A comment on my earlier post asked: "Where are you?"
I am still wondering how to answer. It is at once a simple yet philosophical question, depending on the mood you're in. Not to turn this into a series of posts from my own inventory, but I could not resist letting these stand-alone verses go through in response...
Kya poochhte ho kahaan hain hum
Shikasta kashti mein aur toofaan ke darmiyaan hain hum...
Kya poochhte ho ke kaise hain
Ek dard se nikle hain abhi, ek ki taak mein baithe hain...
Before I start testing everyone's patience with my own scribbles, I'll be back with translations next...
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Ghum
Ye mere ghum hi hain
Jo mujh ko yahaan tak laaye hain...
Khushi mili hoti kahin-
To wahin ruk gaya hota.
[by Siyaah]
Jo mujh ko yahaan tak laaye hain...
Khushi mili hoti kahin-
To wahin ruk gaya hota.
[by Siyaah]
Monday, April 09, 2007
Where are all the poems I wrote?
Where are all the poems I wrote?
I did not bother to tear them up
Or turn them black, into ashes
I left them
Where I wrote them-
On the backs of pages with unsolved problems
Jostling for space with rough calculations
Complex numbers, the real and unreal
Running into differentiating, integrating expressions
Their words held together with the glue of numbers;
Or sometimes-
On blank first pages
Or back covers of notebooks
Bold, signed-
If you ever come across those bits of paper
Use them up, it does not matter
They are yours - meant, destined for you
Tokens of our ephemeral existences
Why type them up
Bind them in books
As they were never meant to be
Let each verse seek its own free life
Its own meaning, its own survival
Like the rest of us.
[By Black/Siyaah. Circa late 90s]
----
Finally I've slipped some more of my old stuff here, perhaps mostly as a diversion. This came about at a time when I first started to realize that I had 'lost' most of what I had written...it strangely brought together the literal and symbolic angle of every part of that experience...
I did not bother to tear them up
Or turn them black, into ashes
I left them
Where I wrote them-
On the backs of pages with unsolved problems
Jostling for space with rough calculations
Complex numbers, the real and unreal
Running into differentiating, integrating expressions
Their words held together with the glue of numbers;
Or sometimes-
On blank first pages
Or back covers of notebooks
Bold, signed-
If you ever come across those bits of paper
Use them up, it does not matter
They are yours - meant, destined for you
Tokens of our ephemeral existences
Why type them up
Bind them in books
As they were never meant to be
Let each verse seek its own free life
Its own meaning, its own survival
Like the rest of us.
[By Black/Siyaah. Circa late 90s]
----
Finally I've slipped some more of my old stuff here, perhaps mostly as a diversion. This came about at a time when I first started to realize that I had 'lost' most of what I had written...it strangely brought together the literal and symbolic angle of every part of that experience...
Friday, March 16, 2007
My State These Days
My State These Days
[By Jigar Moradabadi. Translated from the Urdu by Siyaah]
My state these days turns heedless of pain-
Every joy that was my share seems on the wane... [1]
An apocalyptic glory indeed - this turns now to the beauty of both worlds-
The gathering is the same, yet the heart's desire is on the wane... [2]
The same companion and attendant, yet the heart does suffocate-
The lamp is the same, yet the flame is on the wane... [3]
This life is the same, O Jigar, yet such is my state-
As if the very life of life is on the wane... [4]
Translator's Notes
One of the critical aspects for this ghazal was re-creating the "kam hoti jaati hai" effect in English. In the original, this repeated rhyme applies to a variety of metaphors. After several considerations, the poetically familiar "on the wane" was chosen as it conveyed the literal meaning of "to decrease gradually in size, amount, intensity or degree" and could be applied to the derived meanings for the different metaphors in each couplet.
[1] tabiyat can literally mean disposition, nature, temperament but here 'my state' conveyed the closest meaning suggesting the temporal aspect related to 'these days'.
[2] qayamat kya... proved very difficult to translate. qayamat carries a variety of meanings, refering literally to 'the day of judgment' but often the derived meaning indicates something of comparable intensity, particularly beauty. The metaphor is cleverly used by the poet to convey that the gathering is intensely beautiful, an 'apocalypic glory' - the apocalyptic part leads to the idea of it being at the threshold of this world and the 'hereafter', thereby being 'the beauty of both worlds'. This also suggests that the 'gathering' refered to is the 'gathering' of all humans/the world, for which his heart does not have the same desire anymore...
[3] shaahid-o-saaqi literally means 'witness and cup-bearer', and implies 'companion and attendant' which seem to go better in English in the context of this couplet.
dil bujhta jaata translated as 'the heart does suffocate' conveys the literal imagery of getting extinguished but also the deeper sense of the metaphor implying a mental / emotional suffocation.
[4] The last line literally means 'life goes out of life' which is typical of Jigar's style - conveying a 'heavy' thought with startlingly simple lyrical beauty...I have captured the idea here by the rhyming ' the very life of life is on the wane'.
[By Jigar Moradabadi. Translated from the Urdu by Siyaah]
My state these days turns heedless of pain-
Every joy that was my share seems on the wane... [1]
An apocalyptic glory indeed - this turns now to the beauty of both worlds-
The gathering is the same, yet the heart's desire is on the wane... [2]
The same companion and attendant, yet the heart does suffocate-
The lamp is the same, yet the flame is on the wane... [3]
This life is the same, O Jigar, yet such is my state-
As if the very life of life is on the wane... [4]
Translator's Notes
One of the critical aspects for this ghazal was re-creating the "kam hoti jaati hai" effect in English. In the original, this repeated rhyme applies to a variety of metaphors. After several considerations, the poetically familiar "on the wane" was chosen as it conveyed the literal meaning of "to decrease gradually in size, amount, intensity or degree" and could be applied to the derived meanings for the different metaphors in each couplet.
[1] tabiyat can literally mean disposition, nature, temperament but here 'my state' conveyed the closest meaning suggesting the temporal aspect related to 'these days'.
[2] qayamat kya... proved very difficult to translate. qayamat carries a variety of meanings, refering literally to 'the day of judgment' but often the derived meaning indicates something of comparable intensity, particularly beauty. The metaphor is cleverly used by the poet to convey that the gathering is intensely beautiful, an 'apocalypic glory' - the apocalyptic part leads to the idea of it being at the threshold of this world and the 'hereafter', thereby being 'the beauty of both worlds'. This also suggests that the 'gathering' refered to is the 'gathering' of all humans/the world, for which his heart does not have the same desire anymore...
[3] shaahid-o-saaqi literally means 'witness and cup-bearer', and implies 'companion and attendant' which seem to go better in English in the context of this couplet.
dil bujhta jaata translated as 'the heart does suffocate' conveys the literal imagery of getting extinguished but also the deeper sense of the metaphor implying a mental / emotional suffocation.
[4] The last line literally means 'life goes out of life' which is typical of Jigar's style - conveying a 'heavy' thought with startlingly simple lyrical beauty...I have captured the idea here by the rhyming ' the very life of life is on the wane'.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Tabiyat In Dinon
Tabiyat In Dinon
[By Jigar Moradabadi]
Tabiyat in dinon begaana-e-gham hoti jaati hai
Mere hisse ki goya har khushi kam hoti jaati hai
Qayaamat kya ye aye husn-e-do-aalam hoti jaati hai
Ke mehfil to wahi hai, dil-kashi kam hoti jaati hai
Wahi hai shaahid-o-saaqi magar dil bujhta jaata hai
Wahi hai shamma lekin roshni kam hoti jaati hai
Wahi hai zindagi lekin Jigar ye haal hai apna
Ke jaise zindagi se zindagi kam hoti jaati hai
This is one of my favorites by Jigar, for whose "song of myself" I attempted a translation earlier. Rendered classically by Begum Akhtar here...there is only one way to introduce Begum Akhtar: once her classical old-world charm starts growing on you, you just can't listen to anyone else for a while. There's also a pretty good version of this by Vinod Sehgal but couldn't find it online so far...
[By Jigar Moradabadi]
Tabiyat in dinon begaana-e-gham hoti jaati hai
Mere hisse ki goya har khushi kam hoti jaati hai
Qayaamat kya ye aye husn-e-do-aalam hoti jaati hai
Ke mehfil to wahi hai, dil-kashi kam hoti jaati hai
Wahi hai shaahid-o-saaqi magar dil bujhta jaata hai
Wahi hai shamma lekin roshni kam hoti jaati hai
Wahi hai zindagi lekin Jigar ye haal hai apna
Ke jaise zindagi se zindagi kam hoti jaati hai
This is one of my favorites by Jigar, for whose "song of myself" I attempted a translation earlier. Rendered classically by Begum Akhtar here...there is only one way to introduce Begum Akhtar: once her classical old-world charm starts growing on you, you just can't listen to anyone else for a while. There's also a pretty good version of this by Vinod Sehgal but couldn't find it online so far...
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