Friday, February 5, 2010

Koi dost hai na raqueeb hai ....Tera shehar kitna ajeeb hai ...

finally after a long time I got a chance to write about this.Ghazal :))which is one of the closest Jagjeet Singh's ghazals to me.
Those who live alone, away from family must have felt the exact same way a lot of times.
It's been almost 1 years out of home and this song has been a companion in low times :) Though I have been very fortunate to get so many really close and best friends but you know ... there are times when you are alone in crowd. He he ..

Coming back to the song: The music has something in it which haunts you.
Even without listening to the words, it instills a feeling of pain and when you listen to the words carefully - my god ...
you'r in a different world at all! Jagjit ji once said the music of this Ghazal has been picked from and is a variation of a Punjabi folk song which was in itself great, and in my opinion the variation makes it even greater. But to really appreciate this song, you will have to know the meaning of the few urdu words which regular ghazal listeners would be already aware of.
OK, much said, here are the great lyrics of this great Ghazal :


Koi dost hai na raqueeb hai ....Tera shehar kitna ajeeb hai ...


Wo jo ishq tha wo junoon tha, Ye jo hijr hai, ye naseeb hai ...
YahaaN kiska chehra padha karooN
YahaaN kaun itna kareeb hai ...
Main kisse kahoon mere saath chal ...
Yahaan sab ke sir pe saleeb hai

Koi dost hai na raqueeb hai ....Tera shehar kitna ajeeb hai ..

Main kisse kahoon mere saath chal, yahaan sab ke sir pe saleeb hai ". Here, saleeb means a 'cross', on which Jesus Christ was made to walk around the streets carrying it on his shoulders before he was crucified on the same. The metaphorical meaning is : These days everyone is having his own 'burdens'(depicted by the cross on shoulders), his own problems and responsibilities - so the person is wondering whom should he ask for help !!