(Painting by Dwarika Nath Gigoo Rajkamal)
DWARIKA NATH GIGOO ‘RAJKAMAL’ (1926-1978)…A TRIBUTE
Inside the Gulmarg sanatorium,
they were unknown to each other. And then one evening, Rahi
Masoom Raza (1927-1992) heard him
playing on his flute. He played Raag Yaman . That day the Gulmarg sanatorium became a different
place altogether. And two strangers became lifelong friends .The bond got
cemented by commonality of interest in poetry, music, art , astrology,
palmistry and Hindi.
Both , Rahi Masoom Raza and Dwarika Nath Gigoo Rajkamal were tuberculosis
patients . At that point in time, antibiotics had not been discovered .
Accordingly , both had been advised to stay for some months in the sanatorium.
Rahi Masoom Raza opted to come to Gulmarg all the way from Ghazipur , U.P. After
Rahi Masoom Raza left the Gulmarg sanatorium, he kept
visiting Kashmir . And every time he was in Kashmir, he never
missed to pay a visit to Gigoo's house at Khankah e Sokhta , a locality
in downtown Srinagar .Rahi Masoom Raza wrote poems , novels and joined film
industry . In films , he wrote dialogues
of some successful films like Go Maal, Karaz ,Lamhe , Parampara ,Judaai , Hum
Paanch, Mein Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki , and Anokha Rishta . He also scripted the popular TV serials like Neem Ka Peid and Mahabharat .
Dwarika Nath Gigoo had unusual artistic personality. He
was a musician who could play many
musical instruments including harmonium, banjo and flute. He was a
modern painter who passed on the skills of this genre of art
to artist like Nissar Aziz Beg and some more aspiring
artists . He acted in many plays with his friend Bansi Lal Jalali who
later joined films and came to be known as Arun Kaul . He wrote short stories
and poems . Regular visitors to Dwarika Nath Gigoo included
well known painter Kishori Kaul, Sahitya Akademi awardee writer Akhtar Mohi ud
Din , well known artist Bansi Parimu, artist Sant Ji Sultan and many more. He had close
interaction with artist Som Nath Butt, poet Dina Nath Nadim, artist Mohan
Raina, Master Zinda Kaul, writer Prem Nath Pardesi and P N Pushp (
scholar ).Apart from English, Dwarika Nath Gigoo was fluent in Sanskrit,
Urdu and Hindi . He had read many books in Sanskrit including Vedas .
After completing his B A from DAV College Srinagar , he did B T followed by post
graduation in Hindi. He read western literature and philosophy
. He also read Hindi and Sanskrit literature.
It is pertinent to mention that in 1944, Arya Samajis from
Punjab had opened the D A V
College in Srinagar. The college was headed by Dr Sri Ram Sharma . The
teachers at this newly opened college included Prof R N Kaul, Prof
Balraj Madhok and Dr Subramanyam. The college was housed in the 'Khidmat '
newspaper building on the Bund in Amirakadal , Srinagar. The college was closed
in 1948. Madho Ram Gigoo ,father of
Dwarika Nath Gigoo played key role in
opening the DAV College in Srinagar.
Madho Ram Gigoo was also a man of unusual personality. At the
insistence of Dr Neve , a well known missionary doctor in Kashmir , Madho Ram Gigoo had embraced
Christianity . After being baptized, he was given a new name and came to be
known as Michael Bhan. The Christian missionaries sent him to
Europe, Egypt and Turkey .In Rome ,he published a book that became quite
popular. He met pope and while in Turkey , he met Mustafa Kamal Pasha. On his
return to India, Madho Ram Gigoo met Anne Besant in Mumbai . She
suggested him to reconsider his decision with regard to the change
of faith. Madho Ram Gigoo felt
convinced and returned to Hinduism but became a staunch Arya
Samaji. And Madho Ram Gigoo happens to
be the grandfather of noted English writer, Arvind Gigoo .
Dwarika
Nath Gigoo was a fine artist who had
learnt painting from
observation. He had many books on art in his library that had paintings of Van
Gogh and some French impressionists
. Though most of his paintings were lost
in the turmoil of 1990s , yet some paintings are in the possession of his
nephew , Arvind Gigoo. Dwarika Nath Gigoo gave two solo exhibitions of his
paintings ; one at CMS Tyndale Biscoe School, Srinagar and the other at the Nedous hotel in Srinagar. As Hindi poet,
Dwarika Nath Gigoo wrote
many poems using Rajkamal as
his pen name. His poems were published in Martand . Some poems were also
published in some Hindi magazines of the country. The influence of Nirala and Jaishankar Prasad is
visible in his Hindi poetry. A sample of his Hindi poetry is as
under:-
(1) Mein maati ka ranga khilona
Kheil kheil me torr na dena
(2)
Inn ke priy mahiwaal
Aaj pardes gaye hain bookh mitaane,
Rickshaw, tonga, buggy chalaane,
Aur milon ki barri barri
Nirdayi masheenon ki rapton mein
Giss piss jaane aur kho jaane .
(3)
Laakh daraaye aandhi toofan
Ye sagar ya vo majhdaar
Thhaam le chapoo khol de naiyaa
Himmat kar lag ja uss paar..
(4)
Khoj kar ke haar mein
Kaise nihaaroon jeet
Mook hai veena parri
Me kaun gaaoon geet
Uth lagaakar aag jag mein
Alakh ka abhishek kar
Hans zara tu niyati ki
Vyangmayi muskaan re kavi
Likh de ur ke gaan re kavi
Likh de ur ke gaan
Khoob sunane de jagat mein
Mahapralai ki taan re kavi
Likh de ur ke gaan .
(5)
On Gandhi Ji's death ,he wrote:-
'Ye kaun chalaa dagmag pag mein,
Koti koti armaan liye
Daliton, nangon, bhikhmangon ki,
Aahon ka shamshaan liye,
.......Ye kaun chala’
'
Prof Arvind Gigoo tells me this:-
' Dawarika Nath Gigoo Rajkamal
was my uncle. He called me Nikka and I called him Gaasha. He read a lot ,ate
very little , suffered from poor health and tuberculosis. He was a painter,
musician, linguist , writer, poet , palmist ,astrologer, teacher and singer.
Except mathematics, he could teach any subject to the college level students . Philosophy was
his favourite subject. I have his paintings with me. I have many poems in his
handwriting. I am working on publishing a book of his Hindi poems.
He loved cinema. He introduced me to the world of art and literature. He was
known to many established writers of the country . My uncle was a friend
of Dr Rahi Masoom Raza , the man who wrote the script and dialogues
of B R Chopra's mega TV serial Mahabharata .”
Dwarika Nath Gigoo changed many jobs
from teaching in the Kashmir University
to joining Gandhi Memorial College , Srinagar as lecturer .For sometime
he also taught at Vasanta Girls , School , Rupa Devi Sharda Peeth and Khalsa
High School, Srinagar At Gandhi Memorial College, he
fell in love with his student Savita Mathur and married her. Savita hailed from
Alwar , Rajasthan. They had no children. Savita is an aged woman now and leads
a lonely life . She lives at Bantalab in Jammu. He died untimely at a
young age of 52 years.
I conclude this write up with two couplet
from a Gazal of Dr Rahi Masoom Raza.
“ Zakham jab bhi koyi Zahn o dil pe laga
Zindagi ki taraf ikk Dareecha khula,
Hum bhi goya kissi saaz ke taar hai
Chott khaate rahe gungunaate rahe
Zahar milta raha zahar peete rahe
Roz marte rahe roz jeete rahe
Zindagi bhi hamein aazmaati rahi
Aur hum bhi usse aazmaate rahe ……..” ( Rahi Masoom Raza )
( Whenever the mind or the heart received an injury ,
One more life’s window opened for me .
Like the cord of a stringed instrument ,
I kept resonating with every strike .
The poison was available everyday
And every day I kept drinking it.
Life kept on testing me everyday
And I too tested life each day )
(Avtar Mota)
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
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