री हैमोहल्ले वाले लेकिन, इस तरह ग़ालिब हुए हैंकिसी का कुछ नहीं बिगड़ाख़ुदा ने ख़ैर की है़
Gulzar यांनी वर पोस्ट केले शनिवार, १३ जून, २०२०
Also read: In search of home in a pandemic — Gulzar’s new poem likens migrant crisis to Partition