201_03

{201,3}

rahe hai yuu;N gah-o-be-gah kih kuu-e dost ko ab
agar nah kahye kih dushman kaa ghar hai kyaa kahiye

1) he remains {like this / casually / at his own pleasure}, in and out of season-- so that now, the street of the friend--
2) if you don't say that it's the house/home of the enemy, then what will you say?

Notes:

rahe hai is an archaic form of rahtaa hai (GRAMMAR)

yuu;N : 'Thus, in this wise, in this manner; —just so, for no particular reason; without just ground, vainly, idly, causelessly, gratuitously; to please oneself'. (Platts p.1253)

gah-o-be-gah is a variant of gaah-o-be-gaah , shortened for metrical convenience.

gaah-o-be-gaah : 'In season and out of season, at all seasons, frequently; occasionally, now and then, rarely'. (Platts p.894)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

Nazm:

Whenever you look, appropriately and inappropriately, the Rival is present in the beloved's street, as if he's made a house in her street. (225)

== Nazm page 225

Bekhud Dihlavi:

He says, 'At times appropriate and inappropriate, whenever I've seen the Rival, I've found him in the beloved's street. Now how would we not say that the friend's street has become his house? In the dark, in the light, he's always to be seen hanging around there.' (282)

Bekhud Mohani:

Whenever you see the Rival, he's to be seen in her street. Now if we don't call that street the Rival's house, then what will we call it? From saying this, a picture of the trouble of the lover's heart-- his hatred, anger, and desperation-- passes before the eyes. (394)

FWP:

SETS
FRIEND/ENEMY: {4,3}
HOME: {14,9}
SPEAKING: {14,4}

Here's a verse that cleverly opts out of the idiomatic, colloquial 'what can you say' that is used so effectively in most of this ghazal; for more on this, see {201,1}. The second line has been carefully engineered to integrate the refrain with perfect matter-of-factness into the grammar of the line itself. In view of how the rest of the ghazal has been working, this nullification is itself a novelty and a spice pf enjoyment.

When added to the friend/enemy word- and meaning-play, it's surely enough of an accomplishment to justify its two small lines. In addition, the verse makes particularly brilliant use of the multivalent possibilities of yuu;N , all of which are most enjoyably relevant. For more on yuu;N , see {30,1}.

Note for meter fans: In the second line the first kahye has to be scanned as long-flexible (here, of course, as long-short), contrary to normal pronunciation which is more like short-short-flexible. But the second kahiye , in the refrain, can be scanned normally, since in this meter, in the penultimate syllable the official one long syllable can be replaced at will by two shorts. (So in principle we could also scan the refrain ones as kahye , if we were so inclined.) For unambiguous examples of the one-long scansion in the refrain, see the first lines of {201,8} and {201,9}.