Woh mujhse hue humqalaam — Sufi Tabassum

We believe that all poetry is due to overwhelming emotions that the poet cannot contain within himself and needs to express via words. There are a spectrum of emotions that lead to a poem, but of course, many a time, a specific one stands out. This poem, we believe, is one such poem. All the couplets which have been sung have the poet trying to juxtapose two situations/ideas that he's not able to reconcile, leading to the exclamation, 'Allah, Allah'. 

Woh mujhse hue humqalam, Allah Allah

Kahan mein kahan ye maqaam, Allah Allah

I had the great fortune of being a conversation with her,

I am not worthy of this achievement, Allah Allah

[Here the poet is not able reconcile with the fact that he just spoke with her. He thinks that he is not even worthy of being able to speak with her.]

Ye *ru-e-darakhshan, ye zulfon ke saaye,

Ye hungaama-e-sub-o-shaam, Allah Allah

These bright faces like daylight, and these dark shades of hair,

The commotion of day and night, Allah Allah

[Here the poet very tastefuly compares the glow of the beloved's face and her dark hair with the light of the day and the darkness of the night. Notice that the he's not able to reconcile the day and night here, just like he's disturbed by the lovers face and her hair.  This leads to a more romantic interpretation, that  all his days and nights go in remembering his lover.]

Wo sehma hua aansuon ka *talaatum

Wo aab-e-rawan *be-khiraam, Allah Allah

That stifled gush of tears,

That flow of tears, unbridled, Allah, Allah.

[Here the poet finds the stifled storm of tears and the uncontrolled crying irreconcilable.]

Wo zabt-e-sukhan mein labon ki khamoshi

Nazar ka wo *lutf-e-kalaam, Allah Allah

That trying to conceal the words by not speaking them from lips,

That letting all be known coquettishly through your gaze, Allah Allah!

[This is perhaps the best sher of the Ghazal. The exclaimation Allah Allah is because he finds it difficult to bring to terms the restraint of words and the narration of the eyes.]

— Sufi Tabassum

——————

ru-e-darakhshan= bright face

talaatum= storm

be-khiram= disgraceful, untasteful

lutf-e-kalaam= pleasures of conversation

When sung with the flair of Farida Khanum, who sprinkles the shers with just enough silence before ‘Allah, Allah’ to convey the poet’s mind, the poem becomes all the memorable!

Mere humnafas mere humnava

Today we translate arguably the most popular ghazal by 'Shakeel' Badayuni.  We try to give an interpretative translation to it.

We think that the ghazal is written in a state of love, so tender, that any intended help or favor in any amount would be insufficiently relieving.  If this ghazal is to be condensed in one phrase, akin to a nyāyā, it would be the very perceptively chosen phrase, 'nawaazish-e-mukhtsar'.

The poet is so wary of everyone whom he considers his own, even the person he loves, that he is requesting them to not help him.


Mere humnafas mere humnava mujhe dost banke dagha na de,
Mein hoon dard-e-ishq se jaan ba-lab, mujhe zindagi ki duaa na de

My dear, please don't deceive me by being my 'friend',

I am overwhelmed by the travails of love, don't pray for a longer life for me.

[ The couplet needs to be interpreted by considering the poet's state of mind.  He thinks that he cannot bear any more pain of living. ]

Mere daagh-e-dil se hai raushani, isi raushani se hai zindagi,
Mujhe dar hai ai mere chaaraghar, ye charaag tu hi bujha na de

The pain in my heart brightens my life,

I am afraid, that by relieving the pain you'd bring the darkness again.

[ Again we observe the confusion in the poet's mind, that he's started thinking that pain is the normal state of affairs.  We're reminded of Ghalib's famous:

Nazar lage na kahin unke dasht-o-baazoo ko, 

Kyon ye log mere zakhm-o-jigar ko dekhte hein.

I am afraid that the eyes of people who look at the hurts my beloved gave me,

Would cast an evil eye on her hands.]

Mujhe chodh de mere haal par, tera kya bharosa hai chaaraaghar,
Ye teri nawaazish-e-mukhtsar mera dard aur badhaa na den

Please leave me by myself, dear friend,

Your insufficient attempts at comforting me would make my pain worse.

[ This, in our opinion, is the pièce de résistance of this Ghazal.  If we were to imagine a book by God that contains the most exquisite poetic excerpt, like what Erdős must have imagined about proofs when he spoke about 'Proofs from the book', this couplet would be there.  ]

Mera azm itna buland hai, ke paraaye sholo ka dar nahin,
Mujhe khauf aatish-e-gul se hai, ye kahin chaman ko jalaan na den

My determination would not let the others hurt me,

But I am afraid of the people who are my own. 

Wo uthe hein leke, khum-o-subu, arey ai Shakeel kahan hai tu,
Tera jaam lene ko bazm mein, koi aur haath badha na de.

The cup-bearer just got up with the wine and goblet, Shakeel, where are you?

I fear that someone else would take the drink which is meant for you. 

[ If we were to make a metaphorical interpretation of this couplet, and substitute the beloved for cup-bearer, we'd have a more succulent interpretation. ]

In the end, we couldn't imagine the lyrics without the renditions of Beghum Akhtar and Farida Khanum:

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