Ab to hum bichde......

Ab ke hum bichDe

to shaayad.... kabhi khwaaboN meiN mile...

Jis tarah.. sookhe huye....

phool kitaaboN meiN mile...

Ab ke hum bichDe....

Separation is inevitable in life…the biggest pain is death when it grabs our loved ones.
But pain of separation is a tantamount feature of life.. . Someone close to us leaving for better life…leaving our friends … knowing that the chances to meet again are nil…. yet hoping that all will meet soon…it is life. Separation is inevitable and what we can do is to wish the best for our departed loved ones.

For me, moments of separation are excruciating. I can’t control the agony of some one close to me saying bye to me. I hate to say good bye especially to some one with whom I have the absolute liberty to speak anything. Yet as in the case of many of you, I also had to struggle through several moments of separation.

The couplets I mentioned in the beginning ….Ab ke hum bichDe to shaayad kabhi khwaaboN meiN mile……..Jis tarah sookhe huye phool kitaaboN meiN mile…is a perfect ode about the pain of separation.

The living legend of Urdu shayari, Ahmad Faraz wraps the hope, hopelessness, anxiety, pain...every thing in these couplets with his magical command over words.

The ghazal had become well known with great rendering of it by shehanshah-e-ghazal*, Mehdi Hassan.

I am reproducing the rest of the lines for you....

ab ke hum bichDe to shaayad kabhi khwaaboN meiN mile
jis tarah sookhe huye phool kitaaboN meiN mile

dhoonD uJde huye logon meiN wafa ke moti

ye khazane tuJhe mumkin hai kharaboN meiN mile

tu khuda hai na mera ishq faristoN jaisa

dono insaaN haiN to inum itne hijaaboN mein mile

gham-e-duniya bhi gham-e-yaar meiN shaamil kar lo

nasha behta hai sharaaboN meiN to sharaboN meiN mile

ab laboN meiN hooN na tu hai na wo maaji hai faraaq

jaise do saaye tamaana ke saraabOn meiN mile

* Emperor of ghazal

Dil main ek leher si.....

Dil main ek leher si uthi hai abhi...
Koi taja hawa chali hai abhi..
Dil main ek leher si uthi hai abhi...

Late Nazir Kazmi, wrote this and it was imortalised by the legend of ghazal, Ghulam Ali...by taking it to thousands of Mehfils all over the world.

Nazir a noted journalist as well, was the mentor and one of the Ustads of Ali..who helped him to understand the secret of rendering musical touch to shers without lossing the emotional trivia.

For me the ghazal is some thing precious. Whenever I hum this or listen to this in Ali's voice..it brings a lot of pain and happyness to me. I loved this sher eversince I heard it for the first time before three years.

And when I started playing Harmonium, the first thing I tried was this song, and it's humming..which is partly sung and partly palyed in harmonium!!! I failed to play it initially but of late, I learned it and I enjoy singing it by playing harmonium.

And I used to sing it for my friends..in our Mehfils. I also I intensly longed to sing it for my father who was very fond of songs..of this kind. I dreamed about playing harmonium and singing Dil main ek leher si uthi hai abhi...for my father in a quiet evening at my nice-calm village house at Poyya, Kerala.

My dream never came true..as my father passed away in July 2007. I feel guilty for not giving him the opportunity to hear the ghazal.

I remember my father had sung many many precious bits of good music and shayari for me in my child hood, now I am able to search and understand Nazir's sad and sweet shers because of culture of music imbibed during my childhood. As Nazir wrote..music is leher..the un ending current..which make life bearable in earth...let the leher go on...

Dil main ek leher si uthi hai abhi...Koi taja hawa chali hai abhi..Dil main ek leher si uthi hai abhi...