|
This is my 2nd installment.
I have received excellent response from lot of
friends; both Urdu and non-Urdu speakers. Please know that this is my
own, Asghar Vasanwala’s, work and not a forwarding of someone else’s
work as some you thought. Please forward this to your friends. Also
please send me your comments/complements.
I will appreciate if you forward me emails
of your Urdu/non-Urdu friends.Here is the she’r in
Urdu, Gujarati, and Roman script
 

Bas ke
hooN, Ghalib! aseeri maiN bhi aatish zir-e-pa
Oh Ghalib! In captivity also, I behave as if my feet are to fire
(dancing).
Moo-e-aatish
deeda hai halqa meri zanjeer ka Links of my leg-chain to me are as fragile as coils of burnt
hair.
Bas ke=let it be known
Aseeri=Captivity
aatish= fire
zir-e-pa= under my feet Moo=hair(fragile)
Atish
Atish
deeda=has seen fire (burned)
Halqa=circle
(a link of an iron chain) zanjeer=chain
Explanation (Tashrih):
Please picture that
Ghalib, a thinker/reformist, has been captured, for his crime of radical
thinking, and his legs & body secured with an iron chain. What do you
think? Would he quit his love? Would he stop seeking the ultimate truth,
love? He challenges his captors: he says, “Though I am shackled in iron
chains, and my feet are to lire; it is nothing before my resolve. For,
when I shall dance in ecstasy it will create so much heat that these
links of iron chain will be so fragile; they will be like coils of burnt
hair. They will crumble soon.”
This she'r is super in
spirit of great courage called Himmat-e-aali Imagine you are going
through a testing time. You are chained by misfortune and adverse
circumstances. You feel like quitting pursuit of your beloved goal.
Recite this she'r and you shall feel a great courage. I have recited “
Moo-e-aatish deeda hey halqa meri zanjir ka” in my terrible times and I
felt great courage.
Beauty of the she'r is
in coinage of a new idiom: Moo-e-aatish deeda = coils of burnt hair.
Seemingly great
difficulties are as fragile as burnt hair, provided, despite of
shackles, if one gathers enough courage to dance an ecstasy dance.
Ghalib’s coinages of words have become universal in Urdu literature.
Many Urdu literary works are titled after these coinages.
Ghalib does not use one word twice in one she'r. In this she'r he has
used “Aatish” twice; but both are used in a form of idiom (Muhavra).
Such use is universally permitted
The more you ponder over it, the more you
would enjoy it. |