(389) Best of 5 years ago this month Sept. – 2008 (17)

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Art of Balanced Exaggeration in Conversation – 1

Art of Balanced Exaggeration in Conversation – 2

-Valibhai Musa 

 

વાણીવિનિમયમાં સંતુલિત અતિશયોક્તિની કળા (૧)

Click here to read in English
હું વાણીવિનિમયના શાસ્ત્રનો કોઈ નિષ્ણાત નથી; કે વળી કેવી રીતે વ્યક્તિઓ સાથે વાતચીત કરવી અને કેવી રીતે સભાઓને સંબોધવી તેનો માર્ગદર્શક પણ નથી. મને મારી જાત ઉપર દયા આવે છે કે શા માટે હું મારા નાના મોંઢામાં મોટો કોળિયો મૂકવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરીને બહુ જ ગહન અને વૈજ્ઞાનિક અભ્યાસ સમા વિષયને મારા આજના લેખમાં પસંદ કરી રહ્યો છુ! હું મને પ્રશ્ન પૂછું છું કે, ‘મિ. લેખક (Author), તમે કેવી રીતે હાથમાં તલવાર વગર જ માત્ર બખ્તર ધારણ કરવાની હિંમત કરી રહ્યા છો!’ પણ, હું ‘જે થાય તે ખરું’ ના ખ્યાલ સાથે તૈયાર જ છું. હું અહીં ગુજરાતી સાહિત્યકાર વીર નર્મદના પડકારને યાદ કરું છું, ‘યાહોમ કરીને પડો, ફત્તેહ છે આગે’.

હવે જો હું આપણા ભારતીય રેલવે પ્રધાન શ્રી લાલુપ્રસાદ યાદવને તેમના બજેટ પ્રવચન દરમિયાન તેમણે કહી સંભળાવેલી કેટલીક હિંદી પંક્તિઓના તેમણે જ કરેલા હિંમતભર્યા અંગ્રેજી ભાષાંતર સંદર્ભે તેમને અહીં યાદ કરું તો મારા ભલા વાંચકો મને થોડોક સહી લેશે તેવી આશા સેવું છું. હું મારા વિષયની હદ બહાર જવા માટે દિલગીર છું, પણ તેમના હિંદી પઠનને તમારા મનોરંજન ખાતર તમારી નોંધ બહાર અહીં આપવા મારી જાતને રોકી શકતો નથી.

 

Art of Balanced Exaggeration in Conversation – 1

Click here to read in Gujarati
I am neither an expert of studies of conversation nor a counselor of how to speak with individuals or address an audience. I have pity on myself why I try to put a big morsel in my small mouth by choosing a profound and scientific  topic for my today’s post! I question to myself, “How dare you (Mr. Author) put on an Armour without having a sword in hand?” But, I am prepared for ‘Come what may!’ I recall Narmad, the brave (a Gujarati man of letters) with his call ‘Go forward and victory is there waiting for you.’ *

My good Readers, you will bear with me if I remember our Indian Railway Minister Mr. Laluprasad Yadav for his daring of translating a couplet into English which he had recited in Hindi  while delivering his Budget speech. I am sorry for going out of the track of my subject for a while as I cannot restrict myself giving you his Hindi text below in English script for your ‘Off the record’ entertainment!

“Sab kah rahe hain, hum ne gazab kiya hai,
Karodon ka munafa, har ek sham diya hai,
Phal salon mein ab dega paudha jo lagaya hai,
seva ka samarpan ka hamne farz nibhaya hai.”

Mr. Laluprasad Yadav’s presence of mind and his witty nature encouraged him to translate the above verse in his stumbling as well as pigeon English; and, not only the House but the Speaker Mr. Somnath Chatterjee also burst into laughter. Enjoy  few sample lines  he said in the translation as “They are saying that Lalu Yadav  has planted  a fruit tree and every year it is a duty of mine to grow fruit trees”.

I shall link above episode with  an appropriate  point of my  further   text, but meanwhile, I am  going to represent my attempt of conversation on a topic  with  my   little   knowledge in that  regard  to justify the title  of my Article. During  our  S.S.C.  Exam. year 1959, we  had  a  lesson  in  English Text  Book  as ‘Yateo’s Gift’. This  reference is  enough  here as  my  main purpose   is   to let  you  know  the  moral  from the story that “A little gift  may be perfect  if love goes with it”. In my case also, the same slogan may be applied in the words as “A little learning may be perfect if style of presentation goes with it”.

Here is the back-ground of the episode in brief. It was the year of 1982. We were diverting our family business of Handloom Cloth Weaving as in kind of Master Weavers to Automobiles. We had started our business with some dealerships of Tyre, Lubricants and Auto Electrical Companies. Mr. Subeer Benerjee was the District Manager of ‘Firestone’ Tyre Company at Ahmedabad. One day he paid a courtesy visit to our premises at Palanpur. Normally, the Company Executives and even SRs also never accepted any dealer’s Lunch or Dinner invitations. ‘Firestone’ was an America based multinational company and it was their disciplinary code of conduct. But, as an exceptional case, Mr. Benerjee accepted our invitation to honor our feelings of hospitality. We took a very nice Hotel on Highway to have our lunch. Being our order of some special items, we had to wait for about half an hour. Mr. Benerjee and myself were sitting comfortably in the family Room. With the last name, he was supposed to be a Bengali, but he was from Indore (M.P.). Just to pass the time and also to push back our hunger, we started our conversation in general as follows:

“Valibhai, you are a well educated man and may be interested in Urdu Gazals and alike forms of poetry. Am I right?”

“Of course!” (An unexpected question puzzled me and I felt that something unripe has been cut off with my positive answer!)

“Very good! I am fortunate enough to listen to some She’rz (couplets) from you just to enjoy.”

“Certainly! Why not?  But, do you know the etiquettes of a listener?” (I already knew my limitations to cope with the challenge in this regard; but, I was trying to confuse him just for innocent amusement!)

“Yes, yes. Paying of Daad (words of appreciation)! Isn’t it?”

“Yes, certainly!

I had to pass through an acid test! Luckily, I recalled some couplets heard from my friend some years ago. Now, I am prepared to be like a brave warrior with naked sword in hand without wearing  the Armour, quite opposite to my former statement!

“But, with one condition! You will not ask for any more, you see!”

“I can’t understand your condition. Will you please explain?”

“I would think that you do not evaluate that high-rank poet and his top most creation in Urdu properly!”

I was trying to prepare an embankment for incoming water in advance  as I had a single arrow in my arrow case!

“O.K. Baabaa! I agree with you, but which Urdu poet you are going to talk about?”

“You, you will name the poet, not me, if you are a true fan of him!” I already knew the name, but I wanted to throw the ball in Mr. Benerjee’s court.

“Valibhai, you are really a very cute person. No doubt, I can recite hundreds of She’rz (stanzas) of celebrated Shaayars (poets); but now, I am sure that I’ll be defeated by you! You have tempted me for a long time. Now, please recite it for quick comfort of my mind.”

Now,I felt myself safe in my fortification. I said, “Janaab, to Pesh hai ye! (Sir, now it is this!)”

dil hee to hai na sang-o-KHisht dard se bhar na aaye kyoN ?
royeNge  ham   hazaar  baar,  koee  hameiN  sataaye  kyoN? (1)

[ sang = stone, KHisht = brick ]

દિલ હી તો હૈ ન સંગો ખિશ્ત,દર્દ સે ભર ન આયે ક્યોં?
રોયેંગે હમ હઝાર બાર, કોઈ હમેં સતાયે ક્યોં? (૧)

dair naheeN, haram naheeN,  dar naheeN, aastaaN naheeN
baiTHe haiN rehguzar pe ham, GHair hameiN uTHaaye kyoN ? (2)

[ dair = temple, haram = mosque, dar = gate, aastaaN = abode/thresh-hold, rehguzar = path/way ]

દૈર નહીં  હરમ નહીં, દર નહીં આસ્તાં નહીં,
બૈઠે હૈ રેહગુજર પે હમ, ગૈર હમેં ઉઠાયે ક્યોં? (૨)

As soon as my recitation of the verse was over, Mr. Benerjee, forgetting his status and rising from his chair to embrace me, cried out loudly, “That’s it! Well done, well done, Valibhai! He is none else but Mirza Ghalib, am I right? Now, I have to honor your prior condition with no any hesitation as I am really one of his admirers. Valibhai, I am very happy beyond words! Really, you gave me an exciting surprise! Thanks, thanks a lot.”

“Exciting surprise? Really! I feel good for your compliment, but still I am going to give you one more surprise while seeing you off!”, I said.

My good Readers, you will have to wait for this ‘one more surprise’ promised to Mr. Banerjee just until before the Part-2 of this Article concludes and I see you off then.

Wish you a nice day, meanwhile

–  Valibhai Musa
Dtd.: Sep. 20, 2009

* યાહોમ કરીને પડો ફત્તેહ છે આગે!

 

Life and Literature

Click here to read in Gujarati
In Sanskrit, there is a verse (Shloka) as “साहित्य संगीत कला विहीन, साक्षात् पशु, पूच्छविश्नहीन” (Sahitya sangeet-kala vihin, sakshat pashu poochchh vishna-hin). Its translation is as “A man, not interested in Literature, Music (Classical – as it is the ancient verse) or any Art, is just like an animal without a tail and horns.” Here, I am going to discuss only literature in context to human life. Literature is an indispensable necessity of human life. It is an eye opener, a driving force to mould our life and a preacher to understand human life, human love, human nature and overall to say humanism. The literature helps a man to come out from animalism and adopt humanism. Gift of intellect from God to a man makes him different and superior to all other creatures. The study of literature, inclusive of religious ones and other sciences, not only sharpens the intellect of a human; but also provides him inspiration and aptitude to know everything, visible or disguise, in the universe. With reading the works of poets, philosophers and intellectuals and also religious literature of spirituality, divinity and mysteries of the universe and its Creator, a man can become capable to uplift himself to be a super human from simply a human. The literature feeds the human mind and soul such a food with which it can enrich own thoughts to make own life successful and think for the good of the whole mankind of the universe.

A matured man or woman who remains indifferent towards literature is just like a kid of a famous poem of Rabindranath Tagore titled as ‘Authorship’. I know that to spare more space for this side reference in my brief essay is not appropriate, but I can’t withhold myself as I am sure that the poor level of the kid of the poem to understand literature will compel my Readers to admit that the people, matured but passive towards literature, are like this kid unable to understand literature with the only difference that they people do not play with toys and swing in cradles. Let us enjoy some pieces of thoughts of the kid of above poem here below.

The child complains to its mother with some charges put upon its father, an author. Firstly, it says that the father writes a lot of books but what he writes is beyond its (kid’s) understanding. It tries to make its mother agree with that she is also in same position unable to understand what he writes. The child considers the mother superior to the father as she can tell nice stories which the father can’t write. A very cute question is asked whether he has not heard the stories of giants, fairies and princesses from his own mother or has forgotten them all. Further, the child says that the father is crazy towards writing books as if he plays at making books. The child complains also that she does not allow it to make the slightest noise in the house that may disturb him. In child’s view, the writing of books is nothing more than its own writing of the alphabets just as a..b..c..d..e in its notebook. We can see the humorous argument of the child in a climax that the father wastes heaps and heaps of papers and she does not allow it (kid) to take a single sheet of paper to make a boat with. Here, my summary of the poem is over but I recommend to my Readers to read original text of the said poem to enjoy it nicely.

Now, I once again come to my main track of the theme of my essay. Today, the Reading of literature has decreased to a considerable rate. Two factors have played their rolls in this regard; one, other forms of entertainment such as TV, Movie, Sports etc. have become popular and, two, human life has become strenuous in gaining money for survival of the family. In such situation, the Reading is going to become a lost art and that is not a good sign for the future of the world.

Modern means of entertainment which have taken place of Reading of literature are merely aimed to give pleasure, luxury and time-pass only. They are far away from teachings of any moral lessons or developing any wisdom in the minds and souls of the people. No doubt, all these are the various forms of an Art, but they are deficient and imperfect for cultural advancement of the people.

For centuries, a debate on art, divided into two schools of thought as ‘Art for art’s sake’ and ‘Art for life’, has been going on without any conclusion. Concept of ‘Art for art’s sake’ may be good for artists themselves as they are the monopoly holders of saving art, but the common men need something more that may uplift them in all aspects of their lives, something that may empower them to strengthen their inner thoughts, something that may realize them the realities of life rather than flying high in the sky of imaginations. Any art whether it may be even literature must have the aim of bringing some change in human behaviors and morals. Modern popular arts such as western noisy music, vulgar performance of dance, nude painting and photography, violent and sexy movies and TV serials are just like slow poisons for the new generation capable enough to throw them deep down into the valley of decline. We can distinguish the basic difference between literature and other arts in a very simple way that literature teaches us what to enjoy and other arts teach us how to enjoy.

Literature opens the windows of our mind through which we can gaze towards the unknown inner and outer world which we have not yet seen. The works of great writers have changed the thinking directions of the people with their writings. They have sown the seeds of social awareness and ethical reformation in the minds of the people and many revolutions such as developing ideas of democracy, abolishing slavery and hatred towards so called untouchables, avoiding discriminations of all kinds, uplifting the status of a woman in society etc. have been possible covering the most part of the world and its numerous communities. It is the role of literature that has changed the most of the false traditions throughout the globe. To maintain the size of my Article, I cannot catalogue all those books both literary and religious which have played a vital role in changing the values of human life.

Literature is capable to change our beliefs if they have been falsely hammered into our minds. It makes us a mentally matured person to grow high towards understanding. An American historian and author – Barbara W. Tuchman quotes on books of literature as “Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled (lame), thought and speculation at a standstill.” For expansion of horizons of knowledge, no any alternative other than books can be so effective and result oriented.

My humble request and counseling to parents worldwide is that they should encourage their children to read some good books or cultural magazines. In modern social system, birthdays of children are celebrated by giving them various gifts. Should we not add at least a single good book to the list of gifts?

– Valibhai Musa
Dtd.: May 5, 2008