New Delhi: Poet and author Gulzar said there were increased restrictions on freedom of expression in the current political climate.
Speaking to ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta during a virtual Off The Cuff interaction Tuesday, Gulzar said a climate of fear loomed large over artistes today.
“The times are changing. We used to exercise some constraint before speaking earlier too, but we wouldn’t feel scared. There’s more fear in these times. Things run the risk of being taken out of context, which is very concerning. Today, there’s a need to idiot-proof everything,” he said.
Gulzar talked about his new book titled A Poem a Day, which is a compilation of 365 poems by 279 poets in 34 languages from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal Bangladesh and Pakistan. Gulzar has translated the poems to English and Hindustani.
When asked why he chose to translate poems from such a wide array of languages, Gulzar said, “Ek zabaan kabhi Hindustan ki shayari ka, ya literature ka, ya culture ka kabhi chehra nahi bayaan kar sakti (One language is not enough to tell you everything about India, its literature, culture or society).”
He also said today’s generation is unable to connect or identify with poems in the school curricula, and associate poetry with the past. “Children fail to connect with the works of William Shakespeare or Alfred Tennyson, Robert Warshow or Rabindranath Tagore, when they read them in course books,” he said.
“We’re not teaching students contemporary poets like Firaaq Gorakhpuri, Ahmad Faraz or Faiz Ahmad Faiz. So I wanted to highlight such contemporary work,” he added.
Also read: ‘Murari Lal is anxious’ — Gulzar says common man worried by lost leadership in latest poem
Poetry with Gulzar
Gulzar also recited some of the poems he has included in the new book. One of them was ‘Lamination’, written by Tripuri poet Shefali Debbarama in Kokborok — the main native language of the Tripuri people.
It went like this:
“Wo card pichle kabeele ke certificate ka
Mohar lagake Dastakhat karke mila tha
Ek afsar thhe sub-division ke
Uss baras jab paida hui thi.
Kahi wo kagaz kharab na ho
Riza aur pichra ki taya mein rakh ke maine
Khatoorat mein mahfooz kar liya.
Sadi ke baad aaj, wo dil pasand peshakh
Riza or pichra toh fatt chukey
Taaga taaga hokar, khatoorat ko deemak ne kha liya
Magar wo pichle kabeeley ka card bacha hua hai
Ussi tarah taaza aur chamkeela
Laminate karke, frame karke rakha hua hai.”
Calling the history of Northeast particularly dynamic, Gulzar said the mainland has to acknowledge that it has been unfair towards the region ever since the country’s Independence.
“I feel we delayed turning our attention to the Northeast. Even after Independence, certain benefits didn’t even reach the region. We cannot shy away from the fact that we’ve been unjust towards them. The resulting restlessness is evident. So, obviously, life is complex there, and so is their shayari (poetry).”
He also recited a nazm (a genre of Urdu poetry), ‘Manipur Mera Vatan’, in which poet Lanchenba Meetai describes insurgency in Manipur.
“Iss Zameen ki har gali har gate par
Maut hai tehelti kayi naqaabon mein,
Haath mein leeye hue bhari hui bandook
Pehle jab dikhayi dete the toh kutte bhaunka karte the
Gardanon ke baal ukhad jaate the unke
Aaj humein lambi, gehri cheekh mein pukara karte hain.
Ye hai Manipur, mera Manipur,
Meri Janambhoomi Manipur.”
Gulzar also recited Agha Shahid Ali’s poem ‘Postcard from Kashmir’. Ali had written the poem while he was in the US.
“Kashmir shrinks into my mailbox
My home a neat 4×6 inches
I always loved neatness
Now I hold the half-inch Himalaya in my hand
This is home, and this is the closest I’ll ever be to home
When I return the colours won’t be so brilliant
The Jhelum’s waters so clean
So ultramarine.
My love, so over exposed.
And my memory will be a little out of focus in it.
A giant negative
Black and white
Still undeveloped.”
Gulzar said he chose poems in Indian languages but didn’t let politically-drawn boundaries prevent him from searching for literature from neighbouring nations.
“We share Punjabi, Urdu, Sindhi with Pakistan, Tamil with Sri Lanka and Bengali with Bangladesh. Political boundaries can’t restrict languages,” he said and read another nazm, in Punjabi by Ustad Daman. Here’s an excerpt:
“Tu Allah hain apne mulk mein
La illah aur Martial La
Ek fanak par rehta hai
Dooja zameen pe datta hua hai
Ek ka naam hai sirf allah
Dooje ka General Zia
Hip Hip Hurray General Zia…”
Future plans
Gulzar also spoke about how writing poetry has shaped his life. The art form, he said, has helped him discover himself by penning down what he felt in brief sentences. But he cautioned this was not a lesson or formula for writing poetry.
He also talked about writing literature for children, and how his daughter has been his inspiration. “When my daughter was growing up, I had learnt how to talk to a two-year-old, four-year-old, eight-year-old…and so on. So I understood that our way of talking to children changes. We are learning from the child and using that language again in writing.”
The poet expressed his desire to write more for children, especially in these times of virtual classes. “The element of human touch is integral to education, and I am scared that children are losing it due to virtual classes. So, I am trying to fill that gap by writing for kids this year,” said Gulzar.
Also read: Ijaazat is a strangely poetic take on divorce that was rare in 1980s Hindi films
Such a poetic poet.
With ever increasing population of maskin mawali in the country, cases of intolerance towards majority community, mayhem of public private properties of majority community, organizing riot in Delhi Bangalore within couple of hours against majority community, the list is endless.
Yet mawali maskin are fearful. Top to bottom these so called artists intellectual slyly peddle jihadi wahabi narrative and go scot free unquestioned.
No wonder he supports our gods being portrayed naked as an art but becomes apologist for Charlie hebdo killers.
This is reason he calls us kaafir in so many lyrics and we dumb and dumbers go chaiyaa chaiyaa without knowing the meaning.
PBU this jihadi wahabi artist or intellectual.
Next time theprint fraternity does qna, ask him why he call us kaafirs and what does his idealogy intend to do to kaafirs.
It was unique among Indian liberals to look the other way when Hindu deity was drawn naked by MF Hussain. Then it was freedom of expression. But the same liberals were quiet when Frenchmen were killed over a cartoon. No wonder people do not take these people seriously.
Goerge, the same liberals were not just quiet when Frenchmen were killed over cartoons but worked overtime to find lame justifications for the outrage !