Ghalib, Mirza Asadullah Khan (1797-1862). Ghalib as an extremely difficult port for much of the literary aristocracy of nineteenth century Delhi, a senior contempantry, described this problem by saying in a complete that "Only God or he himself would understand his poetry" Ghalib's poetry, particularly his earlier Urdu verse, three up many challenges, and it still does, to comprehension both on the level of experience and expression.
The poet was troubled by intense questioning and astonishment about human existence in an alien unity and world, meaning of life and mysteries of divine reality. To express this turbulence of mind and heart, faced for the first time by any Urdu poet, Ghalib had to invent a personalized idiom and a language of incarifness that his tradition-bound readers/listeners found hard to grasp But still, Ghalib's poetry has much of a lyrical intellectual romanticism together with a cheerfully pungent zeit that strikes a chord amongst commoners. The way he has given expression to a wide range of life- situations and existential states remains the basis for his unfading and ever-lasting popularity.
Najeeb Jung Former Lt. Governor of Delhi. Former of Jamia Millia Islam dreaming about acting, decouring the nees or playing with his dogs and cats. In a previous life, he was a civil servant with over two decades of service to the IAS. He has also worked at the Asian Development Bank in Manila, been a Visiting Fellow at the Orford Institute for Energy Studies in Orfont, and a Director on the Board of the Reserve Bank of India. He has been the Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia and then scent on to serve his beloved city as the 20th Lt. Governor of Delhi. Najeeb has written leo monographs on Natural Gas in Asia; edited an anthology of essays titled The Political Economy of Energy and Growth; published a compilation of essays under the title The Sting of a Bee, and penned a book on contemporary social, cultural and political affairs in UAlu titled Fikr-o-lagahi. This cork is the culmination of a lifelong love affair with the conts of Ghalib chich began chen Najeeb Jung was a young child chose mother recited poetry to him.
In the minutest of atoms, Ghalib unfolds a new Universe and I have seen Najeeb bhai stroll in that space. In the annual function of "Rekhta' I have seen him lighting the lamp of Ghalib and often heard him. And now he asks this humble person to read his English translation.
mujh tak kab un ki bazm men aata tha daur-e-jam saqt ne kuchh mila na diya ho sharab men "In her assembly, it would take so long for the round of wine to arrive The saqi may have blended the wine with something else".
Truly, Najeeb bhai has blended Ghalib's Urdu kalaam into English with such a unique flow that the intoxication has doubled.
Ghalib has lit an eternal flame that never smoulders into ash. The lovers keep coming to it. Now we see another moth. Najeeb Jung is burnt in this same flame and I know he will keep providing light to this flame for long. The truth is that whosoever has touched the hem of Ghalib's garment has held the garment of the son of Mary.
My intent is not to praise Ghalib - I wish to speak of the person who heard the "sound of Ghalib's pen" and has spoken of it. Most certainly, this narration of Ghalib is unique - it comes from the heart, the words not taken from any dictionary or style -and that is why I find it close to my heart.
I do not know Persian, but do know a bit of Urdu and English as spoken by the average person. Believe me, there are many couplets of Ghalib that are extremely difficult to understand or to explain.
aate hain ghaib se ye mazamin khayal men ghalib sartr-e-khama nava-e-sarosh hai (it's from the divine that I get these thoughts Ghalib, the sound of my pen is like the whisper of Gabriel)
This is what Ghalib wrote of his verses and indeed this is how I too think of his work. Encouraged by my mother, a poet in her own right, I have lived with Ghalib's kalaam for most of my life. I am aware of the difficulty of capturing the beauty and flow of Urdu poetry, it's allusiveness, imagery and mysticism in another language and I didn't think I was capable of translating a master like Ghalib. It was, therefore, after much hesitation that I have attempted this translation as a kind of homage. There are many fine thinkers, critics and writers who have interpreted Ghalib. I, however, have tried to stay as close as possible to his own words without commentary or explanation. There are still some couplets that I struggle to translate. Ghalib's thought process is so complex, much like the labyrinth of.... tortuous inventiveness' to use Arberry's expression, and the couplets so rooted in a Persian context that I am unable produce a concise translation. They need to be footnoted and glossed to be properly understood and as a translator I sometimes acknowledged defeat.
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