The day ‘Neeraj’ met Sushma Swaraj

RK Malhotra

IN the physical form yes, poet-lyricist Gopal Das ‘Neeraj’ is no more, but who can have the heart to say: ‘Neeraj is no more’? He lives in his immortal compositions. As a poet, he belongs to the category of the sterling Sahir, the prince of Urdu poets, who voiced the truth of poetic excellence: Mein har ik pal ka shayar hoon/ Har ek pal meri kahani hai/         Har ek pal meri hasti hai/ Har ek pal meri jawani hai  (I am the poet of every passing moment; every moment is the story of my life; every moment is the yarn of my existence; every moment carries the reflection of my youth). 

I have been enjoying Neerajji’s precious compositions and performances all through my active life since 1955. On a few occasions, I appreciated his performance from the front row, and sometimes, I would be seated almost next to him on the mushaira stage, as a participant.

Twice he graced Panipat, at Arya (PG) College and SD (PG) College. He was ever young, ever bright, ever the darling of throbbing hearts. At SD College, I remember vividly how women staff members, led by the head of the department of Hindi, kept him in a close circle for quite sometime indeed, discussing his life and poetry, while young students surrounded him for autographs!

And the performance! Neeraj knew the art of bringing the audience round to his own temper, often with a serious yarn attuned to his personal sentiments and emotions, mentally preparing them for the composition he had in mind to present. Whichever composition he presented, be it ‘Maa mat ho naraaz’ or ‘Karwaan guzar gaya, ghubaar dekhtei  rahe’ or ‘Arey bhai dekh ke chalo’, he was always at his very best, at the supreme heights of glory — a poet, every inch a poet, a poet pure and simple; lilting like ‘Meer’ and crooning like ‘Shakeel’ and Sahir. Every word rising directly from his heart and overflowing directly to the heart of his spell-bound  audience, reminding everyone of Ghalib’s couplet: Yoon toh hein zamanei mein sukhanwar bahut achchhei/ Kehtei hein ke ‘Ghalib’ ka hai andaaz-e-bayan aur (Though there is no dearth of good poets and writers; it is rightly said Ghalib occupies a place quite apart and secure)!

Equally important was his mastery over hasth-rekha vigyan (palmistry). 

At Arya College, a kavi sammelan was in progress. Neeraj, the star attraction, was on the dias while Sushma Swaraj, now the External Affairs Minister, then a rising star in politics, was presiding. Neeraj marked her out for her extremely  bright future. On the stage, he took her hand in his, read her palm and made predictions which have partially come true. The heights he had predicted for her are still a long way off. 

That Sushmaji really deserved all those predictions was duly authenticated by her presidential remarks at the end of the symposium — reproducing verbatim a few lines from each of the numerous participating poets in the same order and context, compelling bigger than the biggest hand from the audience for quite sometime indeed!