Tribute to a Legend - Shiv Kumar Batalvi

Shiv Kumar was a born (romantic) poet who migrated from the poetic region of Sialkot to Batala at the most miserable moment of the human history-1947.The pangs of separation are recurrent themes of this great lyricist of the land. He has been hailed as one of the great poets of all times.

Shiv Kumar was born on July 23, 1936 in Bara Pind Lohtian (Shakargarh tehsil), in Punjab (now Pakistan){quite near to the Ranjha's pind, as well as mine}.
As a child Shiv is said to have been fascinated by birds and rugged, thorny plants on the Punjabi landscape.

Shiv passed his matriculate exams in 1953, from Punjab University. He went on to enrol in the F.Sc. programme at Baring Union Christian College in Batala. Before completing his degree he moved to S.N. College, Qadian into their Arts program. It is here that he began to sing ghazals and songs for his classmates. Shiv never gave the final exams he needed to pass to receive his degree.

Around this period, he met a girl named MAINA (M factor here as well) at a fair in Baijnath, now in Himachal. When he went back to look for her in her hometown, he heard the news of her death and wrote his elegy "Maina". Perhaps the most celebrated episode is his fascination for a daughter who left for the US and married someone else. When he heard of the birth of her first child, Shiv wrote "Main ek shikra yaar banaya", perhaps his most famous love poem.

By 1968 he had moved to Chandigarh, but both Batala and Chandigarh became soulless in his eyes. There were complaints about his drinking and some suggestions that his friends had him drink so he would exhibit his outrageous self. Shiv Kumar died in the 36th year of his life on May 7, 1973 in his father-in-law's house near Pathankot.

Lets have a look at the most touching of his works I found today:

Ik kudi, jida naa Mohabbat
Gumm hai !
Saad muraadi, Sohni phabat
Gumm hai, gumm hai,
Soorat usdi, pariyaa vargi,
Seerat di oh mariyam lagdi,
Hasdi hai taan, phul ne jhad de,
Turdi hai taan, gazal hai lagdi.

Lamm-salammi, saru kad di,
Umar aje hai marke ahg di,
Par naina di, gal samajhdi.

Gummiyaa janam, janam han hoye,
Par lagdi jyun, kal di gal hai,
Iyon lagdi, jyun aj di gal hai,
IyoN lagdi, jyun hun di gal hai.

Hune taan mere, kol khadi si,
Hune taan mere, kol nahi hai,
Eh kee chaal hai? Eh kee bhatkan?
Soch meri, hairaan badi hai,
Us kudi nu, tol rahi hai.
Nazar meri, har aunde-jaande,
Chehre da rang, phol rahi hai,
Us kudi nu, tol rahi hai.

Saanjh dhale, baazaaran de jad,
Modaan te khushbu ugdi hai,
Vihal, thakaavat, bechaini jad,
Chau-raaheyaan te aa judi hai,
Raule lappe, tanhaayi vich,
Us kudi di, thur khaandi hai,
Us kudi di, thur disdi hai.

Har chin mainu iyon lagda hai,
Har din mainu, iyon lagda hai.
Jude jashan di bheedaan vichon,
Jude mehak di jhurmat vichon,
Oh mainu, awaaz devegi,
Main ohnu pehchaan lavaanga,
Uh mainu pehchaan levegi,
Par, is raule de har vichon,
Koi mainu, awaaz na denda,
Koi vi mere, val na vehnda.

Par khaure kyun, tapala lagda,
Par khaure kyun, jhaula painda,
Har din, har ik bheed judi vichon,
Butt uda, jyun langh ke jaanda,
Par mainu hi, nazar na aunda.

Gumm gaya main us kudi de,
Chehre de vich gumeya rehnda,
Us de gham vich ghulda rehnda,
Us de gham vich khurda jaanda.

Us kudi nu, meri saun hai,
Us kudi nu, apni saun hai,
Us kudi nu, sab di saun hai,
Us kudi nu, jag di saun hai,
Us kudi nu, Rabb di saun hai,
Je kite, pad di ya sunn di hove,
Jeyundeya vi oh mar rahi hove,
Ik vaari aake mil jaave,
Wafa meri nu daag na laave,
Nahi taan methon jeeya na jaana,
Geet koi likhya na jaana!

Ik kudi, jida naa M....
Gumm hai !
Saad muraadi, Sohni phabat
Gumm hai, gumm hai,

Gumm hai..................

Bade chir ton gumm hai,
Hun waapis aaja Yaara!

Teri lod hai Saanu,
Bas hun Teri hi thod hai saanu !!

English Translation : 

http://vikramjeetsingh-hp.blogspot.com/2009/05/ik-kudi-jida-naa.html

A Beautiful Song

I don't usually listen to English songs, but I would like to share this one over here. The lyrics of the song really touched my soul, looked similar to the content that I normally write and think about. Here are the lines:

Feeling Blue,
Well I am trying to forget the feeling that I miss you,
Feeling Green,
When the jealousy swells and it wont go away and dreams,
Feeling Yellow,
I am confused inside, a little hazy but mellow.

When I feel your eyes on me,
Feeling fine, its sublime,
When that smile of yours creeps into my mind.

Nobody told you would it feel so good,
Nobody said you would be so beautiful,
Nobody warned me about your smile,
You are the light,
You are the light,
When i close my eyes,
I am colour blind.

Feeling Red, When you spend all your time with your friends and not me instead, Feeling Black, When I think about all of the things that I feel I lack, Feeling Jaded, When its not gone right, all the colours are faded.

Blinded by the light you shine, the colors fade completely
Blinded by you every time, I feel you start to hate me,

I am colour blind, I just can't deny this feeling....

Darius Danesh,
Colourblind

Hats off to the lyrics writer, it really proves that love & emotions always have a common meaning, no matter in what language they are expressed.........

Here's the youtube link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKFRQ02L-Vg

Attitude is Everything!

By Francie Baltazar-Schwartz

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate.  He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say.  When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant.  The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time.  How do you do it?"

 Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.'  I choose to be in a good mood.  Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it.  I choose to learn from it.  Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life.  I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes it is," Jerry said.  "Life is all about choices.  When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.  You choose how you react to situations.  You choose how people will affect your mood.  You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.  The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."
 

Click here to Complete

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business.  We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.  Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers.  While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination.  The robbers panicked and shot him.

Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center.  After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident.  When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"  I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.  "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.
Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man. " I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry.  "She asked if I was allergic to anything.  'Yes,' I replied.  The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply... I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!'   Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live.  Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

 Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude.

I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything.

Want to witness the positive side of my life? Try at your own risk....

For some of my previous posts, I have come to be known as a true delicate and emotional guy, full of negative thoughts, among my close friend(s). Just for that sake, I am coming up with this current post.

OK. So, when do the clouds of any negative thoughts hover upon us? When does a person feel totally detached from life? When does there comes a point in life when the person finds no particular reason to live? What causes a person to commit suicide? Why does a person believe that nothing in the world belongs to him or her? Why it gets so difficult to just pass the time? Why does life seems as just GOING ON?

Enough. I believe there is a single answer to all of the above questions. But what it actually is, is actually very hard to find.

You know that something is missing for sure, but are still unaware of that Something, what is it?

I guess it to be one's own confidence level towards life. Yes, it makes sense. Just a simple concept but yet so difficult.

Sometimes, some such kind of things happen that just kill your self confidence. These can be related to anything- your family, surrounding environment, you yourself, your colleagues, working atmosphere, colour of your bed sheet or maybe the clothes that you wear.

This is what I could collect upon thinking a lot. I may even be wrong but I know that you are always there to correct me up.

I would like to mention a good Sidhuism over here:

Click here to Complete

"Aadarsh purush wahi hota hai jo khud ko paristhitiyon ke anusar dhaal le ya phir paristhitiyon ko hi apne anukool bana le".
That's all what is in my hands, i.e. to improve. Now, lets see how much my surroundings favour me.

Mind it-- the person never changes his personality at will but definitely develops upon it once he or she comes to know about the shortcomings. The whole credit goes to the one pointing the mistakes.
Moreover, that person is the best one who can be the most useful in building the confidence and hence improving upon yourself. Benefit from him or her before its too late.

One more thing, positivity comes as a bye product of your self-confidence. Nothing so exceptional about it.

"How can you expect a treat from a dying fellow?"