For word meanings and explanatory discussion in English click on the tabs marked “Roman” or “Notes”.

https://urdushahkar.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/chbhKh-to-Ghazal-ho-jaae-audio.mp3

Recitation

تو  غزل  ہو  جائے  ۔  چندر  بھان  خیالؔ

۱

پردہ  چہرے  سے  ہٹائے  تو  غزل  ہو  جائے

زندگی  سامنے  آئے  تو  غزل  ہو  جائے

۲

سرد  سڑکوں  پہ  سِسکتے  ہوئے  سنّاٹوں  کا

درد  جب  دل  میں  سمائے  تو  غزل  ہو  جائے

۳

سوز  ہر  لفظ  کے  سینے  میں  نہاں  ہے  اب  بھی

خاموشی  ساز  اُٹھائے  تو  غزل  ہو  جائے

۴

شہرِ  احساس  اگر  نرم  لب  و  لہجے  میں

داستاں  اپنی  سنائے  تو  غزل  ہو  جائے

۵

دن  کے  ہنگاموں  میں  گم  کردہ  ہر  اک  فکر  میری

شب  کی  آغوش  میں  جائے  تو  غزل  ہو  جائے

۶

کب  سے  بیٹھا  ہوں  خیالات  کا  خیمہ  تانے

کربِ  تخلیق  ستائے  تو  غزل  ہو  جائے

۷

شامِ  غم  جام  بکف  ہے  تو  اِس  عالم  میں  خیالؔ

ہوش  بھی  ہاتھ  ملائے  تو  غزل  ہو  جائے

तो ग़ज़ल हो जाए – चंदर भान ख़याल

१

२

३

४

५

६

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Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. chandr bhaan Khayaal (1946-xxxx), hoshaNgabad, madhya pradesh. Graduated from saagar university. His rural school did not have provisions to teach urdu. He was fascinated with urdu poetry and in his village a philanthropist got a library built and stocked. Visiting the newly opened library, he memorized a lot of Ghazal and nazm from books in devanagiri. He also started composing nazm. Could not find anyone in the village to teach him urdu, not even the imaam at the local masjid. Taught himself reading and writing urdu, and after college, went to dehli, working in a petrol pump for a few years. He took a nazm to raam chandr muztar who was chief editor of ‘milaap’ and later became his shaagird. Participated in mushaa’era, published a collection and got started on a journalism career. Worked for urdu dailies – savera and qaumi aavaaz and later chief editor of hindi weekly bhaavya Times, dehli. Sahitya Akademi Award and Tagore Literary Prize.

chandr bhaan Khayaal (1946-xxxx), hoshaNgabad, madhya pradesh.  Graduated from saagar university.  His rural school did not have provisions to teach urdu.  He was fascinated with urdu poetry and in his village a philanthropist got a library built and stocked.  Visiting the newly opened library, he memorized a lot of Ghazal and nazm from books in devanagiri.  He also started composing nazm.  Could not find anyone in the village to teach him urdu, not even the imaam at the local masjid.  Taught himself reading and writing urdu, and after college, went to dehli, working in a petrol pump for a few years.  He took a nazm to raam chandr muztar who was chief editor of ‘milaap’ and later became his shaagird.  Participated in mushaa’era, published a collection and got started on a journalism career.  Worked for urdu dailies – savera and qaumi aavaaz and later chief editor of hindi weekly bhaavya Times, dehli.  Sahitya Akademi Award and Tagore Literary Prize.

1.veil 2.face 3.life

Who is lifting the veil from their face.  It could be the beloved or life itself.  In the first interpretation, if the beloved lifts the veil from her face, it inspires the poet to compose a Ghazal in praise of her beauty.  In the second misra she may have been characterized as zindagi the life force of the lover.  If she reveals her face, he write a Ghazal.  In the second, more powerful interpretation, it is zindagi – life itself that is lifting the veil from its face.  The poet is then able to see the real character, real conditions of life – revelation of truth/reality – his own life or that of those around him.  It is this revelation that inspires him to write.  It may be about the beauty or the trials and tribulations of life.

1.cold 2.sobbing, shivering 3.silence 4.pain 5.absorb, spread into

Desolate, cold streets and their haunting silence hold a pain that, when felt deeply in the heart, transforms into poetry. The poet turns the quiet suffering of the homeless into an emotional Ghazal.  Here ‘homelessness’ does not have to be literal … it could be emotional isolation, poverty and despair facing the cold unfeeling world.

1.burning emotion, pain 2.word 3.chest, heart 4.hidden 5.musical instrument 6. pick up

Each word still carries a hidden/unspoken fire/passion/pain – hidden in the poet’s heart. If silence itself dares to pick up a musical instrument (i.e., express), the result would be a Ghazal. The imagery blends silence, hidden pain, and music to evoke poetic expression.

1.city, domain 2.feelings, emotions 3.soft 4.lips, words 5.tone, accents 6.story

The poet carries a world of emotions in his heart.  If the emotional world could narrate its tale gently and tenderly, it would take the form of a Ghazal. The tone and sensitivity of storytelling are key to transforming emotions into poetry.

1.chaos 2.lost 3.thought 4.night 5.embrace

Amidst the noisy hustle of the day, facing demands of making a living, the poet’s lost thoughts find no place. But when they return in the still, embracing quiet of night, they blossom into poetry. Night becomes a space for introspection and creation.

1.thoughts 2.tent, shelter 3.spread overhead, pitched 4.agony 5.creativity 6.torment

The poet has ‘pitched a tent’ of his thoughts, is sheltering under the ‘canopy of his thoughts’.  These thoughts are ready to be transformed into words.  When the pain/agony of creativity, of the intense desire to create something meaningful becomes a torment, that very pain gives birth to a Ghazal.

1.evening 2.sorrow 3.cup (of wine) 4.in hand 5.condition, state, setting 6.pen-name 7.awareness, senses

Evening heightens emotional sensitivities and the pain that the poet feels.  O Khayaal, if the evening of sorrow arrives with a cup of wine in hand, and if the senses and awareness join hands, then a Ghazal can emerge.  The wine cup could symbolize ecstasy/trance and this combined with intelligent awareness can result in a good composition.

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