The Taste of Words: An Introduction to Urdu Poetry (12 page)

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Makhdoom Mohiuddin

Hayaat le ke chalo, kaayenaat le ke chalo

Chalo to saare zamaane ko saath le ke chalo

Carry life as you walk, and carry the firmament too

Walk so, that the entire world should choose to walk with you

Abu Sayeed Mohammad Makhdoom Mohiuddin Huzri (1908–69)
lived in the city of the famous Charminar, and is lovingly known as the fifth minar of Hyderabad. Born into poverty, he grew up sweeping mosque courtyards, but soon became a trade union leader. He was a member of the Communist Party of India, and even represented it in the state assembly. He was one of the architects of the 1946–47 Telangana Rebellion against the government of the nizam of Hyderabad. His poem ‘
Telangana
’ was an anthem for the movement, and continued to be deployed during the struggle for statehood by Telangana in independent India. Much in the fashion of Vladimir Mayakovsky, the Russian poet who had influenced him, Makhdoom struggled against his tendencies to wax metaphysical, choosing to eschew finer verbal constructions in the service of anthems and group songs, which unthinking literary critics often interpret as simplistic.

I have translated three poems below, the latter two of which are to be read as a series. The first, ‘
Intezaar
’ (‘The Wait’) is an exposition of Makhdoom’s gentle lyricism.
1
The other two poems are much more strident, programmatic, with simple rhythms, reflecting their status as chants and songs. The first, an anti-war piece, was composed by Makhdoom in the early 1930s, when Indians were being forcibly conscripted by the British to fight in the Second World War. It was sung by Kumar Sanu for Ali Sardar Jafri’s TV serial on progressive poets,
Kahkashan
, and was also featured in the 1960 film
Usne Kaha Thha.
However, Makhdoom’s attitude to the war became much more positive once the Soviet Union joined it following Hitler’s infamous Operation Barbarossa in 1941. Like many leftists of that time, he saw the war now as a part of a broader struggle against imperialism, rather than a fight between two foreign powers. His song ‘
Jang-e Aazadi
’ reflected his new sentiments.

1
Intezaar

Raat bhar deeda-e namnaak mein lehraate rahe

Saans ki tarah se aap aate rahe, jaate rahe

Khush thhe ham apni tamannaon ka khwaab aayegaa

Apna armaan bar-afganda naqaab aayegaa

Nazarein neechee kiye sharmaaye huwe aayegaa

Kaakulein chehre pe bikhraaye huwe aayegaa

Aa gayi thi dil-e muztar mein shakeebaai si

Baj rahi thi mere gham-khaane mein shehnaai si

Shab ke jaage huwe taaron ko bhi neend aane lagi

Aap ke aane ki ik aas thi, ab jaane lagi

Subah ne sej se uth-te huwe li angdaai

Ai sabaa, tu bhi jo aayi to akele aayi

Mere mehboob meri neend udaane vaale

Mere masjood meri rooh pe chhaane vaale

Aa bhi jaataa, ke mere sajdon ka armaan nikle

Aa bhi jaataa, tere qadmon pe meri jaan nikle

The wait

All night, in my moist eyes you continued to sway

Like my breath, you kept coming and going away

I was happy, that the dream of my desires would come

My shy lover, encased in a veil, eyes downcast, would come

Inciting my passion with hair strewn over face, would come

My impatient heart had achieved contentment and belief

A
shehnai
struck up, and sadness gave way to relief

But soon, the stars, which had stayed awake all night, nodded off

The hope of your arrival gave way to a cynic’s scoff

The morning eventually woke up; a new sun shone

O morning breeze, you did come, but alas, you came alone

Enchanted lover mine, who stole the sleep from my sad eyes

I bowed to you, you ruled my dreams, now I’m shamed by those lies

Would that my prayers would bear fruit, and we would meet

Would that you’d come and I’d breathe my last at your feet.

2
Jaane vaale sipahi se poochho

Jaane vaale sipahi se poochho

Vo kahaan ja raha hai?

Ishq hai haasil-e zindagaani

Khoon se tar hai uski javaani

Hai maasoom bachpan ki yaaden

Hai do roz ki nau-javaani

Jaane vaale sipahi se poochho

Vo kahaan ja raha hai?

Kaun dukhiya hai jo gaa rahi hai?

Bhookhe bachhon ko behla rahi hai

Lash jalne ki bu aa rahi hai

Zindagi hai ke chilla rahi hai

Jaane vaale sipahi se poochho

Vo kahaan ja raha hai?

Kitne sehme hue hain nazaare

Kaisa dar dar ke chalte hain taare

Kya javaani ka khoon ho raha hai?

Surkh hai aanchalon ke kinaare

Jaane vaale sipahi se poochho

Vo kahaan ja raha hai?

Hil raha hai siyaahi ka dera

Ho raha hai meri jaan savera

O vatan chhod ke jaane waale

Khul gaya inquilaabi pharera

Jaane vaale sipahi se poochho

Vo kahaan ja raha hai?

Ask that departing soldier

Ask that departing soldier

Where he is headed

A well-spent life leads to love eternal

But this story’s fate is to be writ in blood

He harbours memories of an innocent childhood

But his youth is destined to be ephemeral.

Ask that departing soldier

Where he is headed

Who is that sad woman who is singing?

She is comforting her hungry children

The air stings and reeks as a corpse burns

And what of life? It is screaming

Ask that departing soldier

Where he is headed

Why are these vistas so fearful?

Why do the stars move with such dread?

Is youth being murdered here?

The borders of clothing are blood red

But look now, the darkness is lifting

My dear, see the colour of dawn

O departing soldier, hang on

The revolutionary banner’s unfurling

Ask that departing soldier

Where he is headed.

3
Jang-e aazadi

Ye jang hai jang-e aazadi

Aazadi ke parcham ke tale

Hum Hind ke rehne waalon ki

Mazdooron ka dehqaanon ki

Aazadi ke matwaalon ki

Dehqanon ki, mazdooron ki

Ye jang hai jang-e aazadi

Aazadi ke parcham ke tale

Saara sansaar hamaara hai

Poorab, Pachhim, Uttar Dakshin

Hum Afrangi, hum Amreeki

Hum Cheeni jaanbaazaan-e watan

Hum surkh sipaahi, zulm-shikan

Aahan paikar, faulaad badan

Ye jang hai jang-e aazadi

Aazadi ke parcham ke tale

Lo surkh savera aata hai

Aazadi ka, aazadi ka

Gulnaar taraana gaata hai

Aazadi ka, aazadi ka

Dekho parcham lehraata hai

Aazadi ka, aazadi ka

Ye jang hai jang-e aazadi

Aazadi ke parcham ke tale

The war for freedom

This war is the war for freedom

Fought under the banner of freedom

The war for all Indians

The labourers and the farmers

The lovers of freedom

The farmers and the labourers

This war is the war for freedom

Under the banner of freedom

The whole world is ours

The East and the West, the North and the South

We Europeans, we Americans

We Chinese soldiers of our homeland

We, the red soldiers, the crushers of tyranny

Torsos like the furnace, bodies like steel

This war is the war for freedom

Under the banner of freedom

Behold, the red dawn arrives

Of freedom, of freedom

It sings the flower-red song

Of freedom, of freedom

Look, the banner waves in the sky

Of freedom, of freedom

This war is the war for freedom

Fought under the banner of freedom.

Majaz

Is mehfil-e kaif-o-masti mein, is anjuman-e irfani mein

Sab jaam-bakaf baithe hi rahe, hum pi bhi gaye, chhalka bhi gaye

In this celebratory gathering, in the company of wisdom

Everyone kept holding his glass; I drank my fill, even spilled some.

Asrar-ul Haq Majaz (1909–55) emerged in the heady academic atmosphere of Aligarh in the 1930s, and was quite the rock star in university circles. Flamboyantly dedicating his poetry to social change, he never could renounce his innate romanticism. The resultant output was truly an exemplar of the best offerings of progressive Urdu poetry. Majaz’s spirited critique of patriarchy made him quite the cynosure of rebel Muslim female eyes. His poems critiquing the institution of purdah (for instance, ‘
koi aur shai hai, ye ismat nahin hai
’; ‘whatever it is, this is not virtue’) are a very significant part of his poetry, as are his existential verses, presaging the anomie and loneliness that emerge from the hegemony of industrial capital. Majaz’s early death has also added a layer of youthfulness to his mystique.

I have translated three poems here. The first is an excerpt from a lyrical tribute to a train, hardly the most romantic of subjects until it fell into Majaz’s deft hands.
1
To Majaz, a train was the ultimate symbol of progressive modernity, all steel and straight lines, cutting purposively through nature. The second is Majaz’s despairing depiction of urban alienation, which is perhaps his best-known poem and also appeared as a song in the 1948 film
Thokar
. The third, ‘
Khwab-e Sahar
’(‘Dream of Dawn’), is a remarkable repudiation of religiosity that showcases the emerging rejection of spirituality by progressive poets and casts religion as a barrier to human progress and emancipation. It was written in 1936; one can only estimate the reception it would have garnered in present times.

1
Raat aur rail
2

Phir chali hai rail, istayshan se lehraati hui

Neem shab ki khamushi mein zer-e lab gaati hui

Daalti behis chattaanon par hiqaarat ki nazar

Koh par hansti, falak ko aankh dikhlaati hui

Daaman-e taariki-e shab ki udaati dhajjiyaan

Qasr-e zulmat par musalsal teer barsaati hui

Zad mein koi cheez aa jaaye to us ko pees kar

Irteqaa-e zindagi ke raaz batlaati hui

Al-gharaz, badhti chali jaati hai, be khauf-o-khatar

Shaayar-e aatish-nafas ka khoon khaulaati hui

The night and the train

Once again, the train jauntily leaves the station

Breaking the silence of the night with its whispered song.

Casting scornful glances on the placid cliffs

Laughing at mountains, making eyes at the sky.

Tearing the black fabric of the night into smithereens

Shooting constant arrows of sparks at the palace of darkness.

Crushing anything that comes in its way

Revealing the secrets of the evolution of life.

Ultimately it flies, fearlessly,

Roiling the blood of the fire-souled poet.

2
Aawara

Shahr ki raat aur main naashaad-o-naakaara phirun

Jagmagaati jaagti sadkon pe aawara phirun

Ghair ki basti hai, kab tak darbadar maraa phirun