From conjecture to conviction

October 25, 2014

178

A melancholic strain in Tehsin’s voice and accent has made him inherit a tradition from Meer, Firaq and Nasir Kazmi that characterises beauty in melancholy and melancholy in beauty

Fayyaz Tehsin is not an ordinary poet. Though his creative work comprises only two verse collections viz., Rizq-e-Hawa (1989) and Bab-e-Khata (2013), the cerebral-cum-aesthetic features of his verse would seem to place him among the leading poets of Urdu in our times. There is a gap of some fourteen years between the publication of his aforesaid two collections, which is enough to substantiate the view that he is a perfectionist of the art of versification who believes in the sanctity of words and capitalises on his innate artistic-cum-intellectual prowess to mould them into poetry.

Bab-e-Khata (‘Gateway to Sin’) comprises fifty-one pieces of nazm and thirty number of ghazal besides Na’at and Du’a. Diverse critical comments from reputed litterateurs like Dr Wazir Agha, Prof Ghulam Jilani Asghar, Dr Anwar Sadeed, Prof Arsh Siddiqui, Dr Shamim Haider Tirmizi, Prof Anwar Jamal, and Prof Farrukh Durrani, on Fayyaz Tehisn’s verse have been appended to the introductory portion of the book. They agree on the virtuosity of his content and technique. Prof Arsh Siddiqui is appreciative of Fayyaz Tehsin’s personal style whereas Dr Shamim Haider Tirmizi considers his poetics as a journey from conjecture to conviction.

It would be worthwhile here to reproduce this reviewer’s opinion of Fayyaz Tehsin’s art as a poet in the context of Rizq-e-Hawa, his maiden publication: ‘Apart from the extrinsic factors of loneliness, fear and gloom characterising his verse, reaffirmation of human values, a metaphysical circumspection of the existential realities and a morbid consciousness of the futility of life are some intrinsic features of his verse that serve to individualise his poetic talent.’ One could legitimately extend and apply these remarks to his present verse collection which also incorporates some vintage selection from his previous publication.

While reading Tehsin’s verse, one cannot escape the impression that he looks at and explores the world as a sceptic who rues the culpability of man – first in his primeval or elemental existence and then as a homo sapiens:

Woh pahlay bhi isi bab-e-khata say hi guzar kar/is taraf aaien/saraseema, pasheman/raigan, jazbon ki baikaifi may hairani say takti/bay-yaqeen aNkhain/hazaron manzaroN ki dilkusha rangeeniyon say khwab bunti theen/woh aankhain khwab bunti theen/dhanak say rang laykar, chand say asrar laykar, phool say khushbu,/hawa jaisay kisi teelay pay kuch shaklain banati ho/koi badal ka tukra neem uryan paikaron may dhalta jata ho/koi bachcha lab-e-sahil gharaunda ek banata ho

The technique of dramatic monologue in poetry owes itself to Browning in English poetry. It facilitates introspection of the labyrinths of the human psyche. The bulk of Tehsin’s verse reads like an internal monologue, if not a dramatic one, involving the poet in an implosive self-analysis in the face of a hostile social milieu. He appears to be a thinker endowed with the perceptions of a poet. He is thinking, thinking, all the time – and it would be impossible that his thought should not control his poetry, or conversely, that his poetry should not control his thought.

Lafzon ka silsila ajab hai/yeh ahed dar ahed boltay hain/…….aisay ka’ee lafz hain k jinkay/mafhoom tabdeel ho chukay hain/ghair shaffaf shaffaf ho chukay hain/jabr ka nam sabr ho gaya hai/izhar ka rasta bhi ab to/awaz ki qabr ho gaya hai/yun daikhtay daikhtay hamaray/kuch jhoot sach may dhal gaey hain

Pater was of the view that ‘the literary artist does not give us photographic ‘imitations’ of reality, but a transcription of his vision of it’. The artist in fact starts from a reality that we all objectify as life. Dr. Johnson summarises his view of the moral value of literature thus: ‘The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.’ As a literary artist, Fayyaz Tehsin is fully alive to the relevance of these dicta to the timeless content of literature, of which poetry is an integral part. Some extracts from his ghazal would illustrate the point:

Woh teergi jo ujalon ki razdan na hui/Woh teergi hi dikhati hai rasta mujhko

Yun laga shahr-e-tamanna may sabhi thay bayzaban/Jis say poocha usnay hathon say ishara kar diya

Nazar aya tha maen khud bhi saf-e-baydadgan may/Mujhay khud apnay honay say shikayat ho gai hai

Sham-e-subuk kharam say subh-e-gurez pa talak/Koshish-e-natamam may raston pay bhagna safar

Woh jin kay sar pay kal talak bhi saya-e-huma raha/Woh shah-e-asr, Zulfiqar-e-bayniyam kya huay

‘The modern mind works on two planes. The poet can perceive the beauty around him, in a moment of heightened mental acuteness, and reproduce his impression in the best words; that was the lower intellectual level. At the same time he can also be raised above himself by the inspiration which comes from God, and on this higher level create what is beyond the range of human observation. The two impulses work side by side.’

Ba-aitebar-e-guman maen nay usko paya tha/Bafaiz-e-ilm-o-yaqeen maen usay ganwa baitha

Thus ends the journey from conjecture to conviction.

Prof Farrukh Durrani identifies a melancholic strain in Tehsin’s voice and accent which made him inherit a tradition from Meer, Firaq and Nasir Kazmi that characterises beauty in melancholy and melancholy in beauty.

Mri aankhon ka har manzar/udasi ka dareeda parahan hai/shahr ki galiyan/khamoshi ka kafan pahnay pari hain/chandni jaisay/kisi ki aankh ka yarqan ho/aur door tak phaili chaton par/laitnay walon kay chehron par barasta ho/chaton par laitnay walon kay chehray zard hain/thandi hawa kay aik jhonkay ko tarastay hain