Ali's notes
DO POETS WOUND?
When a genuinely good, genius of a poet like Gulzar is hurt
for reasons that stand no solid grounds it is like stabbing him in his heart every moment, stabbing the glorious, always green
poet in him, the poet who has brought glory and joy to millions of lives during the last 40 years. I felt he had forgotten
the wounds inflicted on him by an enlightened and a very very mature poet like Kaifi Azmi, who in an interview given to a
journalist who is a guru in playing mischief called Gulzar a fake poet. Said a still very disturbed Gulzar: I could have had
the ambition to be anything in life. I had qualities to take up any other job but my ambition inspired me, encouraged me to
be a poet and nothing but a poet. I became a poet and was accepted, accepted by all kinds of lovers of poetry all over. My
profession accepted me as a poet. Yes, I would have given a senior respected poet like Kaifi Sahab the privilege to call me
a bad poet, an indifferent poet, an insipid poet in todays times who played with words and meanings which according to him
made no sense. I bet no one can call me a fake poet. I am a poet, they can call me a good poet, a bad poet, an indifferent
poet, but for the life of me, I cannot understand how anyone could call me a fake poet after Ive proved myself for the last
40 years. Bahut dard hota hai jab koi kisi ke kaam par waar karta hai. Ghaav to bhar jaayenge lekin aise ghaav ka dard kabhi
kabhi ubhar ke aata hai aur phir dard bahut zyada ho jaata hai. Kabhi kabhi kuch bade aadmi aise chhoti chhoti harkaten kyon
karte hai? Kya duniya itni tezi se barbadi ki ore badti jaa rahi hai? Samjha karo, Gulzar Sahab. Gussa bahut aata hai, mujhe
jab bhi Gulzar ko fake poet bolte hai. Hum Kaifi Sahab ki izzat karte hai, bahut karte hai. Lekin yeh kya, yeh kaam chhote
log karte hai. Bade log aisa kaam karke apne aap ko chhota karte hai. Humne Kaifi Sahab ki seva ki hai. Hum Gulzar Sahab ko
shaan-e-Gulzaar, jaan-e-Gulzar samajhte hai. Aise haalat mein hum gareeb log amir shairo ke baare mein kaise soche, kya soche?
Yeh bade log apne aap ko chhota kyo banate hai? Gulzar Sahab shair nahi to kya naabhi (barber hai). Rona aata hai.d poet,
an indifferent poet, but for the life of me, I cannot understand how anyone could call me a fake poet after Ive proved myself
for the last 40 years. Bahut dard hota hai jab koi kisi ke kaam par waar karta hai. Ghaav to bhar jaayenge lekin aise ghaav
ka dard kabhi kabhi ubhar ke aata hai aur phir dard bahut zyada ho jaata hai. Kabhi kabhi kuch bade aadmi aise chhoti chhoti
harkaten kyon karte hai? Kya duniya itni tezi se barbadi ki ore badti jaa rahi hai? Samjha karo, Gulzar Sahab. Gussa bahut
aata hai, mujhe jab bhi Gulzar ko fake poet bolte hai. Hum Kaifi Sahab ki izzat karte hai, bahut karte hai. Lekin yeh kya,
yeh kaam chhote log karte hai. Bade log aisa kaam karke apne aap ko chhota karte hai. Humne Kaifi Sahab ki seva ki hai. Hum
Gulzar Sahab ko shaan-e-Gulzaar, jaan-e-Gulzar samajhte hai. Aise haalat mein hum gareeb log amir shairo ke baare mein kaise
soche, kya soche? Yeh bade log apne aap ko chhota kyo banate hai? Gulzar Sahab shair nahi to kya naabhi (barber hai). Rona
aata hai.
.....
Gulzars new garden
Strange, sweet, very strange things are happening to the Gulzars
something a little delicate, different and difficult to believe but anything to do with the Gulzars has to be just what I
always say. They are born special. They are in a class by themselves and so everything they do has to have a touch of class
about it. Now this is the latest. Gulzar the writer-director-lyricist who worked from his 9th floor office in Cozihom
Apartments on Pali Hill, Bandra which was once his house has come down after more than twenty years. He has shifted his office,
his sitting room and his books to his bungalow, Boskiyana (the house named after Bosky, now Meghna Gulzar). And the office
at Cozhihom is undergoing all kinds of changes. Meghna Gulzar is all set to start working from where her father worked on
all those masterpieces. We decided we needed change. How long could I work in the same surroundings? It was getting a little
boring even though I loved the place because it bacisally gave me the feeling of going to work from 10 to 4 regularly everyday.
Now I dont have to go to work. I have to just come down and start work. Its Boskys time to go to work every day now and she
is really going to work on something very ambitious in the place where she was born. She is planning her first ever feature
film. In fact if she is Gulzars daughter she has to live upto her fathers name or do something better than him, something
the father will not mind, only be ecstatically proud about. One thing is very sure. Whatever their personal reasons for
the big change, they are both all set to come up with something creative, each in their own way, the way they know best. Gulzar
is writing a lot of poetry and prose these days and is also planning a film. One Gulzar has done so much. Two Gulzars? They
can change the world around them.
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