Verse 11853oto kyuu;Nkar ho


G9

In this meter the next-to-last long syllable may be replaced by two shorts.


1
that idea/saying is gone, that if there would be conversation, then how would [it] occur/be?
2 a
from saying [it], nothing happened; if you say [it] again, then how would [it] occur/be?!
2 b
from saying [it], nothing happened; so then/again say-- then how would [it] occur/be?!

'Speech, language, word, saying, conversation, talk, gossip, report, discourse, news, tale, story, account; thing, affair, matter, business, concern, fact, case, circumstance, occurrence, object, particular, article, proposal, aim, cause, question, subject'.
'By what means? In what way? how? in what manner? why?'.

References
Arshi, Imtiyaz Ali Ghazal# 125
Raza, Kalidas Gupta 438
Hamid Ali Khan Open Image

ABOUT : As Faruqi observes, (see the definition above) here has a wonderfully effective three-fold multivalence; it's related to the use Ghalib so often makes of . In the refrain of this ghazal, the final can mean, 'How would this particular thing that we've been discussing come about?'-- that is, would it come about, or not? But it can equally well mean, 'In what manner would this thing come about?'-- that is, what would this thing be like, if it did come about?. Or of course it can be a negative exclamation: 'How would this thing come about!'-- that is, it would never come about. Other such complex examples, besides those in this ghazal: 70,1 ; 153,3 ; 206,2 ; 208,8 . Throughout this ghazal, rhyme -words have occasionally been skewed in their pronunciation (just as in other cases they're occasionally altered in their spelling) to fit nicely into the rhyme. The final vowels of and don't rhyme, and there's no reason to believe that Ghalib thought they did; he's just taking a permissible liberty. Another example: pronounced as in 125,4 ; and in 125,7 , quite conspicuously (and irritatingly), is even spelled as . In 125,8 is turned into . Faruqi has explicated the semantic possibilities, and has pointed out both the brilliance and complexity of the wordplay, and the verse's remarkably simple vocabulary and grammar. The speaker is talking to himself (in the second person familiar, it seems, as ), and pondering his options in this new and dire crisis: the perils of success (?) appear even greater than those of failure, because there's less left to hope for in the future. It's all pretty confusing. graphics/words.jpg