Songs Of Serenity: Part 1

Some songs cling to me. They tag themselves to my heart. They are there with me in solitudes and in company. They come to me with the first ray of light and hang around at night in my dreams. I like humming them in trains and in restaurants. I keep playing and replaying them in my mind at my office desk and at home. I can hear them in the pattering rain-drops and in the sounds of the rolling sea waves. I can feel them in the warmth of sunlight and smell them in the stale winter breeze. Their vibrations, I can sense, in the chirps of old crickets and in the croaks of young frogs.

I am trying to list down a few of them in this and coming posts. Here's the first one of them:

Ab Mujhe Koi Intezaar Kahan (Ishqiya):
This is a beautiful composition by Vishal Bhardwaj, penned by Gulzar, sung by Rekha Bhardwaj. The song starts with slow and soft piano notes and delightful guitar tabs interspersed. Rekha Bhardwaj's husky voice creates the lonesome atmosphere which is at the heart of this song. The use of electric guitar before the second stanza creates an extra-ordinary sense of tranquility. There is a stillness in Rekha's voice which captures the mood of this song wonderfully.

Like many of the Gulzar's poetries, this one also talks about the loneliness of a person who has longed and waited for something for so long that the desire and longing itself has vanished. The waterfalls of tears (aabshar) have dried up leaving their marks (jaale hi jaale) which would also go away with the fading sight. The dreams which used to frequent at night have flown away too far to never return again. Ghalib's work had a profound influence on Gulzar and he has said it many a times that "If it wasn’t for Ghalib, I wouldn’t be a poet". Ghalib wrote "Ishrat-e-qatra hai dariya mein fana ho jaana, Dard ka had se guzarna hai dawa ho jaana" (Just like a drop diminishes in the mighty ocean, pain becomes an antidote when it crosses its limits). Gulzar has gone a step ahead in this song when he says that due to the long wait, even the serenity of pain (dard ka qaraar) has disappeared.

And here's the lyrics:

Ab mujhe koi intezaar kahan
Ab mujhe koi intezaar kahan
Wo jo behthe thhe abshaar kahan
Ab mujhe koi intezaar kahan
Ab mujhe koi intezaar kahan
Wo jo behthe the abshaar kahan
Ab mujhe koi intezaar kahan


Aankh ke ek gaaon mein
Raat ko khwaab aate thhe
Aankh ke ek gaaon mein
Raat ko khwaab aate thhe
Chooney se behthe thhe, bole toh kehte thhe
Udte khwaabon ka aietbaar kahan
Udte khwaabon ka aietbaar kahan
Ab mujhe koi intezaar kahan


Jin dino aap thhe
Aankh mein dhoop thi
Jin dino aap rehte thhe
Aankh mein dhoop rehti thi
Ab to jaale hi jaale hain
Yeh bhi jaane hi wale hain
Wo jo tha dard ka qaraar kahan
Wo jo tha dard ka qaraar kahan
Ab mujhe koi intezaar kahan
Wo jo behthe the abshaar kahan
Ab mujhe koi intezaar kahan