Dhandhe ki baat

Indian society, of today, is slowly restoring the respect and money deserved by those who serve arts. Arts of any kind, those involving colours, vocal chords, words, body gestures, thoughts and what not. But no society can do without those artists who feel rejected by society … from Kalidas to Ghalib, from Majaaz to Nagarjun … some time in their lives did feel rejected. I somehow relate to them, somehow find myself thinking their thoughts. Though, my profession has not much to do with arts (yet); and as an entrepreneur, I feel the world has been quite nice to me. But still, it seems their is a poet within, who yearns for rejection, so that it can aggravate the fire in its belly.

Rejection, it seems, is the spark needed to ignite that fire in the belly. Sarasvati’s eluding of Brahma’s sexual advances is what creates the fire in Brahma that made him create. Sarasvati is the primordial goddess… it manifests as the world when Brahma manifests as me, it manifests as the muse when Brahma manifests as the poet, it manifests as the wealth when Brahma manifests as the entrepreneur. And she always rejects him first … that creates the fire … the fire that creates … the primordial fire Agni that threatened to swallow Brahma himself (according to Rig Veda).

Okay too much serious talk, here’s one humorous expressoin of that poet’s fire, when recognition eludes him. It’s a song from V Shantaram‘s legendary film Navrang:
http://www.saavn.com/p/song/hindi/navrang/kavi+raja+kavita+ke/KUUpAS5vdkk

http://www.raaga.com/play/?id=107119

कवि राजा कविता के ना अब कान मरोड़ो
धंधे की कुछ बात करो, कुछ पैसे जोड़ो।

शेर-शायरी कवि राजा ना काम आएगी,
कविता की पोथी को दीमक खा जाएगी।
भाव चढ़ रहे, अनाज हो रहा महंगा दिन-दिन,
भूख मरोगे, रात कटेगी तारे गिन-गिन।
इसीलिए कहता हूँ भैय्या यह सब छोडो,
धंधे की कुछ बात करो, कुछ पैसे जोड़ो।

अरे! छोड़ो कलम, चलाओ मत कविता की चाकी।
घर की रोकड देखो, कितने पैसे बाकी।
अरे! कितना घर में घी है, कितना गरम मसाला,
कितने पापड, बडी, मंगोडी, मिर्च-मसाला,
कितना तेल, नोन िमर्ची, हल्दी और धनिया।
कवि राजा चुपके से तुम बन जाओ बनिया।

अरे! पैसे पर रच काव्य, भूख पर गीत बनाओ।
अरे! गेहूं पर हो गज़ल, धान के शेर सुनाओ।
नोन मिर्च पर चौपाई, चावल पर दोहे।
सुकवि कोयले पर कविता लिखो तो सोहे।
कम भाडे की खोली पर लिखो कव्वाली,
झन-झन करती कहो रुबाई पैसे वाली।

शब्दों का जंजाल बडा लफ़डा होता है।
कवि-सम्मेलन दोस्त बडा झगडा होता है।
मुशायरे के शेरों पर रगडा होता है।
पैसे वाला शेर बडा तगडा होता है।
इसीलिए कहता हूँ न इससे सिर फोडो,
धंधे की कुछ बात करो कुछ पैसे जोड़ो।

4 thoughts on “Dhandhe ki baat

  1. The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected. Even when the revolutionist might himself repent of his revolution, the traditionalist is already defending it as part of his tradition. Thus we have two great types — the advanced person who rushes us into ruin, and the retrospective person who admires the ruins. He admires them especially by moonlight, not to say moonshine. Each new blunder of the progressive or prig becomes instantly a legend of immemorial antiquity for the snob. This is called the balance, or mutual check, in our Constitution.

  2. Gaurav says:

    I never realized that we need a fire of rejection for getting accepted. It’s as if,we justify being rejected. But,overall a nice co-linking of events of history.

  3. Pingu says:

    Nice post. Like the Saraswati-Brahma idea.

    This is a typical conv I have with most people –
    Do you work?
    Yes.
    Which company?
    I’m a freelancer.
    You are in IT?
    Nope. I’m a writer.
    What do you write? Software?
    Nope. I write books on…
    Oh ok (with a wtf look) so… do you work?

    What puts me off worse than all this is the weird
    pre-conceived stereotypical images they create(believe me you I’ve actually heard these!) –

    Famous writers have a ‘bad character’. (Wow. We are not all Naipals and Rushdies, please.)

    Poets are compulsive ‘drinkers’. (Double wow. Ghalib didn’t mean it that way, folks!! Personally, I stick to Hot Chocolate or Nimbu Pani.)

    Poets/writers/ creative people tend to be suicidal. (Woohoo. Virginia Woolfe and Vincent Van Gogh had other problems in life, man.)

    It is a profession, for God’s sake. One without which posterity will be rather lost.
    How many centuries will it take for us to be ‘accepted’ and respected?? How many more??

  4. @Ritesh… i commented on you comment in person 🙂

    @Gaurav… yep. Though “justify” is quite a western word

    @pingu… no amount of centuries are going to help 🙂 .. that is exactly how it is supposed to be 🙂

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