Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. kaleem ahmed aajiz (1924-2015) writer, poet, academician, recipient of padma shri, taught urdu at paTna university. He has written powerfully and with much feeling about communal harmony in India as well as other political themes. He considers himself a successor of mir taqi mir, composing his style. Here he pays tribute to Ghalib by composing in the zamin of Ghalib’s deeda-e tar yaad aaya.
1
mausam-e-gul¹ hameN jab yaad aaya
jitna Gham bhoole the sub yaad aaya    1.season of flowering i.e. spring
Spring is the traditional season of falling in love/romance. Thus, whenever I remembered spring, all the sorrowful memories that I had forgotten came flooding back.
2
un se milna hameN jab yaad aaya
she’r yaad aaye adab¹ yaad aaya    1.literature, culture, manners
Whenever I recalled meeting the beloved, I recalled ash’aar and all the fine literature that I had read/written. But adab can also mean high culture, manners, consideration for others. It is this consideration that the beloved may be lacking and the poet/lover remembers her because of it.
3
dil bhi hota hai lahu yaad na tha
jab lahu ho gaya tab yaad aaya   1.blood
I had forgotten that even the heart can get cut and bleed. I remembered it too late, only after it had been cut and was bleeding i.e. after I fell into hopeless love with no chance of reciprocity.
4
dushmani aisi na karta dushman
vo mera dost tha ab yaad aaya    There is an implication and friends betray and inflict even more pain than a known rival/enemy. Thus, even rivals don’t inflict so much pain. Only when he did, did I remember that he was a friend.
5
dekheN yaad aaye sahar tak kya kya
aaj vo avval-e-shab yaad aaya    1.dawn 2.early in the evening
It is still early in the evening and poet/lover recalls the beloved. He has the whole night before him and is afraid what he will remember and suffer pain until dawn.
6
us ka manzoor-e-nazar¹ tha kambaKht²
dil bhi yaad aaya vo jab yaad aaya   1.acceptable/desirable to look at, favoured 2.used in the sense of ‘may he meet bad fortune’
It appears that the beloved favours the rival. If the ‘vo’ in the second misra is interpreted to be the rival, then whenever I remembered him, I experienced the pain that was in my heart. On the other hand, if the ‘vo’ is taken to mean the beloved, then, I remembered her, I remembered that she favoured him, which caused a great pain in my heart, which reminded me of my heart.
7
na garebaaN¹ hai, na daaman² hai, na jeb³
haaye phooloN ko maiN kab yaad aaya    1.collar 2.hem of the robe 3.shirt front
Traditionally, when the lover is distraught, he goes around like majnuN with his clothes torn into shreds. Alas, this is too late for flowers to remember me and my fate! Soon after flowers bloom, they lose their petals which is akin to losing the collar, the robe and the shirt front. If they had remembered it in time, then they would not have bloomed.
8
tum na the yaad to kuchh yaad na tha
tum jo yaad aaye to sub yaad aaya   The ‘kuchh’ and the ‘sub’ are all memories of past cruelties that the beloved had inflicted on the poet/lover. As long as she was not on his mind, he did not remember any of that. But as soon as he thought of her all the memories of pain flooded back.
9
jab bhi hum baiThe Ghazal kahne ko
shaa’eri ka vo sabab¹ yaad aaya   1.basis, reason
One of the collections of Ghazal of kaleem aajiz is entitled ‘vo jo shaa’eri ka sabab hua’. In this case the ‘sabab’, reason for his shaa’eri is the beloved. Thus, whenever I sit down to compose Ghazal, I remember that reason I started composing i.e. I remember the beloved.
10
jis ki yaad aana Ghazab¹ hai aajiz
phir vahi haaye Ghazab yaad aaya    1.calamity, great pain
Memories of the beloved are very painful, like a major calamity, because she never reciprocates. Also, ‘haaye Ghazab’ is an expression equivalent of ‘what a misfortune’. Thus, it is unfortunate that I end up recalling that which causes calamitous pain.