Week 1541 - Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon

The Concept Explained

Counting Down to 90 - Week 1579

Why 1579

Bhavin's WritingsBhavin Jankharia

Audio

Link to click if you don't see the audio below.

YouTube Podcast Link

Text

I was in Ahmedabad yesterday to attend the prayer meeting of a friend and colleague who died suddenly of an aortic dissection while delivering a lecture in a conference. He was 55-years old, a “doer”, a person who made a difference to people’s lives, a mentor to many, many radiologists and physicians. He was one of the calmest people I knew under stress and it was always a pleasure to meet him, however infrequent those interactions may have been.

At the end, they played a part of his favorite song, “Main Pal do Pal ka Shayar Hoon”

Kal aur aaenge nagmo ki
Khilti kaliyaan chunne vaale
Mujhse behtar kahne vaale
Tumse behtar sunne vaale
Kal koi mujhko yaad kare
Kyun koi mujhko yaad kare
Mashruf zamaanaa mere liye
Kyun vaqt apna barbad kare

Main pal do pal ka shayar hoon
Pal do pal meri kahani hai
Pal do pal meri hasti hai
Pal do pal meri jawani hai

Translation: Why should anyone remember me or waste their time on me, since there will always be better poets than me and better audiences than you in the future! I am a poet for a short moment. These short moments are my story, my raison-d’etre, my youth and what define me.

It reminded me of a piece I had posted on 03 Nov last year during the long Diwali weekend. It went from seeing a village pushing a fishing boat out to sea in Bekal, to thinking about footprints in the sands of time, to Ozymandias and the concept of a second death, to these lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi, to a quote by Bibek Debroy just a few days before his death, ending with Tess Gallagher’s lines from her poem “Opening”.

It is always tough to see someone this young go suddenly…and yes 55 years is young in today’s day and age when the average life expectancy among the upper 15% of this country is almost 80-85 years and there is so much more that a person has left to give this world to make it a better place for those living in it. 

It also brings me back to the first antra of the song, which goes like this.

Mujhase pahale kitane shaayar
Aae aur aakar chale gae
Kuchh aahe bhar kar laut aae
Kuchh nagame gaakar chale gae
Vo bhi ek pal ka kissaa the
Mai bhi ek pal ka kissaa hu
Kal tumase judaa ho jaaungaa
Vo aaj tumhaara hissa hun

Translation: So many poets have came and left before me. While some failed and some were successful, they were all part of their specific time as I am part of this specific time and even though I am part of you today, I will separate from you/leave you soon/in the future.

That’s life. We come, we go. Our lives intersect with some, but are mostly parallel with the rest.  We are all transients, here for a short period of time, to be eventually replaced by younger and newer sets of people, whether it is life, or whether it is a job, vocation or profession. The old gives way to the new and nothing lasts forever despite all the longevity nonsense that rears its head every two decades or so.

All of this then implies that the only thing that matters is how we live now. To ourselves, we need to find purpose and meaning. To everyone else, we need to be kind, spread goodness and make a positive difference to the lives around us and if we can’t do that, the bare minimum would be to do no harm. 

Hemant made a difference and will be remembered for a long time to come and his so-called “second death” will be held back as long as the centres he has started continue to run, as long as his photo adorns the IRIA house hall and as long as his memory lives on in the minds of the people he has mentored and their progeny.