What does Gulzar evoke (in you)?

The pen-name of an outstanding poet, lyricist, writer, director, filmmaker et al. But those are just little details relevant only if you were preparing for a quiz or writing a pedantic thesis where Gulzar just happened to be a mere subject.

But anyone who has experienced love, happiness, joy, bitterness, belonging, sorrow, sadness, tragedy-basic human emotions-knows Gulzar or more accurately… experiences Gulzar. How does one judge an artiste’s impact….by reading, writing, critiquing or eulogizing (his/her works)…..but the ultimate compliment could be not expressing anything at all……but simply enjoying, experiencing and communing. Gulzaar Saab simply touches soul…….he will stir up feelings that one is extremely familiar to as well as alien to, force one to conduct soliloquies and jugalbandis, makes it nigh inevitable that everyone joins the (his) Caravan swept away by  joys and sorrows of life. Feelings, feelings, feelings….the fundamental essence of life as well as the very personification of Gulzaar Saab!

Back to the mundane……..let’s try to run an outline since fleshing it out fully is an impossible task. Let’s leave the hard to express, unexplainable, un-writable (see Gulzaar Saab is messing with the writing) raw material of Gulzaar Saab – the deep feelings, the profound sensations, the intense emotions- just for a moment and lamely attempt to capture some facets that do not intimidate the one writing it nor the unfortunate one reading it!

A genre unto himself

When you see the creative genius in white kurta, in that serene visage with a beatific smile- you smell the literary fragrance, levitate a little in exuberance and not a little enchanted by elegance in blood and flesh and spectacles. He was an important cog or rather yoke in the wheel of literary giants who had their hearts in the right place; confiding  and confabulating with humanity in general and humanness in particular. One look around and we instantly know that Gulzaar Saab is an endangered species in a sense for his ability to connect deeply with audiences and imperceptibly making them journey into themselves.

When he narrates soul of the song in his baritone voice, the immaculate expressions, his love for rhythm, the intense simplicity soothes the soul........and makes it hear more

Does recognition, international or otherwise, really matter to him? Yes it does….but not to him but for unaware masses, fraternities and groups as the only way they can get to the experience is by bestowing an award or an honor. These folks must be exchanging conspiratorial smiles fully realizing that ‘award’ is just a means to an end….entry into Gulzaar Saab’s world.

Re-discovery and renewal

Thoughts are ageless, Thinkers don’t age, and he is a reverse-aging wonder who gets younger day-by-day.  He’s churning foot tapping numbers like nobody’s business at 77, while producing the deeply contemplative stuff barely out of teens…..nothing is linear with Gulzaar Saab! The multi-talented maestro has been flowing like a gentle but perennial river, enriching everything that came across/along its path for better part of the last 5 decades while a cavalcade of writers across generations gurgled, spurted and vanished in the sands of time. Gulzar Saab’s captivating spell is varied, voluminous and only finessed with age, his constant re-discovery is not a bad template for people in any profession. Class is permanent but Genius is getting classier, better, newer...forever..!!

Intense Sensitivity                

There is no single, absolute emotion, even in life’s extremities we are engulfed by myriad emotions – tragedy with a tinge of hope, memories that convey an eternal wait, a dead-end that asks us to reflect… many such ordinary yet extraordinary human moments, Gulzar captures these intricate corners and blind alleys with uncanny understanding and empathy, artistic dexterity, poignant poetry- it’s a rare craft to capture what’s in between pure dusk and dawn.

3-Dimensional poet

Gulzaar Saab’s words vivify….instead of confounding the reader and listener alike they become friends and compadres that one recognizes and confides. The voice, the words haunt and resonate deep, transport us to the eternity and make a passive listener into a method actor.

It might be possible to peek into a writer’s heart and mind through reading a story, lyric, poem but with his works just a few words would suffice…they quiz us, create their own world, invite us to be guests- how is it possible when you add two words, it creates a story and stays with us…forever - ‘dil dhoondtha hai’, ‘naam gum jaayegaa’ ‘tum pukar lo” just to name a few inexplicable phrases that reverberate forever in the ears, minds and hearts. Gulzaar Saab is a 3-d poet, rather than simply multi-dimensional…the listener doesn’t need the glasses, the poetry will transport us, where ever he wants us to go, where ever we want to go- the mood, the setting, nostalgia, longing  will take us on the roller- coaster called life..When you hear the opening tune of ‘Dil Dhoondtha hai’ you know you are in for an emotional odyssey with reverberations far and near, some stirring and a conversation with the soul. When you listen to his songs your perspective towards life changes, every time you listen there is a new interpretation. To say his works are multi-layered is a passé…the more you unravel the more you find and the pursuit continues.

Signature style

Gulzar Saab uses simple words, inanimate objects and gets an exponential impact on the listener “Umrisi lambi sadkon ko”- Endless roads that take you nowhere   “Din khaali khaali bartan hai”- Days are empty vessels and offer no  hope,  “Aane Waala Pal, Jaane Waala Hai”- Do you need countless Eckhart Tolles, when Gulzar sums up all in a single line... power of the present moment..!! Words that distill and capture the essence of emotions or whole experiences- melancholy, the power of a moment, nostalgic longing, hope...you name it and there’s Gulzaar Saab potion waiting for you.

High Literary, uncompromising standards

I remember an article on the popular song ‘chaddi pehne ke phool khila hai’ from Jungle book which reinforces his uncompromising standards and integrity. While his pen wrapped and embellished everything in grace and beauty his far more successful contemporaries were busy doing the opposite with “choli ke peeche”. Gulzar saab has the versatility to bless any genre with equal aplomb- “He is a man of all seasons and a man for all reasons”

Vision of a common man

A professor who was like a role model recommended us the book 7 Habits of highly effective people; we solemnly read the book with a meek expectation to become instantly like our mentor, nothing of that happened!  It was a compelling book, quintessence of all the success literature in the world squeezed to create Effectiveness 101 for dummies, the book was simple to read but knotty to apply as it asks you to plan, execute, validate, plan… keep track of your progress through diaries, charts and for a receptive young person it seemed a very attainable state, all that you do is create your vision statement and work backwards, how simple that can be? If Japanese can reverse engineer and create wonders why can’t I?  The thought process ended then and there... Like many good motives in life, rubber never meets the road…

Any good book doesn’t matter if it’s a book on success or a famous failure, they inspire you, coerce you to introspect. In a few days once you are out of the spell, the reality with its chaos within and outside surrounds, the grand motive evaporates, a finicky reason not to apply the rules is Experience is the best teacher! We learn when we see, feel, fall than the grand ideals in books as they are someone else’s experiences. Everyone is unique and like “MADE BY MYSELF” tag, it’s not easy to put into action certain concepts even if we like them, but give credit where it’s due, the book 7 habits accentuated that need a purpose in life, the concepts ‘think with the end in mind’, ‘effectiveness’ lingered on.

After many years the quiescent questions for an inquisitive mind became active-

Can someone have a concrete vision right at the beginning and work backwards, then when does the beginning start?

Will we have enough maturity right at the beginning to have a complete vision?

Is Vision, the thoughts we carry subconsciously every day, if yes we don’t write them on anywhere?

Even if someone uncommon did have a vision, isn’t life is a long a time to keep the permanence and application to do the checks and balances? more over today’s world is too chaotic (may be it always was) to keep a tab at every stage of our life as the priorities keep shifting- some by our own initiation, some driven from the outside, vicissitudes of everyday life keep us on our toes with hardly any time to think about the unknown, distant vision.

On the contrary, my observation is we are good at attainable goals with immediate and tangible benefits, like when we were young adding few qualifications to our name was the goal- it had socio-economic benefits, as we grow the goals progress too, in a qualitative, calmer and mature way.  If we are simple by nature, the goals can be as **simple as make more money or find ways to make more money, take care of the family, be stable and enjoy all the good things in life, the dilemma is for complex people, the goals can be very quirky as they cannot be definite, or too many, they hang in the midair waiting to be clarified, this leads to another question- Are Vision, Goals the most important aspects to be an successful?

    ** Simple and complex is only for generalization, they are abstract and topics by themselves

Popular success literature puts too much emphasis on vision, goals as a formula to win; the persuasive writers make the reading an enjoyable ride, when the reader finishes the book... It’s a nice, wholesome feeling...Everything that starts well, ends well.  A right analogy to put this  formulaic approach is you have a simple choice-black and white, if you choose one you win if not you lose, that’s where I see an incompleteness. Major part of our active life we don’t spend in black and white, we spend in the gray area- the journey, many ways to look it- everyday life, efforts we put in to reach our goals, the drive to reach a vacation spot…which is conveniently ignored as routine, as focus is too much on the end goal, the big pot of gold! Disturbed if we don’t reach the goal, thrilled if we reach, overlooking the journey where we spend bulk of our time, we need to enjoy every day to make the end goal a seamless transition; end points are mere by-products not the whole. Goals give us momentary happiness, make the journey a gratifying one and feel the true bliss!

from an old travelogue

Yosemite Valley-  The eternal wait comes to a screeching halt as we start the Odyssey straight into the Californian Heartland- The Yosemite National Park, the drive itself was a pleasure from bustling global metros to the deserted open spaces to thick forests, the expansive hinterlands around make your mind really think, wander, the fact is world is huge in every aspect, we are just miniatures and our small world is still smaller, don’t get lost in yourself, look out, look at the big picture and your small world will look much better. Yosemite was just awesome, pure thrill filled with the striking beauty of Yosemite Valley, whose flat floor contrasts with near vertical granite walls over which pour several major waterfalls.

Lake Tahoe- A big day, trip to Lake Tahoe, it seemed exact replica of the  previous day- wilderness of mountain peaks, rivers, meadows, groves of giant  trees, curvaceous, scary turns and of course long weekend crowds. As it  always happens, when you have thought you figured all out, the surprise awaits, I wish my words could express it all, 8000 ft up on Sierra Nevada mountains, down in the graben, surrounded by mountains around, you find a  dark blue ocean like wonder called Lake Tahoe, its sheer magic of the  almighty!!!. We squeezed in enough halts in a short 4 hour trip across the lake, time to graze, click few snaps and lots of memories.

Tribute to K.Balagopal

In today’s world it’s difficult to draw inspiration from anyone...few years back passing away of an activist - K.Balagopal caught my attention, his name was familiar to me for many years as a someone who was mentioned along with hargopal, kannibhiran, varavara rao-the well known naxalite sympathizers/architects (for a layman) and nothing beyond. Out of curiosity I tried to dig a bit and started exploring the person- his work over the years.  Slowly but surely and deeply it made me think on wider topics, his whole persona created goose pimples, made me introspect, look around and think- we are miscategorized as a social being when there is nothing in us that proves it, we live in a very self focused world that gets smaller and smaller with time, far away from Balagopal’s world.

A Mathematical genius who could have moved abroad to become a world class scientist/mathematician (what ever), would have made fame, fortune and lived happily ever after, takes a U-turn to become a lawyer and dedicates his  life to fight for civil rights of the oppressed in the most simple, effective and hands-on way.

Balagopal was a silent reformer, peace advocate, an eternal optimist, humanitarian, perseverant fighter and one who really understood the foundations, ingredients of a true democratic country- freedom for all.

Reforming the feudal, primitive society not through violence but through dialog, education, awakening, tremendous patience and not through hollow ideals that look good in books. Despite the slow and painful path to the changes, he never wilted but became stronger and stronger, on one of the TV interviews he does mention “ police beat me and left me thinking I was dead” the voice does not complain, it’s a serene voice that simplifies the complexity, resonates hope and optimism. I have never heard such voice in adversity; gargantuan human efforts like these are possible only by realized souls with the probability of being seen once in a lifetime.

Its beyond my imagination to know that someone can be so spiritually and philosophically rich to have  ignored the physical threats, tortures and still fight for decades (with minimal support from the mainstream) and a single goal in mind- “equal rights for all”.

The irony was mainstream (media, intellectuals etc) never valued the virtues of such a great movement for them he was a poorly dressed writer in slippers with cheap banners supporting the naxalites (fact is he never supported violence), even if someone did understand the movement, covering news on civil liberties for some illiterate poor is a quantum waste of time with no returns, for the rest he will remain an inspirational figure no less than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. With the right reception his efforts would have been recognized internationally and might have rightly impacted the oppressed.