Ye, O' Pale Of The Face Lover!

... Sabr kun, wafa kun!

شاه خوبرویان

رو سر بنه به بالین تنها مرا رها کن

ترک من خراب شب گرد مبتلا کن

مائیم و موج سودا شب تا به روز تنها

خواهی بیا ببخشای خواهی برو جفا کن

از من گریز تا تو هم در بلا نیفتی

بگزین ره سلامت ترک ره بلا کن

مائیم و آب دیده در کنج غم خزیده

بر آب دیده ما صد جای آسیا کن

خیره کشی است ما را دارد دلی چو خارا 

بکشد کسش نگوید تدبیر خونبها کن

بر شاه خوبرویان واجب وفا نباشد

ای زرد روی عاشق تو صبر کن وفا کن

دردیست غیر مردن کان را دوا نباشد

پس من چگونه گویم کان درد را دوا کن

در خواب دوش پیری در کوی عشق دیدم

با دست اشارتم کرد که عزم سوی ما کن

مولانا

I hope one day I shall try to translate this. Maybe when I would have comprehended the message!

Image Courtesy: Artwork By Mariyah Nasir

Haunting. Haunted!

Ni sayyo asaan naina day aakhay laggay

Jinna hoyan paak nigawan

O kadi na janday thaggay

Ni sayyo asaan……

Kalay pat na charhay safaidi

Kaag na theenday baggay

Shah Husain shahadat paeen

Jo marain mitran day aggay

Ni sayyo aseen naina….

Woke Up

Woke up a couple of minutes back to the sound of rain knocking at my room windows...

One of the most melodious knocks one can wake up to! :)

Its early morning, and as the rain knock has cooled off a little, I can listen to all the bird chirping that fills the air with music!

Heavenly, I say!

Had I been a little up for adventure, I would have been out on the terrace right now. But getting up suddenly, after just a couple of hours sleep, I prefer to enjoy the ease of blogging in bed, under covers, listening to all the magical notes... and drowning in their charm... :)

Apparently, listening to music does strange things to you. I mean, I have no other reason to think of what made me come up with this:

doobnay lagay tou nigah main nahi, pemana main simat jaey 

Heef uss ishq pe jo itna jaldi, yun, chhalak jaey!

Maybe such knocks bring with them a sense of awakening as well!

Khabr-e Tahayyur-e Ishq

Ilfaaz ki limitations tou hoti hi hain, baaz dafa aur bhi kai limitations proper izhaar ki raah main haa'il ho jati hain. Mud'aa kisi aur waja say bhi bayaan nahi ho pata... 

Maslan, 

har koi "jo bacha hai, wo lutanay kay liay aey hain" wala mind set nahi rakhta!

So,

'jo rahi, so baykhabri rahi!'

Jo samjhay uska bhala, jo na samjhay uska bhi bhala!

Tark-e-Aarzoo Kerdam

Following is such a fabulous farsi kalam, enchanting! Sung by the phenomenonal qawwaal, Ustad Sarahang of Kabul, there are 2 versions of the same kalam. A treat to listen!

Deja Vu

Kid's left knee was hurting. He put my hand on top of it, and with his little hand squeezed mine over his little, round knee. Reciting my daily night prayer for him, I was distracted. 

He asked me to keep pressing it a li'll and kiss it gently, so that my kiss takes away the pain from his hurting li'll knee.

It has been two hours since then.

And Im still distracted!

Untitled

Suggest a title.

This Is An Ode To ...

... The chaotic lives we spend in search of a moment to live an eternity of silence within.

... The restless souls that strive hard to breathe that scent of the Chamomile. 

... The surfers of the dark, who falter, faint, fail; but never cease trying to reach the shore of the Light.

... The call of the wanderers who know naught the path, yet who believe in their calling.

... The spirit of the wounded, who lost the battle; but not his heart!

... The fancy of a dreamer, who knows that vision sees what sight can't behold.

... The throbbing heart, which beats after having taken the beating.

... The thought of the Beloved. That lets one feel, all that one knows not!

Self Obsessed Blabbering

Okay... so it doesn't feel THAT bad across the fence!

One reason might be that unlike the last decade when I would have settled at nothing less than the best, I haven't chosen any more arbitrary goals under the "best" umbrella! Definitions bara masla daal daiti hain na! :)

The strange bit is, THIS time its about a decade, and not a year! Seems like a quantum leap! :)

So, this decade has two fold importance, as this of mine shall see my son stepping into his teenage, inshaAllah! :) And YES! that is THE highlight of this decade for me. This makes me want to have a couple of features enlisted under that highlight, and yes, I think I've secretly begun enjoying what had been quite a tiresome milestone earlier on!

Ten years back, I believed in the beauty of " Live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse behind". Ten years later, my learning has taught me: "Go slow, don't die before living thorough, and forget about the corpse... you aren't gonna see it anyways!" ;)  

So, alhamdolillah.

PS: Though I didn't really look forward to making it this far.

Note To Self

Tu bacha bacha kay na rakh issay, tera aaeena hai wo aaeena

Kay shikista ho tou azeeztar hai, nigah-e Aaeena-saaz main!

touching with fingers the naked body of the dreams: ... Magar Hosh Nahin

Edited version of:

touching with fingers the naked body of the dreams: ... Magar Hosh Nahin

Warning: Highly Inflammable

The following lyrics have been penned by Fana Buland Sheri, the wand behind many of the NFAK's incurable spells.

Aag daman mein lag ja'ey ga
Dil mein shola machal ja'ey ga

Mera saagar na choona kabhi, saathiya haath jal ja'ey ga
Mere ashq bhi hain is mein, yeh sharaab ubal na ja'ey
Mera jaam choonay walay, tera haath jal na ja'ey

Aik din woh zaroor aa'en gay, dard ka saya tal ja'ey ga

Is zamanay ki parwa nahi, yeh zamana badal ja'ey ga

Aa gaya mera aankhon mein dam, ab jo jalwa dikha dijiay
Aap ki baat reh ja'ey gi, mera armaan nikal ja'ey ga

Besabab hum say rootho na tum, Yeh larai buri cheez hai
Yeh ada hai ya dil ka jalana, hum manatay hein tum roothtay ho
Hum jo roothay tou pachhtao gay tum, roaz tum ko manana paray ga

Milna hai jo ghairoon say tou phir saaf he keh do, 

Yoon rooth kay janay ka bahana nahi acha
Besabab hum say rootho na tum, yeh larai buri cheez hai
Sulah kar lo Khuda kay liyeah, yeh bura waqt tal ja'ey ga

Mai-kasho uss nazar ki suno, keh rahi hai wo shola badan
Mein nahi jaam mein aag hai jo pi'ay ga woh jal ja'ey ga

Koi aanso nahi aankh mein baat ghar ki abhi ghar mein hai
Tum jo yoon he satatay rahay dard aashiqoon mein dhal ja'ey ga

Duur hain jab talak tum say hum kaisay hoga mudawa e gham
Aik dafa tum milo tou sanam gham khushi mein badal ja'ey ga

Gar yoon hi ghar mein baithay raha maar daalay gi tanhaiyaan
Chal zara mai-kaday mein chalein ay Fanaa, dil behal ja'ey ga

InshaAllah

Its getting tougher. Stifling.

The pressure is mounting, and she has no clue about the number of times each day she wonders if this strain is going to shred her into numerous fragments...  

There is so much she has been trying to bury in her chest, that breathing, itself has become a labourous task. No, literally, actually!

Yet, its only now, that she is so sure its gonna work out! "InshaAllah", she whispered.

She is sure; because its after days that she did not try to hide behind the sound of loud music. She had been camouflaging her turmoil under the cover of music; sedating her monstrous worries with a dose of music... veiling her naked traumas with unending stream of melodious notes!  

This did not happen today. Her drive was quiet, and so was her day... like it used to be when she used to be at ease with herself.

She is sure its gonna work out, "inshaAllah", as she whispers, because its only now that she would actually surrender.

Without a sedate, the stifling pain shall render her prayers saline.

A cornered cat knows it has no where to go. 

A cornered her knows its only Him, she can anchor unto. And for dear life, she anchors hard...

PS:

HE loves saline!

Kya Jaanain?

Saaz ye keena-saaz kya jaanain

Naaz walay niyaaz kya jaanain

Jinko apni khabhar nahi ab tak

Woh meray dil ka raaz kya jaanain

Poochiay maey-kashon say luft-e-sharaab

Yeh mazaa pak baaz kya jaanain

Jo guzartay hain ‘Daagh’ par sadmay

Aap banda nawaaz kya jaanain

Voyage Through The Dark

In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost.

- Dante Alighieri

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

Plato

Character is what a man is in the dark.

Dwight L. Moody

There is in every woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.

Washington Irving

What other dungeon is so dark as one's own heart! What jailer so inexorable as one's self!

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Faith means living with uncertainty - feeling your way through life, letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark.

Dan Millman

The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one's own.

Willa Cather

For My Love

I swear my dear son

no one in the entire world

is as precious as you are

look at that mirror

take a good look at yourself

who else is there above and beyond you

now give yourself a kiss

and with sweet whispers

fill your ears to the brim

watch for all that beauty

reflecting from you

and sing a love song to your existence

you can never overdo

praising your own soul

you can never over-pamper your heart

you are both

the father and the son

the sugar and the sugar cane

who else but you

please tell me who else

can ever take your place

now give yourself a smile

what is the worth of a diamond

if it doesn't shine

how can i ever put a price

on the diamond that you are

you are the entire treasure of the house

you and your shadow

are forever present in this world

you're that glorious bird of paradise

-- Ghazal 2148, from the Diwan-e Shams

Poetic translation by Nader Khalili

"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"

To Sleep Again

Disney doesn't confirm if the Sleeping Beauty never went to sleep again! 

I Say ...

loved it. Loved it. Loved it!

امشب سراغ نشه پری میدهد به بزم................ زاهد بیا که شبشه تقوا شکسته به

Only If The Hawk Knew

Rumi, The Call.

Sole Reality

The real work of religion is permanent astonishment.
By that I don't mean in astonishment turning your back on Him -
I mean - blazing in blind ecstacy, drowned in God and drunk on Love.

------------------------

The sail of the ship of man's being is belief.
When there is a sail, the wind can carry him
To place after place of power and wonder.
No sail, all words are winds.

------------------------

You say you have seen Him, but your eyes are two stones.
You say you have known Him, but nothing in you trembles.
You still say "I" when you speak of surviving His glory:
No one who has seen It has ever survived.

------------------------

How can you ever hope to know the Beloved
Without becoming in every cell the Lover?
And when you are the Lover at last, you don't care.
Whatever you know or don't - only Love is real.

-Rumi

When Tomorrow Comes

Feast on sweetmeats or on roast,   

Drink the wine that you love most:   

What's that savour on your lips?   

Water that a dreamer sips!

     When tomorrow you arise

   And great thirst upon you lies,

   Little use will be that deep

   Draught you've taken whilst asleep. 

- Rumi

... Bura Roag Bhi Hai

... Yeh soch kar, phir...

Manam Mehv-e Khayal

The original kalam of Bu Ali Shah Qalandar (1209- 1324) uses the word "jamal-e oo" instead of "khayal-e oo"

منم محوِ خیال او نمی دانم کُجا رفتم
شُدم غرقِ وصال او  نمی دانم کُجا رفتم

In the thoughts of my Love, I've sunk
Knoweth not I, where I go
In the embrace of my Love I drowned
I lost all clue, where I go!

غلامِ روئے او بودم اسیر روئے او بودم
غبارِ کوئے او بودم نمی دانم کُجا رفتم

Surrendered to a glimpse of Thee O' Love
Caught within those long tresses am I

Turned to dust in Thy path, swirl I
Oh, but knoweth not I, where I go!

بہ عام آشنا گشم زجان و دل فدا گشتم
فنا گشتم فنا گشتم نمی دانم کُجا رفتم

Thee is who they know of, when know of wandering I
Lost my heart and soul to Thou, now wander I
Perished into this wandering... ruined am I
Yet, where do I stray, can not see I

قلندر بو علی ہستم بنام دوست سر مستم
دل اندر عشق او بستم  نمی دانم کُجا رفتم

Bu Ali Qalandar - Ecstatic at the mention of the Beloved

Existing over the intoxication of love
Knoweth not I ... where I go!

Kalam: Bu Ali Shah Qalandar
Inapt translation: mine


Video credits: Sufi Music

Jogi Utar Paharon Aya

Drained, dead tired, I was searching for something by Abida ji to listen before I hit the pillow. 

Yes, I dont smoke, I dont drink... but I do keep certain indulgences. Abdullah, coffee and Abida... exactly in that order!

Fumbling through youtube, I was sure it would be "bekhudi bay-sabab nahi Ghalib", in Abida's voice that would make the last mark before I lose track of time and space...

But, I stumbled across something else!

A gem! :)

Totally, absolutely, ultimately SO in love with it!

The night suddenly feels beautiful... jogi utar paharon aya..

PS:
Do I also need to mention I feel warmly cuddled in a loving embrace, as I recall amma humming the words ...

PPS:
Apologies for not providing any translation for my non punjabi speaking friends. This is a tappa, and its simplicity is beyond my scope of translation... :)

Saaqi-Nama

Here's a joint!

Two different poets; Two singers. 

The point of commonality is the spirit of the words: Ruthless. Killing.

Aren't these the kind of words that take your heart away? 

These are. These not only take it away; these words tear it down, chop it up, smash it, squeeze it ... 

... and draw the elixir out. 

Drew the elixir out!

But kia karain kay 'nasha baqadr-e hosla-e badakhuar tha!'