Jo beet gayi so baat gayi...

Last Friday, Mr. Bachchan recited a poem by Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan, ‘Jo beet gayi so baat gayi…’ on Big Boss, as one of the contestant’s stay in the house had ended. It just struck chord in my heart and I too started reciting the poem along with him. I felt as if, only yesterday I had read this poem. I was so happy after this and couldn’t just stop myself telling my hubby about this poem, which I think was part of our CBSE curriculum of 9th or 10th standard. Simultaneously I felt so sad about not being in touch with such beautiful things and sheer joy of life. In school we used to learn such poems by heart and used to have various competitions. It was simply great to be part of all that.

Somehow, we have come far away from all such beautiful things. Now, we are more inclined towards visual stories and that imagination part is sometimes missing from our lives, as we make ourselves too busy with the materialistic things. Now, our minds get busy in imagining as what boss will be thinking about my appraisal, what shall be the % increment (nowadays its hard to imagine what could it be, thanks to recession) or else where shall I be investing to get max. returns, blah, blah, blah… Oh lord!!! I am just stuck in all this. Have just lost the patience to listen to unspoken words, imagine and read between the lines of such beautiful poems or just sit back idle, doing nothing and let sun set and keep on looking at it. Me and my sis’ used to go to our terrace and watch sun setting behind our house and imagine shapes of clouds, talk about how sun would have felt whole day, is the sun happy today or is he sad… we used talk just anything on earth. Now, we don’t get time even see each other for so many days or say months. However, now if we’ll just sit that way and chat, everybody else will call us…. “ab to bade ho jao…”. Aah... those were lovely days. Won’t say today is not as beautiful, but past had something in it. Or I think we are tend to be like this only, always looking in past and overlooking joys of today. That’s why this poem just correctly says… Jo beet gayi so baat gayi… :)

Have a look at this poem below...
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जो बीत गई सो बात गई

जीवन में एक सितारा था
माना वह बेहद प्यारा था
वह डूब गया तो डूब गया
अंबर के आंगन को देखो
कितने इसके तारे टूटे
कितने इसके प्यारे छूटे
जो छूट गए फ़िर कहाँ मिले
पर बोलो टूटे तारों पर
कब अंबर शोक मनाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई

जीवन में वह था एक कुसुम
थे उस पर नित्य निछावर तुम
वह सूख गया तो सूख गया
मधुबन की छाती को देखो
सूखी कितनी इसकी कलियाँ
मुरझाईं कितनी वल्लरियाँ
जो मुरझाईं फ़िर कहाँ खिलीं
पर बोलो सूखे फूलों पर
कब मधुबन शोर मचाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई

जीवन में मधु का प्याला था
तुमने तन मन दे डाला था
वह टूट गया तो टूट गया
मदिरालय का आंगन देखो
कितने प्याले हिल जाते हैं
गिर मिट्टी में मिल जाते हैं
जो गिरते हैं कब उठते हैं
पर बोलो टूटे प्यालों पर
कब मदिरालय पछताता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई

मृदु मिट्टी के बने हुए हैं
मधु घट फूटा ही करते हैं
लघु जीवन ले कर आए हैं
प्याले टूटा ही करते हैं
फ़िर भी मदिरालय के अन्दर
मधु के घट हैं,मधु प्याले हैं
जो मादकता के मारे हैं
वे मधु लूटा ही करते हैं
वह कच्चा पीने वाला है
जिसकी ममता घट प्यालों पर
जो सच्चे मधु से जला हुआ
कब रोता है चिल्लाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई

— हरिवंशराय बच्चन
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