A Trialogue

It's not just a song but a symbolic and dramatic Act. An honest and heart-wrenching conversation between The Pitcher (Ali Hamza), Sohni (Shilpa Rao) and Mahiwal (Ali Noor - The Protagonist). Walk with me for a while:

(Ali Hamza - The Mind) is the prelude to the story and is reluctant to do what Sohni is asking her to do, which is essentially, to take Sohni across the Chanab river on her back to meet Mahiwal. The ceramic pitcher, however, is a work-in-progress - yet to be exposed to high-temperature fire to give it a hard durable form and she knows it. Consequently, the pitcher finds herself moist, insecure, afraid, and faithless. She, hence, deems herself a resounding failure, and rightly so because the flame of love has not roasted her. She carries an existential crisis of confidence in her abilities within herself as she does not feel battle-hardened and up to the task of facing the unchartered, and treacherous waters in the stormy night. Her deep sense of abject failure stems from the personal knowledge that she is unbaked, and she finds the root of her painful faithlessness in the fact of her being unbaked. She implores Sohni not to rest her hopes on an unbaked failure as it will only result in a fatal catastrophe. 

The Sohni (Shilpa Rao - The Heart) is having none of it. Sohni tries to comfort the troubled pitcher and insists that the pitcher’s problem is bigger than being unbaked. Its the crisis of faith which is the problem and there is only one solution to that problem - To take a leap of faith against all odds and despite all her failures and insecurities. The pitcher must address her inner crisis of self-confidence to succeed. The fact that the pitcher is unbaked is of no consequence to her in the grand scheme of things as her keen desire to achieve intimacy with her love makes her ignore all looming dangers. She recognizes the imminent dangers involved in such a bold venture but feels the desperate need to act despite all dangers. Love calls and she must respond without fail. She feels compelled to act in what she believes in - in the hope and possibility of union with her love which trumps all arguments. She has to cross at all costs, and in the face of certain death. She has to do what she has to do and if it means sure death, so be it. The Metaphorical love - Lust - grants her stubborn courage and a fiery will to succeed against all odds. 

The Mahiwal (Ali Noor - The Rooh), meanwhile, has gone beyond the station of Ishq-e-Majazi to the station of Ishq-e-Haqiqi and has a word of advice for both the pitcher and Sohni. He, while recognizing the Pitcher’s deep crisis of faith, also acknowledges that she is right to advise Sohni not to rely on her. He further laments that Sohni is also making a tragic mistake by resting all her hopes on material things - namely, an unbaked pitcher. He knows that the Ishq-e-Majazi will only give Sohni wings of an ostrich which can only take her that far. Those wings would make her run but she won’t be able to fly. She is bound to drown in those perilous waters. He asks both to rest hope only in The True Guide and only then they can hope to achieve what they set out to do. He advises them to seek guidance in Ishq-e-Haqiqi if they are to have any hope of Salvation. He tells them to rely only on God and trust His plans for them, casting aside all worldly desires, and giving themselves over to God with total dependence on Him, such that His desires become theirs.

P.S. Its always a pleasure to listen to Ali Hamza reclaim his due space ahead of Ali Noor with his husky voice.

Hope you enjoy the song. (Turn on subtitles if you feel Punjabi language is foreign to you…)