There haven’t been many Hindi poets who have written in the sophisticated Urdu as well. Dushyant Kumar, born in Bijnore, UP, in 1933 was the first poet to pioneer Hindi ghazals.
He started his literary career in Allahabad while he was a student at the Allahabad University and later worked as a scriptwriter with the All India Radio in Bhopal. He wrote on the political situation of the country, imploring the oppressed to fight for their rights.
His poetry wakes you up from the slumber and urges to do something about the prevailing injustice.
Here are 13 verses from Dushyant Kumar’s ghazals & poems that are relevant even today:
Translation: The pain has mounted beyond bearing, must melt now. The Himalayas should part, and Ganga must flow now.
Translation: To create a furore isn’t my aim. The whole effort is that the situation should change.
Translation: The fire should keep burning, if not in my heart then in yours.
Translation: Thinking that there’s shade beneath the trees, here I came and sat under a babool.
Translation: There’s a forest in your eyes where I lost my way. You pass by like a train and I shiver like a bridge.
Translation: How can one not create a hole in the sky? Throw at least one stone with dedication.
Translation: He’s not just a man, but a complete witness of his own miseries. He has a deep wound mark on his forehead.
Translation: I kept sliding down after I slipped from there. I didn’t know that this phase of life is so steep.
Translation: When life is miserable, it’s only then that the love achieves its pinnacle.
Translation: Day and night you talk about the life’s philosophy. But your actions are that of a fool. Why this?
Translation: At least the cold breeze sweeps through this river’s edge. My boat, even though it’s dilapidated, takes on the sea-waves.
Translation: Whenever you got burnt by the sun, I became the tree. Often, I’ve stayed in your life like a reason.
Translation: Keep your hand on my heart and try to understand my helplessness. I’m gaining from this side and deteriorating from that.
Beautiful designs by Gauri Saxena.