AND THE MONSOON CLOUDS NEVER CROSS THE MOUNTAINS TO ENTER VALLEY

                                                                             
      
 RIVER JHELUM

PHOTO AUTAR MOTA 2012.......

 And then the stormy winds lashed against river Vitasta . The tiny drops breathed fresh life into the Poplars . Some said here comes the Monsoon . But then Monsoons never cross PirPanjal . So does Agha Shahid Ali believe .

Agha Shahid Ali appears to be fond of Monsoon rains . He has touched Monsoon rains in a good number of poems that he wrote .

Adds Agha Ashraf Ali .

“ See Shahid was deeply attached to his mother. Since she was from Lucknow , Monsoon Rains were a part of her childhood memories . And then shahid would accompany his mother to her parental home where he too got attracted to this wonderful season of the plains ."

I add a poem .. The Season of the Plains .. from “Half Inch Himalayas ”. The poem clearly conveys what Agha sahib said about Agha shahid and his mother .

In Kashmir,

Where the year has four clear seasons ,

My mother spoke of her childhood

In the plains of Lucknow ,

And of that season in itself ,

The Monsoon ,

When Krishna ‘s flute is heard on the shores of Jamuna .

She played old records of Benaras thumri singers ,

Siddheshwari and Rasoolan ,

Their voices longing ,

When the clouds gather ,

For that blue invisible God .

Separation can not be borne when the rains come:

This every lyric says .

While children run out into the alleys ,

Soaking their utter summer ,

Messages pass between the lovers .

Heer and Ranjha and others of legends ,

Their love forbidden ,

Burned incense all night ,

Waiting for answers ,

My mother hummed Heer’s Lament

But never told me if she also burned sticks of jasmine that ,

Dying, kept Raising soft necks of Ash .

I imagined each neck leaning on the humid air .

She only said :

The Monsoons never cross the mountains into the Kashmir .

( Agha Shahid Ali )

                                                            


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