;hasrat : 'Grief, regret, intense grief or sorrow; — longing, desire'. (Platts p.477)
:tarab : 'Emotion, joyous excitement, joy, mirth, cheerfulness, hilarity'. (Platts p.752}
havaa : 'Air, wind, gentle gale; ... — affection, favour, love, mind, desire, passionate fondness'. (Platts p.1240)
;Gubaar : 'Dust; clouds of dust; a dust-storm; vapour, fog, mist, mistiness; impurity, foulness; (met.) vexation, soreness, ill-feeling, rancour, spite; affliction, grief; perplexity'. (Platts p.769)
It is madness-- he wanders around in the desert, covered with dust and dirt, and at the same time he is also eager for a stroll in the garden. If you don't call this madness, call it awareness, when he has an ardor for joy and keeps his heart full of vexation toward the desert.
The madness of longing has a longing for joy. Its head is filled with the air of the garden, and in its heart is the dust of the desert. 'Air' is related to the garden, and 'dust' to the desert, but both these words have another meaning as well.... In its head is a 'desire' for the garden, and in its heart is 'vexation' toward the desert. The annoyance toward the desert can be because the desert has not made it comfortable, or else because it was not able to go to the desert. In this [latter] case desert and garden will come into a single group. If it were able to stroll through both those places, then this would have been a cause of joy. Having no access to them is a cause of sorrow/longing. The words havaa and ;Gubaar are very suitable. According to the idiom, in a 'stroll' there is havaa , and in the heart there is ;Gubaar .
SETS == OPPOSITES
DESERT: {3,1}
MADNESS: {14,3}
For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.
On the unusually unified and internally-rhymed structure of this ghazal, see {141x,1}.
Following up on Gyan Chand's discussion, we can see that the verse gives us no information at all about where the madman, or his semi-personified 'madness', is actually located. Since both havaa and ;Gubaar are not only geographical (garden 'air', desert 'dust') but also metaphorical ('desire' for the garden, 'vexation' with the desert), we can mix and match at our pleasure.
There's also the enjoyable juxtaposition of 'heart' and 'mind'-- are they another pair of opposites, like joy and sorrow/longing, garden and desert, desire and vexation? Or do they form a cooperative pair within the mad lover's psyche? This verse full of beautifully balanced pairs of opposites forms a ravishing conclusion to a unique and spectacular ghazal.
Asi:
The madness of Asad has a sorrow and longing for joy and happiness. In his head is the air of the garden, and in his heart the dust of the desert. That is, he is full of longing/desire-- he wants to wander freely in the desert, which is exactly his happiness and joy.
== Asi, p. 80