July 15, 2012
Alcohol imbued Poetry: Remembering Jigar Muradabadi
From lofty to humble, Urdu poets have used creative noms de
plume to describe themselves, but it is not common for them to use body organs
as poetic names. Heart (dil), liver
(jigar), and gallbladder (pitta) have their uses in the Urdu language—for
example, good friends are known as jigri-doast (liver friends)—but Jigar
Muradabadi (born Shaikh Mohammad Ali Sikandar, in 1890) was the first one to
underscore the importance of a vital organ by using it as his pen name. A literary evening dubbed Soz-e-Jigar
arranged to remember the life and work of Jigar Muradabadi was held at the
India Community Center on July 15.
The program was presided over by Ms. Vijay Nigam, daughter
of Farhat Kanpuri (Gangadhar Nath Nigam), and emceed by Bay Area Urdu teacher
Hamida Banu Chopra. Several Urdu lovers
read Jigar’s poetry in the program.
Amjad Noorani an
advisor to The Citizens Foundation (TCF), USA, a non-profit organization
working for the education of underprivileged children in Pakistan, recited two
ghazals: ‘Kam Aakhir jazba e bay ikhtiyar aa hee gaya’ and ‘Ishq ko bay
naqab hona thaa.’
Anshuman
Chandra, an accomplished musician and one-half of the Bay Area band SaazMantra, sang Jigar’s ‘Jahle
khirad nay din wuh dikhay’ and ‘Ik lafz e muhabbat ka adna yeh fasa.’
Almas Hameed
Shabvani, a local singer, recited ‘Har su dikhai daitayN haiN who jalwah gar
mujhay.’
Alka
Hingorani, a former student of Hamida Chopra, read Jigar’s ghazal ‘Isee chaman main hee hamara bhee aik zamana thaa’ and
the poem ‘Tajdeed-e-Mulaqat.’
Hamida Chopra
read Jigar’s politically motivated poetry from her school days: Kabhi shakh o
sabz o barg per, kabhi guncha o gul o khar per//Mein chaman meiN chahay jahaN
rahooN, mera haq hai fasl e bahar per.
U.V.
Ravindra, a poet who uses Khurshid as his pseudonym,
read Jigar’s two ghazals: ‘Oas paray bahar per, aag lagay kinar meiN’ and
‘Dunya kay sitam yad na apnee hee wafa yad.’
Anil Chopra, professor of civil engineering at the UC, Berkeley,
read assorted couplets from Jigar’s poetry, including ‘Shikast-e-Tauba’ written
on the relapse of alcoholism.
Ashraf Habibullah, the main
sponsor of the program, is a connoisseur of art and poetry. As a speaker he is a wonderful
entertainer. Ashraf came to the
Soz-e-Jigar mehfil with his custom-made jacket studded with LED lights; he recited
Jigar’s ‘Shaer fitrat hooN meiN jab fikr
fermata hooN meiN.’
Bombay music composer of ghazals, Ravi Date, read Jigar’s ‘Fikr manzil hay
na hosh e jadeh e manzil mujhay’ and ‘Tum iss dila e wahshee kee wafaoN peh na
jana.’
Hamida Chopra
read a paper on Jigar Muradabadi recounting Jigar’s life and his association
with Asghar Gondvi. Chopra also
described Jigar’s alcoholism and said Jigar considered adding water or soda to
his alcohol, shirk (a sin in Islam involving the worship of another deity,
along with Allah).
Vijay Nigam remembered Jigar
Muradabadi as his father’s friend who considered her his own daughter and kept
paying her visits even after Nigam’s father passed away. Nigam described Jigar’s visits to be very
short, meant to assure her of his support to her—the tonga (horse-carriage) he
would ride to her home would wait outside, Jigar Sahib would just come in, ask Nigam’s
well-being, put his hand on her head and would leave right away. Nigam said Jigar’s kindness left a lasting
impression on her.
Anupama Chandratreya has that
rare quality in her voice that makes the poetry she sings, sink in your
head. The Soz-e-Jigar program
started and ended with Anupama Chandratreya’s
recitation of Jigar’s poetry (Jalwa baqdr e zarf e nazar dekhtay rahay
and Tabiyat inn dinoN baigana-e gham hotee jaatee hai).
Why do over one hundred people regularly convene at these
literary meetings, arranged every three to four months by Hamida Banu Chopra
and her group, even when no new literary work is presented in these
gatherings? The answer is simple: the
names are big, the poetry is familiar, and the regulars get a kick out of the
active participation in such literary events.
Listen to the audio recording of the
program here:
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