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For those who
have joined now, let me say few words about this Ghalib series.
Ghalib, his
ghazals, his poems, his genius, and his wits have always fascinated
millions of Urdu lovers including myself. Those who want to receive my
previous five installments; I shall email them for asking. My email
address is asgharf@adelphia.net
This is my 9th
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 that.
Here is today’s
verse (she'r) in Urdu script and also in Roman script. This is 7th
& last she'r of Ghalib’s 4th Ghazal:
Shor-e-pand-e-naseh ne zakhm par namak chhiRka
Pestering of
(naiveté) preacher rubbed salt on my wounds
Aap
se koi poochhe, ‘Tum ne kya maza paya?’
Ask his Excellency, ‘Hey! What pleasure did you derive?’
Shor=noise;
cries
Pand=advice Naseh= preacher; advisor
This is the last verse of fourth Ghazal; contrary to Urdu practice,
Ghalib has not used his pen name Ghalib or Asad in this verse; hence it
can’t be called “maqt'a”. This kind of ending of a Ghazal is rare.
In
above she'r Ghalib lashes his anger at a preacher. Ghalib, in love, has
lost every thing; naiveté folks like preacher, who don’t understand
tests and rules of love, try to dissuade him from his (disastrous?)
journey in path of love. In Urdu and Persian poems, preachers are called
Nasih, Sheikh, or Waiz. In Urdu poems, there is so much ridicule against
preachers, pundits, mullahs, Sheikhs, Zahid, Waiz and Nasih, because for
two reasons: 1. Many times in secret they enjoy the same thing what they
forbid in public. 2. Or, what they forbid is that they themselves never
tasted; so their experience is only hear-say. In Urdu poems, they are
always ridiculed and addressed in third person singular with disrespect.
Poets argue that these folks have never experimented with wine and love,
how then they know what wonderful things they are missing; as somewhere
else Ghalib says, “Hai! kambakht tu ne pee hi nahiN –Oh Unfortunate
soul! You never tasted it.”
Ghalib gets weary of these unsolicited advices from preachers. When they
ask him to abandon pursuit of his love, he actually gets fired up more
and his love-wounds become fresh and painful. So, he expresses his anger
in a unique way. It is common to address a lowly person by high titles
of Aap, Shrimaan, Huzur, Janab etc., just for ridicule. This verse is
unique style of Ghalib: He says “Aap se koi puchhe (Ask his Excellency)”
but then immediately changes his addressing etiquette and says “Tum ne
kya maza paya?” (Hey! What pleasure did you derive?)
A
special note for those who can read Urdu: This Ghazal’s Qafiya (rhyme)
ends in Alif such as Dawa, Rasa, Aazma etc. In this Ghazal Ghalib has
used Qafiya “maza” with Alif; this is a miss-spell. Mazah is written:
mim+ ze + small round hai. Ghalib changed hai with Alif. In Persian such
exchange is prohibited; however, in Urdu under influence of Bhakha (a
Hindi dialect) and Hindi, it is considered to be okay. This is rare; a
lesser poet would have been a subject of criticism.
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