Wednesday, June 01, 2005

My Kinda Poetry

Getting an education in a Christian missionary school was probably one of the best things to happen to me but if there is one aspect that I can find fault with, then its the fact that I was led to believe that good poetry always came from the Brits - be it Shelley, Keats, Byron or Wordsworth. And everytime I listen to the verses of Javed Akhtar, I realise how wrong I was and cannot but marvel at how Javed sa'ab works magic with the simplest of themes.

The song below is another of my all time favorites, a song I listen to whenever I feel nostalgic about a non-existent past (yeah)

Door kahin ek aam ki bagiya
Bagiya mein hai thandi chhaaon
Chhaaon mein ek kachcha rasta
Raste mein pyaara sa gaaon
Gaaon mein ek chhota sa ghar
Ghar mein ek ujla sa aangan
Aangan mein chandan ka palna
Palne mein chanda sa munna
Munne ki aankhon mein nindiya
Door kahin ek aam ki bagiya
Bagiya mein hai thandi chhaaon
Chhaaon mein ek kachcha rasta
Raste mein pyaara sa gaaon

Neele neele aasmaan mein taaron ka hai ek nagar
Jagmag jagmag ek taare par ek shehzaadi ka hai ghar
Chupke chupke raat ko uthke dhyaan se dekhe koi agar
Jhilmil jhilmil hai taarein mein us shehzaadi ke zevar
Shehzaadi ithlaaye, shehzaadi yeh gaaye
Door kahin ek aam ki bagiya

Aadhi raat jab ho jaati hai, jab duniya so jaati hai
Taaron se shehzaadi utarke munne ke ghar aati hai
Meethe meethe saare sapne apne saath voh laati hai
Sote munne ki palkon pe yeh sapne voh sajaati hai
Sirhaane voh aaye, haule se voh gaaye
Door kahin ek aam ki bagiya

Javed Akhtar / Zubeidaa

What visual imagery !!! Waaah !!!

ps: In case you did not get all the lyrics, here is a translation which gets the essence of it more or less.

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