Majrooh Sultanpuri: The Poet Whose Words Touched My Heart

I have a strange belief, which many may not agree with, but that does not mean I will change my belief which comes from a very close observation and many encounters and experiences. And at a time when lying has become a way of life and even the most powerful men and women are becoming experts in lying, I swear that from now on whatever I say will be the truth and nothing but the truth.

I was working with K.A. Abbas as his literary assistant, a position he created for me because I was the most educated assistant with an M.A. in English Literature from Mumbai University. My monthly salary was a hundred rupees a month, which I sometimes got every month and sometimes had to wait for two or three months and then got the deposited amount at the same time and that was an occasion to celebrate with a 'rice plate' which was available for a rupee at Juhu Hindu Hotel near Abbas Sahab's office, or just batata vada and pav and a cup of tea a day. Abbas Sahab knew that it was difficult for a man to live on the salary he was giving me. He often requested me to look for other jobs, but I was determined not to leave him at any cost.

Abbas Sahab was a person who always cared for the people working with him. There were people like his secretary and manager, Abdul Rehman (he typed the contract between Abbas Sahab and Amitabh Bachchan for 'Saat Hindustani') and typed all the major books, articles and short stories of Abbas Sahab, Abdul Rehman had been working with Abbas Sahab for over forty years. When I asked him why he didn't try for another job, he said, "Working for Abbas Sahab is like offering namaaz. I can even give up namaaz but can't think of leaving Abbas Sahab."

With the passage of time, Abbas Sahab, who knew about my love for writing, gave me assignments to write articles in weeklies like 'Cine Advance', 'Film Mirror', and 'Deboinaire' for which I was paid between Rs 25 and Rs 150. I was once asked to write about Raman Khanna, his new discovery, who had presented him with 'Faasla' with Shabana Azmi as his leading lady. When my article was published, Khanna gifted me a ready-made shirt worth twenty-five rupees and even offered me a job as his secretary, which Abbas Sahab advised me not to take.

Abbas Sahab had asked me to write for a weekly called 'Screen' after I had given a letter of introduction to the editor, Mr. S.S. Pillai, who had asked me to interview the famous Urdu poet and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri. I had seen Majrooh Sultanpuri in a mushaira held in Abbas Sahab's big library and was mesmerized by his personality and his poetry, but I could not even shake hands with him.

That evening after meeting Mr. Pillai I went to Abbas Sahab and told him about my work. He was very happy and not only gave me a letter from Majrooh but also promised to talk to him about my interview requirements. I loved meeting eminent writers and poets and I literally could not sleep that night. And the next evening I landed at Majrooh's bungalow because Abbas Sahab told me that Majrooh was a very nice man and there was no need to make an appointment with him.

The beginning itself was inauspicious because two men surrounded me and started asking me all kinds of questions which scared me, but Abbas Sahab's letter made everything easy for me the letter reached Majrooh and within a few minutes, I heard a voice mumbling and saying, "This Abbas Sahab does not seem to have any work. He gets letters written and sends them to anyone he wants. Tell that boy that I have other work and I cannot give him an interview." I was very sensitive even in those days when I was struggling and was hungry most of the time. Majrooh's man came to tell me the answer he had heard and I had left the bungalow before he came. I never went back to that bungalow. I did not even need to go.

The next day Majrooh was given a 'fire' by Abbas Sahab and Majrooh sent me a message through Abbas Sahab asking me to meet him. But I had already made up my mind not to meet him again. He may have been the Pope of Urdu poetry, but he was a cruel man at heart. How could a man who wrote great poetry about the heart and the need to love and be loved be so different in real life? I have met so many poets and writers, and I have seen how some of them have twin personalities, something like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Jitendra once told me about a poet and writer who wrote great poetry and made good films, but he also did the worst things beating his wife and abusing her and I considered that poet to be an incarnation of God.

After that experience at Majrooh's house that evening, I lost the opportunity to make a hundred rupees but I had learned a lesson for life. Sahir Sahab had written, "People put many faces on one face". Earlier I had only heard this, but as time grew older, I came to know this truth and also accepted it, because this is the truth and nothing but the truth.

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