I have now got my ghazal completed, the incomplete version of which was posted in the thread (or threat ?) of "Sitara's Musings".

I did not recite it at the Room Poetry Reading organized in Virginia this past Sunday. I rather decided to recite two of my old ghazals 'Timi Adeko Sanghaar' and 'Chulubulu Chulubulu'. (By the way, the event, organized in Woodbridge, Virginia at Homnath Subedi's home and attended by some Sajhaites and a number of local poets and an American couple was a huge success- with free flow of sura, kavita and the discussion on the later).

This ghazal is going to appear in a local ezine. Nevertheless, for fellow Sajhaites, I am posting it right here.

Share the frustrations, fears, alarm and call of duty of your fellow countryman.

sundachhu--- khai halla hola bhanchhu
bujhauchhu bhanchhu man tara---
ti timra patraharu sakshi chhan bhanchhu
Warisnama feryou re timle bhanchha man tara--
sundachhu---khai halla hola bhanchhu
bujhauchhu bhanchhu man tara----

****
Flicker, just a flicker
good enough to confuse
defeat with victory
the darkness is reining.
Can you see?

San ji, thanks for quick response. Deep ji's poems are really deep...both nepali and english..

i have received a poem from another poet...will post it shortly..

pls express yourself about life, love and your views of the world around you in any form here..

PARCHED!

Send me a torrential storm,
A fresh onslaught of grief;
Save me, my tearless eyes,
from the abusive thief.

My vision is hazy,
Cheeks are bruised;
Steps are motionless,
Words are used;
Send me a hurricane,
if I can't walk in the sane;
Can't bear this parched emotions,
Heartbroken, unheeding frame.
Allow me some fresh tears,
to salve my pain.
Send me fresh torment,
To to kiss off my old pain!

Hear me, I am parched... all I need is an relentless rain!

a* relentless

This relentless rain
That inundates thine eyes
This excruciating pain
That muffles the cries!

This lurking storm
That looms out at sea
This ravaged people
That have nowhere to flee!!

This lamentable soul
That sings with glee
This untamed heart
That desires to be free!!!

Wah! Wah!! Jawos Jawos aru pani..

INSANE PROMISES!

Declarations that lull me to stupor,
Minor distractions before the big kill;

The rain patters a seductive lullaby,
As poison, seeps into my dreams;
coaxing, cajoling, caressing,
explaining, why you'd drown me
in torrential rain leaving me worthlessly inane!

From my very old notebook..

Nepe:
Let's keep literature one step above politics, at least in sajha.Thanks for the gazals.
Deep:
Your well balanced answer to Nepe was an interesting piece in itself.
Sitara:
Beautiful poems.U rock.
Kalankisthan:
Why don't you write gazals? Your address (gazal) to Deep was wonderful.

DP.

For those who would like to see poets and writers silenced on the political front (reality of life), please read following article "The Silence Of Writers" by John Pilger:
http://www.countercurrents.org/arts-pilger111103.htm

He ends with:
"They won't say..." wrote Bertolt Brecht in "In Dark Times", "... when the great wars were being prepared for... they won't say: the times were dark. Rather: why were their poets silent?"

-ViV

Deep ji, ur poems are really good...

Vivasme,

Thanks for the link. That was really a good read. Although I am not a good reader to know about all the references cited, I understood the argument.

I do not believe in the segregation of art and politics. But at the same time, I also don't believe in amalgamation of these two. These two can live together, serve each other without losing their individual identity and characters.

I also don't believe in the notion of art for art's sake. In my view, this is a totally hypocritical and non-sense. If an artist indeed has created an art for art's sake, he would not display, publish, release or distribute it. If he does, then it was never for art's sake; it was for the consumers of art. Admit it, damn artist.

When you create something for other than yourself, you naturally have an accountability, if not a responsibility.

Now, I do not believe in a grand set of guidelines for artists provided by the elites. I rather believe in open and free lenden (trade ?) between the producers and the consumers of art. Call it the capitalism of art. Yes, I believe in it. I do not believe in the socialism of art (a system of grandly guided art). Because I think the capitalism of art eventually serves the purpose of the socialism of art.

How ?

Well, this way. An artist is also a consumer of art. When he creates an art for himself, we can trust, he will not be guided by the latest trends in the dirty market or corporate equivalent interest of art.

I think we can not ask for more than this at this stage of our civilization.

As I said at the beginning, I don't believe in the segregation of politics and art. In other words, I do not believe in apolitical art. I think, as a matter of fact, the idea of apolitical art is more political than politics-insensitive art, because it serves to a certain political interest ý particularly in a time of social unrest.

I am glad to see DP ji did not call for apolitical literature. What he is saying is literature should be one step ahead of [partisan] politics. It's indeed so.

**********

I do have a thing or two to say about the state of Nepali literature at this of unrest and conflict (athough I am not qualified). I am not making a sweeping generalization by saying so, but I am generally disappointed to see profound stories of suffering and pain made mere news materials by the writers and reduced to rhetorical materials by the poets.

I am not questioning the ability of our writers and poets. But I am questioning their courage- not against the power, but against themselves, against their fear of encounter with the ugliest things in their naked state. There are so many unbearably ugly stories, degradation and suffering going on, our artists have chosen to turn them into bearable news items and rhetorics and they are in a mode of survival, rather than in a mode of living and fighting.

Looks like they are waiting for the war to end to begin their fight.

***********************

Zombie,

The precursor of Ghazal is Qasida (raja-maharaja haru ko stuti kavita) that came to Muslim ruler's court in India from Persia and evolved into Ghazal.

In Nepali literature, Motiram Bhatta introduced it. However, there has not been any significant contribution to Nepali Ghazal since then till one or two decades ago when likes of Gyanuwakar Poudel, Lalijan Rawal started to practice it. These days you can see floods of ghazals in Nepali literature. Most sikaru kaviharu and occasionally naam chaleka haru pani, do not always write in the traditional format and are often referred to as 'fazal'. I don't know how this word came in circulation, though.

My favoritest (Sitara 2004) ghazalkar is Bund Rana.

There is a collection designated as 'Utkrista Ghazal haru' at nepalikavita.com. I would rather call it a collection of samples from 'Utkrista Ghazalkar haru'. Bund Rana's best ghazals are found elsewhere. I liked the samples from Manoj Neupane and Dibya Giri. Check them out,

(- http://www.nepalikavita.com/100_gajals.htm )

******************

Narayan Adhikari,

Thank you for posting your kavita. I want to share with readers here the quick comment I had made at the Reading.

The thing that fascinates me in this style of poem is the fact that the poem assumes a personality partially independent of the poet. It may be both weakness as well as strength of the poem, though.

In any case, in our busy life style, this kind of sleek, slim and sexy poetry may be very suitable to us.

Vivasme,

Thanks for the link. That was really a good read. Although I am not a good reader to know about all the references cited, I understood the argument.

I do not believe in the segregation of art and politics. But at the same time, I also don't believe in amalgamation of these two. These two can live together, serve each other without losing their individual identity and characters.

I also don't believe in the notion of art for art's sake. In my view, this is a totally hypocritical and non-sense. If an artist indeed has created an art for art's sake, he would not display, publish, release or distribute it. If he does, then it was never for art's sake; it was for the consumers of art. Admit it, damn artist.

When you create something for other than yourself, you naturally have an accountability, if not a responsibility.

Now, I do not believe in a grand set of guidelines for artists provided by the elites. I rather believe in open and free lenden (trade ?) between the producers and the consumers of art. Call it the capitalism of art. Yes, I believe in it. I do not believe in the socialism of art (a system of grandly guided art). Because I think the capitalism of art eventually serves the purpose of the socialism of art.

How ?

Well, this way. An artist is also a consumer of art. When he creates an art for himself, we can trust, he will not be guided by the latest trends in the dirty market or corporate equivalent interest of art.

I think we can not ask for more than this at this stage of our civilization.

As I said at the beginning, I don't believe in the segregation of politics and art. In other words, I do not believe in apolitical art. I think, as a matter of fact, the idea of apolitical art is more political than politics-insensitive art, because it serves to a certain political interest ý particularly in a time of social unrest.

I am glad to see DP ji did not call for apolitical literature. What he is saying is literature should be one step ahead of [partisan] politics. It's indeed so.

**********

I do have a thing or two to say about the state of Nepali literature at this of unrest and conflict (athough I am not qualified). I am not making a sweeping generalization by saying so, but I am generally disappointed to see profound stories of suffering and pain made mere news materials by the writers and reduced to rhetorical materials by the poets.

I am not questioning the ability of our writers and poets. But I am questioning their courage- not against the power, but against themselves, against their fear of encounter with the ugliest things in their naked state. There are so many unbearably ugly stories, degradation and suffering going on, our artists have chosen to turn them into bearable news items and rhetorics and they are in a mode of survival, rather than in a mode of living and fighting.

Looks like they are waiting for the war to end to begin their fight.

***********************

Zombie,

The precursor of Ghazal is Qasida (raja-maharaja haru ko stuti kavita) that came to Muslim ruler's court in India from Persia and evolved into Ghazal.

In Nepali literature, Motiram Bhatta introduced it. However, there has not been any significant contribution to Nepali Ghazal since then till one or two decades ago when likes of Gyanuwakar Poudel, Lalijan Rawal started to practice it. These days you can see floods of ghazals in Nepali literature. Most sikaru kaviharu and occasionally naam chaleka haru pani, do not always write in the traditional format and are often referred to as 'fazal'. I don't know how this word came in circulation, though.

My favoritest (Sitara 2004) ghazalkar is Bund Rana.

There is a collection designated as 'Utkrista Ghazal haru' at nepalikavita.com. I would rather call it a collection of samples from 'Utkrista Ghazalkar haru'. Bund Rana's best ghazals are found elsewhere. I liked the samples from Manoj Neupane and Dibya Giri. Check them out,

(- http://www.nepalikavita.com/100_gajals.htm )

******************

Narayan Adhikari,

Thank you for posting your kavita. I want to share with readers here the quick comment I had made at the Reading.

The thing that fascinates me in this style of poem is the fact that the poem assumes a personality partially independent of the poet. It may be both weakness as well as strength of the poem, though.

In any case, in our busy life style, this kind of sleek, slim and sexy poetry may be very suitable to us.

Two new sher added to one of my recent ghazals.

With important message to fighters ...

glossary:
Khaag = veteran
Sangraam = battle
Yuddha = war

Nepe ji, you need to publish your ghazal collection. I think your ghazals are not any less 'Utkrista' than the one's listed by nepalikavita.com. I think, Sajhabashis would agree with me. Thank you for expressing your views about art, literature and politics.

Also, here is what Mr. Hom Nath Subedi (who hosted the Room Poetry Reading event in Woodbridge, VA) has to be say about if/how literature can play a role in bringing and maintaning peace in the [Nepali] society. October issue of paradesh.com just published his interview at:
http://www.paradesh.com/readArt.php?artId=953

I am still working on posting some more poems read at the event or written by the poets there..

-ViV

Thank you Nepe for sharing your knowledge about Ghazal. As I mentioned earlier, I have enjoyed your every creations posted here. My Kaka Bau is a writer himself (Mohan Himansu Thapa). Since my childhood, I have keen towards Nepali poetry. Never heard of Ghazals. I got to read it here and enjoyed even more. That may be the curiosity behind it. Waiting for more of your creation. Thank you.

ViV,

Thank you for your kind words. I do have a dream of publishing a collection of my ghazals and getting the Nobel Prize. OK, that's too high. How about Madan Sahitya Puraskar, like Gopal Parajuli's poetry just bagged for this year.

Aba tetro mahatwakanxya rakhe pachhi, kriti pani ta hunuparyo ni dhunwadhar. So I am working very hard to learn to write puraskar-yogya ghazals. Inshallah, I will succeed some day.

Also thank you for the link to the article about Homnath Subedi ji.

Homnath ji is a living history. He has seen so much. He knows so much. Unfortunately the article fails to present him in a coherent way. I admire Kamala ji for her involvement and dedication to many social causes I can only dream of. However, her writing majhina ajhai baanki chha, in my humble opinion.

As far as how we can contribute to the cause of peace is concerned, I think the question is a part of a bigger and sanatan question of Sahityakarmi haru ko samajik uttadayitwa, which again is the question of the balance of his kala prati ko uttardayittwa and samajik uttardayittwa. If I look from one step back, I find Uttadawittwa a loaded word. If we dissect this word non-idealistically, I think, it will break down into simple things like, byakti byakti ko chetana star, ruchi, paribesh and so on.

While I am at it, the introductory note for the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature just announced comes before my eyes. Particularly the phrase- 'the absurdity of society's clichýs'.

Now I am dying to learn more about the work of that smiling Austrian lady, Elfriede Jelinek.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2004

Elfriede Jelinek

Austria

"for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society's clichýs and their subjugating power"

*******************

Zombie,

It is a pleasure to know you are related to the renowned poet Prof. Mohan Himanshu Thapa and that that is where your affinity to poetry comes from. I really do not know much. Kahilekahin eso ghazal (gajal) lekhney prayaas garchhu, tyatti ho.

Talking about the situation of ghazal (note that the spelling is taken from transliteration system of Urdu-Hindi. It is spelled 'gajal' in Nepal.), certain melodious songs (sung by, for example, Ghulam Ali, Murali Dhar, Ananda Karki ) have been categorized as ghazal. From a musical point of view, they do fall in a certain category, and it is probably OK to call them ghazal, at least until real ghazal singing emerge in Nepali music. However, from a literary point of view , there is not even a single (to my knowledge) lyrics among them which is a pure ghazal. Even Yash Kumar's 'Maile choyeko pani chaldaina' isn't a ghazal.

Ghazal writing follows certain rules, the major ones are: sher (couplet), qafiya (mono-rhyme), radif (refrain) and baher (meter).

So the real era of ghazal in Nepali music is yet to begin.

If you are intereseted to learn more about ghazal, following links might be helpful.

Introduction to Urdu Ghazal
( - http://www.msci.memphis.edu/~ramamurt/ghazal.html )

What is a ghazal ?
( - http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~navin/india/songs/ghalib/ghazal.def.html )

Basic points
( - http://members.aol.com/poetrynet/ghazals/ )

English Ghazal
( - http://www.ghazalpage.net/ )

Nepe sir,
Is "Gazal" different from "Ghazal"?
May be this article in TKP be an interest to your students:
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=18715

nepe timro gazal malai dherai ramro lagyo. I am surprised sajha has got some very talented individuals like you. keep up the good work. hope to see from you more.

ViV,

I prefer to spell it 'ghazal' because that is what is widely in use in the countries of it's origin and elswhere. Gazal and gajal are just the alternative spellings of the same thing.

Thank you for the link to an interesting article.

Ghazal, having been a successful bridge between music and the literary poetry, draws it's power from both of these sources. It may be true for non-ghazal lyrics as well. However, ghazal happens to have a rich tradition established by classic poets and musicians from Hindustan which still goes on.

I have often heard and experienced myself that there is a huge difference in pleasure between reading a ghazal from the printed paper and listening to the recital, with or without tarannum (laya halera). Aba professional singer le gaaune kura ta ke bhanirahana parchha ra.

Even reciting a ghazal to an individual and in a group (Musha'ira) is not the same. Let me share my experience. I have a Nepali friend where I work. I had recited one of my ghazals to him and his reaction was so so. But when I recited the same ghazal in DC for a larger group of poets along with my friend, he was blown away and said he did not have realized what a powerful stuff he was listening before. Hmmm..

May be it was the atmosphere. However, I can tell this. Since ghazal heavily relies on symbols and metaphors for expression, the larger the audience, the more complete it gets interpreted, perhaps.

Talking about the delight of listening to the recital of ghazal, here is a sample of a ghazal recital by my favorite shayar, Khumar Bara Bankvi.

I don't understand all of the shers. But even then, I enjoy them all the same.

( - http://www.urdulife.com/mushaira/mushaira.cgi?kb_g6 )

*******************

Thank you, Hareeb, for your encouraging words.