5 verses · ~1 min
कहीं चांद राहों में खो गया कहीं चांदनी भी भटक गई मैं चराग़ वो भी बुझा हुआ मेरी रात कैसे चमक गई
मेरी दास्ताँ का उरूज था तेरी नर्म पलकों की छाँव में मेरे साथ था तुझे जागना तेरी आँख कैसे झपक गई
कभी हम मिले तो भी क्या मिले वही दूरियाँ वही फ़ासले न कभी हमारे क़दम बढ़े न कभी तुम्हारी झिझक गई
मुझे पदने वाला पढ़े भी क्या मुझे लिखने वाला लिखे भी क्या जहाँ नाम मेरा लिखा गया वहां रोशनाई उलट गई
तुझे भूल जाने की कोशिशें कभी क़ामयाब न हो सकीं तेरी याद शाख़-ए-गुलाब है जो हवा चली तो लचक गई
इति
The Poet
बशीर बद्र
Bashir Badr
1935 · 1999
Bashir Badr achieved something exceedingly rare in the modern literary landscape by bringing the Urdu ghazal out of the exclusive courts of intellectuals and directly into the hearts of the common people. Born Syed Muhammad Bashir in 1935 in Ayodhya, he cultivated a poetic voice that used the simplest, most everyday Hindustani vocabulary to express the deepest nuances of love, heartbreak, and social tragedy. His couplets are universally recognized and frequently quoted by individuals who may never have read a formal poetry book. His life was marked by profound personal tragedy, most notably when his home and decades of literary archives were burned to ashes during the communal riots of 1992 in Meerut. Yet, instead of responding with hatred, he channeled his grief into verses that pleaded for communal harmony and human empathy. Honored with the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri in 1999, he later relocated to Bhopal. Bashir Badr stands as a living legend whose ghazals are permanently etched into the cultural memory of the subcontinent.
Paired Painting
Surpanakha Complaining to Ravana
This profound canvas brings to life a pivotal and dramatic turning point from the Aranya Kanda of the epic Ramayana. Here, the mutilated demoness Surpanakha, having suffered humiliation at the hands of Lakshmana in the forest of Panchavati, approaches her powerful brother Ravana to demand vengeance. Raja Ravi Varma captures the raw psychological tension of the moment, the sorrow and rage etched upon Surpanakha as she recounts her ordeal, and the smoldering fury awakened in Ravana, whose ornate crown and pensive yet dangerous posture foretell the impending tragedy of the abduction of Sita and the cataclysmic war of Lanka. Through rich textures and masterly handling of light and shadow, the artist elevates a mythological encounter into a deeply human drama of pride, grief, and destiny.
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