Poets have a ball as cricket fever rages

Hyderabad: Cricket and Shayari — on the face of it there is no connection between the two. But a careful look will reveal a lot of commonality between cricket and the Urdu poetry. Both are essentially about beauty, grace and artistry.

For Sourav Ganguly’s square cut, there is Faiz’s musical thought. For Pataudi’s cover drive, there is rhythmical creation of Meer. And for Sachin’s sorcery, there is Ghalib's mesmerising ghazal. If one is a gentleman’s game, the other is devil’s wine. Both are heady.

The similarities don’t end here. When cricket fans go berserk every time there is a boundary, so do connoisseurs of Urdu poetry. They erupt into ‘wah-wahs’ as the verses take their breath away.

With the nation caught in the grip of cricket fever, can Hyderabadi poets remain impervious? They are the first to react to the prevailing situation. The frenzy generated by the limited overs game is well captured by the masters of the condensed style.

Cricket  mein shaan apni badhana hai dosto
Bharat ko World Cup mein jitana hai dosto
Kohli ko run ki rakhna hai raftaar ka khayal
Lokesh ko to apna batana hai ab kamal
Rohit ko century bhi banana hai dosto

Noted humour poet, Fareed Sahr, who is also a headmaster, has come up with a full length poem titled World cup Nagma 2019. The 18-line nazm refers to all the cricketers now playing in the World Cup — bowling over the audience with the inherent humour.

A wedding held the other day turned into an impromptu mushaira. dinner over the discussion veered round to the World Cup and the small gathering of poets gave vent to their thoughts lyrically.

Match mai chutti ke din hi dekh sakunga
Yar kyun itwar bar bar nahin hai
Dil kahe mai chouke chakke dekh loon ja kar
Mehngi ticket aur paisa yar nahin hai

The social media is abuzz with cricket shayari. Poet Waheed Pasha Qaudri was at his wittiest in capturing the cricket mania and how people stay glued to the idiot box, forgetting all else.

Match cricket ka jab se jaari hai
Nazr hati nahin hai TV se
Gas pakwan ki bhi khatam huyee
Roz khat-pat hai ghar main biwi se

Call it coincidence or whatever, there happened to be just 11 poets like a cricket team. Host Javeed Kamal, a poet and writer himself, didn't let go any moment to pitch in with the cricket jargon. Young poet Shahid Adili livened up the night with a chawwa.

Rakho sidhi si chaal cricket mein
Warna niklegi khal cricket mein
Share bazaar gir bhi sakta hai
Hai hamesha uchaal cricket mein

As the night wore on, the mushaira got more interesting. The final overs saw the poets hitting boundaries every time they recited a couplet. Somebody recalled Hindi poet Narender Rai’s cricket verses and had everybody in splits.

Zindagi ki pitch par mera ye haal hai
Bat mere haath mein, patni ke haath mein ball hai

Unlike the game of willow, there were no losers or man of the match here. It was a win-win situation for all. Poetic justice and laughs aplenty.