The Best of Perveen Shakir
Perveen Shakir Ghazalyaat
Shakir's ghazalyaat are considered "a
combination of classical tradition with modern sensitivity," and mainly
deal with the feminine perspective on love and romance, and associated
themes such as beauty, intimacy, separation, break-ups, distances,
distrust and infidelity and disloyalty.
Most of Shakir's ghazalyaat contain
five to ten couplets, often - though not always - inter-related.
Sometimes, two consecutive couplets may differ greatly in meaning and
context [For example, in one of her works, the couplet 'That girl, like
her home, perhaps/ Fell victim to the flood is immediately followed by
'I see light when I think of you/ Perhaps remembrance has become the
moon'.
Shakir's ghazalyaat heavily rely on
metaphors and similes, which are repeatedly and thought-provokingly used
to bring force and lyricism in her work. A fine example of this is seen
in one of her most famous couplets, "Wo tou khushbu hai, hawaon main bikhar jaye ga/ Masla phool ka hai, phool kidher jayega?" [Translation:
He is fragrance and would waft in the air/ the trouble lies with the
flower - where shall the flower go?] where Shakir relates 'fragrance' to
an unfaithful lover, 'air' to the unfaithful person's secret loves, and
'flower' to the person being cheated. Other metaphors Shakir commonly
uses are titli [butterfly] for a Romeo, badal [cloud] for one's love, baarish [rain] for affection, and andhi[storm] for difficulties.
Some of Shakir's ghazalyaat or, more
specifically, couplets, have gained an iconic status in Urdu literature.
One of her most famous couplets if the one given above. Another famous,
Shakir couplet is "Jugnuu ko din kay wakt parakhne ki zid karain/ Bachchay hamaray ehed kay chalaak ho gaye" [They
insist upon evaluating the firefly in daylight/ The children of our
age, have grown clever], which is often quoted to comment on the often
surprising knowledge and awareness of the 21st century child.
