क़फ़स उदास है यारो सबा से कुछ तो कहो
कहीं तो बहर–ए–ख़ुदा आज ज़िक्र–ए–यार चले
Faiz Ahmad ‘Faiz’
The iconic Faiz Ahmad ‘Faiz’, locked up in the Hyderabad central jail as the ‘prime conspirator’ in the infamous Rawalpindi ‘conspiracy’ case, wrote in very glaring terms to his wife, Alys, about how he could now comprehend “the psychology of purdah women” and understand “the pettiness, the preoccupation with small grievances that seem to occupy the whole universe”. Faiz wrote in his letter, “it is not easy for free people to understand the usual concomitant of suppressed and confined living”, emotions he confesses to not having experienced before. While Faiz Sahib was referring to the usual ‘larger than oblivion’ emotions experienced by the suppressed and confined as a whole, it was his own inner self, his own confinement to a cell that propelled him to experience emotions that he felt he was once completely unaware of and oblivious to.
Above: Portraits of Faiz, Ghalib and Gulzar at writer’s home.
These emotions, these times of confinement and isolation later took the shape of a literary masterpiece in the form of Faiz’s second collection of poems, ‘Dast-e-Sabah’ or ‘Hands of the east wind’. The collection contains some of Faiz’s greatest works, including the inexplicably beautiful ghazal ‘Gulon mein rang bhare’, a mainstream poetic legend in Pakistan and the world (in part, thanks to the melodious voice of Mehdi Hassan). The ghazal has been sung far and wide by great artists from around the world and is often celebrated as a love ballad, though it is not essentially a love poem. The ghazal is one of yearning for the lover, disguised as freedom. It is one of longing and is a desperate cry to the east wind to bring some news of the beloved. The ghazal exemplifies the evolution of Faiz’s poetry from one of humanism and humanitarian struggles to the poetry of longing. Longing for a conceivable future, a new world order based on social equality and justice.
A window to the life of a genius
Literary geniuses of Faiz’s stature have a fair amount of ease in expressing their heartfelt sentiments to the world in a fairly understandable manner. Faiz’s expression of “spells of paralysis and feverish activity” that he experienced in prison serves as a mandatory reference in times of isolation that we now find ourselves in. These are best expressed by his letter to his wife, Alys. Faiz’s letters to his wife are a real treasure – a plethora of observations, critiques, arguments, and counterarguments – conversations that range from the complexities of the global world to the mundane yet ever-present worries of daily life. These letters that serve as a window to the personality of one of the greatest ever poets of the Urdu language, who was also an astute historian, psychologist, and teacher, are necessary reading for anyone interested in understanding how art impacts the artist and vice versa. They serve as an inlet into the life of a great writer, while in isolation. And his poetry written in prison is perhaps an amplified cry of the suppressed and the confined, a cry that is difficult for free people to understand.
Above: A postcard from Faiz to his wife, Alys.
Ibn-e-mariyam huya kare koi…
When talking about the impact isolation and confinement have on a poet, it would be inexcusable to not mention Mirza Assadullah Khan ‘Ghalib’, probably the most well-known Urdu poet and scholar in the world. Mirza Ghalib has an unattainable status in the Urdu literary world and many scholars would argue that an entire lifetime can be spent researching the nuances of Ghalib’s poetry, which offer an unparalleled view of the world he lived in. Ghalib too, like Faiz, was imprisoned. Locked up for having defaulted his creditors, Ghalib spent six months in confinement towards the latter half of life. While it is widely accepted and documented that Ghalib wrote most of his published ghazals and nazms during the early years of his life, it is believed that the Quran-e-sukkhan wrote some of his most cherished works from within the four walls of a prison cell.
Ghalib felt pain like no one understood it, or at least he expressed it so. Faiz’s ‘pettiness, the preoccupation with small grievances’ that he writes about in his letter to his wife is best portrayed when examining the legendary Ghalib, who, incidentally, had a huge influence on Faiz’s life and his poetry. Ghalib was so preoccupied with ‘selfishness and self-pity’ that it prompted the poet to write one of his finest works beginning with a couplet requesting ‘Jesus’ himself to descend upon earth and give respite to Ghalib and free him of his pain (‘ibn-e-Maryam huya kare koi, mere dukh ki davā kare koi’ – Ibn-e-Maryam is Son of Mary in English).
However, it would be completely foolish to perceive that Ghalib is only referring to the pain he feels and the respite he desires. Ghalib was too proud to ask for help, even if it meant asking God to relieve him of his misery. He often declined offers from friends who tried getting him employed as a professor and at other times as a translator of Persian. In fact, these poems written in isolation are only a booster to the state of affairs in Ghalib’s beloved Delhi, at the time under the operational control of the British. The poet puts himself in a position of interlocutor between the miseries of the wretched world and God. However, one begins to wonder whether Mirza Ghalib would have aptly expressed these emotions had it not been for imprisonment and isolation. Would Ghalib have remained proud of his being – proud enough to not ask for help had it not been for an extremely low point in his life?
While in confinement, Ghalib’s narrative of pain and suffering took many forms. He wrote ‘dard minnat-e-kash davā na huya, main na acha huya bura na huya’, stating that no ointment or cure is enough to relieve him of pain, and then went on to write ‘dard ka hadh se guzarna hai davā ho jaanā’. Both Faiz and Ghalib craved pain in isolation. The pain of those they saw around them, formulated into the most exquisite verses. Isolation only exaggerated that pain and fortunately for the world, it took the shape of some of the finest poetry of all time.
Akash Vohra schooled at a British boarding school in Shimla, HP, and from the punjabi speaking rural town of Guruharsahai, Punjab, He is a self-taught urdu poet who tries to explore human psychology in poetry.
random-kind.com 