Yeh daagh daagh ujaala -
// October 24th, 2004 // All, Poetry
Yeh daagh daagh ujala
Yeh shaab gazeeda sehr
Tha intizaar jiss ka,
Yeh who sehr tau nahin
-Faiz Ahmed Faiz
For all the mundane trivialities that grace the DAWN’S letters to the editor section, every once and while comes along a gem; smothered under an ocean of letters by distraught PTCL customers, uncessful US visa applicants-but a gem nonetheless.
It was a brief letter, with just a couplet by Faiz Sahib and a succint paragraph below it. But two years ago, it moved me enough to write my first article, which I append below.
Yeh daagh daagh ujala
Yeh shaab gazeeda sehr
Tha intizaar jiss ka,
Yeh who sehr tau nahin
-Faiz Ahmed FaizI remember I came across this little couplet by Faiz sahib around the 14th of august; as one of the letters to the editor published in Dawn. Now its not like I remember the publishing date of every dawn letter to the editor- it was just that this letter really jolted me.
As anyone who is a regular reader of this particular section will tell you, it consists almost entirely of very mundane and seemingly randomly chosen emails and letters. To the casual observer they indeed do seem that way-a telephone complain here, a letter about the state of roads there, but scratching deeper, one notices that all the letters have something in common; they are all of a complaining kind. Infact over all the years that I have so religiously read the letters to the editor section, I doubt I have come across one that was genuinely upbeat about anything-I guess its like that saying “you don’t remember god until you need him”.
In my own convoluted manner what I have been trying to impress upon you is the fact that the readers of this section are very immune to letters that highlight misgiving and the like, we’ve learn to move on without giving it a second thought.
But these four lines of poetry made me wake up and take notice (literally), ever since this couplet has been branded in my mind.
What I have always found so fascinating about it is the fact it can apply to so many situations. Afterall, it is perhaps one of the most familiar situations that we come across, the hopes and the aspirations with which we start something and so often they just don’t materialize.This particular one was different, yes indeed it was based on the very successful xxxx model (the author had commented that the 14th of august always reminded him of this couplet), but those four lines of poetry have been branded in my mind ever since.
What I find so interesting about them is the fact that they say so much without saying very much at all- just four lines seems to hold so much depth, so much meaning. Indeed it often seems to me that they can seem to illustrate a very large
But this was different, not least because the author used the very able prop of a few lines of faiz sahibs poetry, but evenI remember the date because the author of the above mentioned letter has written how 14th of august always reminded him of this particular piece. What I acutely remember is how much this had affected me-and it isn’t very difficult to imagine when you read the couplet.
One gets accustomed to the almost incessant whining, derision and pessimism but nothing quite bit me as hard as this almost innocent looking poem. I think its theme is one that we become all to familiar with as we lead our lives. Initiatives begin with that bounce in the step, with great expectations and
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