Pokhraan aur Chagai: Fehmeeda Riyaz

Posted by Bagchi on Friday May 19, @01:09AM

A poem in Urdu written after the nuclear tests of 1998. I have tried to gloss some of the words which might not be in a normal (Delhi) Hindi speaker's vocabulary. Disclaimer: my Urdu is pretty rudimentary. (Originally posted by Tabassum on alt.languages.urdu.poetry)

Pokhraan Aur Chhagai

Zameen ki kokh ko insaan ne jala daala haseen pahaad ko ek aan meiN mita daala aur ab Khushi se KhalaaoN mein r'qs karta hai Khuda ke saamane taaqat pe naaz karta hai

[aan = instant; khalaa = vacuum; raqs = dance; naaz karna = to be proud of]

banaya tune jise maiN ne kar diya barbaad chale haiN taa'efe gaate hue mubaarak-baad

yeh koh-e-toor na tha jal ke jo hua surma tum is ko aaNkh mein apni laga naheeN sakte naheeN likhe yahaaN ashlok tum ne Geeta ke tum is se apani baseerat baDha naheeN sakte

[koh-e-toor = Mount Sinai; baseerat = insight, discernment]

wagar na j'shan ka yeh ehatmaam karte kyuN muqaam-e-girya se haNste hue guzarte kyuN kaleem koi nahi hai, kalaam kya keeje Khuda ka jalwan na tha us ka naam kyuN leeje

[ wagarna = otherwise; j'shan = celebration; muqaam-e-girya = place of crying; kaleem = someone to talk to; kalaam = conversation]

yahaaN hawaaoN meiN ab garm raakh uDati hai is aag se koi paiGham-bari na paaye ga koi gaDarya yahaaN ab kabhi na aaye ga faraaz-e-ko pe jo bakriyaaN charaaye ga koi parind bhi is s'imt ab na jaaye ga

[paiGhambari= apostleship (reference to Moses?); gaDarya = shepherd; faraaz-e-ko = top of the mountain; parind = bird; simt = direction]

uThe ga a'bar to barsegi z'har ki bochaar garaj ki gooNj se aaye gi nesti ki pukaar zameen ke seene mein jis shai ne daal di hai daraaD chataKh gayi haiN hawaayeN, jalaa diya hai pahaaD

[abar = clouds; nesti = annihilation; shai = thing, person; daraaD = crack]

bas ek suboot hai insaaN ki shaqaawat ka bas ek muheeb nishaaN dehar ki halaakat ka yeh bad-naseeb zameeN thi, yeh teerah-b'kht pahaaD haiN chaNd a'shk hi ik dard-mand ki sauGhaat bahut taveel tha yeh din, baDi udaas hai raat

[shaqaawat = misfortune; muheeb = grim; dehar = time; halaakat = death, murder; teerah-bakht = ill fated; taveel = full of ulterior motives ??]