Last SHAM (evening) I dedicated to Khushwant Singh remembering some of the SHAYAREEs (Urdu couplets) he mentioned in his columns. After reading his writings for more than 25 years gave me an insight into Urdu poetry of Mirza Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir, Iqbal and many more. I started enjoying them. English and Urdu have certain similarities. Both dont have a script of their own (English uses Roman and Urdu used Arabic). They dont follow stringent grammatical rules (For that matter American English hardly follow any grammar). Urdu is a nice blend of Hindi, Persian and Arabic, a smooth blend like blended Scotch Whiskey. Their flexibility has contributed to their enrichment, richness, robustness and longevity. The geist and lucidity of a language is often lost in translation, so I have tried my best to translate (rather transliterate) into English. MULLAH, GAR ASAR HAI DUA MEIN TO MASJID HILA KE DIKHA. NAHI TO DO GHUNT PI AUR MASJID KO HILTA HUA DEKH. O Mullah (Muslim Priest), If you have strength in your Prayer then shake the Mosque. Otherwise take couple of sips and watch the Mosque shaking. He once mentioned about a couplet from the controversial Pakistani poet Ustad Daaman (he was against partition) who wrote this about Pakistan. PAKISTAN MEIN MOUJE HI MOUJE CHARON AUR FOUJE HI FOUJE (Pakistan has so much fun Every were you see only military force) Needless to say the Pakistani military didnt like him.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 14:01:57 +0000
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