A very esteemed friend of mine, with whom I share a taste for old Hindi Film Songs, threw me this poser the other day. He asked me to identify the rest of this 'Ghazal':
looto naa mujhe is tarah, doraahe pe laa ke
aawaaj naa do yek nayee raah dikhaa ke
sanbhalaa hoo main girgir ke, mujhe fir naa giraao
Well I couldn’t; and after making me admit to being a lower life form than he, he revealed the beginning:
bhoolee huyee yaadon, mujhe itanaa naa sataao
ab chain se rahane do, mere paas naa aao
“Yes of course, “ I exclaimed. Then said,
“But that’s not a Ghazal!”
“Why not? That’s what the CD cover claimed- ‘Ghazals from Hindi Films’ ”
“Because a Ghazal has a construct, and this doesn’t have it.”
“Tell me all about it, Mr. Know-it-all,” He said wearily, used to my nit-picking style derived from years of micro-managing software and telecom projects.
So I began.
Rule 1: A Ghazal has to be comprised necessarily of shers which are couplets. Each sher is a complete poem in itself and can make sense on its own.
Rule2: Every Sher in the Ghazal must be set to the same metre. This is called Beher. The beher more or less indicates the length of each line of the couplet.
Rule3: In every couplet, the second line must end with the same common word or words. The repeating word or phrase is known as radif.
Rule 4: The words before the radif must have a rhyming pattern. This pattern is called a kaafiyaa.
Rule 5: The first sher of a Ghazal, called a Matla, must have radif in both the lines!
Rule6: The last sher in a Ghazal has a ‘takhallus’ which is the poet’s cryptic, adopted, or pen name (like Ghalib). This sher is called a Maqta.
And you ask, not unreasonably, how do I know all this- this useless information.. And the answer is- I do because I love Ghazals and would like to know something about what I love. And I google.
Let’s analyse a famous Ghazal – chupke chupke. The unparalled exponent of this beautiful Ghazal is Ghulam Ali, and other singers tend to keep a safe distance away from this one for fear of a direct comparison with the maestro. It goes:
Chupke chupke raat din aansuu bahanaa yaad hai
ham ko ab tak aashiqii kaa woh zamaanaa yaad hai
tujhse milte hii woh kuch bebaak ho jaanaa meraa
aur teraa daaton mein woh ungli dabaanaa yaad hai
kheench lenaa who meraa parde kaa konaa daffatan
aur dupatte se teraa woh muunh chhupaanaa yaad hai
aa gaya gar vasl ki shab bhii kahin zikr-e-firaaq
woh teraa ro ro ke mujhko bhi rulaanaa yaad hai
do-pahar ki dhoop mein mere bulaane ke liye
woh teraa kothe pe nange paaon aanaa yaad hai
chori chori ham se tum aa kar mile the jis jagah
muddaten guzariin par ab tak wo thikaanaa yaad hai
berukhii ke saath sunaanaa dard-e-dil kii dastaan
aur teraa hathon mein woh kangan ghumaanaa yaad hai
waqt-e-rukhsat alvidaa kaa lafz kahane ke liye
oh tere sukhe labon kaa thar-tharaanaa yaad hai
Well – looks mostly Ok; there are shers; each one has ‘yaad hai’ as radif, the first one ( matla) has the radif repeating in both the lines . The shers appear to be of the same metre.
Is there a kaafiyaa? Yes of course – bahanaa, dabanaa, zamanaa, rulaanaa,chupaanaa, thikaanaa, ghumaanaa, thar-tharaanaa – a full contingent !.
So only one thing seems lacking – a last maqta containing the takhallus of the poet Maulana Hasrat Mohani. I am inclined to allow him this transgression -can’t fault the poet for lacking vanity!
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