“Eyes” have remained the subject for my past two blogs and I have shared a few of my favorite Bollywood songs and other poetry on this theme. I now conclude with these two compositions. The first song is from the hit 1970 movie Safar (The Journey). It was picturized on the (first) “Superstar" of Bollywood, …
Enrapturing eyes
Last week I had commented on a nazm (poem) by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, extolling the beauty of eyes. A friend wrote to inquire if the nazm was in fact, not a love poem but a protest lyric since its latter verses continue along the lines that: … Aur bhi dukh hai zamaane mein muhabbat ke …
Hum Dekhenge … We Shall See
Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911 – 1984) was a Pakistani poet par-excellence. A staunch Marxist, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and awarded the Lenin Peace Prize. His strong opposition to illiberal political and religious ideologies resulted in frequent jail sentences and forced or self-imposed exile in England and Lebanon. In 1990, Pakistan …
If music be the food of love, play on …
We often chant the “Primordial Sound” – AUM (OM) when meditating. The most ancient scripture of India (possibly, the world), Rigveda states “First the Absolute (Brahma), then follows Waak (Sound) – the vibrating energy – which becomes the universe”. Sound (nada) is believed to be at the heart of the process of creation. In Hinduism, …