In the discussion on my previous post I mentioned about the series of interpretations going on for one of Ghalib's 'sher' (couplet). It might make an interesting read for those interested in poetry, how different people interpret a couple of lines. We will, of course, never know what Ghalib's original intention was; but, I hope our attempts do no make him turn in his grave :-)
This is where it started from :
Ya Rab, na woh samjhe hain, na samjhenge meri baat
de aaur dil unko jo na de mujhko zubaan aaur
KP had included this in his signature, along with this translation:
God, she has never understood me, and I know she will never understand. Please give hear a little more heart, she, who does not even give me an opportunity to speak a little more)
This is where it started from :
Ya Rab, na woh samjhe hain, na samjhenge meri baat
de aaur dil unko jo na de mujhko zubaan aaur
KP had included this in his signature, along with this translation:
God, she has never understood me, and I know she will never understand. Please give hear a little more heart, she, who does not even give me an opportunity to speak a little more)
This is how AB saw it:
Neither beauty (implies beautiful folks here) cares for the world, nor aashiq (lovers) care for the world. We (beauty and aashiq) are the people who struggle in dust, and just do not care for the world.
AK had a different opinion:
AFAIK (as far as I know), Ghalib wrote this one for shayar (poet) like Zauq who always ridiculed him ...
AB offered yet another interpretation :
For interpreting Ghalib and shayari in general, one needs to know common/local slangs, etc. This is possibly true of all kinds of poetry.
(1) Zuban dena is typically used for giving committment.
(2) There is a way of scolding someone by saying "go ahead, repeat the same mistake". For example, you give 500/- to an electrician to get some material for home. The guy never returns and your wife retorts - aur de do paise bina kaam kavaye!
Interpretation with (1) and (2):
God! neither she understand me nor she understands what I say,
// And now shayar is kind of scolding himself by saying
go ahead, repeat the same mistake of falling in love with her who won't give committment of any sort!
This was what I ventured:
O lord, she does not, and never will, understand whatever I have to say. Please make her have a change of heart (so that she appreciates what I say), if you cannot make me change the things I speak (and feel).
Any more ideas, anyone ??
3rd person narrative -
ReplyDeleteOh God - neither - people have in them to undertsand , nor they will try to undertsand even if someone help ( e.g- meri baat)
So help them by giving a little bit more of "greatness" even if their words fall short of courtsey.
I feel its more with the way you recite the sher...the inflection like in second line if you put (,) differently , meaning changes -
de aaur dil unko jo na de mujhko, zubaan aaur
That's my feeble attempt...though as you said rightly - What Ghalib meant - only he will know!!
Hi Sigma,
ReplyDeleteI am miles away from Urdu, but still am attempting my interpretation... Hope Ghalib doesnt wring my neck in my dreams
Ya Rab, na woh samjhe hain, na samjhenge meri baat
de aaur dil unko jo na de mujhko zubaan aaur
Oh God! She has never understood me, neither will he ever do,
Give her a little heart so that my silence can speak
sorry typo error...
ReplyDeleteOh God! She has never understood me, neither will she ever do,
Give her a little heart so that my silence can speak
Hey Sigma, nice post !!
ReplyDeleteHmmm.. I can see experts interpreting the sher... Good good. :))
Well, as far as my interpretations go, the moment I read that sher in your post, without reading further, I had my interpretations and I am going to stick to that.
Here it goes...
Oh God, she has never understood me, neither she’s going to,
And then Ghalib is cursing himself for giving his heart to a person who can not give him the expected commitment.
Agree with BTR(Bendtherulz), it depends where you put comma but since the comma wasn't there in the sher you posted , I assume it is not there.
Once again, liked it. Thanks. :)))
btw, leaving mr. blue-heart aside, i've posted something especially for you at my akshar blog.
ReplyDeletehave fun :)
and considering my output in recent times, you must wonder how i manage to keep my head above the bubbling waters of love...ek samay tha jab main roj kuch likhta tha, ab ye haal hai ki kai din ho jate hain kuch likhe huye!!!
ReplyDelete"Ya Rab, na woh samjhe hain, na samjhenge meri baat
ReplyDeletede aaur dil unko jo na de mujhko zubaan aaur"
hmmm
interesting to see how people complicate simple matters...
"god, neither has she, nor she'll ever understand what i say
pls give her a little more heart, and if you can't, give me a different/better way of speech"
here, juban/speech implies to the kind that'll make her understand what the poet wants to say.
hope that clears the webs away!!!and yes, it can be applied to other competitors in the royal court also.
sigma, kindly keep me updated on this. m not much bloghopping these days :)
BTR (Bendtherulz, I am shortening your id from now on, too!),
ReplyDeletePM (PyareMohan),
Cuckoo, Adi (thankfully you have chosen quite short names :-D),
thank you all so much for your thoughts here. This is what I wanted to convey (apart from sharing the beautiful lines, of course) - poetry is so versatile - it means different to different people; or different even to the same person, depending on his/her frame of mind.
All of you who studied hindi in school, remember the 'alankar's' - one of which was 'yamak' (or was that 'slesh') in which one word could have more than one meaning, and so the lines could be interpreted differently ....
Jumped to your blog from your comment on Mukta's blog and this entry caught my eye! Lovely thoughts!
ReplyDeletebtw, there is one sher from Ghalib which I haven't been able to understand clearly:
"Aah ko chahiye ek umr asar hone tak,
kaun jeeta hai teri zulf ke sar hone tak". The troubling part is 'Zulf ke sar hone tak'. I don't know much urdu but assuming that 'sar' is a Hindi word, the two meanings of 'sar'(head, to win)that I know don't fit in here!If you can explain that sometime, great!
-Leziblogger
www.leziblogger.blogspot.com
Leziblogger, Welcome to my blog !
ReplyDeleteGlad to learn you liked the post.
I have read that couplet too, and have read some explanations too ... let me have another discussion on it with some other interested people, and hopefully I'll be back with some interpretation that you like!
Instead of the exotic interpretations,I tend to agree with the interpretation, "jo" = "if", it is a very normal usage of the word.
ReplyDeletezubaan dena doesn't seem to fit, because that would make "auur" meaningless. "auur" as scolding is always used as affirmative, "aur de do..", here it is negative, "na de ..auur".
Please watch "Chashm-e-baddoor", the hindi movie classic, to see a visual representation of this sher :)
Haha. I think I'll need to watch Chashm-e-Baddor once again :-D
ReplyDeleteSo, which interpretation do you agree with ? Mine (the last one) ?? :-)
wat da phuk.. you dumbo guys
ReplyDeleteits like dis..
Oh God! She has never understood me, neither will she ever do,
Give her more of heart/love if you cant give enable me with more expressions
these people will never understand the way i need to be understood;
ReplyDeletetry and give them a little more sensitivity, coz as poet im limited by my words
(its an irony we all trying to make meaning out of this sher....i hope ghalib dosen't say the same sher for us :D :D )
It was in reference to Zauk's poetry. Zauk used to write in praise of King and get favours from the emperor. He advised Ghalib also to toe his line and earn money to get rid of his poverty and clear his debts. Ghalib did not like this as he was used to write independent. so in this couplet Ghalib says - Of God, he has not followed my point nor he intends to follow so if you cant change my way of expression, at least change their (Zauks)heart so that they may understand my feelings and utterances.....
ReplyDeleteOther day I was watching old GHalib movie of late Bharat Bhushan and Suraiyya. This is what I understood from that
ReplyDeleteSince Ghalib used "difficult" urdu words in poetry. He wrote this sher about Zouk
But before we try to interpret this or any poetry. We should remember that Poets have license to improvise.
So here it goes
Oh God! he has never understood me, neither will he ever do,
pls give him a little more understanding, and if you can't, give me a different/better way of speech.
At least this is hat I understood.
this sher has one more meaning that
ReplyDeletegive her some other heart or give me some other language
:-)
What I think he is trying to say is that " Oh lord.. neither do they understand me.. nor they ever would... either change their hearts or change my words(mind)" (so one of them gets it) Its a beautiful prayer. Ghalib was a smart man ahead of his time. And this signifies his frustration.
ReplyDeletei agreed with haroon
ReplyDeleteI agree with the second interpretation, scolding himself for giving his heart to those who don't have any commitment, though other interpretations are also plausible, and this ambiguity is the beauty of Ghalib and all great poetry.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shubhra
ReplyDeleteGhalib is making a general statement. There are times when people have certain beliefs, and they are fanatically and unreasonably attached to them.They will not see the truth, as their mind and heart is clouded.As Ghalib can't change his point of view, he is urging god to put a reasonable mind and heart in the misguided people.
ReplyDelete