Guest Post by Naveed E.
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Perveen Shakir died young. Her legend lives on.
She is arguably the most popular poetess of the literary history of Pakistan. She expressed the sensibilities of young lovelorn girl with the innocence of a girl next door and innovation of an adept poet. Her romantic poems and ghazals stirred the sentiments of youthful readers.
She enlivened the tales and traditions of love in a manner that her first book “Khushboo� met an instant and incredible success. Within a span of seventeen years she wrote three more books of poetry, titled, “Sud Berg�, “Khud Kalamie� and “Inkar�.
“Barish Ki Nazmein� are very sentimental poems from “Sud Berg�.
On a rainy night, while posted in a far flung area of Pakistan, I was deeply touched with the enchantment of these poems.
My translations, below, are a tribute to the magic of Perveen.
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A Poem of Rain
Barish mein kia tanha bhegna larki!
usay bula jis ki chahat mein
ttera tun mun bhega hai
pyar ki barish say barh kr kia barish ho gi
aur jub is barish kay baad
hijr ki pehli dhoop khilay gi
tujh per rang kay ism khulein gay
Why to soak alone in the rain, O! Girl
Beckon him in whose love
Your mind and body are drenched
There is no rain more than the rain of love
And when after this rain
The first sunshine of separation would glow
The mysteries of hues you’d know
Another poem of Rain
Peron ki mehndi mein nay
Kis mushkil say chhuraie thi
aur phir bairon khushboo ki
kaisi kaisi binti ki thi
pyari dheray bol
bhra ghar jag uthay ga
lekin jub us kay aanay ki ghari hoi
subah say aisi jhari lagi
umer mein pehli bar
barish achhi nahin lagi!
The henna on my feet
I scrubbed away so hard
And to insolent fragrance
Intensely I had begged
Dear speak lowly
Lest the full house might wake up
But when the time of his arrival came
Since morning the rain so set in
First time in my life
Rain didn’t amuse me!
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Yet another poem of rain
Barish ab say pehlay bhi kai bar hoi thi
kia is bar meray rangrez nay chunri kachchi rangi thi
ya tan ka hi kehna such keh
rung to us kay honton mein tha!
It had rained often before
Did my dyer badly colored the scarf this time?
Or my torso had told the truth that
The colour was in his lips.
Naveed E. is a former civil servant, with a passion for poetry and writing.
Detroit Metro Airport Raises Long-Term Parking Pates.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News November 17, 2003 By Rajiv Vyas, Detroit Free Press Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Nov. 17–With the holiday travel boom on the horizon, Detroit Metro Airport has raised long-term parking rates at the McNamara Terminal to $11 a day. The $1 increase could generate $2.5 million more a year.
The airport has kept the daily rate at $5 for most of the Blue Deck adjacent to the Smith Terminal and at the Yellow lot near the Berry Terminal. Both are long-term. in our site detroit metro airport
The rate increase at McNamara took effect in early October, before the airport’s busy Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Northwest Airlines and 11 other carriers sent a letter to airport officials asking them to analyze and adjust parking rates to increase revenue.
Analysts said travelers are price-sensitive.
“Large as well as small corporations and individuals like me would count every cost, and parking is an important part,” said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of Business Travel Coalition, a lobbying group for corporate buyers of airline services.
“I have been parking at the McNamara Terminal since it opened,” said Larry Taylor, a builder who lives in Farmington Hills. “It’s working out well, but $11 is a little stiff.” Parking is big business at many airports. At Metro, it is the second-largest source of revenue, accounting for 16 percent of the budget, or $38.5 million. The biggest chunk of money, 46 percent, or $107 million, comes from the fees the airport charges airlines to land planes. go to website detroit metro airport
Airport officials are trying to increase revenues so they can reduce the landing fees for struggling airlines, which have lost a combined $20 billion since 2001. Officials already increased landing fees because of the drop in passenger traffic and increased operating costs. Airlines protested, citing their huge losses.
The last time Metro raised parking rates was May 1, 2000, when it raised the daily rate at the Blue Deck from $10 to $12. The rates were later dropped to $5 as much of the demand for parking shifted to the McNamara Terminal.
The new increase at McNamara is “part of the airport authority’s continued goal to generate as much non-airline revenue as possible to reduce costs to struggling airlines,” said airport spokesman Brian Lassaline.
Valet parking rates at the McNamara Terminal’s Westin Hotel also increased early last month from a daily maximum of $26 to $28.
When the McNamara Terminal parking deck opened in early 2002, the daily rate was $13. It was reduced six months later to $10 to draw more travelers and increase revenue.
Although the airport has increased the parking rate at its most popular lot, off-site parking lots have kept their rates about the same since July.
“The McNamara Terminal structure is high-demand, premium-convenience parking,” said airport spokesman Michael Conway.
Travelers who park at the Blue Deck or other off-site parking lots must take a shuttle to the McNamara Terminal, setting aside about 30 minutes to reach the terminal.
NWAC,
Not only Pakistan, but rather sub-continent and the Urdu literature of Pakistan and India. Along with Kishwar Nahid and Fahmida Riaz, she is regarded as the poetess who added a new dimension to Urdu poetry.
Yousaf,
Thank you so much for sharing wonderful website about Parveen Shakir,s poetry in her own voice.
Enjoy parveen shakir Live
http://urdulife.com/mushaira/poet.cgi?ps_parveen_shakir_poetry
Parveen Shakir had an MA in English Literature and joined the Pakistan Customs Service, where she was posted to Islamabad. Had she not died in the car crash in 1994, she would have been 54 years old this November.
Read her complete profile here.
To read one of the most authoratative articles on her work, peruse the illumating piece along with equally brillint translation of her poems by Prof. CM Naim in The Annual of Urdu Studies:
My favorite:
Instead of keeping me tucked away
In some safe corner of your heartâ€
I remember hearing a story about her, that when she sat down to take some exam (academic or civil service), one of the poems she had to write about was her own.
“Tooti hai meri neend magar…” has also been bautifully rendered by Tasawar Khanum. I heard it once on a PIA flight. I wonder if any one could put his/her hands on it and post it here.
I could not figure out a way to imbed this in the post, but you can listen to Parveen Shakir reading a nazm here (it is then followed by Runa Laila singing a famous ghazal by Parveen.
One of her most famous ghazal’s (..meiN samandar daikhti houN, tum kinara daikhna), as sung by Tahira Syed, can be heard here.
Here is another couplet of Parveen Shakir, again about rain. Those of you who have lived in a tin-roofed house in the North of Pakistan will readily identify with it.
MaiN sard raat ki barkha say kiyoon na piyaar karooN
Yeh rut tau hai meray bachpan ki saath khailay hooyi
A rough translation:
I love the sound of rain on a winter night
I have been hearing it since my childhood