A dream come true
G. JAYAKUMAR
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A.D. Madhavan's `Chupke Chupke Rath Din' explores the dream world of ghazals.
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Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup
WAXING LYRICAL: A.D. Madhavan's latest book is a detailed study of ghazals.
It was during his research in Delhi for a book on Carnatic music that A.D. Madhavan was first struck by the lyrical charm of Urdu ghazals. Till then he had been listening to ghazals and enjoying them but it was the music that had appealed to him more.
Going through almost every book on music at Sangeet Natak Akademi and Sahitya Akademi in Delhi, Madhavan chanced upon several books on ancient Urdu ghazals. The idea of writing a book in Malayalam on ghazals germinated. Later, he browsed the bookshops in the galis of Old Delhi collecting more and more information about ghazals.
Book on Carnatic music
Soon, he finished writing the book on Carnatic music that he was working on.
Titled `Core of Carnatic Music,' it is "an anthology of 404 Carnatic music kritis of 33 well-known composers in seven Indian languages with the text of the kritis in Devanagiri, English and Malayalam and their meaning in English and Malayalam." Immediately, thereafter he became engaged in writing another book `Sangita Sastramrutham,' covering all aspects of Carnatic music. When that book was complete Madhavan went back to what he calls the "dream world of ghazals'' and began working from where he had left off. The result was the book `Chupke Chupke Rath Din.'
Madhavan says he named the book after the first line of the ghazal `Chupke chupke rath din aansu bahana yaad hai,' written by Hasrat Mohani, which became popular through the voice of Ghulam Ali.
`Chupke Chupke Rath Din' (Olive Publications) is an anthology of 101 Urdu ghazals of famous poets with both the text of the ghazal and its meaning in Malayalam. The book also contains the life history of all the 20 poets and a detailed study on ghazals as a musical form.
"In Kerala, ghazals are very popular especially in the North and the main purpose of the book is to bring an understanding of the beauty of its lyrics to all ghazal lovers," Madhavan says.
"The underlying theme of a ghazal is passion. A ghazal reflects the experiences that a lover, mostly male, has to go through while seeking the love of his beloved. The ecstasy of love, the obstacles he has to face, the pangs of separation, rejection and failure are all expressed. As for a poet of the Sufi tradition like Kwaja Mir Dard, he views God as his beloved sweetheart, seeing him everywhere," says Madhavan.
Structure of ghazals
Explaining the structure of ghazals, Madhavan says, "Ghazals are a collection of two-liners called shers. Generally in a ghazal, the last word of each sher is be the same and words that come just before the last word in each sher rhymes. The pen-name of the poet usually will appear somewhere in the poem. Towards the end of the ghazal, the poet may be shown as talking to himself about his philosophy."
A.D.Madhavan is now working on a new venture - a book in Malayalam titled `Rabindranath Tagore - Moonu Prema Kavyangal.' It is a translation of Rabindranath Tagore's three works - a drama, a novel and a collection of love poems, from the poet's own English translation.
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