Showing posts with label Nazrul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nazrul. Show all posts

Thursday, January 17, 2008

When will we learn from them?


Today I was just talking to a friend when the topic about the eastwhile poet from Bangladesh, Kazi Nazrul Islam came upfront. I had read his numerous poems back in middle school, had sang some of his songs and had also heard stories about how different-thinking he was from my grandmother who used to be a great fan of his works. I have known that he was much talented and used to write straight from his heart. A prominent poet and a thinker who was up for social justice for women and was rebellious against the strained relationship between the Hindus and Muslims in the then times: he has left a mark very differently in the sands of time, be it literature, social reform or culture.

I was flipping through Wikipedia when I found this translation of one of his poems.

I am the unutterable grief,
I am the trembling first touch of the virgin,
I am the throbbing tenderness of her first stolen kiss.
I am the fleeting glance of the veiled beloved,
I am her constant surreptitious gaze...

...

I am the burning volcano in the bosom of the earth,
I am the wild fire of the woods,
I am Hell's mad terrific sea of wrath!
I ride on the wings of lightning with joy and profundity,
I scatter misery and fear all around,
I bring earth-quakes on this world! “(8th stanza)”

I am the rebel eternal,
I raise my head beyond this world,
High, ever erect and alone!

There are some people like us, who are so much intertwined in the knick-knacks of life, trying to explore avenues to make our lives better, running after goals, competing with adversaries; and then there were, are and will be people like Nazrul who geared the courage, the urge, the passion to think differently and make a difference to the world, in their own manner for the greater humanity.

When will we learn from them?