Memory, Youth, Nostalgia: An Evening with Gulzar 8 July 2016 Hyderabad

In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore is not just a poet but a way of life. Almost every household has a framed photograph of the bearded Tagore, clad in rich silken robes and gazing into an infinite distance. But has the Bengali entitlement over Tagore, deprived others from  being emotionally connected to the poet who otherwise was in love with the world and its people, regardless their colour, religion, region, caste  or nationality?

This is the question that launched a thousand thoughts among poetry lovers of Hyderabad, who gathered at Taj Krishna on 8 July 2016 at the Book launch of Gulzar Translates Tagore by Gulzar organised by Harper Collins, India.  Gulzar was in conversation with Prof. T. Vijay Kumar, Osmania University, and lightheartedly hinted at  the “possessiveness” of Bengalis over Tagore.

Waiting for Gulzar

At Eighty-two, Gulzar is no frail old man.  He  comes across as a handsome charmer  in a crisp white kurta, golden Nagrai shoes and a vintage watch. His understanding of Tagore is youthful, deep, entertaining yet radically avant-garde. Gulzar has translated two volumes of poetry by Tagore. They are Nindiya Chor  (The Crescent Moon) and Baaghbaan (The Gardner). 
The beautifully hardbound books with English, Bengali and Hindi translations of every poem  is meant to compare the craft of Gulzar and Tagore as poets, translators and creators. The jacket bears an image of the young Tagore.It reaffirms Gulzar’s desire to present Tagore not as a meditative, enlightened by Modernity kind of bard from Bengal but as a romantic, playful, stylish young man radiating the jazz of a cosmopolitan neo-masculinity and innocence of a child.

Translated Delights!

Baaghbaan/ The Gardner, Translated  by Gulzar

Busy Photogs!

Thus Gulzar translates poems that show the way Tagore could slip into the mind of an imaginative child or a young woman waiting for her lover with equal ease. Gulzar confidently asserts that Gitanjali(1912), was not Tagore’s best work. It was a well written collection that could be represented in the west but did not reflect the quintessential Tagorian Romance. Gulzar thus with the simultaneous translations in Hindi and English along with the original in Bangla  hopes to show to the readers that indeed the heart of Tagore’s writing lay in his description of the ordinary and not in the lofty ideas that made Gintanjali. This as Prof. T. Vijay Kumar pointed out was an attempt by Gulzar to rescue Tagore from his own translations. He further, quoted D.H. Lawrence, saying, “trust the tale and not the teller.”

Books being officially released

Ms Sohini and Gulzar: Narrating Magic

To understand the true spirit of the tale, one needs to hear it. Thus the conversation between the poet and the critic took a creative turn and Ms Sohini, a Hyderabad based Bengali theater and radio artiste was invited to join them and read out the poems in Bangla, followed by Gulzar in Hindi and then in English by the T. Vijay Kumar. Together, the talented trio  recited poems like The Traitor, Chotoboro and Beer-Purush. The concoction of languages, rhythms, lyrics, music and emotions began stirring and what followed was an intoxicating evening that left the audience mellow and nostalgic. The animated and soothing voice of Sohini exuded the typical sweetness of Bangla and Gulzar’s baritone  and theatrical  pauses enlivened Tagore in Hindi like never before. The spell bound audience  saluted Gulzar, the poet and performer with a standing ovation. Gulzar’s books began to vanish from the stands and within moments poetry lovers made a serpentine queue for a signed copy. 

Gulzar and his readers

To recreate the roots of Gulzar and Tagore, Taj Krishna came up with an eclectic mix of starters including flavours from Bengal and Punjab: from Phuchka to Kebabs to the classic Bengali Ghugni; all good things that become heavenly in the monsoon. 

Ms Salma Farooqui , Maulana Azad National University,  Hyderabad

Ms Parimala Kulkarni, (center) Osmania University, Hyderabad

Faculty members of R.B.V.R.R Women's College, Hyderabad

Shantanu Chaudhuri, Managing Editor, Harper Collins, India at the outset, very humbly confessed that being a part of a work that brought two legacies like Gulzar  and Tagore together was a “dream come true”. 

Shantanu  Ray Chaudhuri, Managing Editor, Harper Collins India

 It was so, even for the audience in Hyderabad. The evening proved that cultural powers of poetry  in the Arnoldian sense is still strong. This evening was probably the best Eid present that Hyderabadis could ask for. It brought love, peace, poetry and unveiled the secrets to relive reality on the wings of memory and imagination.
Jhilam.C