Whither meaning?

And finally we had our first text/discourse analysis class today. Now I have no plans to explain as to what discourse analysis is because I myself am confused as to how can one study 'how meaning is generated' without actually knowing the meaning beforehand! In-sha-Allah, I am hoping to get my query resolved with the passage of time. The highlights of the class, however, were the following:

1. Our teacher's recitation of N.M.Rashid's samandar ki teh mein, which actually dealt with the central concept in discourse analysis: text/meaning (if they can be used interchangeably!) I am tempted to share the poem on my blog, so here is it:

سمندر کی تہ میں
سمندر کی سنگین تہ میں
ہے صندوق --
صندوق میں ایک ڈبیا میں ڈبیا
میں ڈبیا--
میں کتنے معانی کی صبحیں --
وہ صبحیں کہ جن پر رسالت کے در بند
اپنی شعاؤں میں جکڑی ہوئی
کتنی سہمی ہوئی!
(یہ صندوق کیونکر گرا؟
نہ جانے کسی نے چرایا؟
ہمارے ہی ہاتھوں سے پھسلا؟
پھسل کر گرا؟
سمندر کی تہ میں -- مگر کب؟
ہمیشہ سے پہلے
ہمیشہ سے بھی سالہاسال پہلے؟)
اور اب تک ہے صندوق کے گرد
لفظوں کی راتوں کا پہرا
--وہ لفظوں کی راتیں
جو دیووں کی مانند--
پانی کے لسدار دیووں کی مانند!
یہ لفظوں کی راتیں
سمندر کی تہ میں تو بستی نہیں ہیں
مگر اپنے لاریب پہرے کی خاطر
وہیں رینگتی ہیں
شب و روز
صندوق کے چار سو رینگتی ہیں
سمندر کی تہ میں!
بہت سوچتا ہوں
کبھی یہ معانی کی پاکیزہ صبحوں کی پریاں
رہائی کی امید میں
اپنے غوّاص جادوگروں کی
صدائیں سنیں گی؟

- ن.م. راشد

2. The class ended on an extremely thought provoking note with our teacher actually trying to make us realise that "time is not on our side. It is running against us." I felt shaken from inside as soon as I heard those words. But was it enough? No. Absolutely not. The need of the hour is to act immediately. Without further delay. Literary theory, semantics, text analysis, ELT, media studies, translation studies, poetry, fiction, drama etcetra. Insulating ourselves from the outside world, we have chosen to spend our lives with these! No, it is not a bad trade. It has its own importance, significance and value. However, to what extent are we able to relate it to our lives? To all that is going on around us? What role, if any, does it play in fighting the dense smog of disillusionment that we find ourselves in? These are the questions to ponder... Let me now quote what I heard in today's class:

- "As they say, 'when your house is on fire, you do not run to save your photo albums!'"

- "A different world cannot be created by indifferent people."

- "When there is no knowledge, there is no concern."

- At one instance he rightly mentioned that ten years ago, hardly anyone talked about the creation of Pakistan in the skeptical terms as they do now. If things remain unchanged, after ten years probably, people might actually begin to question its very existence. I wonder how many of us consider it to be a sorry state of affairs? If we are not concerned, we have no right, I think, to call ourselves 'knowledgeable'!


- And the diagnosis:

"One major reason is that we are selfishly concerned about ourselves."

At the end of the class, sir recited three lines that he remembered from a long ghazal by Shahnawaz Farooqui. Since afternoon, these lines are resonating in my mind and I am trying to unfold the layers and layers of meaning that they hold within:

مغرب کی پیشانی پر کس نے لکھا ہے دجّال
عشق کے دام لگاتے ہیں عقل کے کوٹھے کے دلال
...
تعبیروں کے جنگل میں پیارے اپنا خواب سنبھال