Saveray Jo Kal Aankh Meri Khuli

It has to be a law of nature that all of us, at one time or another in our lives, should lay claim to knowledge of the unknown; a sort of the quality of being ``pouN^h`ché hué". As luck would have it, I have more, and higher, claims to this special quality of the occult, arcane and the mysterious, when compared to my wife, the only scale of
comparision available to me. Since no body has claimed it yet we shall call it Wakil Principle.

I saw this title in the Chowk and although I know Patras right, left, front and centre by heart [as my prospective Principal too], the title in the Chowk never suggested a connection to Patras in my mind. Strange! But stranger things in this universe have happened. In Gujrat, Punjab, children are born with a head no larger than a round egg-plant. They are called Shahdola Shah ka Choo’h’aé. But enough about the strange phenomena. I say this because I have seen regular headed people in Islamabad and elsewhere with regular sized heads but without
any brains inside. Khuda ki Qudrat ké khhael niralé haiN.

Instead, another title of a nazm and naturally, therefore, another poet came to my mind. Yet, it would have been a great find had the Chowk poem been the latter. I never opened up this article since -- and here comes my ever-gloomy-and-pessimistic-knowledge of the occult -- I was afraid that something pessimistic would come out of this enterprize.

You see, the title evoked the [Ismael MareThhi’s?] “

1. Saveray jo kal Ankhh méri khhuli
Ajjb thhi b’har aur ajb sair thi

My interest in hoping that it was a reference to Ismael Mairthi’s nazm was that the writer may turn out to be one of my co-hort who may also know or remember some parts of the words to:

2. “BARISH KA PEHLA QATRA``

Ghanghor ghhata tulli khhaRi thhi,
Pr, booNd abhhi nahiN paRi thhi

[I have been looking for this Nazm for a long time: the story was that the parched earth needed rain to deliver it from famine. And this Ghanghor ghatta comes but no drop dares to be the first the first to drop
thinking that it would be inconsequential!

Finally, a small drop takes the plunge and then one after the other they start falling and provide the much-needed rain to the earth etc.]

And as one thing leads to another, a reference to

3. “Subah hua jb noor ka taRka, soe k’r uthha achha lRka
mouNh dhho dhha k’r nashta khhaya, b’sta lé ké b’ghl maiaN d’bAya”

would have emerged! But nothing emerged, the reference was different!

I was fearful, remember, that there will be a problem? There will be many a slip between first and the second, above. There is always a fly in the ointment leading one from first to the second. Or, from second to the third, or from third to the fourth and if all else fails then between cup and the lip. This is not a perfect world. It’s not even a quasi perfect world. I tolerate it because I cannot do anything about it, otherwise I’d simply pull a chord and get off it.

You know what kills me, as some colloquialisms say? We are asked to thank for it. But I digress, wouldn’t you say?

Dear nasah:

It so happens that Ihave already translated the essay to which you`ve referred. Its title is not Kutton ka Mushaira but just `Kuttey``. It`s under consideration of publication elsewhere; I`ll let you know if it`s published there. Happy new year.

Mohammad Gill

Gill saheb -- great translation -- Pitrus was a genius -- All India Radio and Pakistan Radio kept him away from written humor -- he was unequalled in that -- his classic was KuttoN ka mushaira -- if I remember it correctly -- if you can find it please try translating it for non Urdu folks.

great piece.

regards

This stuff is great. I shall eagerly wait for more translated works. But I must say one thing, there is something in every language that can not expressed when translated into another language. For example, if you were to translate `Chachha Chakkan ney khat likkha`, how would you translate the saqeel urdu wala khat itself?
Greatly appreciated nevertheless. Keep it coming.

Syd

#11 by einsteinwallah

Sorry buddy!
Somehow I had skipped this post of yours, hence the delay.

No, unfortunately I am not aware of any such book/s. In fact, this is something completely new for me and I am indebted to you to have lessened my ignorance.

Since I have gleaned from your posts ( I hope correctly) that there is a poet in you ( one does not even have to compose verse to be poet), here is one for you to savour:

Shuqque ho gayaa hai seena khushaa lazzat e firaque
Takleef e purdah-daariyay zakhm-e jigar gayee.

tr:
My heart is finally torn & wrecked, and this is so much better. I do not have to look out-wardly cheerful anymore & hide the pain caused gnawing ulcers because of my secret ( & unrequited) love
for you.

#12 freethinker:

Please do not be so hard on yourself. You have really done an admirable job and I look forward that you continue to bring here more such gems from urdu literature.

CHOWK provides us a good opportunity to whet & hone our hobby-skills. Anyone here who takes himself seriously as a `writer` or `author` must be a rotting cultural-cadaver volunteering for dissection.
No one deliberately ventures out to creates `literature`. No wonder phD or professor types are the worst in when it comes to creative writing. Poor clock-punchers of the human condition.

Regarding einsteinwalla`s comments in feedback#11
.
As many of you realise, translating a story, an essay or any other piece of writing from one language into another is quite difficult because sometime you don`t find a good equivalent expression that can preserve the exact essence of the original writing. Translating a piece of poetry is absolutely challenging. I encountered such difficult situations in ``Saveray Jo..`` where I found myself almost helpless. A more knowledgable person could surely have done a better job. But you konw, ``only fools (like me) walk in where angels fear to tread``. For example, I translated ``ameer zadey`` as ``progeny of the rich``, which is really shallow and insipid. It conveys the literal sense but is not ``expressive`` and ``fluent`` enough. Similarly, Pitrus had used a line of a ghazal ``balayain zulf-e-jaanan ki agar latet tau hum latey`` in Saveray jo ..., which I translated as ``If anybody were to yearn for caressing the beloved`s tresses, it would be me``. As an afterthought, I should have left it alone and used the original Urdu line.

I have been reading Pitrus kay Mazameen from time to time for the last so many years. Every time when I read his essays, I enjoy them. With all my shortcomings as a translator, I tried to share the joy of reading Pitrus with the Chowk readers.

Next time, if I tried my hand at translating something, I`ll remember to reproduce the original Urdu lines with the translation also, where I found myself lacking in skills. Was`salam,

Mohammad Gill

[ #1 by GhalibZaman on December 14, 2002 9:30pm PT
...
I sincerely hope that some of the english knowing(?) illiterates would start learning urdu----a language which they are `proud` not to know or of which they feign ignorance.
Pity, these colonial clones. The most wretched bunch that crawls on earth. The blacks, though chained ,never surrendered their minds whereas these miserable wrecks gloat about the acquisition of their own-slavery ---on debt, to boot. ]

GhalibZaman and others, is there a Urdu dictionary in which words are written in tranliteration and arranged according to the labguage of transliteration? What I mean is for example, if English is language of transliteration then word order of following words is correct:

andaaz
boo
bulbul
chehek
dhokay
diyay
-e-
guftagoo
hai
hain
kee
naghmaa
phool
varna

If Hindi (in Devnagari script) is used then following will be the correct word order:

andaaz
-e-
kee
guftagoo
chehek
diyay
dhokay
naghmaa
phool
bulbul
boo
varna
hai
hain

If there is such a dictionary I would really appreciate information on it. I want to buy both for a local library (I live in US) as well as a personal copy.

Thanks, -ew

Mohammad Gill,

The story has some expressions in Urdu. It would be great if you give their translation either interpolating in main text or as footnotes. If there is an expression which has special connotation (say for muslims) then these should also be given.

The story is good. It would be interesting to read the original, but I am bound by constraint of not knowing urdu. If transliterated in devanagari I can read and understand most of it provided not many hardcore urdu words are used. In translation sometimes original`s meanings and freshness is lost and when author is writing humor comedy loses its effectiveness, but without knowing original your translation seems to have preserved comic effects author wanted to convey.

Thanks for this translation, and looking forward to more from you.

-ew

Correction:# 7

Please read CHEHEK instead of SADA

andaaz e guftgoo nay dhokay diyay hain varna
naghmaa hai boo e bulbul, boo phool kee CHEHEK hai.

Apologies.

Iqbal had addressed his poem, ``Aik Sayyidzade Kay Naam``, to (Professor) Ahmad Shah Bukhari.

THE title of that poem is `` Aik FALSAFA-zada syedzaaday kay naam``

meaning: To a philosophy-smitten offspring of a Syed.

Iqbal wrote syed-zaaday. with a purpose.

and the first couplet, roughly translated, is:

Had you not so lost your own self-realisation
You might not have tethered yourself to Bergson.

Banjaara saheb: # 5

RagoN mein daurtay phirnay kay hum naheeN Qua-el
jubb aankh hee sey naa tapkaa, tO phir lahoo kya hai

andaaz e guftgoo nay dhokay diyay hain varna
naghmaa hai boo e bulbul, boo phool kee sada hai .

aadab urz hai.

Amazing work!

Like a serving of fine wine.

Ras

Dear Interactors:

Thanks for your appreciation. For me it`s a kind of diversion, to while away my leisure time whenever I get it. Pitrus had a great sense of humour. He was a very learned man and a great teacher. Although I did not have any personal connection with him, I hold him in great respect all the same. I`ve tried to pay a little tribute to him by translating a couple of his essays and sharing them with you.

Iqbal had addressed his poem, ``Aik Sayyidzade Kay Naam``, to (Professor) Ahmad Shah Bukhari. Wishing you all well,

Mohammad Gill

Gill saheb,
Please keep it coming.It is never too much where Pitrus is concerned.The only drawback is that he died too early and did not leave enough to satiate his readers.
Regards.

Ghalib-e-Zaman saheb,

her ek baat pe kahte ho tum ke too kya hai
tumhi kaho ke ye andaz-e-guftagoo kya hai

Mr Gill

you are doing superb job by translating one of the best classic of Urdu. Ahmed Shah Bukhari`s tiny book give us best taste of humor and satire. Please keep going.

Mohammad:

Thanks for this and please do not be disheartened by the comments. Please continue to grace the chowk with more transaltions.

rgds,


..t