Adil Najam
I recieved a couple of emails with this picture today, and then saw it poste by Vaqas on Metroblog Lahore (see earlier picture here). A great picture by Awais Lodhi. We at ATP have a long-standing fascination with rickshaws (here, here, here, here an here). But, this, of course, is about political commentary, not just about rickshaws.
My best attempt at a translation of the ‘writing on the rickshaw’ is:
Addressed to Honorable General Musharraf Sahib. Accept my congratulations on the passage of the women’s rights bill. Now, please, also give us a bill on Men’s rights. We will be greatful. It is very difficult to drink these days.
Must confess, I am not fully sure how the last line fits. Please suggest a better translation if you will. Or offer commentary on this commentary.
I suppose “peena pilana” can also be taken to mean entertaining oneself and others, often with alcoholic beverages.
Looks to me like a really bitter criticism of the passage of the Women’s Rights Bill and the “freedom” it will give to the women. The writer of this statement wants to get the same kind of “freedom” (Peena Pilana) by the passage of a Men’s Rights Bill.
I wonder who is the creative genius behind this statement, sure beats “Maan ki dua, Jannat ki Hava” !!!
I saw this before somewhere. It seems there is light at the end of the tunnel, people are getting some freedom of speech. I guess what is written is very clear.
Drink can be within quotes…until there is an agreement on the meaning.
Even BBC has picked this one up; (http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/interactivity/captions/ story/2007/02/070202_your_caption.shtml)
…back to how bloggers lead the way for main stream media. :)
Adil, I was wondering when you are going to jump on the bandwagon :)
“peeney pilaney ke liye baRi taNgi hoti hai” might be roughly translated in Delhi Hindi into “there are a lot of hassles due to the prevalent bribery everywhere”. I would presume that the meaning would be similar in Lahori Urdu.
The ‘ke liye’ is incorrect language but the meaning is still conveyed.
Salamalikum,
I could be very wrong here, but I think “penay pilnay” means rishwat-culture here. Could it be? I know the actual term is “chai pani”, but if I take Dr. Najam’s translation, then this really doesn’t make sense to me. I mean water drinking is not a problem for men only. On the other hand, men have to mostly deal with people looking for rishwat before they do your work in Pakistan.