GHALIB - THE HEART'S POET

 

Mirza Ghalib is a tall Urdu and Persian poet of Mughal era. He is also a gifted letter writer.     With his masterly works, Ghalib left an indelible mark in the hearts of millions of Urdu poetry and ghazal lovers all over the world.

 

Surprisingly, the trigger to relish Ghalib's poetry came to me one fine morning when I read the interview of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who is an Andhraite stating that he loves Ghalib's poetry. He compares poetry to code - the symbolic arrangement of data or instructions in a computer program or the set of such instructions. He says that you can say something that can be described in many, many sentences and pages of prose, but you can convert it into a couple of lines of poetry and still get the essence, so it's that compression the poetry does. His very idea of comparing poetry to the programming code caught my imagination.

Mine, otherwise with a natural inclination to read more of  non-fiction, for the first time changed my gears to devour the poetry. The result is buying a book on Ghalib's poetry with English translations. In the course of reading that book, one day my attention was grabbed by one small article published in a popular Indian English weekly magazine on Ghalib's Haveli in Old Delhi.

 

Though I stayed in Delhi for long time, I did not know that Delhi housed this famous poet. Stirred by the inspiration of  Satya Nadella , I made a  visit Ghalib's Haveli located in Qasimjan Street, Balli Maran in Chandini Chowk of Walled City - Delhi. It is an exhilarating experience to visit the Haveli. In the dilapidated structure called Ghalib's Haveli, nothing belonged to the Poet's life were showcased except a long old notebook of his Urdu poetry beautifully calligraphed and kept in a glass case. The walls were decorated with his immoral stanzas which ignite the visitors.

 

According to the biographic note, the real name of Ghalib is Mirza Asadullah Khan. Ghlaib is his pen name which means 'dominant'. Born on 27th December, 1797 at Agra, little Ghalib left for Delhi at the age of 11 and married Umrao Begum at 13.

 

Ghalib had 7 children, but none survived. He is witness to the uprising of 1857.   Ghalib's hobbies include kite flying, pachcheesi and chess.

 

The Ghalib's Mausoleum in Basti Hazrat Nizamuddin, Delhi is jostled with crowds to take a glimpse of the poets larger than life image !

 

Here are some of the  immortal stanzas of Ghalib :

 

I do not hanker after praise, nor seek reward,

If my verses make no sense, I do not care a jot.

 

I wish to live at a lonesome place,

With none to converse, none to communicate.

 

The renown of my verse will come after I am gone.

The prison of life and the bondage of grief are

one and the same.

 

Before the onset of death, how can man 

expect to be free of grief ?

EMBODIMENT OF HAPPINESS

 

The 14th Dalai Lama is known for his signature smile all over the world for the last half a century. Driven by the teachings of Buddha, Dalai Lama silently endured all the  ordeals in his personal life. Showing a bountiful of compassion on fellow beings, he stands before us as a Messiah of Peace and Compassion.  Generally the  man of his age  86 confines to one place to count the last days. But, his punishing schedules wonder anybody as he is a globetrotter through out the year without any iota of tiredness.

It is true that when a person develops an exemplary conduct, certainly he/she develops an energy center which emanates positive vibrations. Dalai Lama when he smiles, his child-like innocence mesmerizes the onlookers.

When I read his book " The Art of Happiness- A handbook for living " co-authored with Howard C. Cutler,  I cherished to meet him in person or at least take a glance of that giant personality. But the desire remained buried  until 1st December, 2013 when a friend of mine invited me to attend his lecture on ' Success & Happiness' at Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was my first experience to see such live packed audience of above one thousand, many of them are corporate czars, executives, academicians, diplomats and students. It seemed that all the elite class of Delhi was there. The spacious auditorium with beautiful sitting arrangements added glory to the occasion.

During his talk on ' Success & Happiness, His Holiness lauded India which practiced Ahimsa - Non-violence since thousands of years. The secular fabric of nation, he added, kept us united in the last 60 years of independence despite  many odds.

HH said that with compassion and motivation, every act becomes non-violence. He asked people to respect all religions. He equally stressed to respect non-believers. His central message is to promote basic human values in the society. He said that much of the problems are our own creation. He pointed out that the reason for insecurity is that you are less-loved. He asked everyone to train his/her own mind. His focal point which inspired me a lot is : " my best friend is my own mind ''.

 

LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT RIGHT NOW

 

A lyric in my vernacular Telugu goes like this:

"No use to have heaven in front of you,

if you don't have liberty "

It further says that

' there could be no merriment in doing things in your 60's which you were supposed to do in your 20's'

The highest goal of human existence is perpetual bliss which Hindus fondly call  'moksha'. Why we call it as a supreme goal is, because of our entanglement with daily affairs leaving  little  to think other than material comforts of life. Only few are blessed enough to have zeal and think beyond petty survival.


The very purpose of human birth is something go beyond the mundane existence. Happiness which we cherish in every act we do, is mostly begged from others. In that begging, we become so dependable on others. In order to win the daily battles of life, we sometimes indulge in acts  which  the heart says a firm 'No'.

Suppose, a man who feels the dying need for money did amass wealth to enjoy life. Imagine what happens ? In the first place, he can not put a tab on his need for more money. The more he starts earning, the more fierce his desire becomes. By the time, he knows the real happiness lies not outside but within himself, his end may come. It happens with majority of people who repent at death-bed cherishing the things they could have done much early in life but go on postponing continuously due to one reason or other.

The world is replete with countless examples of people not being able to enjoy simple pleasures of life, irrespective of their position on the social ladder. The surprising thing is when they come at their door, they simply shoo away, only to realize their credence much after it is gone.

Robin Sharma in his great book ‘Who will cry when you die ?’gave the plight of one father (who attended his seminar in Toronto) about his not giving piggyback ride to his son. The father says that “ while my son was growing up, he constantly asked me to give piggyback rides and I was always too busy to play with him. Now he had grown up and I am prepared to give anything to give that little son (now young man) a piggyback ride”.  

So the wisdom of present moment awareness should always prevail. Henry David Thoreau, in his monumental work 'Walden' beautifully portrays that the occupation of a day-labourer is the most independent of any professions. He says that the labourer's day ends with the going down of the sun and he is then free to devote himself to his chosen pursuit, independent of his labour. But his employer, who speculates from month to month, has no respite from one end of the year to the other.

So live the life you want right now with the available means before your time is run out !

BUSINESS NOT AS USUAL !

 

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little  he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.

                                                                    – Henry Ford

There is a Chinese proverb that if you can't smile, don't open a shop !

The whole secret of business centers on this precept, but few take this lesson seriously.

Honestly, if this gesture is brought in, it would  have a profound impact on the businesses we do. So the eternal mantra for businessman is to treat customers with warmth. Those who earn this quality would see a sea of difference.

Richard Branson, the English business tycoon with more than 400 companies under Virgin Group defines business as something involving, fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts. Thomas Watson, the former CEO and chairman of IBM adds that you should have your heart in your business and your business in your heart.

A man in any venture succeeds  if he has an alertness of a soldier, hard work of a player, concentration of a scientist, enthusiasm of a student, , presence of mind of an actor and optimism of a trekker.

The relationship he is trying to forge with customers should be a lasting one with quality as a buzzword. If he builds trust with customers based on honesty and mutual benefit, the demand for his product remains perennial.

Why some people may not succeed in business is due to the fact that they think in a monotonous way and expect miracles to do their business.

Creativity on daily basis should be the hallmark of any business.

The most successful business people refine their business strategies constantly and sometimes wisdom comes from unexpected quarters. India's auto-mobile giant Anand Mahindra makes spider as his guru because it starts spreading its web from the point it feels convenient. So the Sutra is : instead of waiting at which point you have to start, better to start immediately than wailing for an opportune moment.

Narayana Murthy of  Infosys says that innovation should be prime driving force for any business. He advises business people to innovate on daily basis. He adds that creativity coupled with team work will pay high dividends in business. Mumbai's Dabba wala epitomize the highest ethical standards in business. Countless management graduates of international repute  interact with them regularly to know their  networking skills especially their abilities to precisely  deliver hot food to office goers  in bustling Mumbai City.

History is replete with countless examples of so many successful business people who built their empires with quality and innovation as prime fuel. So before you venture into any business,  don't forget these immortal words of America's iconic steel magnate Charles M. Schwab : The man who does not work for the love of work,  but only for money is not likely to neither make money nor find much fun in life.