Rare Poetry Blog ( اُردو شاعری و اُردو غزلیات): Harivansh Bachchan

میری باتوںکا پوگا اثر دیکھنا
سب کو آتانہیں یہ ہُنردیکھنا
meri batoN ka hoga asar dekhna
sab ko aata nahi yeh hunar, dekhna

رہ نہ جائے کوئی بھی کسر دیکھنا
جس قدر چاہئیے اُس قدر دیکھنا
reh na jaey koyee bhi kasar, dekhna
jis qadar chahiay, us qadar dekhna

میری آنکھوں سے پردے کئی ہٹ گئے
مُجھ کو آیا اُسے دیکھ کر دیکھنا
meri aaNkhoN say perday kayee hut gaey
mujh ko aaya usay dekh ker dekhna

کر گیا بھیڑ میں بھی نُمایاں مُجھے
اُس کا چھت سے یوُں نیچے اُتر دیکھنا
ker gya bheeR maiN bhi numayaaN mujhay
uska chat say yuN neechay utar dekhna

یہ تو پہلے سے مُشکل ہوُئی زندگی
کس طرح اب یہ ہوگی بسر دیکھنا
yeh tou pehlay say mushkil hui zindagi
kis trah ab yeh hogi basar dekhna

میری راہوں میں کانٹے بچھا تا ہے جو
ہوگا اُن سے ہی اُس کا گُذر دیکھنا
meri rahoN maiN kaNTay bichata hai jo
hoga unsay hi uska guzar dekhna

میں تو اُس سے جُدا ہوکے جاؤں گا مر
ایک دن وہ بھی جائے گا مر دیکھنا
maiN tou us say juda ho kay jaooNga mar
eik din woh bhi jaeyga mar dekhna

ایک مُدت اُسے ہونٹ بھینچے ہُوئی
اب ذرا اُس کی تُم چشم تر دیکھنا
eik muddat usay hoNt bheeNchay hui
ab zara uski tum chashm e tar dekhna

ہے یہ میری تسلی کو کافی بُہت
اُس کا میری طرف اک نظر دیکھنا
hai yeh mri tassalli ko kaafi bohat
uska meri taraf ik nazar dekhna

کُچھ تو عزت مُجھے اُس کی پیاری بھی تھی
کُچھ تو آتا نہیں آنکھ بھر دیکھنا
kutch tou izzat mujhay uski pyari bhi thi
kutch tou aata nahiN aaaNkh bhar dekhna

میں بھی ہُوں سخت جاں پر صبا کیا کروں
جاتے جاتے وہ اُس کا مگر دیکھنا
maiN bhi hooN sakht jaaN per SABA kya karooN
jaatay jaatay woh uska magar dekhna

Harivansh Rai Bachchan

Harivansh Rai Bachchan, born Harivansh Rai Bachchan Shrivastav, was a noted Hindi poet of Chhayavaad literary movement (romantic upsurge) of early 20th century Hindi literature. He was also a famous poet of Hindi Kavi Sammelan. He is best known for his early work Madhushala. He is also the father of Bollywood megastar, Amitabh Bachchan.

Harivansh Rai Bachchan

Personal Life

Born in a Srivastava Kayastha family, in the village of Babupatti (Raniganj) in the district of Pratapgarh, U.P. near Allahabad in the United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh) he was the eldest son of Pratap Narayan Shrivastav and Saraswati Devi. He was called bachchan (meaning promise at home. He received his formal schooling in a municipal school and followed the family tradition of attending Kayastha Paathshaalas to learn Urdu as the first step to a career in law. He later studied at the Allahabad University and Banaras Hindu University. In this period, he came under the influence of the independence movement, then under the leadership o fMahatma Gandhi.

Education

Realizing that this was not the path he wanted to follow, he went back to the university. However from 1941 to 1952 he taught in the English Department at the Allahabad University and after that he spent the next two years at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, Cambridge University doing his doctoral thesis on W.B. Yeats. It was then, that he used ‘Bachchan’ as his last name instead of Srivastava. Harivanshrai’s thesis got him his PhD at Cambridge. He is the second Indian to get his doctorate in English literature from Cambridge. After returning to India he again took to teaching and also served at All India Radio, Allahabad.

In 1926, at the age of 19, Bachchan married his first wife, Shyama, who was then 14 years old. However she died ten years later in 1936 after a long spell of TB at just 24 years of age. Bachchan again married, Teji Bachchan, in 1941. They had two sons, Amitabh and Ajitabh.

In 1955, Harivanshrai shifted to Delhi to join the External Affairs Ministry as an officer on Special duty and during the period of 10 years that he served he was also associated with the evolution of Hindi as the official language. He also enriched Hindi through his translations of major writings. As a poet is famous for his poem Madhushala (a bar selling alcoholic drinks). Besides Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, he will also be remembered for his Hindi translations of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Othello and also the Bhagvad Gita. However in Nov 1984 he wrote his last poem ‘Ek November1984’ on Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

Career

From 1941 to 1952 he taught English Literature at Allahabad University and then spent two years at Cambridge University, at St Catharine's College. There he studied with the famous English literature don, Thomas Rice Henn, and received a doctorate in English Literature for his work on the Irish poet W.B. Yeats and Occultism. It was there that he used Bachchan as his last name instead of 'srivastava. He was the second Indian to get his doctorate in English literature from Cambridge University.

After returning to India, he taught briefly and then worked as a producer for All India Radio,mumbai In 1955, he moved to Delhi to join theMinistry of External Affairs of the Government of India and there he was closely involved with the evolution of Hindi as the official language of India.