What Any lover learns

I have been sitting around my house, in a funk and somehow started to look through my emails. I subscribe to a mailing list called The Wondering Minstrels; in its heyday, the administrators used to send a new poem every day. The last update was in January 2006.

So, while browsing through my emails, I came [...]

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There are tears in my eyes

I posted the lyrics of this beautiful Ghazal here, and I felt that a translation is needed and after having failed yesterday, today I have tried – here it is then, with due poetic liberties. Hope you would like it and feel the sorrow of the poet.
There are tears in my eyes
There is woe on [...]

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कभी पल्कॊ पे आन्सू हैं

Another beautiful song from the stable of Kishore Kumar. Lyrics, in Hindi for your pleasure, I had thought about translating this into English, but i couldn’t do justice and so i will not try and mutilate a work of art..
मुख्डा:
कभी पल्कॊ पे आन्सू हैं
कभि लब पे शिकायत हैं
मगर ऐ ज़िन्दगि फिर भि
मुझे तुझ से मौहब्बत [...]

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कभी कभी

कभी कभी मेरे दिल मैं ख्याल आता हैं
कि ज़िंदगी तेरी जुल्फों कि नर्म छांव मैं गुजरने पाती
तो शादाब हो भी सकती थी।
यह रंज-ओ-ग़म कि सियाही जो दिल पे छाई हैं
तेरी नज़र कि शुओं मैं खो भी सकती थी।
मगर यह हो न सका और अब ये आलम हैं
कि तू नहीं, तेरा ग़म तेरी जुस्तजू भी नहीं।
गुज़र [...]

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Bhartihari – the poem of social comedy

I came across this a long time ago.. and i find it particularly amusing – even more so with what i have seen over the past few years and continue to:

She who is always in my thoughts prefers
Another man, and does not think of me.
Yet he seeks for another’s love, not hers;
And some poor [...]

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Rubaiyyat

This is a rubayii that i once found, ages ago, written on the door of room 142, H10. It has always held special meaning to me, and i posted it to Minstrels:
Ah, Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire!
Would not we shatter it to bits – and [...]

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Ae Ajnabi – O stranger: Translation for a beautiful song.

On a translation spree, I have attempted a poetical translation to this beautiful poetry by Gulzaar sa’ab. Again, English doesn’t do justice to the poetry; but oh so true:
Aye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi aawaaz de kahin se
Main yahan tukdon mein jee raha hoon
Tu kahin tukdon mein jeen rahi hai
Roz roz resham si hawa aate jaate [...]

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A million wishes such – reprise: The ghazal by Mirza Ghalib.

A poor attempt to translate the feelings behind this beautiful ghazal by Mirza Ghalib. English cannot capture the intricacies of Urdu.

हज़ारों ख्ह्वाहिशें ऐसी की हर ख्ह्वाइश पे दम निकले
बहुत निकले मेरे अर्मां लेकिन फिर भी कम निकले

निकलना खुल्द से आदम का सुनते आये हैं लेकिन
बहुत बेआबरू होकर तेरे कूचे से हम निकले

मुहब्बत में नहीन है [...]

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A million wishes…

Hazaron Khwahishein Aisi
Ke Har Khwahish Pe Dum Nikle
Bahut Nikle Mere Armaan
Lekin Phir bhi Kam Nikle

A million wishes such
That each takes my life away
Many of my dreams came true
And yet they were so few
A loose translation to the quartrain (is it?) that has come to embody my mood now a days. Attempted here - after hours of [...]

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Closed Path

But I find that thy will knows no end in me.
And when old words die out on the tongue,
new melodies break forth from the heart;
and where the old tracks are lost,
new country is revealed with its wonders.
– Rabindranath Tagore
~*~

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