Shers She Shared

People search weird things and land up here. Here’s another example:

Someone wants to hear Surendra Sharma’s interview. Well, Don’t search in Google; search in YouTube already! And then someone wants to introduce oneself with the help of shers… WOW! What an ambition. I just want to be able to utter one simple sentence without any stammering and stuttering and hesitation in contrast to what I seem to do most of the time: “Oh… Hi! ya… umm… I’m Dharmesh.”!

Anyway, here are some shers courtesy of my superpartner’s pen but without any translations (to fill-up this month’s posts quota):

When Her relatives bug Her with questions about me:

ये जो इलज़ाम हम पर हर दिन लगते हैं काश उन्हें भी तो पता चले
दिल का धडकना, मुस्कुराके सहम जाना काबिले-तारीफ नहीं तो और क्या है

When She was surrounded by the mesmerizing weather at Kolkata:

बारिश का समा है, बहारें नौजवाँ हैं
ऐसे में तुम कहाँ हो और हम कहाँ हैं

When I suggested I have never uttered harsh words to Her:

प्यार मोहब्बत कि बातें वो किसी और से सीखने जा रहे थे
पास बैठे थे हम और वो अपनी किस्मत पे रोये जा रहे थे

इज़हार जब किया हमने, तब उन्हें ये समझ में आया
कितने नादान थे वो, जो अकेले जिंदगी जिए जा रहे थे

When I doubted that the above shers were Her original creations:

दिल दुखाया है मैंने तुम्हारा ऐसे ही कई बार
दी है इजाज़त इसकी तुमने ये है अच्छी बात

फायदा उठाने का मुझे कोई शौक़ नहीं है
ये गलतफ़हमी नहीं रखना कभी अपने पास

When She thought of being philosophical without me provoking Her, which has also led the length of the two lines to not quite match [;)]:

ज़िंदगी में कई ठोकरें खाई हैं हमने
वो आए हैं तो उनसे जूंझकर निकलने की हिम्मत आई है

When She was in the mood of bugging me:

बड़े बेमिसाल लग रहे हैं आज
क्या कुछ चटपटा छुपा रहे हैं आप?

कभी लगता है हमारा इम्तिहान लिया जा रहा है
प्यार में अब क्यूँ ये भी नहीं सहा जा रहा है

I poked my nose in between just like that:

मेरे तो जी भर कर बहुत इम्तिहान लिए
जब देने का वक़्त आया तो शायरी कर लिए?

She continued:

काश आप ऐसे ही लिखते रहें
हमारे दिल को खुश करते रहें

हम जी यूँ ही बहलाते रहें
आपकी यादों में आते रहें

When I said I’m going to sleep instead of talking to Her:

वैसे तो आपसे तू-तू मैं-मैं करना बड़ा अच्छा लगता है
लेकिन आज जो आप नहीं हैं सोचे चैन की नींद लेते हैं

When I shared some shers with Her from Anubhuti:

दिन की थकान झट में दूर हो गयी
आपने सुनाई जो शायरी, शाम रंगीन हो गयी।

–Snehil Sethia (स्नेहिल सेठिया)

Well, that’s too much of the so-called & well-hated ‘romantic’ poetry. Such close proximity to it makes my head twitch, my eyes droop, my ears dry up, and my hands ache so I need to rest now. You may continue with

something Else

Coercion

So you are sitting there peacefully waiting for the sweets to arrive but when they arrive they aren’t put in the plate, instead a hand supports the back of your head and the other hand shoves the sweet(s) in your face. When you refuse to let the sweet(s) be delivered in your mouth like that, the person asks, “What’s Your Problem?”. [This scenario is pretty much common in Indian weddings or at least those few that I’ve had the misfortune to attend.] Thus, proving the said person (‘it’ will be substituted from now on) has no concept of irony.

Similar situations arise when it asks you to sing or dance or play or participate in any such activity you loathe or are, in the very least, disinterested in exerting yourself. Obviously, such irrelevant trivialities are not really worth anyone’s time apart from a few eloquent professionals, who sometimes choose to speak on other people’s behalf. For example, Surendra Sharma does so on behalf of all the husbands! That’s why, I fill the following space with a David Mitchell Rant:

DM’s Refusal Rant

More of his Rants

Awkwardness Glorified!

I had wondered once in a while, why are there so few videos of Surendra Sharma reciting poems on YouTube? But then I realized that I know the most probable answer. He does not like being ‘recorded’ as evidenced from his ‘strong’ words (which resulted in a thunderous applause) to someone in the audience recording the event: “मेरी meri कविता kavita सुनने sunne का ka हक hak उन्ही unhi लोगों logon को ko है, hai, जो jo यहाँ yahaan पर par अपनी apni रात raat खराब kharab कर kar के ke बैठे baithe हैं! hain!” (Only those people, who are wasting their night by sitting here, have the right to listen to my poems!) After that, the camera was lowered but recording continued. After a minute or so, He (visibly irritated) pointed at the camera and said, “मैं Main पागल paagal हूँ, hun, बेवकूफ bewkoof नहीं! nahin!” (I am ‘crazy’ but not stupid!) and a roar of laughter erupted that led to the camera being turned off (as far as I know!).

I had also thought once in a while that it would be nice if there were some interviews of him as I do not recall ever seeing one on TV during my younger years. Though, I did miss one such opportunity at IITKGP in my 5^th year. There was supposed to be a ‘live panel discussion’ with 2-3 poets, including Surendra Sharma (of course!) but it was delayed by more than 3 hours. I did stand around the venue for more than an hour but lost my patience when the event kept getting postponed half-an-hour by half-an-hour by half-an-hour…

So, I was quite elated when I found one interview of him on YouTube today! Here are the two parts:

Interview with Surendra Sharma–Part 1

Interview with Surendra Sharma–Part 2

Now, I think I know why there are not many interviews of him. Apart from the usual reasons, He is like Dirac regarding this aspect – the aspect of giving & evading interviews!

Let us now talk about this particular interview itself. First of all, they should spell the name of the poet right. Second of all, it seemed to me that the host(ess) was too overwhelmed by his presence, was over-prepared & under-prepared simultaneously (like I’m when talking to WS) and did not ‘practice’ her Hindi beforehand. Third of all, some of the answers were just out of the blue for her and instead of ‘adjusting’ to that ‘blow’, kept on asking (pre-prepared) questions that had more or less been already answered! Fourth of all, why the hell am I ranting about all this here on my blog?

Anyway, ignoring the ‘embarrassing’ aspects of this interview, I got to hear Surendra Sharma after quite a long time and am indeed happy about that.

I’ll leave you with this video of Surendra Sharma reciting his much-talked about (in the interview above and in general) ever-green, ever-popular, ever-four lines:

चार लाईनाँ