Name of the book: Cchaman barg rez
Name of the poet: Dr. Darakhshan Andrabi
Year of publication: 2012
Price: Rs 350/
Adarsh Ajit
Darakhshan Andrabi’s ghazals and nazams show complexity of thoughts, depth, philosophical touches and sublime sensibility. She presents Kashmir in a veiled and universal way. Unlike other poets, who urge to meet the beloved or reach out at their own aspiration in a happy ending, she wants to meet someone, have a chat and depart again:
goda yaar samov, darbaar karov, pata raavav
tim khaab panane lotipathe sarov, pata raavav (Let’s meet, have a chat and depart. Let us realize our dreams and then disperse). The poet is in love with many thoughtful questions which exhibit her poetic maturity. Many new poetic inventions, unknown and unexpressed in the Kashmiri literature, have been expressed in the book. The poet knows how to get liberated from the chains of mundane world. She covers the distance between the celestial and the existential worlds on a well-designed platform in her own characteristic way. Potentially rich she sums up her flight of thoughts:
yad mashraavav aslaafan heund khaab pagah,
ase kati chaarav sehraavan manz aab pagah
baari amaanat laash panane chem shaanan peth
dafnaavan kath jaayi cha vantam khaab pagah (If we forget the dreams of our ancestors, how shall we find the water in the deserts. The dead body on my shoulders is a burden. Where shall I bury the dream tomorrow?).
The title nazam chaman barg rez is striking for it depicts the turbulent valley. The words describing nature have been poetically woven together to present desolation:
vitasta naavi hamov sate aabas lekhaan banjar bath
resh yath bonay god bor paanai
tami vol paanas naarai naar
(Vitasta is writing songs of despair on its waters. Reshi safeguarded the roots but the chinar wore the fire all-around…..).
Realities have been depicted in a satirical way:
chari ta me kor akh samjota
so ani panni mulka petha maeni baapath
aazaadi halmah…vestaar rachha
…………………………
ba soz chari heund mulkh
qanoon motha, zabita gochrah ta waaz futhija’ (The sparrow and I reached an agreement. She will get a bag of independence and a few formulae from her country. I will send my fistful of laws, the purse of discipline and the bundle of sermons to her.)
In the cluster of quatrains the fourth line of each quatrain ends with a question, which is in contrast to the content of the first three lines. This experiment is unique in itself and enriches the Kashmiri literature. She is waiting for someone to read unwritten pages of her existence and calls someone to leave the fear psychosis and have the courage to see the light of the day:
ani gati hendi mousama ki khofa asethakh che taapa lanjan peth kenh bath
adlek travmate
adleken batan dichmai zev ta karim poora
gevmaten batan hinzi layi zale vaaryah changge
cha kyazi gaashas khochaan?
( Darkness made you leave the songs incomplete on the sunny branches. I gave language to the incomplete songs and completed them. The rhythm of the songs gave birth to the burning candles. Why are you afraid of the light?) Natural beauty magnetizes the poet often. She is an expert in using the natural richness of the murmuring streams, mountains and the free air with the human behavior. She wants to merge in nature and asks her own symbols to recognize their being with respect to the vibes of nature:
Kota zaroori chu zi
Poshan aasan panponpares
Baalthongen obr lang…….
Ta Kotah zaroori chu zi
Man rati timan naalmati
Ta mathi tim pannis vajoodas(How important is that the flowers should have butterflies and clouds for the mountains! And how much necessary that the soul should embrace them!)
Six stanza-poem ada tulizi qadam yath basti manz talks about a person who is conscious about paths, the dangers and the ways to reach the destination and asks the other to proceed with extreme caution. Giving the background for this journey the poet informs:
Yati kaakad chee kooten mare mare
Parbat daari chu curfew naal walith
Yali lookh taten nani waana saman
Ada tulzi kadam yath basti manz( Mountainous windows are sealed curfew. Paper is pasted on the poles here. When people will assemble, all visible, then take a step in this habitat.’
Flowers, ascetics, nightingale, moon, consciousness, austerity, and above all the wants that have been put under bridles of self-mortification give rise to unanswered questions:
Poshav karimate jaaman chaakh
Bulbul pari kyah lolake vaakh
Yami shahrai vushnair kunukh
Nethnon mati kov basti chaakh(How a nightingale will sing a song of love when the flowers have burnt their attire. O mad faqir, you came naked, the city is devoid of the warmth).
Romantic influence is evidently visible in most of the couplets of Darakhshan. In this dark age when the relations have declined, love is gone and hypocrisy rules the romantic essence of the poet gives hope. When man is angry with the surroundings, the poet gives a call to the beloved:
Chum az ti yavaan jaira
Ba chas az ti vatis posh
Haa vaava tamis baavta pagaam, sahar phol(I am fed up , I am the frozen flower even today,
O air, carry the message to him, it is dusk).
Darakhshaan tests doha-form also. In one of her dohas she writes:
Deewaaras lekith, rat navith tehreer
Shure gai aangan buze, yee sapdus tafseer(Inscriptions on the walls are in blood. Children disappeared. This was their exegesis).
Drakhshan Andrabi’s content is rich on the philosophical level. Occasionally she succumbs to her heart. She faces difficulty in exhibiting her being:
‘Setha mushkil chu
Panni aasnuk tamaashi karun
Ya panani raavrana yanuk (It is awfully difficult to dramatize the levels of existence and the scattering of the self).
The pain, misery, difficulties, travails and loss of the dearest ones have broken her heart. The poet is shattered. Her wounds bleed. But she develops new skills for living and for the outflow of her emotions:
Timan baapath
Yaman asnukh chu haavas
Timan baapath
Yaman yachnuk chu taakath
Kanaan chas dag
Heyiv maa?’ (I sell my pain for those who want to laugh and have desires. Will you buy?).
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