Word ‘Relevant’ can be best defined by its various shades of meanings viz. authentic, credible, great, of good standing, reliable, related, valid, to the purpose, pertinent, etc.

 

Kalim Ajiz is well known all over the Urdu world for his sweet but insightful Ghazals. Here I am attempting to analyze the repute and stature of his poetry based on the criterion of RELEVANCY.

 

Why is this man’s poetry so appealing to his listeners’ hearts? (I am intentionally using the word listener and not reader because he always prefers to recite his Ghazals than to get them printed in magazines). When he recites, why all the ears around him become neglectful of all sounds except this man’s voice? How come his words so soft in texture become so penetrating and piercing to reach the inside of even those carefree ones who have shut themselves from all sensitivities?

 

Kalim Ajiz has multi-faceted personality. He is a master prose writer. He has been awarded PhD in literature for his valuable research.  He has been a much loved professor in the University. He is author of around dozen books. He is a good story teller. He received Government of India’s prestigious Padma Shree title way back in 1989. He was honored by some big cosmopolitan metropolis in United States with symbolic key to the city. He has been awarded for his contributions from various literary and cultural organizations. Many scholars have written their doctoral thesis on Kalim Ajiz’s poetry. All these facets aside, this simple, fragile, soft spoken man in his eighties has now become the most esteemed symbol of Urdu’s classic poetry at its best.

 

As regard authenticity, he himself has expressed very vividly in his poetry. At one place he says: “Don’t compare me with others since:

MERA GHAME ZAATI HAI AURON KA KITAABI HAI

 (Others merely borrowed from books; my pain and tribulations are my own).

 

Please note that translation here is not literal; instead is my subtle interpretation of his verses.

 

We can very easily sense that there is no artificiality in his poetry. His verses are the most appropriate and pertinent words put around the true events he faced in life at all critical junctures.

 

This aspect of authenticity has made him stand out amongst his contemporaries. For last fifty-sixty years in all gatherings of commons as well as elites he has been projecting the pent-up feelings of all oppressed, neglected and mistreated human beings all around him. Though he never uses words like hammer, bullet, rifle and dynamite in his poetry, it is much more effective than the poems of so called progressive representatives of proletariats.

 

Kalim Ajiz stands against tyrants, bullies, oppressors and persecutors but he does it in more cultured, refined and sophisticated style.

AAZMANA   HAI   TO   AA    BAZOO-O- DIL   KI    QUWWAT  
TOO BHI SHAMSHIR UTHA HUM BHI GHAZAL KAHTE HAIN

(Want to assess the strength of my arms and courage of my heart? Take up your sword; I am ready too with my Ghazal.)

 

Those who are familiar with various rallies, demonstrations and parliamentary sessions, do also know how widely his couplets are quoted every where. Whether it is lawyer’s movement in Pakistan or political speeches by leaders in India, when they want to highlight the clever and tricky maneuverings of tyrants, most of them take help from Kalim Ajiz’s couplets. One universally famous couplet is:

 

DAAMAN PE KOI CHHEENT NA KHANJAR PE KOI DAAGH

TUM   QATL   KARO   HO   KI   KARAAMAT   KARO   HO

(Neither blood stains on clothes nor spots on the dagger; vow! you commit the murder or perform a miracle!)

 

In Ghazals, beloveds are playfully given the adjectives of Qatil (murderer), Zaalim (tyrant) etc. What Kalim Ajiz has artfully done is the opposite. He has called the real Qatil and Zalim his beloved. He not only calls them so, he accepts them as his beloved. Thus the canvas of Ghazal has been immensely enlarged by him.

 

WOHI QATIL BHI HAI, MUKHBIR BHI HAI, MUNSIF BHI WOHI

AQRABA  MERE  KAREN  KHOON  KA   DAAWA   KIS   PAR

 

(He is the killer, the informer and also the judge; against whom my family should lodge the murder charge?)

 

HUM NE TO CHHAHA OOSE BHI KI JISE DEKHTE HI

LOG  BESAKHTA  BOL  UTHTE HAIN  “QATIL”  “QATIL”

(I have loved even him who when seen is immediately recognized and addressed as ‘Killer’, ‘Killer’)

 

It is not that he just calls his dire enemy his beloved; he really treats the assailants like a beloved and does so with full sincerity. This is the unique specialty with which Kalim Ajiz has been endowed. He has always remained a true well-wisher of his adversaries. This he does in spite of knowing enemy’s evil intention as well as all his wicked planning. When he sees the adversary in trouble, he himself goes to him and invites him by saying

IDHAR AAO  TUMAHAARI  ZULF   HUM  AARASTA   KARDEN

JO GESOO HUM SANWARENGE KABHI BARHAM NAHI HONGE

(Come to me; let me straighten your troubling hair locks; when I set them right your tresses shall never ever be entangled again)

 

Those smart players who skillfully blame the oppressed and wronged for being barbaric, violent, poorly attired, uncivilized etc, his simple plain answer is to show them their real face.

 

DEKHIYE  MERI  GHAZAL  MEN KABHI SOORAT APNI

YEH  WO AAEENA  HAI  JO AAPNE  KAM  DEKHA  HAI

(See your image through the lenses of my Ghazal; alas you never saw yourself in this mirror)

 

Very sarcastically he tells those Neo-rich and Pseudo-civilized to simply look at their own history:

 

ITRAA  RAHE   HO  AAJ   PEHAN   KAR   NAI   QIBA

DAAMAN   THA  TAAR  TAAR  ABHI  KAL KI BAT HAI

(You are so arrogant just on wearing the new long gown; it was only yesterday that you wore nothing but shredded threads)

 

Though he is poet of Ghazlas, when one recites his poems or Nazms especially Kahani, Jaanaan , Duaa, Musaafir and Humnasheen one has to immediately agree that his poetry is immensely relevant for our time. This is because relevancy means being factual, to the point and meaningful.

 

When his listeners feel that this humble man projects the true history, challenges enemy’s false propaganda, courageously faces all odds and is never apologetic, they immediately realize how ‘RELEVANT’ Kalim Ajiz is. He is deservedly most appropriate spokesman of the entire silent majorities by expressing their pain and suffering so lucidly using simple but beautiful words in the sophisticated format of Ghazals.

 

Another very important role he plays is to show everyone the approach which is bound to succeed in tackling any difficult situation. This is to give flowers in return to all the stones hurled. Though he lost his mother, his sister and many of his close family members in shameful 1946 carnage of Bihar, he did not get disenchanted with humanity and never became bitter in his writing or in his relationship at all levels. He himself says:

 

ZAMAANA. LAAKH  OOSE  TADPAYGA  RULAYEGA

WO MARSIYA NA KAHEGA GHAZAL HI GAAYEGA

 

(Destiny will give him excruciating pain, compel him to weep; still he will never lament or write elegy; he will always sing Ghazal)

 

May the world adopt his prophetic approach and see the benefits. Amen! Unfortunately the present world is not sensible enough to adopt this path of love and forgiveness.

 

In his own words,

PUKAAROON HOON LEKIN NA BAAZ AAYE HAI

YEH  DUNIYA  KAHAAN  DOOBNE  JAAYE  HAI

 

(I am calling and invoking but it is not ready to turn back; where is this world going to drown itself?)

 

If we take relevancy as being “to the purpose”, he has always been relevant. His purpose from the beginning has been very transparent. What is the purpose after all? He himself gives answer to this.

 

APNA  TO KAAM   HAI  KI  JALATE  CHALO  CHIRAAGH

RASTE MEN KHWAH DOST KE DUSHMAN KA GHAR MILE

(My purpose is solely to light the lamps; whether the houses on my route are those of friends or foes).

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