Justice Markandey Katju-
Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman, Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.
Urdu poetry is often written not in direct language but indirectly or metaphorically, in a round about way, by allusions, hints, suggestions, etc, and this often makes it difficult to understand e.g. the poetry of Ghalib ( his biographer Hali wrote that one third of Ghalib’s verses are so obscure that they are practically unintelligible ).
Also, one of the fascinating features of Urdu poetry is that a poem ( nazm ) or couplet ( sher ) can be given a meaning by the reader which even the writer could never have imagined.
A poem of this nature was written by the poet Ibne Insha ( 1927-78 ) whose first sher is ” Inshaji utho ab kooch karo, is shahar mein ji ka lagaana kya ” ( Insha, get up and set forth. There is no use remaining attached to this city any longer ).
It was sung beautifully by Ustaad Amanat Ali Khan and his son Asad Amanat Ali Khan.
But the meaning of the song still intrigues me. What is the poet really trying to say ? Does he mean to say that if things are really bad one should leave only his city, or leave the whole country ?
The second sher is : ” Vahshi ka sukun se kya matlab, jogi ka nagar mein thikaana kya ? “
‘Vahshi’ means a savage or barbarian, and ‘sukun’ means peace. So the sher means that a wild or crazy person never wants peace. The word ‘jogi’ literally means a holy man or hermit, but here it means a cultured man. Such a man cannot live amidst barbarians.
The third sher is : ” Is dil ke darida daaman mein, dekho bhi sahi socho bhi sahi. Jis jholi mein sau ched hue us jholi ko phailaana kya ? “
The word ‘darida’ means torn, and the word ‘daaman’ means hem. So the poet is asking you to look at the torn hem of his heart. ‘Jholi’ means bag. The poet is saying why spread the bag which has a hundred holes ?
I am not going into the rest of the poem, which describes the deep melancholy and despondency of the poet.
Is this poem not a description of the conditions in India today, with our wretched casteism and communalism, the hatred being spread, the corruption, the rising unemployment and prices, and the sordid state of our political and state institutions, as also the largely sold out media ? Would not many people want to leave the country ? Would they not heed the call of Insha and do a ‘kooch’?
