Skip to main content

Responsibility of A Writer- As per Ghalib

कहते हैं , जब रही ना मुझे ताक़त ए सुख़न 

जानूँ किसी के दिल की मैं क्यों कर कहे बगैर।  

"Kahte hain, jab rahi na mujhe taqat-e-sukhanJanoon kisi ke dil ki main kyunkar, kahe bagair"

 This is one of the lesser known couplet by Ghalib. Loosely translated it means-

“If it is said, that I no longer hold the power of writingWhy should I be told the affairs of someone’s heart, without asking?”

Being a writer is a rare privilege. It allows one to reach out deeper into human hearts, offers rare empathy to pain, happiness and ambitions of fellow human beings. When I say writing here, I am not referring to writers driven solely by commercial necessities, writing as per market-mechanization.

Writers, like doctors, have the ability and authority to look into our hearts and find the treasures which we never know, we possessed. This also puts a great responsibility on the writers. A writer searches the truth, not only for himself, but also for those about him and for the generations after him.

Not everyone is blessed with a writer’s sensitivity and the vastness of vision. Therefore, it is not always an easy life, but being a writer is a privilege. It needs to be earned. A writer often faces trauma, tragedy and terror on account of his writing in his private thoughts or public life. But he needs to keep at it. This only gives him a right to be a friend to many. It is not unusual for people to walk up to a writer and share with him or her feelings which they would otherwise not confide to best of their friends. Sometimes, it is an expectation of answers or sometimes it is merely trust and empathy that a writer offers. He needs to earn this privilege of universal brotherhood and he needs to keep being worthy of it. 

In today’s world where columns are brought by vested interests, this couplet of Ghalib is a reminder to people who write, whether as literary writers or journalists. We, the word-worshipers, owe it to ourselves. We need to celebrate our rare gift, which though might be difficult to pursue at time. Our writings need to have a purpose, offer a meaning to the aching hearts. Writers are like scientists and philosophers, searching the truth for those who are not able to search it for themselves

Which would mean that unless I am committed to reflect with sensitivity of people around me, whose feelings I can know being a writer, without being told, by interpretation and extrapolation as we often do, why should have this ability to delve into other people’s heart and affairs. This couplet may also be translated to mean
“If it is said, that I no longer hold the power of writingWhy should I know the affairs of someone’s heart, without being told?”

(I have planned a series trying to interpret one couplet of Ghalib in each post. This is a part of that initiative)
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Good job on this thank you for sharing
April 18, 2016 at 12:58 PM
Saket Suryesh said…
Thank you so much, Sir. Coming from you means so much to me.
April 18, 2016 at 10:22 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

पुस्तक समीक्षा - मैं मुन्ना हूँ - लेखक - मनीष श्रीवास्तव

  जिस प्रकार वनस्पति घी डालडा होता है , जैसे प्रतिलिपि ज़ेरॉक्स होती है , मनीष श्रीवास्तव जी श्रीमान जी होते हैं। कम लोगों को पाठकों का इतना स्नेह प्राप्त होता है , जो उनके कृतित्व एवं लेखन से आगे निकल जाता है। इसका कारण उनके लेखन में   सत्य का प्रतिबिम्ब परिलक्षित होना होता है जो पाठक ने उनके व्यक्तित्व में देखा सुना हो। लेखन मेरी दृष्टि में वह माध्यम होता है जिसके द्वारा अपने सत्य को वह कपोल कल्पना का आवरण पहना कर सार्वजनिक कर देता है और आत्मा को एक पिशाच के बोझ से मुक्त कर पाता है। कलम के माध्यम से लेखक वह कहने का साहस जुटा पाता है जिसे अन्यथा वह संभवतः न कह पाए।जब कोई कृति यह कर पाती है तो वह न केवल लेखक की आत्मा के पिशाच हटाती है वरन पाठक की आत्मा के धागों पर लगी गिरहें भी खोल देती है और उसके मानस को मुक्त कर देती है।   इस दृष्टि से मनीष की यह पुस्तक " मैं मुन्ना हूँ " अपने दायित्व का पूर्णता से निर्वाह करती ...
Post a Comment
Read more

शासन, न्याय, दंड और न्यायपालिका - बुलडोज़र न्याय

  दण्ड : शास्ति प्रजा : सर्वा दण्ड एवाभिरक्षति। दण्ड : सुप्तेषु जागर्ति दंडम धर्म विदुर्बुधा : ।। - मनु स्मृति   ‘ वास्तव में दण्ड ही प्रजा पर शासन करता है , दण्ड ही प्रजा की रक्षा करता है , जब प्रजा सोती है , दण्ड ही जागृत रहता है , इसी कारण विद्वान दण्ड को ही राजा का प्रमुख कार्य मानते हैं। ’  मनु स्मृति का यह श्लोक मानव सभ्यता के प्रारम्भिक काल में लिखा गया और आज भी उतना ही सामयिक है जितना शताब्दियों पूर्व था। जिस समाज में आम नागरिक अपनी सुरक्षा के प्रति निश्चिंत होता है और स्वयं शस्त्र नहीं धारण करता है , वह समाज सशक्त शासन के लिए जाना जाता है , जहाँ सत्ता प्रजा के सबसे निर्बल व्यक्ति के अस्तित्व एवं अधिकार के लिए कर्मशील हो। समाज में शासन और शासित का विभाजन इसी मूल सहमति के आधार पर निर्मित होता है और पश्चिम से आयातित सभ्यताओं को छोड़ दें तो एक सुसंस्कृत समाज में प्रत्येक आम नागरिक सैनिक नहीं होता है।   वर्तमान में ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Holy Cow!! Indian Media and the Reporting of Riots

A man walks into metro station, shoot himself. The story is a footnote on some inside pages of the newspaper. Even if someone reads it, it is security lapse which stands out. The dead doesn’t evoke attention, let alone sympathy. Without personalization, it is a lame news. I am not a journalist. I am not even a student of journalism in proper sense. If I go by the wise words by Anne Lamott , and analyze the reports, the intent and interest of the journalist stands open for scrutiny. A murder in Dadri, sad as it is, outcome of rumor or fact, is reported way differently from the way, the gory murder of a reporter in same state or killing of a soldier in same state is reported. Annie Lamott tells us that we need to be presented with the actors in a story with human perspective, that what they were as human beings, beyond a statistics or a name. We know the man murdered in Dadri was doing errands for the village, a soft-spoken man, who, with hard work did well to place his kids in...
Post a Comment
Read more