Notes to a Barren City
Last night, as I finished marking the last of the answer scripts for the course I was teaching at the university here, I chanced upon a wonderfully evocative poem: Robert Frost’s Acquainted with the Night.
Short and resonant with meanings, each time I touch the words in its verses it reclaims a new emotion in me. What more can one ask from a poem?
Well… one could ask for a good rendition in music. I looked up some sites on the net but left unsatisfied to sleep. Later today, thanks to a post on facebook, I realised I was looking at the wrong place.
Listen to Habib Wali Mohammed sing Bahadur Shah Zafar’s lagta nahin hai dil mera ujde dayaar mein…
This find has been so wonderful! I have Habib Wali Mohammed’s audio cassette with these ghazals but have never found digital copies. Now I can listen to, and share, some of the most mellifluous music I have heard…
In the ghazals linked to this one, do look out for yeh na thi humari qismat and na kisi ki aankh ka noor hoon, among others, which are also sung by the same artist.
Have a nice day. I am sure you will, however barren the city…
