English translation is given at the end.
Following ‘azad’ poem is by one of my favourite writers, Shafiq-ur-Rehman and it comes from his book ‘lehreN’. The poem is actually a satire on modern day poets who write ‘azad’ Urdu poem by using all the ‘azadi’ they can get. The poem describes a situation of fighting cats in a garden. I hope it brings a smile to you just like it has been bringing smiles to me for the past 20 years.
Here is my attempt at an approximate translation for our English readers:
Cats are fighting
Oh Cats
Caaaa…
…tsss
May be cats are fighting in garden now
There is the haze of dusk
It is time to rest
to work
to
get rewarded
And cats are fighting
May be they are 4 in number
or may be 3
But this little doubt has made house in my heart
that the cats are 5 in number
and definitely they cannot be 6
and the night is glowing in moonlight
and the moon is shining bright
and the moonlight is ubiquitous
and this moonlight will only last for a little while
and then there is a pitch dark night ahead
What was i saying?
Aah, it just slipped out of my mind
What happened to my memory?
Only God can fix it
Oh Yes, I just remembered!
the cats are fighting
Cats are probably finghting in the garden now!
Photo Credits: Flickr.com
Uwais Sahab
Great. As I read your miaoon miaoon I could not controll my hansi and my wife was annoyed as she is watching a drama.
I had forgotten this episode. But now I rember another where someone changes channels of a radio again and again and the taqreer takes a turn at the crucial point every time and becmes very funny as a whole.
Shakeel Saheb, good to see your comment. With ‘miaoon miaoon’ i also remember a chapter from Shafiqur Rehman’s book ‘hamaqaten’ called the ‘Club.’
Speeches were going on in the club. Hall was full. Author gets a place at the back of the hall which is right at the threshold of loud-speakers’ amplification distance. Here he could hear some words and the rest is filled with static which sounds like ‘miaoon miaoon’ when ladies spoke and ‘bhoon bhoon’ when gents spoke.
Few sentences of that chapter go like this :)
“aaj ka din kitna mubarak hai ke …miaoon. sab khwateen…. miaoon miaoon….woh din gaye ke khawateen.. miaoon, mard …miaoon – aur dono miaoon miaoon miaoon…”
:)
mujhe baRa afsos hai ke ….bhoon bhoon..zid se kaam nahi chale ga.. ek doosre ki bhoon bhoon – aur phir aapas mein mil kar bhoon bhoon bhoon ..(taaliaaN)
Thanks Owais Saheb
I was looking for this nazm Billiyan for a long time. I was very happy to see it here. I have copied and pasted it in my blog
shakilakhtar.wordpress.com, and I forgot to obtain your permission first. I was very excited actually.I am sorry for it please.Remember Pachhtaawe ?An excerpt from it:
ایک شخص پئے ہوئے میرے پاس آیا- اس کے ہاتھ میں ایک تار تھا جو اس کی منگیتر کے نام تھا- اس نے بتایا کہ اگر یہ تار اسی وقت نہ بھیجا گیا تو منگنی ٹوٹ جانے کا اندیشہ ہے تار کے الفاظ یہ تھے
میائوں، میائوں، میائوں، میائوں، میائوں،اور پھر میائوں
میں نے اسے بتایا کہ اسی لاگت میں وہ ایک اور لفظ شامل کر سکتا ہے-
کچھ دیر سوچنے کے بعد اس نے مجھ سے پوچھا کہ کون سا لفظ شامل کیا جائے? میں نے بتایا کہ کیوں نہ ایک اور میائوں لکھ دی جائے – وہ سر ہلا کر بولا – ایک اور میائوں، ہرگز نہیں – کوئی تار پڑھے گا تو کیا کہے گا
Ek shakhs piye hue mere pass aya us ke hath mein ek taar tha. Jo us ki mangetar ke naam tha. Us ne bataaya ke agar yeh taar usi waqt na bheja gaya to mangni toot jaane ka andesha hai. Taar ke alfaaz yeh the:
miaaooN, miaaooN, miaaooN, miaaooN, miaaooN, aur pher miaaooN,
maiN ne use bataya ke isi laagat meiN who ek aur lafz shaamil kar sakta hai.
Kuchh der sochne ke baad us ne mujh se poochha ke kaun saa lafz shaamil kya jaye.
main ne bataaya ke kyooN na ek aur miaaooN likh di jaye.
Who sar hila kar bola, ek aur miaaooN, hargiz nahiN, koyi taar paRhe ga to kya kahe ga.
i love shafiqulrehman’cos he gave me a philosphy to live .
A very informative piece on Shafiq-ur-Rehman appears in today’s Dawn here