Flower’s Desire

Quasmi sahib ka eik column

Qalander Baksh J`uraat:

``Kyaa baat hai , kyaa baat hai, kyaa baat hai Vallah``!

Re: # 47, echoboom:

Thanks alot. I intend to find Lata`s Magic Moments in full.

Re: # 48: At least add a roman/english summary!

Rahul:

I read this poem a long long time ago in high school Hindi class. It is a superb poem. I loved it then and loved it now. Thank you for doing the fine translation and kudos to Chowk staff for publishing it.

BJK,
Thanks for the update on the poet`s life. I did not realize that MP was a Khadi boli state or that ML Chaturvadi was born so long ago. If you have some time, can you please tell a Punjabi about various HIndi dialects and where they are or were spoken?

Charlie was kind enough to bring this truly great piece of literature. If ever one piece of poetry thoroughly encapsulated the state of affairs in Denmark ..errr Tattastaan, here it is:

Inquirer:

All poetry, like cusine, has flavour entrenched the recesses of cultural-memory & gets evoked by aromas. Sometimes ithe taste needs to be cultivated & acquired in the right `company`.
``Romantic`` interludes of the Paak & Pavittar kind work wonders for the passionate kind.

It is so unfortunate that because of our learn-to-earn & matter-over-mind acculturation by the western-thuggs have robbed majority of our own of their sense of aesthetics. Much-music monkeys have hogged the scene & they are the true terrorists who are trying to make our home-grown ( how sad I`ve to use this phrase) look backward.

Hindi poetry, especially old one is awesome, but the hindi-background ones have self-loathing & self-hate and they think that the only way to look smart & modern is to embrace the new-kid-on-block power. This has been the bane of Hindus from day one & until & unless they clutch to their roots and also enjoy swaying in the breeze they always get grafted with another fruit.

Listen to the poetry here & see what a wonderful work the poet has done with the situation.
Hindi poetry is always at its best with dance--this is where they excel at.

The girl is dreaming & the rain (tears) which elude her have suddenly made her happy. She looks in the mirror & puts Kohl in the image rather than her own eyes...

If you`ve not seen the movie carefully you`ve missed much. Bhupinder has done wonders.


javascript:openWindow(`http://www.aiol.com/entertainment/cgi-bin/play.cgi?m=a&f=Lata - 10.rmj`)

Re: # 45, rahulmal:

You are a bit too hard on the urdu lovers. Hindi poetry has the spontaneity of simplicity but Urdu shaayarii delights in esoteric sophistication. Both are totally enjoyable. Look at the Urdu imagery of # echoboom (#15) and urstruly (#16). Of course I never like to fail to add my own scent to the Urdu gems, see (#19) and (#20).

I was happy to read echoboom`s (#35). Some of the Hindu interactors are becoming riotous at Chowk, they seem to have lost the Hinduness of tolerance that charaterzes us, I think.

Inquirer (30),

Thanks for your calming influence! I still can’t get over the fact that Delhi, Urstruly et. all find this masterful poetry …childish. Frankly speaking, I don’t care much about the translation for I don’t fancy myself as any author-shother, but to dismiss this beautiful thought as nonsensical prattle is criminal.

Shobs,

Nothing serious man, just that I checked the site after a few days. Your concern is moving, everyone is fine.

Harish, Khadiboli, Bjk, Burps, Shobs,

Thanks for the kind words! I explained the patchy transliteration in my last interact, nevertheless, sorry for the confusion caused.

Like I mentioned, translation is not everybody’s cup of tea. It is highly unlikely for an Average Joe to do justice to the original. My rationale for submitting it here was that some people who had never heard this poem before may get pointers and be able to enjoy the original. At the same time, I’m open to suggestions which can make the translation more enjoyable.

Inquirer,

I think I had downloaded the original from some university site. In the interact above, Bjk has typed from printed text and the piece I used for translation seems to be in line with it.

Re: # 39:
Aap sahi haiN, Janaab.
Par meraa iraadaa harf ba harf quote karne kaa nahiin thaa.
Sirf urstruly ko dhartii par ley aanaa chaahtaa thaa.
Chaliye aapkii dua maulvi saahab ko ley to aaii! Ab wo do ghuunt pii len to pataa chale!!

Echo,

When I tried this translation, I also used to try my hands at ITRANS. It was really enjoyable to write some text in Latin script per their prescribed format and see it turning to Devanagari. Probably, the goof-ups in the transliteration are a result of the playing around with that tool. Maybe I got so obsessed with the output that it was churning out that I didn`t put much thought into the consistency partt. The poem is written in the official Khadiboli dialect.

I fail to see the similarity between this poem and the I posted by you exceptfor the broad theme of personification. The former is a eulogy to the spirit of sacrifice for the motherland, the latter a lament by a lifeless object whose angst is exacerbated by the death shroud. I appreciate the sentiments expressed, just that I fail to make the connection. The second one is a classical religious conundrum. I recall reading somewhere a similar question posed by Martin Luther – the protestant reformer. In Christianity, Christ’s sacrifice is supposed to deliver the mankind from its sins (the caveat is that you believe in Christ as your saviour). “Then, why not can we continue with our sinful ways, our deliverance being promised by Christ’s death at the cross” asked ML :-)

Another problem is that translation is a tricky business. One needs to have a healthy understanding of both languages, appreciation of the social, cultural and historical background of the original and be able to map the writing style of the original to the closest, if not exact fit, in the language the piece is being translated to. When these criteria are not met, translations make a perfectly fine work appear crude and unfulfilling. My translation fails to do justice to the beautiful original and I suspect the same is the case with the pieces posted by you.

Checked my mail just now and realized that my translation has been published. This is quite surprising!

Last year, my office was quite a long distance from my home and I used to hum familiar tunes during the commute. On one of these boring and taxing commutes, I was trying to recall the old songs telecast on DoorDarshan (DD).

For those not in the know, DD is the official channel. It was the only channel broadcast during the government monopoly days. People who were introduced to the idiot box before the cable TV boom still have some fond memories of DD. The serials like ‘Hum Log’, ‘Buniyaad’ etc. had a loyal following and some stars in the contemporary mass media scene like Prannoy Roy made their start with informational programmes like The World This Week. DD being the government organ took its social obligations very seriously and beamed informational and educative programs from time to time. One of the ways of disseminating these inspirational messages was using songs. So, there was ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ (national integration), ‘Padhna Likhna Seekho’ (education), ‘Ek Chidiya, Anek Chidiya’ (unity is strength) etc. etc. ‘Chah nahin main surbaala ke’ was one of my favourites. The tune was rendered extremely well (probably some classical singer) and the video was shot very aesthetically. Jut picture a 5ish boy and girl, very innocent and cute – manifestations of God’s kindness, dressed in white pyjama kurta a nd lehenga choli respectively, walking on the path to Gandhiji’s Samadhi, their little palms holding a few petals. I always found the combination of the soothing background score and the imagery very captivating.

After I was able to recall a few lines from the aforementioned song, I set out to search the poem. The poem was too appealing to not try my hands at translation, so I did, and submitted the same to Chowk last year. I recall getting a response to the effect that they needed some more meat about the poet, writing style etc. The matters of bread kept me busy and I could never get a chance to read up more on the poet. So it is pleasant surprise to see it here …

Hope Rahul and all his loved ones are doing fine, he hasn`t interacted or responded to any query on this board yet. From what I know he is based in Bangalore, which is quite distant from Mumbai...but you never know...

AmaN Maulvi sahib, sab khairiat tau hai na? jald ittela`a bheijo

Re: # 38 errrr....andaaz-e-bayaaN aur` :D

Re: # 23, urstruly:
Aap to truck kii yaad me zyaadaa hii lag gaye. Sher achchhaa hai par hai ``Ghalib kaa bayaan aur.``