RMIM Archive Article "152".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Sahir and Majrooh, the poets - Part 1
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# Posted by: tewary@boulder.nist.gov (Dr. Vinod Tewary)
# Author: Dr. Vinod Tewary
#
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Sahir and Majrooh-The Poets
by
Dr. Vinod Tewary
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I have been following the discussion on Sahir and Majrooh on the
net with great interest. Some very good articles have been posted
on the RMIM. Most of the discussion so far is confined to their
film-poetry. In this series of articles, I intend to discuss
their non-film poetry. It is really the non-film poetry which, in
addition to the poetic excellence, brings out the human being
behind the poetry. In a film, a poet is not quite himself, be-
cause he has to write for a predetermined situataion and reflect
the character who will sing the song.
Both Majrooh and Sahir emerged in the 50's. That was the decade
when a new India was also emerging. It is important, therefore,
to visualize the contemporary historical, political, and social
forces which strongly influenced their poetry. The decade of
50's represented a new chapter-not only in the Indian History,
but that of the whole world. The bloodiest war in the history of
mankind was over. A new destructive superweapon (the nuclear
bomb) that symbolized the technology as a new force in world af-
fairs, had come up. The epi-center of world power had shifted
from Europe to the United States. With the birth of Red China,
the communism had emerged as a major new force as well as philo-
sophy. Perhaps the most important event, that was to dictate the
flow of events for the next 40 years or so, was this new polari-
zation between the American block and the Russian block.
Communism had brought a new route to socialism, that appealed to
many intellectuals all over the world, such as Bertrand Russell
and Jean Paul Sartre. It promised political power and support to
the poor people. Of course, religious and social support to poor
people was always available in terms of charity, or society's
protection to the "less fortunate class of people", but communism
promised more than that. It actually promised power, and respect
to the ordinary people.
In India, things were even more transitive. Although our direct
involvement in the world war was limited to some Indian combat-
troops, and a few air raids on Calcutta and Madras, psychologi-
cally, and economically, we were touched by the war. The most ma-
jor event for all Indians of course was the birth of our very own
democratic republic. A nation was born, but the baby had to be
nurtured. First time in the history of India, the country was in
the hands of the people, and not the kings. People were eager to
do a good job of it. The Indian intellegentia were aware of their
role in the construction of the new nation, and were eager to
respond to this new challenge.
In India there was an other very important force- that of Gan-
dhism. The problem with the Gandhian thought was (and is) that it
was so absolutely original and novel, that, like relativity and
quantum mechanics, only people with an open mind could comprehend
that. Young people with fresh minds, and scientists whose minds
were already trained for adopting new ideas, had no difficulty in
appreciating Gandhism, but others, whose minds were already set
into conformal trends, found Gandhian thought to be naive, im-
practcal, too idealistic, or a variety of such vague but unac-
ceptable adjectives. This situation is equally true even now.
On the other hand Gandhi's personal charishma was such that there
was no need to understand him. People followed him any way. His
charishma actually increased with his death. After he was shot,
during the last few moments of his life, first he blessed his
killer, and then said "Hey Rama". In hinduism, ability to say
"Rama" at the moment of death is a great achievement. Tulsi Daas,
the great poet, has written, " Koti-Koti muni yatan karaahi;
anta, Rama kahi paawat naahin" (meaning- millions of saints try,
but can not utter 'Rama' at the time of death.) Gandhi did pre-
cisely that.
Gandhi's access to the people was so strong and direct that even
the man on the street with no education, knew that some thing was
happening, and the good days are coming. Actually Gandhi had al-
ready brought the coveted revolution, the great inquilab. It was
a golden era that may have no parallel in history, in the sense
that the masses were ready to be led, and the leadership was
honest and ready to lead. Every body was prepared to do what is
required, and was waiting to be told. The intelligentia was ready
to convey the message but the message had to be found. The
leaders were eager to move but a direction had to be found. The
direction as well as the message was already there. Much earlier
Gandhi had written "Mere sapnon kaa bhaarat". That was the model
to be.
What went wrong? Well, that is another story. Obviously, it has
no simple answer, and certainly I am not qualified to answer
that. However, in short, let me say that there was a small class
of people who had been untouched by the flow of events and were
totally oblivious to the idealogical revolution in India. They
had no convictions or commitments to the new India. Their number
was small, but they had all the power. That was the bureaucracy-
the Government's adminstartive machinery. The Indian bureaucracy
was corrupt to the root. This was the legacy of the British,
their good-bye gift to the free India. There was also a small
mathematical mistake in the estimate of the population, that
resulted into the total failure of the first 5-year plan. Anyway,
Gandhi's "sapnon kaa Bhaarat" never materialized.
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From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian