The word is wonderful, and nowadays almost untranslatable. We still have 'rakish', which works well for , but alas, we really don't use 'rake' any more, so we have to make to with a patchwork of inadequate substitutes. The term is a mixed, bittersweet epithet, both a sort of compliment (people might like to be thought a bit 'rakish') and a sort of putdown (the rake's life is limited, and goes against the grain of the larger society's purposes). For further discussion, see 71,10 . By whom is this warning being spoken, and under what circumstances? There's no way whatsoever for us to tell. As so often, we're left with a range of possibilities, with no way to choose among them. Is the speaker a sincere friend of the Ascetic, who wants to spare his dignity? Or a stray passerby on the street, with unknown motives, calling out a prudent warning? Or another of the libertines-- who might be better-mannered than the worst group, or who might be offering the 'advice' as a way of taunting the Ascetic? And consider the context: most probably the advice is offered because the Ascetic is seen heading down the street toward the wine-house. What is the Ascetic really up to? Is he planning to exhort the debauchees from outside, or to actually enter the wine-house himself? Either way, a warning about the cluster of libertines at the doorway would be very appropriate. And if he's indeed planning to go in, then is it possible that he's backsliding a bit, and looking to have a drink or two himself? (In this context consider 219,9 .) As Faruqi suggests, the real intent of the advice could be to induce him to go in. (Or, of course, to induce him to avoid the wine-house entirely, since its door is guarded by such reprobates.) Doorways, roadsides, threshholds, crevice-work in walls-- all such liminal places are grist to Ghalib's mill. How they multiply the possibilities of meaning! graphics/winehouse.jpg