A Forgotten Legend, Nand Lal Noorpuri….

Why it is so that when someone leaves this world, then only people start respecting, loving, caring about him? Why when he is alive, no one even bothers about him, about his existence? I fail to understand almost all the time that why such a small thing is so tough for many to understand that its not important to put flowers on someone’s grave twice a day when you haven’t even bothered to ask him that how is he when he was alive? Thanks to such hypocrisy, many people live their entire in a forced solitude and even face a very sad death! And you know what’s the worse part, it doesn’t just happen to common man(it happen to a common, ordinary person for sure mind it but its not limited to him, that’s what I mean) but also to those who are legends! People, who have created history from their work! Nand Lal Noorpuri is one such legend who has given so much to Punjabi literature, Punjabi community but its just so sad to see that he never got that kind of respect, that status which he truly deserved. And seeing that now a days, some idiots who has an illusion that they are either a great singer/poet/musician and yet tasting all the success, enjoying their lives with all the facilities , just makes me sick!

I was looking for something else when I found the below video. In this video, Debi Makhsoospuri  and Mangal Hathoor with couple of other guys are talking about Noorpuri! I won’t be translating the video(its in Punjabi) but I would be putting here the last poetry which is said here and was written by Noorpuri. It just took my heart away to see what has happened to this great legend and how beautifully he penned his pain in just four lines.

 

And here are those four lines! They are in Hindi and I shall be explaining its meaning in English as well,

Log jeete hain duniya mein kis shaane se,

Koi tann bech kar, koi mann bech kar!

Mere ikhlaas ka dard pehchaniye,

Maine faake khareede hain fan bech kar!

 

And here is its translation in English,

With how much pride, people live,

Even after selling their bodies and souls,

Try to understand the pain of my sincerity,

I have bought starvation after selling art of mine!

 

How sad, how so very sad it is that someone who gave his life’s 35 years to the literature, he had to say this to sum up his journey! How so very shameful it is for all of us who give so much of importance, popularity to singers like Miss Pooja, musicians like Honey Singh and writers like Bohemia who, not even after their 7 lives can touch just one percent of what these legends have done!

I can’t stop myself from putting here two lines by Mohsin Naqvi which just fit here perfectly,

Kuch dinon ke liye chalo dunia ko chhod chalein Mohsin,

Suna hail log bahot yaad karte hain chale jaane ke baad!

 

And its translation in English is,

Lets go from this world for few days,

I have heard people remember you a lot once you leave this world!

 

How so very true, isn’t it!