Here is a ghazal (by Adeem Hashmi) that traces different stages in being torn apart from the person you love. It flows like a narrative that reaches its ultimate conclusion. I am sure most of us have been through some of the stages if not all...
faasle aise bhii ho.nge ye kabhii sochaa na thaa
saamane baiThaa thaa mere, aur vo meraa na thaa
faasle - distances;
Ah! The deliciousness of this sher. This is like the first stage in the process where you realize that the person that was everything to you is not yours anymore, Imagine the situation. He/She is sitting right in front of you and they are not yours. Kya baat hain!
vo ki Khushbuu kii tarah phailaa thaa mere chaar suu
mai.n use mahasuus kar sakataa thaa chhuu sakataa na thaa
mahsuus - feel;
This is a more delicately expressed sher here. Can feel her around, but cannot touch her - sort of continuation of the first sher. Again the 'khoobi' of sher-o-shaayri kicks in with the meaning of the sher changing slightly depending on how you look at it. It could be a more literal meaning where she is physically present and he is unable to touch her or it could be that she is just present in his thoughts now and that he could just feel her presence and could never touch her. Either way wah! bhai wah!
raat bhar us kii hii aahaT kaan me.n aatii rahii
jhaa.Nk kar dekhaa galii me.n ko_ii bhii aayaa na thaa
aahat - sound, jhaank kar - to peep;
This is the stage where you keep thinking that she is going to come back to you. You keep imagining this thing and that thing. That the rustle there is her dress swaying in the wind, the creak of the floor is because she stepped on it, the slightly increased pace of the heart seems to signal her arrival somewhere. But alas! it is not so. No one's there! ::::-(
aks to maujuud the par aks tanahaa_ii ke the
aa_iinaa to thaa magar us me.n teraa cheharaa na thaa
aks - image, maujuud - present, tanhaa_ii - being alone, aa_iina - mirror, chehraa - face;
This falls under the category of those shers again which convey different meanings depending on how you look at the sher where the shaayar does not tell us directly that his beloved is not with him. Instead looks in the mirror and does not find her there. It could have 2 meanings, that she was physically not present with him or he might be conveying that she is not a part of him anymore - that he could not find her in him. I personally would like to take the later translation. More profound eh?
aaj us ne dard bhii apane alahadaa kar diye
aaj mai.n royaa to mere saath vo royaa na thaa
alahadaa - to make off limit (not sure about the meaning here!)
I am not sure about the exact meaning of this word but I guess it means the loved one has not shared her pain with him. I particularly like the second line. Now you are totally alone in your pain and suffering. She seemed to have moved on.
ye sabhii viiraaniyaa.N us ke judaa hone se thii.n aa.Nkh
dhu.Ndhalaa_ii hu_ii thii shahar dhu.Ndhalaayaa na thaa
viiraaniyan - silence, loneliness, dhundalaa_ii - to get foggyI love this sher. Its like everything that is happening around the shaayar (which seems to be bad) is not because of things around him but because of the seperation from the person he loves. How true that rings. He realizes not that the root cause of his pain and hurt is not because the world around him is insensitive but because she tore him apart leaving him alone.
yaad karake aur bhii takaliif hotii thii "Adeem"
bhuul jaane ke sivaa ab ko_ii bhii chaaraa na thaa
takleef - pain
The ghazal reaches a conclusion here. Sorta like a conclusion to the entire I-have-to-get-over-you process. The shaayar addresses himself saying he had no other option but to forget his love. But can one forget completely when one has loved so deeply and even more importantly has a heart that can pen down shers like this! Hoo boy - that would lead to just another ghazal.
Impressed yet by the power of expression in a ghazal people? |
