Shayari, Siyasat aur Munawwar Rana (Poetry, Politics and Munawwar Rana)

Sorry got a bit late in writing this post.

It’s never too late though. I was fortunate to see today’s Episode of Hum Log on NDTV India, hosted by Shri Ravish Kumar.

Since Ravish Kumar has started hosting the show ,it has seen a paradigm shift. Though the motive of the show remains intact. To create awareness among people.

Today’s show saw one of the greatest contemporary Urdu poets the country (or rather the world) has ever seen. i didn’t know a word abut this great Shayar before I read Ravishji’s tweet on the show. Searched the Internet and found out something about Munawwar Rana.

Shayar Munawwar Rana

Rana is credited with writing Ghazals on Mother. Ghazals are often written for lover (“Mehboob” in Urdu) but according to Mr. Rana and I quote “Agar Tulsi ke mehboob Ram ho sakte hain, to meri Maa meri Mehboob kyu nahi  ho sakti” . he expresses his feelings and love for Mother. In fact, most of the shayaris we read on Facebook or in SMS on Maa are the creations of Munawwar Rana.

Another great line he said was” We people in India worship cow as our mother, but its unfortunate that the level of the society is so degraded that now we treat our mother as a cow.”

Apart from his poetries on mother, he is also known for writing Ghazals on the politics and on the country.

On the show he recalled an incident on his tour to Pakistan. He told the audience about how Pakistani Muslim think of communalism in India ans he told them ” Hum 75 crore Hinduon ki Nigrani mein rehte hai bhala hame kya ho sakta hai”. This statement was a heart touching one and I could not stop clapping, no wonders my Mother thought I had gone mad.

On the show he also propagated the thought that Ghazal/Sher is not bound to language, community or country. ghazals are written in pure Hindi language also but are called as Urdu Ghazals. I cannot recall the words but it had no Urdu word in it, it was Hindi.

His implication of Ghazals is far ahead of communalism. He read a poetry by a Shayara(fem. of Shayar) who uses the word ‘Ghanshyam'(Another name of Lord Krishna) in her shayari.

There were many things on the show which unfortunately I missed (Taarak Mehta‘s Special Episode was on air at the same time), but it was a learning experience.

Thanks to Ravishji and NDTV for getting in some great ‘Unsung heroes’ and pioneers of Art on the show.

Famous TV anchor and reporter Ravish Kumar.

Some intimidating lines by Munawwar Rana on the show:

1 . meri khwaahish hai ki main phir se farishta ho jaun

maaN se is tarah liptun ki bachcha ho jaun

2.Is tarah mere gunaahon ko wo dho deti hai,

maa bahut gusse mein hoti hai to ro deti hai

3.aye andhere dekh le munh tera kaala ho gaya,

maa ne aankhein khol di ghar mein ujaala ho gaya.

4.Maine bulandiyon ke har nishaan ko chuaa…

Jab maa ne god mein uthaya to aasman ko chuaa!(Pesh-e- Nazar Ravishji)

5.kisii ko ghar milaa hisse meN yaa koii dukaaN aaii

maiN ghar meN sabse chhoTaa thaa mere hisse meN maa’n aaii

These are few drops from the ocean. Just the tip of the iceberg. The audience in show consisted of youth in majority and the kind of response to Mr.Rana shows that the existence of Shayari and Ghazal is not endangered.

The link to the video uploaded on youtube is here.