Dear Papaji, This post is for you to enter any other Miscellaneous writings you do now and then. Hope you will spend a lot of time filling these up. Ambi.
Dear Ambi, Guru Nanak is chiefly credited with spirtual hymns. Any association of romance with his name may almost be considered as sacrilege. Yet he has written also some romantic poetry of an exquisite nature. A rare nugget with its translation in English verse follows. "Dhan joban ur phulrha nathhiatey din char......" Siri raag 4(24) Mahila 1. Riches: Youth: Longing: Lust Are all but a few days' guest Like leafy plants growing on the brink Of a drying pond, craving for drink Enjoy to the hilt O, beloved and sing So long thy youth retains its spring .......
Nanak and Babar were antithesis to each other in many respects. But while politics divided them, poetry united them. Says Babar in "Babar Nama", "Babar b,aish kosh ke Aalum dobara naest" (persian} O' Babar enjoy thyself to the hilt As no one ever a second world built Incidently this is against the cardinal principle of Islamic faith which talks of second life in heaven or hell. But poets have always taken liberties with religion and faith. Says Galib, "Hum ko maloom hai 'Jannat' ki hakeekat lekan Dil ke khush rakhnay ko Galib yeh khyal achha hai" Not that I know not the reality About paradise and its promised quality But to delight my heart, I start subscribing to such thoughts of frivolity.
After my short english poem, dedicated to Surina, I attempted to write its sequel in Punjabi, but could not write beyond a few couplets. It appears below as an unfinished poem. Dhunh bhag plethi baal Baki sub karhai ubal Maan kehndhi mera jumya Lall Rhay jeundha hazaranh saal Pyo kehndha meri lado raani Sus aisda bhray gi paani In olden times, kings and chieftains used to employ 'Kissa Go' which literally means 'Story tellers'. 'Hazaar Dastaan' in persian (One thousand and one tales} and 'Panch Tantra'in Sanscrit are treasuries of such tales. Even though we do not have any such treatise in Punjabi, yet many folk sayings have reached us through word of mouth without losing their pristine sheen. Your mother of late has become one such 'Kissa Go'. She gets arround her all the three maids and starts telling them stories of her childhood with great gusto. Although house work suffers thereby, but it gives her much emotinal support and relief from age old afflictions; so we don't mind. The maids are from Jharkhand and Bihar; so how much they understand her tongue is not known. But they hear her with rapt attention, presumably because it affords them timely relief from drudgery of house job. The other day I heard her telling them a Punjabi folk saying, which alongwith its english translation by me, appears below. "Dus da buchaa veeh da jawan Dunyadari tonh ujai unjan Hoya teeh - Ik puttar ik dhi Chaali - Gul paigai punjali Punjah - Gul which pai gya phah Suthh - Huth which pharhi lathh Sathir - Cheta gya bhathir Ussi - mangay dudh milay lassi Nubhay - Koi gal na phubhay Sou - Mur budhya magron vi lou" English rendering One to ten years; one is child Twenty year young; in I.Q. mild Thirty be; infants two, he& she Forty broke; neck under yoke Fifty's flight; noose gets tight Sixty's tick; need walkig stick Seventy kicks; memory plays tricks Eighty's tread; For cake gets bread Ninety's bite; nothing comes right Hundred on; poor old man get gone
Oof! I forgot to translate my little punjabi poem. Here it is:-
"First-born is destiny's ilk All the rest is spilt milk Says Mama, "My tree of pears May he live for thousand years" Says Papa, "My queen of hearts: Mother-in-law would spare her, darts"
Now a riddle: It was one of your gifts that brought to my mind poet 'Iqbal's' famous couplet:- "Masjid to bana di dum bhar mein Iman ki hararat walon ne Lekan yeh apna dil papi Barson se namazi bun na saka" English verse: For fiery faithfuls to build up a mosque For daily prayers was an instant task But a sinful heart in my bosom that lay Took long years to learn bow and pray For a little help gift was a Calender. But you have to figure out what is the sequence of its connection with the idea expressed in the above couplet. Love, Daddy.
Dear Ambi, I gave you the following cue, on the phone, to the puzzle:- You can take the horse to the water but you cannot make it drink. I expected you to solve it, but you havn't found enough time. Here is the answer. Soon as you learnt that we needed a calender, you wasted not a moment, bought one, and despatched it to us. It was a beautiful piece needing to be hanged without delay. Yet it remained lying on the table, neatly rolled, for nearly a month. Even when we needed to check a particular day or date, we would roll it off, see the object and then release it to revert to its original fold. For some days we didn't have the nail. Then we could not agree on the place to hang it on. Finally Bablee wanted an expert to do the job, lest we may disturb the plaster and damage the wall. It was then that Iqbal's befitting 'shair' came to my mind and I read it. Its meaning went above her head. After many renderings in 'Punjabi' and 'English' its gist percolated. The need for an early action was realised. The matter was explained to our driver and he put up the calender in a jiffy. Love, Daddy.
6 comments:
Dear Ambi,
Guru Nanak is chiefly credited with spirtual hymns. Any association of romance with his name may almost be considered as sacrilege. Yet he has written also some romantic poetry of an exquisite nature. A rare nugget with its translation in English verse follows.
"Dhan joban ur phulrha nathhiatey din char......" Siri raag 4(24) Mahila 1.
Riches: Youth: Longing: Lust
Are all but a few days' guest
Like leafy plants growing on the brink
Of a drying pond, craving for drink
Enjoy to the hilt O, beloved and sing
So long thy youth retains its spring
.......
Nanak and Babar were antithesis to each other in many respects. But while politics divided them, poetry united them. Says Babar in "Babar Nama",
"Babar b,aish kosh ke Aalum dobara naest" (persian}
O' Babar enjoy thyself to the hilt
As no one ever a second world built
Incidently this is against the cardinal principle of Islamic faith which talks of second life in heaven or hell. But poets have always taken liberties with religion and faith. Says Galib,
"Hum ko maloom hai 'Jannat' ki
hakeekat lekan
Dil ke khush rakhnay ko Galib yeh khyal achha hai"
Not that I know not the reality
About paradise and its promised quality
But to delight my heart, I start
subscribing to such thoughts of frivolity.
After my short english poem, dedicated to Surina, I attempted to write its sequel in Punjabi, but could not write beyond a few couplets. It appears below as an unfinished poem.
Dhunh bhag plethi baal
Baki sub karhai ubal
Maan kehndhi mera jumya Lall
Rhay jeundha hazaranh saal
Pyo kehndha meri lado raani
Sus aisda bhray gi paani
In olden times, kings and chieftains used to employ 'Kissa Go' which literally means 'Story tellers'. 'Hazaar Dastaan' in persian (One thousand and one tales} and 'Panch Tantra'in Sanscrit are treasuries of such tales. Even though we do not have any such treatise in Punjabi, yet many folk sayings have reached us through word of mouth without losing their pristine sheen. Your mother of late has become one such
'Kissa Go'. She gets arround her all the three maids and starts telling them stories of her childhood with great gusto. Although house work suffers thereby, but it gives her much emotinal support and relief from age old afflictions; so we don't mind. The maids are from Jharkhand
and Bihar; so how much they understand her tongue is not known. But they hear her with rapt attention, presumably because it affords them timely relief from drudgery of house job. The other day I heard her telling them a Punjabi folk saying, which alongwith its english translation by me, appears below.
"Dus da buchaa veeh da jawan
Dunyadari tonh ujai unjan
Hoya teeh - Ik puttar ik dhi
Chaali - Gul paigai punjali
Punjah - Gul which pai gya phah
Suthh - Huth which pharhi lathh
Sathir - Cheta gya bhathir
Ussi - mangay dudh milay lassi
Nubhay - Koi gal na phubhay
Sou - Mur budhya magron vi lou"
English rendering
One to ten years; one is child
Twenty year young; in I.Q. mild
Thirty be; infants two, he& she
Forty broke; neck under yoke
Fifty's flight; noose gets tight
Sixty's tick; need walkig stick
Seventy kicks; memory plays tricks
Eighty's tread; For cake gets bread
Ninety's bite; nothing comes right
Hundred on; poor old man get gone
Love; Daddy.
Oof! I forgot to translate my little punjabi poem. Here it is:-
"First-born is destiny's ilk
All the rest is spilt milk
Says Mama, "My tree of pears
May he live for thousand years"
Says Papa, "My queen of hearts:
Mother-in-law would spare her, darts"
Now a riddle: It was one of your gifts that brought to my mind poet 'Iqbal's' famous couplet:-
"Masjid to bana di dum bhar mein Iman ki hararat walon ne
Lekan yeh apna dil papi
Barson se namazi bun na saka" English verse:
For fiery faithfuls to build up a mosque
For daily prayers was an instant task
But a sinful heart in my bosom that lay
Took long years to learn bow and pray
For a little help gift was a Calender. But you have to figure out what is the sequence of its connection with the idea expressed in the above couplet.
Love, Daddy.
Dear Ambi,
I gave you the following cue, on the phone, to the puzzle:-
You can take the horse to the water but you cannot make it drink. I expected you to solve it, but you havn't found enough time. Here is the answer.
Soon as you learnt that we needed a calender, you wasted not a moment, bought one, and despatched it to us. It was a beautiful piece
needing to be hanged without delay. Yet it remained lying on the table, neatly rolled, for nearly a month. Even when we needed to check a particular day or date, we would roll it off, see the object and then release it to revert to its original fold. For some days we didn't have the nail. Then we could not agree on the place to hang it on. Finally Bablee wanted an expert to do the job, lest we may disturb the plaster and damage the wall. It was then that Iqbal's befitting 'shair' came to my mind and I read it. Its meaning went above her head. After many renderings in 'Punjabi' and 'English' its gist percolated. The need for an early action was realised. The matter was explained to our driver and he put up the calender in a jiffy.
Love, Daddy.
Dear Papaji,
I am glad I did not guess the answer. Your explanation was much more fun. Looking forward to your coming over on Aug. 16. Ambi.
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