Art of enjoying ghazals

Elizabeth Kurian's The Art and Science of Ghazal, breaks down the nuances of the style helping listeners understand the fine poetry

Who is not interested in ghazal? Almost everyone. But not everyone is able to fully understand or appreciate the fine nuances of a ghazal. Very few are aware of what is radeef, qaafiya, matla, takhallus and maqta. Now a solution is at hand should one want to know all about Urdu prosody.

Elizabeth Kurian, who goes by the nom de plume, Mona, has come up with a book which addresses problems faced by those interested in Urdu shayari, but are unfamiliar with its rhythm, intonation, style and structure. A poetess in her own right, Mona seeks to impart Ilme Arooz, the grammar of ghazal, through her book ‘The Art and Science of Ghazal’. This book is in fact a readers’ guide to Urdu ghazal appreciation, scansion and prosody.

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The 132-page book throws light on the evolution of Urdu and provides an overview of ghazal and its structure. It also unravels the intricacies of ghazal and the principles governing its writing. “I want people to appreciate the beauty of ghazal and I hope my book will help them”, says Mona.

A multilingual writer, she has 14 books to her credit in English, Hindi and Urdu. Actually a banker by profession, she took voluntary retirement from the Reserve Bank of India to indulge in her literary passion. Her first book, Beyond Images, is an anthology of English poems. Later she translated it into Malayalam and Urdu languages. This books was also translated into Tamil and French.

Buoyed by its success, she translated Maryam Gazala’s Hindi/Urdu poems into English under the title “Mirrors of My Soul”. She followed it up with English rendition of Dr. Ram Barayya’s Hindi poetry (Tremors), Nusrat Mohiuddin’s Urdu nazams (Awaiting a New Season), Dr. Ahilya Misra’s Hindi poems (Shwaas se Shabd Tak). Later, she came up with two more books – -Qause Quzah and Zauqe Justaju — containing her collection of ghazals, nazms and khitas.

Mona’s Urdu poems have a haunting sameness with Parveen Shakir, the renowned Pakistani poetess. In a simple language she portrays a vast canvass of emotions and gives voice to feminine concerns. One can detect anguish and hope and everyday concerns reflected in her ghazals. Sample this one:

Teri tarha main na badal saki

Lagi thokeren, na sambhal saki

Nai rah par tu bhi chal pada

Tere bin kahin main na chal saki

In her new book, Mona brings all her writing experience to help ghazal lovers understand and master the craft of writing. Ghazal is a metered poetry which has not just a metre (bahr) and rhyme (qaafiya) but a constant refrain (radeef). All these are explained in detail with the help of transliteration tables, charts and notations. If you are looking to improve your ghazal appreciation ability or hone writing skills, The Art and Science of Ghazal is the book for you.

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