Faiz- Sacrifice and Love
By: Runs
Tags: Netflix, Love, Faiz, Poetry, Revolution

(Originally published on BookBasta.com )

In December 2019, at the pinnacle of the anti CAA protest, I was baffled to read a report which mentioned that IIT Kanpur, one of India’s premier Technology schools, had decided to set up a panel to investigate the ‘communal nature’ of statements made by some students. One such statement made by the students included ‘Hum Dekhenge’- a poem by Pakistani poet extraordinaire, Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The fact that a legendary poem by a humanist and Marxist poet could be deemed communal by a college of such repute, was a stark reminder of how badly Faiz is misunderstood at best, and at worse, under read. Explaining what Faiz stands for, is something that I am not well equipped with, so I will try to put down what he doesn’t stand for.

Faiz cannot be restricted to binaries, political or otherwise. He was born in a country that was different from the country where he grew up and went to jail, which were different from the country where he was exiled, and all of them were different from the dilapidated country where he grew old and died. Perhaps, these varied experiences in the same geographiya ensure that he is timeless. To quote renowned classical singer Tina Sani,

“ Faiz’s poetry never gets old because the problems and situations in this country have not changed. Today we sing him because of his beautiful poetry, missing out on the reasons behind his poems that had predictions…”

The Naqsh-e-Faryadi(One who laments), his first literary book, is a great guide to understand his transition from being a regular Urdu poet to becoming the voice against oppression. Mujhse Pehli Si Muhabbat is the first Nazm of the second half of this great book. Another great poem, gives birth to another great misunderstanding, albeit far benign. Every time I see the line ‘Mujhse Pehli Si Muhabbat Mere Mehboob Na Mang’ on my social media timeline, it dawns upon me that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner OR it is December 11th.(Trivia time: This Cosmopolitan article will tell you that December is the most common month for break ups!) There’s a great scene in the Netflix series ‘Taj Mahal 1989' where Neeraj Kabi’s character narrates the first four lines of the poem to his wife(played by Geetanjali Kulkarni).

Here’s my guess on why this particular poem is so widely misinterpreted

Faiz begins the nazm by writing the following lines

Mujh se pehli si muhabbat mere mehboob na maang

Maine samjhaa tha ke tu hai to darakhshaan hai hayaat

Tera gham hai to gham-e-dehar ka jhagdaa kyaa hai

Teri surat se hai aalam mein bahaaron ko sabaat

Teri aankhon ke siwaa duniyaa mein rakhkhaa kya hai My love, do not ask from me the love we shared before.

I aspired, should you be along, life would be nothing but serene…

Thinking of you, who would even care, what rest are contemplating?

Countenance of yours holds the bar for the springs in entire universe…

What in world would ever come close to way your eyes do immerse…

In these lines, Faiz describes the solace that one finds in love. He talks about how love empowers people to be fearless and brave. He envisions a world that is limited to the depth of his lover’s eyes.

A lot of casual readers often assume the first stanza of a poem to be the theme of the poem. So, it is reasonable for people who do not read poems regularly or aren’t aware of Faiz, to assume that this is a poem about love. In all these lines, there is a catch. Faiz is referring to these feelings in past tense. The line ‘Maine Samjha tha ke tu hai toh darakhshaan hai hayaat’ makes it amply clear.

In the next two lines, Faiz creates a distinction between hope and reality, explaining how all is not well in this premise due to extraneous conditions. The protagonists of the poem are not longing for love, they already have it.

Tu jo mil jaaye to taqdir nigoon ho jaaye

Yoon na thaa maine faqat chaahaa thaa yoon ho jaaye Had I only found you, the fates would be enthralled.

This wasn’t how it should have been, except that I wanted it to be -

This is followed by, what are, the most quoted stanzas of this poem. They change the tonality of the poem and take it forward to a different plane.

Aur bhi dukh hai zamaane mein muhabbat ke siwaa

Raahatein aur bhi hain vasl ki raahat ke siwaa There are sorrows in this world, far beyond the anguish of love.

There is more to happiness than the relief of reunion.

Faiz here, talks about something that is larger than the two protagonists. Explaining how the sorrow in the world is greater than their personal loss.

He goes on to enunciate this theme from here on, citing various injustices of the times, like violence, oppression and inequality. These atrocities, for Faiz, eclipse any personal tragedy. Broken hearts, are nothing but, collateral damage in the furnace of revolution.

Anginat sadiyon ki taareeq bahemaanaa tilism

Resham-o-atlas-o-kamkhwaab mein bunvaaye hue

Ja-ba-ja bikte hue koochaa-o-baazaar mein jism

Khaak mein lithade hue, khoon mein nehlaaye hue

Jism nikle hue amraaz ke tannooron se

Peep behti hui galte hue naasooron se Blighted in dark magic, of years beyond count,

young flesh, draped in silk, satin and brocade,

is up for sale in alleys and marketplaces. Bodies emerge

from furnaces of pestilence, dragged in dirt, bathed in blood.

From leaking ulcers pus flows untapped,

According to Faiz, these events are irrefutable. Ignorance is not an option in times of a moral crisis. Thus, sacrifice-for the greater good, and not love, is the central theme of the poem.

Laut jaati hai udhar ko bhi nazar, kya keeje?

Ab bhi dilkash hai tera husn, magar kya keeje? my eyes cannot look away, what should I do? Your beauty still allures, but what can I do?

A sense of helplessness prevails when he says “Ab bhi dilkash hai tera husn, magar kya keeje?” This is the final nail in the coffin of any doubt that could exist in the protagonists. This is when it dawns upon us that the decision had already been made, and the conversation we have read was futile from the point of view of changing any minds!

The beauty of Faiz’s work is that this poem is as beautiful to someone who interprets it as a poem about love and not sacrifice. In ‘Taj Mahal 1989’, after Neeraj Kabi has finished reciting the stanzas, Geetanjali Kulkarni says “Kaafi unromantic hai jinhone bhi likhi hai yeh poem”. To which, Sheeba Chaddha’s character annoyingly responds “Inquilab ke liye likhi hai, kisi Maashuka ke liye nahi!” In context, I do have the awareness that I am the Sheeba Chaddha of this conversation; but I would make the distinction that, interpreting it as a poem of love does not take anything away from Faiz’s larger stand against atrocities. Faiz is too fluid to be restricted and confined to boundaries.

This is what the professor at IIT Kanpur failed to understand. In his complaint, he stated that ‘he objected to the students reciting ‘Hum Dekhenge’ because Faiz was a Pakistani poet’. Like his ideas, Faiz too, cannot be restricted and confined to physical boundaries!

(Note: Translation of Faiz’s work is borrowed from Muntazir Dalvi)