Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. shaNkar dutt kumar paashi (1935-1992) fled from pakistan in 1947 to dehli and was deeply affected by the mayhem around him. This shows up frequently in his compositions. He composed Ghazal, nazm; wrote drama and short stories; edited an urdu literary magazine. There is not too much by way of his biography that I could find. I does seem like he had a daytime job in dehli, probably with the government, but I could not figure out in which department. It also seems like that he had a very indulgent wife and he has a book of nazms all about her or addressed to her. A number of people also noted that he was a very generous host. He chose the taKhallus “paashi” to suggest that he would shatter old traditions. This Ghazal is one of several composed in the style of Ghalib’s ‘jigar tak utar gaii’.
1
dil ki sadaa¹-e dard² yuNhi be-asar³ gaii
lafzoN⁴ ki ek laRi⁵ keh giri aur bikhar⁶ gaii   1.sound, call, cry 2.pain 3.without effect 4.words 5.string 6.scattered
The cry of pain from the depths of his heart went unheeded, ineffective. It was like a string of words that fell to the floor and scattered. He is of course, talking about his ash’aar that a string of words and is miffed that they don’t seem to have had an effect.
2
ek chaand ki talaash meN apni ye zindagi
zulmat ke ek amiiq bhaNwar meN utar gaii   1.search 2.darkness 3.deep, intense, bottomless 4.whirlpool
All his life he has been in search of a moon but he got caught up in an intense whirlpool of darkness. What is the moon and what is the whirlpool of darkness. The moon could be the ideal of communal harmony and the whirlpool of darkness could be the mayhem and hatred around him.
3
manzar¹ khula jo saamne un ke jamaal² ka
duniya mere Khayaal³ ki raNgoN se bhar ki    1.scene 2.glory 3.thought, imagination
When the scene of his/her glory/beauty opened up before me, the world of my imagination filled with colours. Who is she/he whose glory has appeared before him. It could be the beloved. But for a shaa’er the world of imagination is very important. So the beauty opening up before him could be the beauty of versification/the art of shaa’eri. At a stretch, if there are any sufiyaana inclinations, it could be god.
4
nikle dayaar¹-e Khwaab²-e tarab³ se to kya mila
ek dasht⁴-e be-karaaN⁵ tha jahaaN tak nazar⁶ gaii    1.door, dwelling, domain 2.dream 3.pleasure 4.wilderness, desert 5.limitless 6.sight
The protagonist/poet is living in a world of dreams – idealism, pleasant dreams. He was pulled out of it into reality. What did he gain? Nothing! All that appeared was a vast, limitless barren desert as far as the eye could see. The implication may be that he would rather go back into his world of idealism rather than suffer this vast ugly realism.
5
ek sho’la¹-e fanaa² tha jo tan-man³ jalaa gaya
ek mauj⁴ thi lahu⁵ ki jo sar se guzar⁶ gaii    1.flame, passion 2.annihilation, union with the great spirit 3.body and soul 4.wave, flood 5.blood 6.rose above the head
It was an intense flame/passion to give all of myself up to, that burnt up my body and soul. It was a wave/flood of blood that rose higher than my head. What is the ‘it’. It could be any passion – love of the beloved, love of communal harmony, love of the divine or love of shaa’eri. Any one of these passions could consume him.
6
she’roN meN kah gaya huN maiN paashi¹ hadiis²-e dil
Ghaalib ki ye zamiiN³ bhi baRa kaam kar gaii    1.pen-name of the poet 2.story, theme 3.background, style
I, paashi have related the story of my heart (my thoughts/beliefs from the depth of my heart) in couplets/ash’aar. This style of Ghalib has been of great use to me.