HE is a poet who doesn’t employ words in the etymological sense. Rather, he uses them as colours. Or as pieces of film negatives that were edited out for inexplicable reasons, which he recollects to form a flashback scene, only to turn it into a whole, albeit short, movie. Gulzar is an Urdu verse-wielder who stands gracefully tall in a stellar line of contemporary poets.

It is distressing that Gulzar’s poetry is not treated with the respect and deference it merits. The fault lies at the critics’ door. On the pretext that he started his writing career composing lyrics for films, Gulzar is looked down upon as a “film ka writer”. I was witness to an incident when one Indian ‘scholar’, during the second international Urdu conference in Karachi, got visibly irked when he was asked about Gulzar’s literary worth. He commented, “I don’t know why he’s given so much importance in Pakistan. He’s just a [film] lyricist.” Wrong. Gulzar is a top-notch versifier who might have a successor (or copycat) in 10 years’ time, but he doesn’t have a predecessor. Rest assured.

It’s always a wonderfully surreal experience to read Gulzar’s poetry. His new book Pandra Paanch Pichhattar, and a collection of some of his old nazms and ghazals titled Yaar Julahe, are two of the most readable books written in the Urdu language to have hit the bookstores this year. Since the latter has poems that many Gulzar fans may have already read, this review will primarily focus on the former.

Pandra Paanch Pichhattar has 15 parts or sections, each containing five poems, bringing the total to 75. Hence the title.

Reading the collection won’t make you mutter “it’s vintage Gulzar”. But neither is it drastically different. It’s the same old Gulzar with less metaphorical abstruseness. This has added to the sonority of his poetry without compromising the messages, often painful, that are embedded in it. One poem in the third part of the book is about a thrush. Notice how the poet recounts an extraordinary event in history by writing about a everyday incident.

It takes off from the fan and lands on the bulb Looks in the mirror, tilts its neck A teenie weenie thrush — When it chirps, the entire room resonates Doesn’t even let me watch the news Homes of the innocent in Gujarat are being set on fire Razed to the ground And this little creature Trying to build a nest in a broken window With twigs and grass

This is a remarkable work of imagination in which the somewhat quotidian, routine pattern of life is subtly juxtaposed with a human tragedy of unusual and extraordinary proportions, yet at the same time keeping the intrinsic poetics of the subject intact. Fascinating stuff!

Then you have Gulzar the incorrigible romantic, who senses, nay feels, romance even in a scientific and cosmic reality. This nazm is called Pooran Sooraj Grehan:

In college Two hands from behind the desk Would gently move To get close to each other And one would grab the otherWith a firm grasp — Today, in the firmament, the sun has gripped the moon much the same way.

It’s not just the poet’s imagination that astounds the reader. There’s a technique, albeit informal, involved here. Gulzar uses the last line of each of his poem as, what in the world of advertising is called, the tag line. Another aspect of the technique is that poems begin with a thesis and don’t care a hoot about antithesis yet reach the synthesis with ease and poise.

Gulzar’s personality, just like his poetry, is utterly devoid of hubris or self-centredness. This is what makes him even more likable. In Pandra Paanch Pichhattar one section is dedicated to cities — Kolkata, New York, Delhi, etcetera — that have had a profound effect on him. And the last section of the book is a tribute to some of the finest creative individuals of the 20th century, including Tagore and Gulzar’s guru, Ahmed Nadeem Qasimi, whom he affectionately called Baba. It’s no surprise that the last poem in the collection is Baba.

The series of tribute has actually carried on to Pandra Panch Pichhattar from Gulzar’s previous works. In Yaar Julahe there’s a fine nazm written in memory of Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Since this year is being celebrated as Faiz centenary, it is apt to top off this review with Gulzar’s homage to Faiz titled Zindan Nama (taken from a famous Faiz poem).

The moon weaved in and out of Lahore’s lanes Clambered over the tall walls of the jail Dodging the sentinels Like a commando barging into the cell — Not a feather stirred

The moon was there to meet Faiz To request him to compose a poem — The pulse of time was on hold — ‘Faiz, write a poem So that time could move’

The reviewer is features writer at Dawn. Translations have been done by the reviewer

Pandra Paanch Pichhattar (POETRY) By Gulzar Pakistan Publishing House, Karachi ISBN 978-969-419-037-2 148pp. Rs300

Yaar Julahe (POETRY) By Gulzar Pakistan Publishing House, Karachi ISBN 978-969-419-038-9 178pp. Rs350