‘AHSAAS SE PARAY’ ….BEYOND THE
FEELINGS …
A collection of poems by Vijay Saraf ‘Meenaghe’.
Price Re1600/- in India .
Overseas GBP 20 and US$25.
( 35% concession to Artists , Writers , Performing Artists ,Students ,
Libraries and 60% concession to those earning upto 2.5 lacs per annum )
Before i say anything about the book and the poems included in it , it is quite relatable to introduce the
author for a better understanding of the book and its contents .
Vijay Saraf ‘
Meenaghe ‘ (born 1956 ) is a well known artist of our state who served as Principal and Dean , Faculty of Music and
Fine Arts , University of Jammu . Trained at J J School of Art Mumbai,
Vijay Saraf ‘Meenaghe’ has
exhibited his work ( 1974
onwards ) in solos
and groups at various places in India .His work is on display at
National Gallery of Modern Art New Delhi, Lalit Kala Academy New Delhi ,E.
Alkazi Art Heritage New Delhi , Bank Of America
New Delhi , Raj Bhawan Jammu, Dogra Art Museum Jammu , Rashtriya Lalit
Kala Lucknow , North Zone Cultural
Centre Patiala, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Katra and
many other places . Some prominent private collectors who possess his work are
Vivek Burman ( Dabur ) Dr Karan Singh , Nusli Wadia ( Bombay Dyeing ) , Satish Choksi (Mumbai ) , Kirti J . Seth (Mumbai) , family of A R Antulay (Mumbai ) , Dr Farooq Abdullah many more .
Shri Vijay ‘ Saraf Meenaghe ’ is a poet ,
photographer and Musician. He
has done installations and Murals
in ceramic tiles, terracotta and
mix media as a part of his commissioned work at many places . His
paintings have received positive and excellent reviews in National newspapers from
eminent writers and Art critics like
Keshav Malik, Ranjit Hoskote , Santo Datta , Dhyaneshwar Nadkarni ,
Niyatee Shinde and Manjula Padmanabhan.
The book under
review contains 183 crisp Hindi poems in blank verse spread over 737 pages . Most of the poems in this collection are supported by matching illustrations done by the author himself .The
beauty of this collection lies in something unique that i have come across for
the first time in my life. Every poem has been translated into English , Urdu,
Hindi , Sanskrit , Dogri , Kashmiri and
Punjabi apart from beautiful transliteration in Sharda and Dogri
Akhar . This is a great effort to maximize the reach of the book . And in
this task , he has been assisted by a team comprising of Mohan
Singh , Shuja Sultan , S N Pandit , R L
Betab , Sham lal Raina and Baljit Singh.
In his foreword, the
author has expressed sincere gratitude
to Lala Mulkh Raj Saraf , Ved Rahi , O P Sarthi and so many other relatives , teachers and friends .
This is a poetry
collection by a painter. The painter in
him comes live in various poems . I have seen his paintings also and quite
often, the poet in him is visible in his canvases . Let me
take up some poems for review .
A small poem at page
number ten of the collection under
review is about flowers and colours .The
poem expresses artist’s love for colours
. And on this earth, colours are best represented by flowers . Here is the poem
:
(1)
Phoolon
se
Tum
agar baatein karo
Aur karte raho ,
Sach-muuch
,
Tumhe yaad hi
nahin rahega
Ke
tum inhein
Todne
aaye thhay ..
The above poem in English translation appears
as under at page 10 of the book ..
‘With the flowers ,
If thou ever
converse ,
And keep on
conversing –
Really , You will
forget ,
You had come to
pluck them..’
(2)
Another small poem
is as under:
‘ Khudgarzi ko dost
bana kar
Ghar uss ke
daawat par jo gaye-
Chugte chugte
Hum kabootaron ke
Pankh kat chuke
thhay ..’
The poem conveys something that most of us have felt or experienced. Is present day friendship another name of selfishness ? Does
dishonesty rob a man of his capacity to fly free ? The flying power of a pigeon may
decline should he keep running
after grains procured dishonestly . This mini poem comes close to Dr Iqbal’s
popular couplet from Bal-e-Jibril
. I quote :
‘Aey tair-e-lahooti! Uss rizq
se maut achhi
Jis rizq se aati ho parwaaz mein Kotaahi’
(O Bird, who flies
to the throne of God,
You must keep this
truth in sight,
To suffer death
is far nobler
Than
the bread that clogs your upward flight.)
(3)
Another small poem
is as under:
‘ Me
Kuchh bhi nahin
huun_
Yahi baat
Roz
Yaad dilaate hain
Meray aangan mein
Pedon se girte
Sookhe pattay..’
This poem is based
on the deep philosophy of existence ,
Maaya- jala of the visible world and
the transitory nature of life on this planet. Green leaves full of life
today shall inescapably fall to dust
tomorrow . This comes close to Kabir’s popular Doha ;
‘Pataa toota daal
se le gayi pawan Udaai
Ab ke bichhde kab mile
door padeinge jaaye .’
( The wind carried away the leaf
that fell from the branch ,
Alas ! once
separated ,
It might
not meet the tree again
Once it falls to a
distant ground)
This poem also comes
close to a very popular couplet of Poet jagan Nath Azaad. I quote
‘Maine poochha ke zindagi
kyaa hai
Haathh se gir ke jaam
toot gaya ’
( I sought to know
the meaning of this existence ,
My wine glass slipped from my hands and broke )
There are so many
other poems that need to be commented upon. For example a mini poem “ Dukh
baant diya……. toote gamlon mein phool ugg aaye hain ‘ on page 402 conveys that
sorrows need to be shared . Shared sorrows may become flowers .
The painter is
visible in some mini poems . In style
and content , these mini poems look like Japanese Haiku. I quote:
(a)
‘Nazdekiyaan
paas
paas sun rahi hain,
Chhaanv
dhoop se bahut naraaz hai .. ’
(b)
‘Sooraj bhi thithur gaya
Uss
ke
nange
jism ko dekh kar’
(c)
‘Baadalon ka aanchal
Devdaaron
ki
chupp
bhari udaasi ko chhu ke
Apne
aansuvon se
Halka
kar detaa hai ‘
The
book can be directly purchased from the author who resides at Jammu . He is available on mobile 9419195849
and 7889536356 Email..vijaymeenaghe@gmail.com
. The book opens a new window of
interest and when painters write
poetry they tend to make you
happy and contented .
(
Avtar Mota )
CHINAR SHADE by
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