4 verses · ~1 min
जीवन कटना था, कट गया अच्छा कटा, बुरा कटा यह तुम जानो मैं तो यह समझता हूँ कपड़ा पुराना एक फटना था, फट गया जीवन कटना था कट गया।
रीता है क्या कुछ बीता है क्या कुछ यह हिसाब तुम करो मैं तो यह कहता हूँ परदा भरम का जो हटना था, हट गया जीवन कटना था कट गया।
क्या होगा चुकने के बाद बूँद-बूँद रिसने के बाद यह चिंता तुम करो मैं तो यह कहता हूँ करजा जो मिटटी का पटना था, पट गया जीवन कटना था कट गया।
बँधा हूँ कि खुला हूँ मैला हूँ कि धुला हूँ यह विचार तुम करो मैं तो यह सुनता हूँ घट-घट का अंतर जो घटना था, घट गया जीवन कटना था कट गया।
इति
The Poet
गोपालदास "नीरज
Gopaldas 'Neeraj'
1925 · 2018
If Hindi poetry possessed a single voice that could dissolve the boundary between the written word and the sung breath, that voice belonged to Gopaldas Neeraj. He moved with rare and uncanny fluency between the high courts of literary poetry and the golden studios of Hindi cinema. Writing film lyrics in the 1960s and 1970s, he achieved something almost impossible by ensuring his songs carried genuine philosophical weight while remaining luminous with melody. His songs for films like Mera Naam Joker and Nai Umar Ki Nai Fasal did not condescend to their popular medium, but rather elevated it entirely. Neeraj understood with the instinct of a true artist that the deepest questions of human existence, the nature of time, the certainty of loss, and the strange beauty of impermanence are not the exclusive property of the academy. They belong to the weeping widow, the dreaming young man, and the farmer watching rain fall on dry earth. Born in Puravali in 1925, he lived until 2018. Through nine full decades, he carried the gift of making the philosophical feel personal and the personal feel universal. He was that rarest of things, a poet whom both the scholar and the ordinary listener claimed as their own.
Paired Painting
Lady with a Vessel
This delicate ink study captures the timeless grace of the Indian feminine form. The artist draws upon classical iconography, evoking the poise of temple dancers or village women who carry water with innate elegance. Though the specific origins remain unknown, the work functions as a homage to the enduring beauty of traditional attire and jewelry, rendered with fluid, emotive lines that seem to breathe life into the aged texture of the paper. It is a quiet meditation on devotion and daily ritual, celebrating the poise found in the simple act of holding a vessel.
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