Monday, January 7, 2013

Munfarid (मुनफ़रिद)



A few years back, I came across these beautiful lines in a well made Hindi film "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara". Listening to them, I felt that I have had the same feeling. But I have also had it in another setting which is quite off normal (expressed with all due respect to Akhtar saab).

तारीक़ जिस्म पर, समेटे सैकड़ों कहानियाँ,
राज़ छुपाती तिलिस्मी रात,
हर शब्, अनछुई सी,
लेती है करवटें,
नाज़िश को नज़ाकत से देती मात

क़ैद कर लूँ सियाह समंदर के ये उजाले,
के आतिश-ए-गुलों को लिए, सुबह आए न आए

इसीलियें
अनदेखी रोशन दुनियाओं को अँधेरे में ताकता
बस मैं हूँ,
करोड़ों में एक जागता

इस मुनफ़रिद आलम में,
चिंगारियों की तपिश के साथ,
साँसों की जुम्बिश के साथ,
अपने होने पर मुझको फिर यक़ीन आ गया                                                     

I feel this direct connection with the Universe every time I look up at the dark sky and especially when I capture some of it's beautiful secrets with my telescope. Below I try to translate it.

Wrapped in a thousand tales,
the Night's mystical substance.
In nocturnal obscurity it moves,
transcending vanity with elegance.

I aim to capture the lights on this dark ocean.
These worlds of illuminance
I alone am awake to see.
When among the ephemeral sparks,
I discern the primordial brilliancy.

Amid this divine silence,
in this warm desolation,
I find myself breathing and shivering.
And I am convinced again... that I exist.                                             

I am glad something poured out of me so fluidly after a long time. It was on a previous astronomical event night, that I had somehow shut myself and started looking for Earthly connections. I spent the last weekend nights, awake, under the brilliant sky at the IUCAA Girawali Observatory. Out there, I actually felt closer to the universe and the energy that gushed forth was one that rarely fills me these days. I spent hours photographing the sky, to try and see all those things that have been confirmed already by so many astronomers. and lo... all those 'things', that have existed long before Mankind... they appeared in front of me. The skeptic in me, that rises often to question my existence in this unreal world, was silenced. And from the complete Silence, came the above...