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Journalism of Courage
LIKE a sailor whose ship is adrift, Zafar Gorakhpuri despairingly counts his losses. But, like the Phoenix, he rises from the ashes as well. The poet8217;s survivor instinct is amply reflected in Zameen Ke Kareeb Close to the Earth, his latest collection of ghazals, nazms, geets, and dohas folk songs written in couplet form.
The Urdu world is agog over Zafar8217;s sensitive portrayal of contemporary times. Recently, an Urdu daily ran a debate on the biggest poet after the late Kaifi Azmi. Many favoured Zafar, a shy, short man with intense eyes.
Rooted in India8217;s unique Ganga-Jamni tehzeeb composite culture, Zafar8217;s poetry mirrors the common man8217;s million mutinies. For Zafar, poetry is a medium to 8216;8216;voice my uneasiness8217;8217;. 8216;8216;If I weren8217;t a poet, I would have gone mad due to the terrible things I see all the time,8217;8217; says the prolific man he has six collections, besides a dozen successful albums and film songs to his credit.
Influenced by the Progressive Writers8217; Movement, started in the 1940s by literary giants like Sajjad Zaheer, Mulk Raj Anand and Premchand, Zafar says, 8216;8216;I was never a card-carrying communist. Unlike Jafri and Kaifi who worshipped Nehruvian socialism, I followed humanism.8217;8217;
Bringing the unspoilt flavour of village life he grew up in Gorakhpur, UP, Zafar talks small town India8217;s idiom. Rural landscape forms an abiding theme in his poetic virasat heritage. 8216;8216;Kuch dino bargad tujhe achcha lagega uske baad/Ek jaisi chhaon se bezaar hokar ayega For a while you will enjoy the banyan tree8217;s shade/Very soon you will tire of its monotonous shade,8217;8217; reads a line in a ghazal.
Zafar would have ended up tilling land in Gorakhpur or toiling in a mill in Mumbai his father was a mill worker here but for an encounter with Raghupati Sahai Firaq Gorakhpuri, one of Urdu8217;s greatest modern poets. 8216;8216;In the 1960s, Firaq saab heard me at a mushaira in Mumbai. He remarked to a reporter, 8216;Yeh ladka bahut aage jayega this boy will go far,8217;8217; reminisces Zafar who became Firaq8217;s trusted disciple. 8216;8216;Firaq saab guided me at a time when I needed it most,8217;8217; he explains.
Poetry brought him name, but not much money. 8216;8216;To raise a family of four I needed a regular income which poetry wouldn8217;t bring,8217;8217; he laughs. He became a teacher in a municipal school.
At a friend8217;s behest, he also flirted with Bollywood, writing popular songs like Raat Dhalti Rahi Shama, Kitabein Bahutsi Padhi Hogi Baazigar, Kya Jaane Kya Legaya Koi Gundaraj8230; 8216;8216;But I am a misfit in the film industry where nothing comes without chamchagiri flattery. Hence, I write albums His Stolen Moments sung by Pankaj Udhas was a huge hit and do literary works instead,8217;8217; Zafar says.
It8217;s nearing midnight and Zafar is a little uneasy. Perhaps it8217;s time to leave the poet to his muse.
