I can’t make up my mind whether I like Mirza Ghalib more or Faiz Ahmad Faiz. All I can say is it is a photo-finish situation and the one thing that tilts me towards Ghalib is when Begum Akhtar sings the poet of all seasons. But having said that, love for Ghalib’s witty poetry is definitely a part of my DNA for it is a part of my virasaat from my father. He could read Ghalib over and over again and still read it yet again!
Alzheimer’s had staked a claim on my father several years before the eternal Boatman came for him, but something that will remain etched in my mind is when he went to his home (he was staying with my sister in the last year of his life) to see if he needed anything from there, all he took was his well-thumbed Urdu language Diwan of Mirza Ghalib and nothing else. Even Alzheimer was unable to dim that love! In fact, when we made a biopic on his life Jaswant Rai Luthra — a tribute, there was not an iota of doubt as to what music should be used for it: Suraiya singing Mirza Ghalib all the way. All his friends who saw it on You Tube, were deeply touched as to how wonderfully appropriate the bard was for all the situations and the myriad journeys of life.
I have heard and read and re-read Ghalib in virtually all phases of my life from being besotted in love to horribly heartbroken to desperately despondent to hopelessly happy and always come away with a better understanding of the couplets that are virtually etched in the heart and mind. And when the Kathak danseuse Uma Sharma, who is such a dear lover of Ghalib, decided to actually “do something on Ghalib” in her words, one couldn’t agree more. Uma has been spearheading the Ghalib movement in the way she knows best: Kathak. She has been focusing attention onto Ghalib, help reclaim his haveli in Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk and incorporating his work in her art. She took it many steps further with her abhinaya pieces at the two-day festival.
One couldn’t help be reminded of poet and writer Amrita Pritam’s longstanding companion Imroz as he painted his works and incorporated Amrita’s words and Ghalib’s couplets in calligraphic intensity on the vibrant paintings. Another artist Simar Dagar of the first family of Dhrupad, who does Urdu calligraphy, incorporates Ghalib in her work so aesthetically that one can’t help seeing how the music that is virtually her lifeblood is seamlessly entwined in her
painting and the verses of the great poet. This is what I mean when I talk about the multi-disciplinary approach to art and all arts having a shared heritage.
Actually any art should be like that. The logic being that if it has one meaning, it must have a thousand meanings. I feel that any art gets elevated to art status only if the creator’s sincerity of intent and obviously craftsmanship join hands to create a work that stands the test of time and space. Every time one hears a piece of dance or music, sees a painting or reads poetry it must open up a boxful of interpretations and meanings. And every time one should be able to find yet another meaning and interpretation.
For instance, many a times when the devout who worship or pray to any vigrah or idol/image over a
period of time, start feeling a change of expression or munificence in an obviously “fixed” work of art, it is the heart’s connect that is finding an interpretation that is imbued by the beholder. How else does one explain the mesmeric hold that Mona Lisa’s smile has had on centuries of art aficionados? Or the delight of seeing Pandit Birju Maharaj enact a baby Krishna playing with Yashoda, or seeing the energetic strokes of M.F. Husain’s paintings. Lest you begin to think that it is only a trick of the perception of the mind of the onlooker, let me assure you that it has to do lots with the creator as well!
While on the subject of creative impulse, can’t help hearing the plaintive cries of the koyal as it sings from its leafy perch of the mango tree outside my window and almost by magic, Begum Akhtar’s passionate intensity wafts into my ears as she sang Koeliya maat kaar pukar, karajva laage kataar…

Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist and can be contacted on alkaraghuvanshi@yahoo.com