Even escapism has stopped providing the refuge it used to. 

...

You know you have spent too much time abroad when during your visit to India, you enter a restaurant and, for a moment, wonder, "wow, yahaan par to sab desi hain" before you realize, "you are in India, dude" :D

Ashamed. And a little sad.

You grow up in a protected environment with education being the only thing expected from you and then just at the moment you should be finishing college and entering "life", you escape abroad .. and on top of it you do not believe in even reading newspapers.. and yet you tend to think you know as much about the world as you "need" to know... and then there is that moment which makes you realize how unaware you are about things that you "should" know..

I am visiting Microsoft Research Bangalore for a week, and though I have heard it several times that in our country the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer each day,  I guess a week in Bangalore showed me the truth of this much more than I had ever known..

As I landed at the guest house today where I have been put up for the week, I realized I didn't have change to pay the autowalla, and he didn't have change either.. I asked the watchman of the guest house, "Bhaiya, aap ke paas paanch sau ka change hai kya?". He begins to fumble with the coins from his wallet which is all he seemed to have. I realized the mistake I had made. He had mistaken me for having asked him for a change of five rupees. I didn't know what to do and wanted to step back, but somehow, out of momentum clarified that I was asking for a change for rupees five hundred. "Humaare paas kahaan se aayenge, sir", he said. And I guess I haven't felt so ashamed in ages. I said sorry. Twice. And then he said, "sorry". I didn't have anything more to say that could make up.

In a city where you see tonnes of people squandering thousands every day, and the prices of everything adjusted according to these people, a lot of people even with a reasonable honorable job must be struggling for mere survival, leave aside the unemployed.

I don't know what can be done. I don't know if we can do something. But I still want to  try to contribute towards changing this. At the moment, I don't know how...

The blog url...

...has been taken from the blogroll of Vik. I chose this because it reminds me of the person I think I was and the person I want to be, again... :)

...

हर घड़ी, जब भी मौका मिले, नये दोस्त बनाते चलो
कौन जाने, किस दोस्ती में कब मंदी आ जाए

इंसानी रिश्ते इस दौर में कारोबार से हो चले हैं।

Thought of the day...

The best conversations in life are those that do not end with a goodbye.....

Khwaab.... zindagi....

Aaj aankh khuli
Ek bure khwaab ke dastak par
Sehem sa gaya tha main
Sochne laga
Najaane kya kahaani pal rahi thi
Zehen mein
Jiska ant itna bhayaanak tha
Suna hai bhor se pehle ke sapne
Yaad nahi raha karte
Shaayad ye sapna ussi
Raat ke sapnon se hi upja hai
Shukr hai aakhri tha, khatm hua

Zindagi jab bhi koi
Chot diya karti hai
Sehem sa jaata hoon main
Hisaab lagaane lagta hoon
Najaane kya kiya tha maine
Jiska parinaam aisa aaya hai
Suna hai pichhle janm ki baatein
Yaad nahi raha karti
Shaayad ye chot bhi unhi
Janmon ke karmon se hi upji hai
Shaayad... ye bhi aakhri ho...

Shaayad... 'raat ye bhi guzar jaayegi'

PS: As I write this, I am reminded of a couplet by Gulzar, "Jisse khoon nikle wo zakhm lagti hai, Warna har chot nazm lagti hai" :)

What do you do when...

...you live in a world which is full of people each with a fair intention and each having a proposal of a solution to a problem that none of them understand?

IITs to offer MBBS

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/IITs-to-offer-medical-courses-have-foreign-faculty-students/articleshow/6531178.cms

Looking forward to a Bachelor/Master of "technology" in medicine degree being offered. :D

Homeward bound

Lets go home and get:
-some breaths of fresh air
-a bit of strength
-some shelter
-a bit of sunshine
 -some peaceful sleep
-a bit....of life..

...enough to last a few more months..

Here I come..

...

Jab kabhi khud ko pareshaan paata hoon,
Teri bebasi pe halka sa taras aata hai khuda

Ya tu meri tarah kamzor hai, ya meri tarah nikamma...

Love, romance, friendship, etc are an alien conspiracy against humans to prohibit them from working on stuff that is really important.

Random

Yesterday, while I was cooking dinner, this random Brazilian guy (he is about 25 yr old and lives in the same hostel) walked into the kitchen and started cooking his dinner. While cooking and later while eating and even after that, I had an almost two hour conversation with him. And, it is an extreme rarity for me to be talking for that long to anyone these days,.. especially with a non-Indian.. Here is a brief excerpt from our conversation... I was half confused half amused during this entire conversation...

(He is called BG, acronym for Brazilian guy, since I do not know his name...)

me: What do you do here?
BG: I study economy
 (yes, he said economy, not economics)
      Later, I plan to study physics and mathematics
me: So, are you doing your masters in economics?
BG: No, I just started my study here!
me: So, you are doing your bachelors?
BG: Yes, now you understand.
me: So, you plan to finish your bachelors in economics, and then move over to masters in math and physics??
BG: No. I will finish my bachelors in economics. Then I will finish my masters and then my doctoral studies in economics. After that I will study mathematics and then physics.
me (extremely confused): So you will then start again with the whole process in math and then in physics???
BG: Yes, now you understand.
me: But this will take quite long.
BG: Yes, but this is what I want to do. Even if it takes thirty years.
me: Do you have a planned profession after you finish your education?
me: So which university are you studying in?
BG: I am not enrolled in a university. Right now I am studying on my own and learning German. To get enrolled for bachelor studies in the university here, I need to know German.

--------
This set me wondering while i was continuing to talk to him, how much difference there is between how most of us think and how this guy thinks. Most of us just keep lamenting of the things we could not get, the things we will never get, and the things that we had in the past and do not have now. And here is a guy who is set to achieve something that he will perhaps never get and I still don't see him getting sad. He is chasing a dream that is beautiful to him and is satisfied with what he has and how things are going. Yes, you should have seen him dance and rejoice after he finished eating. It was absolutely delightful. He says, "I love eating. I dance and sing every day after eating. Thank you God. You are BIG. You gave me food."
Well, I also love eating. In fact eating and singing are two things because of which I get a few happy moments each day, no matter how difficult the day is. And this reminded me of how long it has been since I thanked God for the food we eat. It was all forgotten in primary school...

There were a lot of other things that this guy talked about but we leave that for some other time...

Have fun. Love life. May the independence day liberate you from your worst fears. Amen.

Aaj ka gyaan....

Every few days I repeat something like this...I do/say something utterly stupid that I immediately afterwards feel kind of guilty about for one of these reasons:
Either it is way too embarrassing for me (writing this post could turn out to be an example, or not) or it could have troubled/hurt someone. And then I hope  that people will forgive and/or forget. The funny part is that most of the times they do - which results in me forgetting and forgiving myself. Can you guess what is the consequence. The process is repeated just because it is forgotten by all. And it keeps on going this way until the day is reached when after having been subjected to this many times, a person can't take it any more. That is where a human bonding goes loose.

The lesson to be learnt is that even things well forgotten by people do get piled up somewhere in the memory.... and perhaps no one is friend enough to ignore everything all the time.

bakwaas...

Mausam kuchh aashiqaana sa hua jaata hai
Mizaaj kuchh shaayaraana sa hua jaata hai

Sochte hain ki likh dein do chaar nazm hum
Par kalam humaara kuchh begaana sa hua jaata hai

Aaj ka gyaan..

When giving judgment about the fact that someone has changed, we often forget how much we have changed in the meanwhile and that the change we see is only relative to ourselves. We kind of assume ourselves to be an inertial frame of reference. What is especially noteworthy is that you have changed for the other person *exactly* as much as he for you..

Life

How things change..

I was just looking at the archives of Amit's blog and found the following comment written by me on this post...

"Yun chaand ko chhute sapnon ko,
duniya ka shikaar na banne do

Sapne se tumhaare duniya ka,
kad chhota hai ye yaad rakho

Chita aarzoo ki jalaane se pehle
Nishaan uske mitaane se pehle

Jo wo aarzoo chehre par laayi thi,
Ek baar us muskaan ko yaad karo :)"

It is just a bunch of random lines which will perhaps qualify as crap according to many but I love the optimism in what I wrote..

It was not so long ago and things haven't changed much since then in any evident way.. especially for an external observer.. yet, I don't see myself writing something like this today.. it will not come so naturally at least. It takes an effort to even be optimistic now.

...

Bas kuchh taqalluf hi baaqi lagta hai
Zindagi to jaise kab ki ji chuke hain

Bachpan kaash thoda thoda karke mila hota mujhko

PS: I know I seem to be getting repetitive.. but can't help..

Of internet/email and their absense..

"I have been a happy man ever since January 1, 1990, when I no longer had an email address. I'd used email since about 1975, and it seems to me that 15 years of email is plenty for one lifetime.

Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and uninterruptible concentration." - says Donald Knuth.

I admire you, Sir for that along with all the work you have done. It will take an effort but I think I do want to give such a life (sans internet/phone) a try, at least for a year or so. I so have a feeling it will be worth it... lets see when/if I manage to give myself an opportunity...

Chaos vs Order

Blowing horns loudly, shouting on the streets, jamming the traffic and thereby stopping all traffic - this is how these people celebrate winning of a football match. And this is a place where while watching a match in a public place all you get to see (see, not hear mind you) if their national heroes are doing well is just silent clapping of the hands.

Why this pretense of order all around when what you want is chaos, too, just like me?

There is too much order in this place. I want more (regular) chaos.

Aaj ka gyaan...

Have a desire either to enjoy the journey or to enjoy the destination. Wanting to enjoy them both is so so damn greedy..

...

The qualities that you like to advertise as your biggest strengths are more often than not your biggest weaknesses.
-Tolerance is a weakness
-Honesty is a weakness
-Patience, too, is a weakness.

...

I wrote the following about a year ago..

"I want

Longing to go
Memories to stay

Hope to go
Love to stay"

It might be a little premature to say this, but it seems I am succeeding..

Do these sets ever meet?

{Childhood, love, heart, innocence, observation without judgment, etc}

{Adulthood, logic, mind, experience, judgment without observation, etc}

Life/Zindagi

It is amazing how very frequently this word is uttered by almost everyone. In every day conversations, in songs, in poetry, in status messages, in blogs, .. just about everywhere. Kind of explains the duel between the human desire to be able to understand everything there is and that too in just one shot versus the helplessness felt in not having any damn clue of what it is all about. Such is life..

Detachment

Kuchh afsos un lafzon ke liye hai jo keh na sake
Kuchh shiqwa un lafzon se hai jo keh diye
Apni nasamjhi se hi itne gile hain humko
Kisi aur se shiqaayat ab karein kaise

Kabhi kabhi tujh pe bhi pyaar aaya hai khuda
Jab kabhi khud mein kahin tujh ko dekha hai
Khud se mohabbat mein yun mashroof ho chuke hain
Kisi aur se mohabbat ab karein kaise

I love nonsense conversations

Conversation with friends F1 and F2.. not exactly verbatim

F1 and me (singing) : Kya kare zindagi, isko hum jo mile... iski jaan kha gaye raat din ke gile
F1: Ye gaana kitni saari situations mein itna fit hota hai..
F2: Kya matlab hai is gaane ka
F1: Our life has to suffer as a consequence of our doings.
me: Galti hum karte hain, bhugatna bechaari zindagi ko padta hai..
F2: I can't relate to it.. I can't separate me and my life..
me: Iska matlab tum aur tumhaari zindagi do jism ek jaan hain (followed by lots of laughter)

Waqt rehta nahi kahin tik kar, iski aadat bhi aadmi si hai..

I had to make a decision. Two options. Confused. What to do? I tossed a coin. Heads or tails. I needed heads. I wanted heads. Nothing  else seemed right. I prayed for it. The coin was in the air. The heart was beating. Fast. It came down heads. Joyous me. Couldn't believe my luck. I tossed two more times. Best of three. Let's see. One more heads. I still win. Hurrah! The decision was made. In my favour. But wait! The story had another dimension. Time. It ruled out one option. How? In the meanwhile. When the coin game was being played. The decision was easy now. In fact it had already been made. Tails, it was. I haven't tossed a coin since then.

PS: Don't worry if you don't get it. I don't get it, either.

Arrogance

Zara sa tadpaaya to wo khafa ho baithe

Humein aaya kuchh alag sa maza us mein

Tumko hi har baar haq sataane ka kyun ho?

Qismat ne aata dekh humein band kiye darwaaze

Zara hichke par phir khidki se ghar mein ja dhamke

Kab milenge ye faisla har baar tumhaara kyun ho?

Khushi ko nazar lagaane ki koshish kar rahe the zamaane waale

Be-asar hoti dekh koshish hum itraane lage

Khuda mera bhala tum pe meherbaan kyun ho?

Rootha khuda humko aawaargi mein jhoomta dekh ke

Zara be-adbi thi, par ho ke bekhauf hum bhi poochh baithe

Duniya mein bas ek tum hi khuda kyun ho?

Aaj ka gyaan..

If you did not forget, but you forgot that you did not forget, then it is no better than having forgotten in the beginning.

Dil to pagal hai.. maanta hi nahi

Even though

- I have almost not been following cricket since the 2003 world cup and shouldn't really care now after so many years
- India has played pathetically in the tournament so far inspite of having a real solid team (at least the batting line-up)
- It feels ridiculous to have your chances depend on how the matches that you aren't even a part of, go
- The possibility that the whole tournament is fixed cannot be ruled out..

phir bhi mann kar raha hai that india defeats sri lanka with a big enough margin, australia defeats west indies, india qualifies for the semis and goes on to win the cup..

Dil to pagal hai, maanta hi nahi.

Waiting for some magic to happen in life..

M-A-G-I-C ... Nothing short of that will do..

"Dekhiye paate hain ushshaaq buton se kya faiz,
Ik baraahman ne kaha hai ki ye saal achchha hai" - Ghalib

Acquaintances..

Anjaane raaston ki tanhaaiyon mein aisa ajab sa sukoon milta hai kabhi kabhi
Ki koi jaana pehchaana aata dikhe door se to ek darr sa lagta hai

Ki wo phir se haal poochh lega, aur phir se jhooth boloonga main..

Dil to bachcha hai ji :D

http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20100501/882/twl-granny-72-having-a-baby-with-her-gra.html

I would perhaps have been disgusted at such a news at a certain point of time, but today I find it funny. Such are the kind of effects of starting to not take things seriously :D

Reminds me of the Bashir Badr's couplet:
"Mujhe ishtehaar si lagti hain ye mohabbaton ki kahaaniyaan
Jo kaha nahi wo suna karo, jo suna nahi wo kaha karo"


Maybe, another line should be added to it, .. "Jo hua nahi, wo kiya karo"

I wonder whether..

once you stop taking anything seriously, things really start coming your way automatically, or is it that you end up lowering your expectations so much that whatever little comes your way seems like the world...

Mujhe Colonel Julius Nagendra Nath Wilfred Singh ki zaroorat hai.

Optimism vs I-don't-know-what

"Kaun kehta hai aasmaan mein suraakh nahi ho sakta,
Ek patthar ko zara tabiyat se uchhaalo yaaron" - Dushyant

"Tabiyat zara kharaab hai, aur patthar kuchh kamzor
Koi aasmaan ko zara sa neeche bula do yaaron" - yours truly

Humein kya bura tha marna, agar ek baar hota

 My office-mate kills me everyday with the number of questions he asks me. Even ignoring doesn't make him stop pestering me. I almost feel like an irritated parent, except that I don't quite love this adopted 30 year old "kid" of mine. 

Just when I think I am ignoring too much and being rude and start being polite, he comes at me with another chain of questions.

Here is a small sample set: The questions I was asked in the last hour or so. Only those that I recollect now..



How were the seats in your night train to Barcelona?
Could you sleep?
Was there no place to lie down on the floor?
Was anyone lying down on the floor?
When you took the train, was there a power outlet in the train?
Did you carry your laptop?

When does the next semester begin?
Where can I find the exact dates?
How do you spell rektorat?

When is the InfSec exam?
Why do they not announce the date now?

Have you prepared the solutions for the exercise?
When will you do them?

What do you play with that racquet?
Where do you play?

When did you arrive today?
When will you leave?
Do you have any plans for the weekend?
Do you want to go to Vienna for the weekend?

What are you writing?
What are you working on?
Are these your results or the summary of what you read?
What is this webpage?
Do you write a blog?
A math blog?
Oh, a casual blog?

Until when will you stay here today?

Do you have the key to the office?
 Till when are you here?
Are you here for another half an hour?

Do you travel in Switzerland?




As the famous line from Ghalib goes: "Humein kya bura tha marna, agar ek baar hota"

...

"Wo dil mein sochna, kar ke kuchh dikha dein
Wo karna planning roz nayi yaar" :)

Pata nahi bachpana kab jaayega :D

Rendezvous with Gulzar: 3

 Knots

Dear weaver,
teach me the skill
of weaving.

I have often
seen you
busy with warp and weft,
tying up broken yarns,
joining loose ends
and continuing to weave.
No one can detect
the knots
in the woven fabric.

Once, I too had woven
a relationship.
But sadly, dear weaver,
all the knots in the fabric
stick out,
for all to see.

Translation:


Gaanthen

Aye julaahe,
Mujhko bhi
kapde bunne ka saleeka sikha de

Maine aksar tumhe dekha hai
Oon aur silaayi ke saath,
Toote dhaagon ko jodte hue
Dheele kinaaron ko kaste hue
Tum kapda bunte jaate ho.
Bune hue kapde mein
Gaanthen
Kahin dikhaayi nahi deti.



Ek baar maine bhi ek rishta buna tha.
Par aye julaahe,
Afsos
Us mein se
Saari gaanthen bahar nikal aayi hain
Aur sab ko dikhaayi deti hain




Rating: 5/10 (it ain't getting better as of now)

Wah Gulzar wah... this poem is absolutely beautiful.. if only i could word it better :(

Aa Gulzar hum bhi aaj khila ke dekhen chaand
Ki mere saawan mein tere patjhad sa nasha hai ki nahi

Rendezvous with Gulzar: 2

Landscape

On a distant
desolate shore
close to a young palm tree,
stands another aged one,
wrapped in rags
of dusty times.
Breaking the silence
of centuries,
the old palm tree
bends and whispers
to the young one:
It is cold and lonesome.
Why don't you say something?

Translation:

Ek nazaara..

Door kahin
Ek veeraane se kinaare par
Ek taaze taad ke ped ke paas,
Ek boodha ped khada hai,
cheethdon mein lipta
Jo guzre dhool mein sane palon ki
Yaad dilaate hain.

Sadiyon ki khaamoshi todte hue,
Boodhe taad ke ped ne
Jhuk kar
Taaze ped ke kaan mein kaha
"Yahaan bahut sardi aur tanhaayi hai,
Tum kuchh kehte kyun nahi?"


Rating: 5/10



(the translation is not good but i still give it 5 because the last line sounds much better in Hindi and that is in itself enough to win a 5.. )

A wanderer


A homeless wanderer
roams the city
straying from door to door.


He carries a few twigs,
an ear of corn,
a few drops of tears,
some silent sighs
and a lump of earth
for his own grave --
all with a vain hope
of a destination.


If only
I had your shoulders
to lean on.

Translation:

Ek raahi..

Ek raahi
Sheher mein ghoomta hai
Darwaaze-dar-darwaaze bhatakta hua.


Ikatthe kar raha hai,
Kuchh tinke,
Kuchh daane makai ke,
Kuchh boonden aansuon ki
Kuchh shaant aahen
Aur ek tukda mitti ka
Apni kabra ka saamaan --
Sab bas ek anjaani manzil
Ki chaah mein..

Kaash bas
Tere kaandhe ka sahara mil gaya hota..

rating: 5/10


Aa Gulzar hum bhi aaj khila ke dekhen chaand,
Ki mere saawan mein tere patjhad sa nasha hai ki nahi.

...

Read this quote long back, "Some people cause happiness wherever they go. Some, whenever they go."

It is kind of funny that I have been both kinds in a single life :D :D

Chalo dil ko kuchh roz ki chhutti de den...

Sometimes I wonder...

...if I would be happier if I had given myself the flexibility to break promises.

Thought of the day..

Dil chaahta hai ki dil kuchh na chaahe..

Rendezvous with Gulzar: 1

Poem:(yahi title hai book mein :))

The time draws close
for Bosky's marriage.

Something leaves my body,
something sinks in my soul.

Am I sad?
Am I serene?
I do not know.

Is it the dawn
before daybreak?
Is it the dusk
before the sunset?
I do not know.

As I go along
I keep thinking,
after the next bend
she will take a turn
and head towards
the rising sun.

I'll walk on,
all alone,
till I merge
into the setting sun.

 Translation:

Kavita:

Bosky ki shaadi ka din
Kareeb aa raha hai

Jaise kuchh chhoot raha hai
Kuchh bojh sa hai rooh par

Kya mann shaant hai?
Kya main dukhi hoon?
Main nahi jaanta

Ye din nikalne se pehle ka andhera hai?
Ya din dhalne se pehle ka ujaala?
Main nahi jaanta

Bas ek khayaal ke saath
Chala ja raha hoon
Ki agle mod par
Wo chali jaayegi
Ugte hue sooraj ki taraf

Aur main yun hi chalta rahoonga
Akela
Jab tak ki main kho nahi jaata
Dhalte sooraj ke andhere mein kahin.



Rating: 3.5/10  (it will get better I assure you :))


Aa Gulzar, hum bhi aaj khila ke dekhen  chaand,
Ki mere saawan mein tere patjhad sa nasha hai ki nahi

Autumn moon - Aa Gulzar, hum bhi aaj khila ke dekhen chaand...

This is the first of what will hopefully be a series of posts on this blog. I have on my desk currently a book of poems called Autumn Moon translated in English by J.P. Das and were originally written in Urdu by Complete (Sampooran) Singh Gulzar, as I sometimes fondly call him :D.

Here is the short introduction of the book from the writer himself -

"Autumn Moon is a reflection of Gulzar's penchant for the sublime. He is one of the most versatile Urdu poets on the scene today. The anthology presents some of Gulzar's most significant Urdu works in translation for the first time.

The poems in this seminal collection, Autumn Moon, are in deep exploration of love, longing, passion, ecstasy, absence and loss."

What I want to do in this series is to try to translate these poems back to Urdu. Sounds like a foolish idea? Well...

I have been wanting to do this exercise for quite some time now but everything starts only at the right time which for this is, I guess, now.

They say that one always loses a part of the soul of the original work in a translation. However if the translation is not entirely literal, sometimes the effect created can be much better than the original (the movies Chachi 420 and Hum Tum are examples). This perhaps hints at what my goal is with what I am trying to do. That can be seen as one of the goals but that is too ambitious.

So, the reasons I want to do this are the following.

• To understand poetry better - It has been only a couple of years since I began to appreciate poetry. But, to like something is far from understanding it well enough. It is often the case that you like some poetry and if someone asks you for the meaning of some part, you are lost.. this, at times, results in statements like, "These lines can only be felt. They cannot be explained" :D.. so translation is a fantastic exercise in this respect I guess. Even if we are not able to explain the emotion well, we should be able to express/phrase it in another language if we understand it. This can take a lot of effort and can take going back and forth to the original making you understand more each time.
• To improve at expressing the thoughts - I sometimes wonder what is it that makes the great writers actually great. Is it the thoughts that matter more or is it the ability to express? Where does someone like me lack? There are some lines that simply leave the reader in awe at how fantastic the lines are... here is an example of a few by Gulzar, "Jiska bhi chehra cheela, andar se aur nikla, masoom sa kabootar naacha to mor nikla, kabhi hum kameene nikle, kabhi doosre kameene". Simply awesome. Although not exactly the same, the idea is in a way similar to something I wrote a while ago.. so perhaps i don't lack as much in idea/observation/thoughts as in expression. Hence this exercise is definitely worth doing :)
  
• to challenge my language skills- having a very limited vocabulary in both English and Hindi/Urdu, this could be a good way to improve on that..
  
• Writing fiction is the best way to disguise your thoughts and still be able to express yourself... so lets get better at writing fiction in the meanwhile :)
  
• To give the world the next Gulzar - :D ... since the great person is already in his seventies, he might not have a lot of years left.. bitter truth of life, as they call it.. so we need someone to replace him 8-)  [I know bahut bahut zyaada ho gaya but ki farak painda hai .. apna blog hai :D :D]..
  
• To give the readers time to ponder over something interesting - poetry books gone through quickly make you lose charm and this will be a interesting exercise to anyone dropping by.. and thinking that maybe this could be phrased better, etc etc..
  

ok, lots of bullshitting.. basic baat hai ki apna mood hai.. of course this does not mean this will be the only thing appearing on this blog from now on. It will just come from time to time.


The reason for choosing this book is kind of obvious. Since it was originally written in Urdu, there HAS to be a way to get it back.. and so it is reasonable to hope that back translation might make it better than the English version and/or as good as the original.  I will give my rating from 1 to 10 for each one, 5 meaning that the English version, to me, sounds just as good as my translation and 10 meaning the Hindi/Urdu version is much better than the English version. The interchange between Hindi and Urdu in my version will be frequent. I will kind of treat them as one language in the spirit of what Ghalib used to say, "Hindi and Urdu are the same languages but with a different script." 

Will want to compare it with the original later sometime. So, lets begin this journey towards trying to find out what was lost in translation.


Ek couplet humaari taraf se shuru karne ke liye :D


Aa Gulzar, hum bhi aaj khila ke dekhen  chaand,
Ki mere saawan mein tere patjhad sa nasha hai ki nahi

...

Dreams, in their essence, are an extremely pure entity. It is the hope that is the adulteration we normally subject them to, to make them impure. If only we could learn to dream without hope.

Everything in life is a paradox

God has a really weird sense of humour.