k ap;Re nah jaalii ho nah malmal ho  
 
SECTION 2j_1 *back to section 2h-3*
(we're now on page *kāf , continued*)   
Munshi Sahib: Indeed, Janab Agha Sahib, now you please graciously bestow something on us.
Agha Sahib: Very good! Let the first opening-verse be considered:  
munshī ṣāḥib :: hāñ janāb āġhā ṣāḥib ab āp kuchh ʿināyat farmāʾiye -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: bahut ḳhūb - mat̤laʿ-e avval mulāḥaz̤ah ho -

1) If only there would be such equipment, then my heart would be somewhat at ease
'The peas would be boiled, and there would be one bottle of moonshine'

The friends: Vah, Agha Sahib, what an opening-verse you have recited!
Agha Sahib: Oh indeed, as yet what have you even heard? Please listen to the second opening-verse: 

===========
==The meter of the ghazal is #26 in the *meter list*. The second line seems to be some kind of colloquial saying or proverb expressing simple satisfaction. I don't know what ḥaẓẓat means (or if there's even really a tashdīd in it).

kahīñ sāmān aise hoñ to kuchh dil ko mire kal ho
maṭar uble huʾe hoñ aur ik ṭharre kī botal ho

aḥbāb :: vāh āġhā ṣāḥib kyā mat̤laʿ farmāyā hai -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: ay ḥaẓẓat - abhī āp ne sunā hī kyā hai - dūsrā mat̤laʿ suniye -

2) I would search out and versify a theme that would be shapelier than the shapely
I would compose a second opening-verse, that would be before the foremost

The friends: Without doubt, it's ahead of the first.
Agha Sahib: All right, now let the verses be considered.

===========
==Putting two opening-verses at the start of a ghazal is a flashy display of extra virtuosity, as the boastful toneof this one suggests. The wordplay of avval se avval suggests "ahead of the first" both in ordering and in quality.

vuh maẓmūñ ḍhūñḍh kar bāñdhūñ kih jo ashkal se ashkal ho
kahūñ vuh mat̤laʿ-e ṡānī kih jo avval se avval ho

aḥbāb :: beshak avval se avval hai -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: le ab shiʿr mulāḥiz̤ah hoñ -

3) To speak candidly, if the Sahib would be delicate in such a way
Let him wear clothing of light-- neither of openwork, nor of muslin

The aim of this verse was at the Navab Sahib, who was seated there wearing a thin openwork kurta in a light almond color, and a light muslin angurkha with its ties unfastened, and waving a surpassingly delicate fan in his hand.

takalluf bar-t̤araf ṣāḥib agar aise hī nāzuk ho
pahan lo nūr ke kapṛe nah jālī ho nah malmal ho

is shiʿr kā ruḳh navāb ṣāḥib kī t̤araf thā - jo jālī kā kurtah halkā bādāmī rangā aur bārīk malmal kā angurkhā pahne - band khole huʾe baiṭhe the - aur ek nihāyat hī nafīs pankhā hāth meñ thī use jhulte jāte the

4) If in the cold season you would be available, then what harm in the cold?
If your curls would be on my shoulder-- let there be no double-shawl, let there be no blanket

The friends: praise.

===========
==The idea seems to be that the Navab Sahib looks effeminate and is being teased about it. 

agar jāṛe meñ tū mil jāʾe to kyā ġham hai jāṛe kā
tirī zulfeñ hoñ shāne par do-shālah ho nah kambal ho

aḥbāb :: taʿrīf -

5) Tell me, even in helplessness, would Majnuun keep a happy temperament?
Since Laila's camel would graze when the bud of the heart would be green

Pandit-ji: Praise be to God! Leaving aside everything else, what a 'help' he's pulled out of 'helplessness'!
The friends: By God, we understand it very well! If there's understanding, let it be like this; otherwise, let there be none.
Agha Sahib: Let there be none. All right, now please listen to this verse: 

===========
==The wordplay is based on the fact that be-chāragī ("helplessness, being without recourse") has the literal meaning of being without chārah , or fodder (for an animal). Laila's camel would charnā ("graze"), which is also related. The Pandit-ji's wordplay rests on the common use of chārah to mean "recourse."

[*lām*] kaho be-chāragī meñ bhī t̤abīʿat ḳhvush rakhe majnūñ
kih char le nāqah-e lailâ harī jab dil kī koñpal ho

pañḍit jī :: subḥān allâh ! aur to aur - yih be-chāragī se chārah kyā nikālā hai -
aḥbāb :: vāllâh samjhe bhī ḳhūb - samajh ho to aisī ho - nahīñ to nah ho -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: nah ho - achchhā - ab yih shiʿr suniye -

6) Tell your lovers to please control their weeping
The road of the house will be blocked, if there would be a swamp in the street

Shaikh Sahib: He composed a good one.
Rusva: (To the Khan Sahib) Why are you silent? Please bring out some objection.
Agha Sahib: Indeed, sir, silence from poetry-knowers is not proper.
Khan Sahib: So that you won't think my praise is a compliment based on ignorance-- this is why I'm silent.
Agha Sahib: No, sir, I have no such perverse understanding.
The friends: They were ravished with pleasure at this comment.
Agha Sahib: Let a verse be considered:

kaho ʿushshāq se apne kih ẓabt̤-e giryah farmāʾeñ
rukegā rāstah ghar kā agar kūche meñ daldal ho

shaiḳh ṣāḥib :: achchhī kahī -
rusvā :: ( ḳhāñ ṣāḥib se ) āp kyūñ sukūt meñ haiñ - koʾī ětirāẓ nikāliye -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: hāñ janāb sukūt-e qadar-shinās ṭhīk nahīñ hai-
ḳhāñ ṣāḥib :: āp merī taʿrīf ko taḥsīn-e nā-shinās nah samajhiye - is liye chup hūñ -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: nahīñ ḥaẓrat merī aisī ulṭī samajh nahīñ hai -
aḥbāb :: is faqre par lūṭ gaye -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: shiʿr mulāḥizah ho -

7) We would be envious/jealous of ourself, an other would be born from our own self
Two like us would be seen, if the beloved would be squinty-eyed

The friends: Agha Sahib, praise be to God! What a [verse of] 'subtlety of thought' you've made! 

===========
== nāzuk-ḳhiyālī , "subtlety or refinement of thought," was one of the traditional virtues that a good verse could have; carried to excess, it could also become a term of reproach, as in *verse 16*.

hameñ rashk āʾe apne se hamīñ se ġhair paidā ho
ham aise do naz̤ar āʾeñ agar maʿshūq aḥval ho

aḥbāb :: āġhā ṣāḥib - subḥān allâh - kyā nāzuk-ḳhiyālī kī hai -

8) He's still young, he has an ardor for kite-fighting
There would be one small-kite with a string, there would neither square-kite nor takkal (?)

The direction of this verse too was toward the Navab Sahib, for from his own lofty dominion the wedding-procession of a kite-flyer had set out with great pomp.

===========
==The idea seems to be that the Navab permits child-marriage. A boy so young he's interested only in kite-fighting would be given a wife ('a small kite with a string'), but neither a square-kite nor some other kind of kite. I don't know what a takkal is, but I think it would be the name of a kind of kite. Kite-fighting (with kite-strings dipped in glue and then in ground glass, so they could saw through other kites' strings) was very popular, and many specialized kinds of kites existed.

abhī kam-sin haiñ un ko shauq hai langar laṛāne kā
takallā ḍor kā ho ik nah kankayyā nah takkal ho

is shiʿr kā ruḳh bhī navāb ṣāḥib kī jānib thā - isliye kih āp hī kī sarkār-e ʿālī-jāh se kankvī kī barāt baṛī dhūm se niklī thī -

9) Let someone go and say to those who compose 'meaningful' verses
How would a concealed secret be revealed, if the door would be padlocked?

Rusva: Agha Sahib, what can I say! Umrao Jan, just listen to what a verse he's composed.
Umrao Jan: Praise be to God! I had understood it already. He may say whatever he wishes, he's the master.
Agha Sahib: Why don't you say clearly that I'm the doorkeeper of Hell? All right, listen:

===========
==Apparently they consider Umrao Jan to be a composer of verses that might emerge from her own experience of life, and they are hinting to her that she should reveal more of her piquant romantic secrets.

koʾī un se kahe jo shiʿr-e maʿnī-band kahte haiñ
khule kyā rāz-e sar-bastah jo darvāzah muqaffal ho

rusvā :: āġhā ṣāḥib kyā kahnā ! umrāʾo jān - żarā sunnā - kyā shiʿr kahā hai -
umrāʾo jān :: subḥān allâh - maiñ pahle hī samajh gaʾī - jo chāheñ kaheñ - malik haiñ -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: to ṣāf ṣāf kyūñ nahīñ kahtīñ kih dozaḳh kā darbān hūñ - achchā suniye -

 
 

 
-- UMRAO JAN index page -- Platts Dictionary -- Glossary -- fwp's main page --
-- urdu script -- devanagari -- diacritics -- plain roman -- more information --