Wahrat<\/a><\/i>-triggered insomnia crumbles my resistance and today, yet again, I must succumb to this irresistible urge to inflict my translations upon innocent stumblers-upon. <\/p>\nSadly, it is Faiz Ahmed Faiz<\/b> who today, yet again, has to suffer this posthumous ignominy – but that is just the way it is.<\/p>\n
Aaj Ek Harf Ko – Faiz Ahmed Faiz<\/b><\/p>\n
aaj ek harf ko phir dhoondta phirta hai khayal<\/p>\n
madh bhara harf koi, zeher bhara harf koi
\ndil-nashin harf koi, qeher bhara harf koi<\/p>\n
aaj ek harf ko phir dhoondta phirta hai khayal…<\/p>\n
harf-e-ulfat koi dildar-nazar ho jaise
\njis se milti hai nazar bosa-e-lab ki surat
\nitna roshan ke sare-mauja-e-zar ho jaise
\nsohbat-e-yaar main aghaaz-e-tarab ki surat
\nharf-e-nafrat koi shamsheer-e-ghazab ho jaise,<\/p>\n
aaj ek harf ko phir dhoondta phirta hai khayal…<\/p>\n
ta abad shahre-sitam jis se tabah ho jayein
\nitna tareek ke shamshan ki shab ho jaise
\nlab pe laoon to mere honth siyah ho jayein
\naaj ek harf ko phir dhoondta phirta hai khayal…<\/i><\/p>\n
Here goes…<\/p>\n
today, yet again, my thoughts wander seeking a word<\/p>\n
an intoxicating word, a venomous word
\na bewitching word, a wrathful word<\/p>\n
today, yet again, my thoughts wander seeking a word<\/p>\n
a word of desire that brings to mind my beloved's glance
\nmeeting my gaze like a kiss on the lips
\nas radiant as the crest of a wave of gold
\nlike the first stirrings of ecstasy in a lovers tryst
\na word of hate slicing like a fearsome sword<\/p>\n
today, yet again, my thoughts wander seeking a word<\/p>\n
a word that shall destroy these flourishing cities of oppression
\na word as dark as the dusk over a cremation ground
\na word that, if uttered, shall turn my lips black <\/p>\n
today, yet again, my thoughts wander seeking a word<\/i><\/p>\n
Strangely enough, it is Faiz Ahmed Faiz<\/b>, and not Ghalib<\/b>, whose poems feature most on my blog, even though the latter is my favourite poet. <\/p>\n
Shashi Kapoor<\/b>, who self-confessedly did not know a single word of Urdu, did an amazing job in this version of Aaj Ek Harf Ko<\/b><\/a> featured in Merchant-Ivory's Muhafiz\/in Custody<\/b>. <\/p>\nEnjoy !<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yet again, its that time of year. Wahrat-triggered insomnia crumbles my resistance and today, yet again, I must succumb to this irresistible urge to inflict my translations upon innocent stumblers-upon. Sadly, it is Faiz Ahmed Faiz who today, yet again, has to suffer this posthumous ignominy – but that is just the way it is. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-poetry","category-translation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1930,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions\/1930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}