There are songs in Urdu and Punjabi that
I don't fully understand, but fall in love with them regardless. Not satisfied
by just loving them, I spend days trying to understand them fully- it becomes
like a challenge. And when I finally get them fully, I want to translate them
into the language I know best- English. So, here is the result of one such
challenge. The translation is nothing great as compared to the beauty of the
original Urdu ghazal, but I think it is good enough to send to my unrequited
love!
Mere
hum-nafas, mere hum-navaa, mujhe dost banake daGaa na de
Mere daaG-e-dil se hai raushnii, usii
raushnii se hai zindagii
Mujhe ae chho.D de mere haal par, teraa kyaa bharosaa hai chaaraagar
Meraa azm itnaa bala.nd hai ke paraaye
sholo.n kaa Dar nahii.n
Wo uThe hai.n leke khum-o-subuu, arey o ‘Shakeel’ kahaa.N hai tuu
I took some help from this
site to understand some tough words:
https://ekfankaar.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/mere-ham-nafas-mere-ham-navaa/
There are songs in Urdu and Punjabi that
I don't fully understand, but fall in love with them regardless. Not satisfied
by just loving them, I spend days trying to understand them fully- it becomes
like a challenge. And when I finally get them fully, I want to translate them
into the language I know best- English. So, here is the result of one such
challenge. The translation is nothing great as compared to the beauty of the
original Urdu ghazal, but I think it is good enough to send to my unrequited
love!
Mere
hum-nafas, mere hum-navaa, mujhe dost banake daGaa na de
mai.n huu.N dard-e-ishq se jaa.N_valab,
mujhe zindagii kii duaa na de
Your
counting me as a friend, when I consider you my life itself, feels nothing short of a betrayal
This love has brought me to the brink of a
beautiful death, don't, oh please don't pray that I stay well.
Mere daaG-e-dil se hai raushnii, usii raushnii se hai zindagii
mujhe Dar hai aye mere chaaraagar, ye
charaaG tuu hii bujhaa na de
It's true that my heart burns, but the
light of my burning heart is the only light I know
I am afraid that your kindness may
put it out and shroud my world in a dark shadow.
Mujhe ae chho.D de mere haal par, teraa kyaa bharosaa hai chaaraagar
ye terii nawaazishe muKhtasar, meraa
dard aur ba.Daa na de
Leave me to my plight, please, I don't trust your offer of healing
Who knows your cursory sympathy might just
increase my suffering.
Meraa azm itnaa bala.nd hai ke paraaye sholo.n kaa Dar nahii.n
mujhe Khauf aatish-e-gul se hai, ye
kahii.n chaman ko jalaa na de
My resolve is very strong, I don't for a
moment fear the intentions of an enemy from outside
But I am terrified that my garden will burn to ground by the indifference of the beloved inside.
Wo uThe hai.n leke khum-o-subuu, arey o ‘Shakeel’ kahaa.N hai tuu
teraa jaam lene ko bazm me.n koii aur
haath ba.Daa na de
She (he) has arisen with a filled glass in her (his) hands,
where are you oh Shakeel?
Come quick before someone
else raises their hand to accept this coveted offering.
I took some help from this
site to understand some tough words:
https://ekfankaar.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/mere-ham-nafas-mere-ham-navaa/
https://ekfankaar.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/mere-ham-nafas-mere-ham-navaa/
Hi! I was wondering about your translation of the first sher. I think the whole ghazal has been written with this very beautiful but real feeling one has when one has resigned to experiencing sorrows, does nothing about them and doesn't want anyone to cheer him up :).
ReplyDeleteThe poet doesn't want to experience any hope/happiness (sher 1,2,3), because they disturb him perhaps because they are less permanent. Reminds me of [1], [2]. He also wants to somehow contain his unhappiness as he has reconciled with his current sorrows and doesn't want more, so he experience paranoia (sher 4,5).
So, in the first sher, I think he's not fretting over having being 'friend-zoned' :D, he's saying that:
My dear friend, don't betray me by praying for my life.
I'm about to die of the pain of (unrequited) love, don't prolong the agony of living.
Also for Urdu dictionary I find rekhta.org pretty nice.
And for Ghalib's poetry, this site is pretty good:
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ghalib/
[1] Mein samajhta tha khushi degi mujhe 'Sabir' fareb
Isliye maine ghamon se raabta rehne diya
[2] A THOUGHT FOR TODAY, here https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sadaswada/Tm1OPZNr9CE
Thanks! Your translation is way better. I am learning by and by.
DeleteThink your is more close ,friends usually betray ,as Oscar Wilde said ,true friend stab you in front ,means back stabing is characteristic of friends we believe who were not
DeleteVery sad ghazal nicely translated word to word I am excessively impressed thanks
DeleteMaybe friendzoned has another connotation now. I think the poet means what the blog says... You are my life, your considering me just a friend feels like betrayal.
DeleteYou did a fantastic job, despite it being a very hard one
Deletei have same feelings for this ghazal. I could not understand it completely but I loved it and after this translation loved it more ......
ReplyDeleteThis ghazal says it all about my life, my love. Thanks beghum ji for putting it into so beautiful words.
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful and powerful song. Thanks for sharing your translation so we can all share and understand.
ReplyDeleteThanks Amisha! Appreciate the appreciation!
ReplyDeleteIt's khum-o-subuu, not hom-o-subuu which means glass and goblet not lamp. Kindly rectify.
ReplyDeleteI heard the ghazal again and corrected the mistake. Thanks for the correction.
DeleteSo beautiful.
DeleteThank you for this. I love this song! So beautiful!
ReplyDeleteBut I have to differ with you as to your suggestion of Begum Akhtar because imo Farida Khanum owns this song! Listen here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGpOe3Rn_Kc
Thank you Puja Anand for sharing your translation of this lovely poetry. I had never heard Begum Akhtar before last month and since then it is on my usb of favorite songs which i play every time i am driving. Also thank you to SATYAANVESHI for adding value to your translation.
ReplyDeleteAnd to Mahatma Kane Jeeves, I love Farida Khanum but the voice of Begum Akhtar is so haunting in this ghazal that I am hooked to her version. But i would concede that Farida Khanum does add something special to the ghazal.
Thank you so much for the translation! I love to sing this ghazal but had many gaps in the meaning. It's even more beautiful knowing them :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Puja and Satyaanveshi!! Interesting perspectives on the first couplet of the ghazal.
ReplyDeleteThanks Puja for superb translation à nd interpretation.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Satyaanveshi for validating Puja's explanation and enlightening us readers with further insights into understanding this wonderful gazal. We are much enriched by these illuminating comments. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful ��
ReplyDeletePuja Anand’s translation of Shakeel Badayuni’s lyrics is probably as good as Begum Akhtar’s classical rendition of this ghazal. Puja is too modest though.
ReplyDeleteYes modesty is my middle name (not)! :D
DeleteExcellent translation-thank you
ReplyDeleteOk I'm confused right now, isn't it possible that this ghazal is about a person who is talking to himself or his soul, asking his soul not to betray him.
ReplyDeleteAmidst sorrow and despair I turn towards Ghazals without even knowing a single word in Urdu. But it is my experience that each one of those ghazal singers take me to another world with their profound singing. People like me get to know the meanings of those songs that gives us consolation from translations like yours. Thanks a lot for that. By the way the name of your blog is all the more poetic, apt for a Bollywood blockbuster.
ReplyDeleteAmidst sorrow and despair I turn towards Ghazals without even knowing a single word in Urdu. But it is my experience that each one of those ghazal singers take me to another world with their profound singing. People like me get to know the meanings of those songs that gives us consolation from translations like yours. Thanks a lot for that. By the way the name of your blog is all the more poetic, apt for a Bollywood blockbuster.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great translation! Please keep writing, love your blog!
ReplyDeleteThe ones you love and cherish are more prone to betrayal, not by accident but by Divine Design. The Lord is a very jealous Beloved and the lovers of God know that all worldly objects and relations will leave them just as passengers in a train leave the traveller in the coach of the train, till the destination arrives. Life is a journey of loneliness where all including one's body abondons the individual.
ReplyDeleteWhat we think that loved ones should become an integral part of life is a gross mental deception and a mirage.
Superb translation Puja ji.
ReplyDeleteAmazing...... I love it.
ReplyDelete