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Journalism of Courage
Themes like longing for home, violence destroying all one holds dear, and intolerance for the Other, were as relevant in the eighteenth century as they are today — that’s what one realises reading The Homeland’s an Ocean by Ranjit Hoskote. The book has translations of 150 asha’ars (couplets) by Urdu poet Mir Taqi Mir and began as a social media exercise in which Hoskote shared his translations of Mir’s she’rs next to Roman transliterations. Hoskote got interested in the poet after coming across Ghalib’s admiration for him.
The striking imagery of Mir’s work and its relevance in today’s world are brought out vividly in Hoskote’s introduction. Mir was born in 1723, came to Delhi as an 11-year-old and saw the massacres and loot unleashed in Delhi after Nadir Shah’s attack in 1739. His fortunes reflected the chaos in the city and he had to seek shelter from different patrons. In 1747, when Ahmed Shah Abdali attacked the Mughal empire, Mir was forced to leave the city, not returning for 11 years. As he writes in a poem: “ham bhi is shahr meñ un logoñ se haiñ khanah-kharab/ mir ghar-bar jinhoñ ke rah-e sailab meñ haiñ” (I, too, am one of those people in this city whose homes have been trashed, Mir, whose everything lies in the flood’s path).
He came back but left for Lucknow in 1782 and died, away from the beloved city he always considered home. The experience led to lines like, “dhup meñ jalti haiñ ghurbat-vatanoñ ki lasheñ/ tere kuche meñ magar sayah-e divar nah tha” (The sun burns up the corpses of those driven from their homeland./ Your lane did not offer them even the shadow of a wall.) The transitory nature of what constitutes home for most of us is brought out by lines like, “ek jagah par jaise bhañvar haiñ lekin chakkar rahta hai/ ya ‘ni vatan darya hai us meñ char taraf haiñ safar meñ ab” (Like the whirlpool, still centre of a giddy circling,/ the homeland’s an ocean that scatters us in all directions).
As Hoskote writes, “… the twin poles of (Mir’s) consciousness were watan… and ghurbat, the condition of exile… and Mir wrestled with the question of how to make sense of and give shape to a life led uneasily between these poles…”. This is exemplified in poem 130: “barse hai ghurbat si ghurbat gor ke upar ‘ashiq ki/ abr namat jo a’o idhar to dekh ke tum bhi ro ja’o” (Exile upon exile pours down on the lover’s grave./ If, cloud-like, you came here, you too would rain tears).
On the term, ‘solastalgia’, a concept proposed by environmental philosopher, Glenn Albrecht, described ‘as a homesickness you have when you are still at home’, Hoskote writes, “It is the deep sense of irretrievable loss and displacement that we experience when our surroundings… the basis of our lives, are changed rapidly and destructively around us… it is a lament for a lost present”. This, he explains, is why in translating Mir, he uses ‘exile’ instead of ‘wretchedness’ or ‘misery’ for ghurbat.
That Mir Taqi Mir, known as the Khuda-e-Sukhan, or the God of poetry, has long been admired by Urdu poetry readers, especially for his range and versatility, is not a surprise. In fact, the late scholar, writer and translator Shamsur Rahman Faruqi often wrote that it was a common misconception that Mir had a tragic life or that his writing focused only on his thwarted love.
The Homeland’s an Ocean is a valuable addition to those interested in Mir’s work because of its holistic analysis of the poet’s life and work — ranging from the political and cultural climes of that time to Mir’s use of the ‘Hindavi continuum’, a combination of various languages and influences rather than what we know as Urdu today. Most importantly, the book reminds us that migration and displacement remain common today, and as an act of resistance we can raise our voices for those who are more vulnerable. After all, as Mir once wrote, “sha ‘ir ho mat chupke raho ab chup meñ janeñ jati haiñ/ bat karo abyat paho kuchh baiteñ ham ko batate raho” (You’re a poet, don’t be silent, lives are lost under cover of silence./ Speak up, read a couple of lines, read us verses, keep talking to us.)
Jonaki Ray is a poet and the author of Lessons in Bending and Firefly Memories.
