Urdu Book Review

Eternal poetry of great sensibility

By

Amar Nath Wadehra

Daagh Daagh by Dr. Aslam Habib
Educational Publishing House. Pages: 104. Price: Rs. 100/-

Haram ke saath Shivalon ki aarzoo ki hai
Nayee seher kay ujaalon ki aarzoo ki hai
Kahan kay maang liye tujh se do jahaan humney
Ilahi chaar nivaalon ki aarzoo ki hai
Uthaa de pardaa kay in bekaraar nazron nay
Teri nazar kay sawaalon ki aarzoo ki hai

(I have wished for the Shiva temple along with the mosque and a new dawn’s light. O God, I haven’t asked for the two worlds but only four morsels of food. Unveil Your Self, my restless eyes wish to see the questions in Yours).

He was barely fourteen when he wrote the above lines – these couplets form part of a longer ghazal, which was his first, reminding one of the famous Hindi adage, Honhaar birvaan kay hot cheeknay paat. In fact Aslam Habib’s tryst with literature had begun much earlier. At the tender age of ten he had already read quite a sizeable chunk of Punjabi and Urdu romantic literature, especially shaayari. Love legends like Yusuf-Zulekha and Waris Shah’s Heer were already a part of his consciousness – he could recite these from memory. He was studying in class five when he got hold of Diwan-e-Ghalib. Although it wasn’t easy to understand the master’s couplets but reading them provided him with sublime satisfaction. By the time he reached class seven he had memorized Sahir Ludhianvi’s famous Talkhiyan.

Although poetry became his passion he took up medicine as his profession. Even when, in 1968, he enrolled for MBBS with Ludhiana’s Dayanand Medical College he wrote and staged several plays.

Habib’s poetry is basically reflective, with occasional plaints and sparks of rebellion seasoned with touching nostalgia. 

Log neze par uthaye phir rahe the sheher mein
Aur main khush tha kay mera sar tow ooncha ho gaya.
(People were carrying me through the town impaled atop a lance and I was happy in my belief that my head was held high)

Insaan koi ho tow mera dard jaan lay
Patthar bana khada hoon khudaaon kay sheher mein
(I have become a stone in this town of gods, is there a human being around who can understand my pain?)

Iss dard ka darma kya keejiye iss dil ko tasalli kya deejiye

Jab har sheher mein hai jhoot nira tab aur kahan tak bolenge
(How can one cure this pain and console one’s heart, when untruth rules the roost in this town what further can be said?)

Sab chaak girebaan apne hain sab dard kay unwaan humse hain

Aie ahl-e-khirad kuchch tum bhi kaho humne tow junoon ijaad kiya.
(All torn clothes belong to me as do the titles of all pains, O wise ones you too must say something for I have invented passion).

Talakh haalaat ki gardish se bandhi duniya mein
Zindagi sirf teri zulf ka kham hi to nahin
(Caught in the vicious circle of circumstance, is life merely a curve of Your tresses?)

These are only samples of the well-crafted verse of great sensibility from this volume that stirs up a whole range of emotions. I am sure Habib’s poetry is going to endure for a very long time.

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