At Bhopal you will come across strangely named places. There are places like the do (2) number, the teen (3) number, the cheh (6) number, the sade cheh (6 1/2) number till barah (12) number (as on date) - and believe it or not - these are all thriving markets or/and residential colonies . The big and beautiful bungalows of the administrative services and of some politicians is located at something called 1100 quarters. One might wonder why these strange names. It is nothing but the Bhopali heritage of being lazy. We are passionate of our laziness, and preserve it as our heritage. Out of laziness no body for a long time bothered to name the places and hence people (bus conductors - the trend setters of Bhopal) started calling these places by the serial number 2, 3, 4 etc.
Coming back to our heritage of being lazies, Bhopal was the founding venue of the legendary lazies’ Club, the Daairat-ul-Kuhala, which began somewhere in the late 1920s. This club was Bhopal's response to the global strife of the world being in “too much of a hurry”. In response this mid-century home to the Urdu ghazal, under the proud president Jigar Moradabadi, elevated laziness to an art form. The entry fees to this club was a pillow, and the status of the members was ranked by there vertical position in the club, viz lying down, sprawled, seated or standing. The standing members were to pay for the drinks, and this they did gladly. Once Jigar Moradabadi was even kidnapped by a local goon - and was let go only after a private recital.
In this era of finding twenty-four hour days too short, what can one say to that? As Gulzaar saab has said so beautifully - Dil dhoondta hai phir wohi fursat ke raat din… baithe rahe tasavvur-e-jaanaan kiye hue
Coming back to our heritage of being lazies, Bhopal was the founding venue of the legendary lazies’ Club, the Daairat-ul-Kuhala, which began somewhere in the late 1920s. This club was Bhopal's response to the global strife of the world being in “too much of a hurry”. In response this mid-century home to the Urdu ghazal, under the proud president Jigar Moradabadi, elevated laziness to an art form. The entry fees to this club was a pillow, and the status of the members was ranked by there vertical position in the club, viz lying down, sprawled, seated or standing. The standing members were to pay for the drinks, and this they did gladly. Once Jigar Moradabadi was even kidnapped by a local goon - and was let go only after a private recital.
In this era of finding twenty-four hour days too short, what can one say to that? As Gulzaar saab has said so beautifully - Dil dhoondta hai phir wohi fursat ke raat din… baithe rahe tasavvur-e-jaanaan kiye hue
Jigar was sadr. The person lying down could order the sitting man and the sitting person could order the standing person in the Anjuman-e-Kohla.
ReplyDeleteis this club still active??
ReplyDeleteNo Sharat, those days are long gone
ReplyDeleteu have not mentioned anythhing bout ur self. y do u chooz 2 b annonymous??
ReplyDeleteNice piece, but for your information, "Dil dhoondta hai phir wohi fursat ke raat din… baithe rahe tasavvur-e-jaanaan kiye hue" is not an original Gulzar creation. The couplet is actually by Ghalib. Gulzar picked up the first two lines of Ghalib's ghazal and created the rest of the brilliant "Mausam" song.
ReplyDeleteyour posts are filled with mis-information. please stop spreading your ideas as facts. for one I know for sure that the do number, teen number and 10 number doesn't come from laziness. It comes from the fact that those were the bus stop numbers.
ReplyDeleteI think this club was formed in Talaiyya area, near kali mata temple....Oh Bhopal....I miss you.
ReplyDelete