Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. mohammed husain ustaad qamar jalaalavi (1887-1968), was born in jalaali, near aligaRh, moved to pakistan after partition/independence. He was popularly known as ‘ustaad’, for his expertise in repairing bicycles, which is how he earned his living initially and later, lived in penury, in spite of his excellence as a poet. He wrote Ghazal is chaste classical style, many of which have been put to music. This is one of series of Ghazal with the same radeef/qaafiya “kya guzri” with qamar jalalavi (two Ghazal), seemab akbarabadi, shakeel badayuni, sikandar ali vajd, saeed shahiidi with more to come. Also see a very similar version of this Ghazal transcribed from a youtube video, posted on urdushahkar as ‘kya guzri’. This is from a print version.

1
na jaane saaGhar-o-meena¹ pe paimaane² pe kya guzri
jo hum pii kar chale aaye to maiKhaane³ pe kya guzri  1.cup and wine 2.measure, measuring cup 3.tavern
When I left the tavern, everything must have become sad/desolate. Pray tell me what happened to the cup, flask and wine after I left. What happened to the tavern?
2
baRi raNgiiniyaaN¹ thiiN avval-e-shab² un ki mahfil³ meN
bataao bazm-vaalo⁴ raat Dhal jaane pe kya guzri  1.colourful celebrations 2.early in the evening 3.gathering, party 4.revelers at the party
Early in the evening there was a lot of celebration at her party. Tell me fellow revelers, what happened late at night (either the poet/lover was kicked out or passed out due to too much drinking).
3
chhupaaeNge kahaaN tak raaz-e-mahfil¹ sham’a ke aaNsu
kahegi Khaak-e-parvaana² ke parvaane pe kya guzri 1.secret of the party 2.ashes of the (burnt) moth
The real secret of the gathering is the pain of love. How long can the tears of the candle hide this pain. The burnt ashes of the moth will surely tell the whole story.
4
mera dil jaanta hai, donoN manzar¹ maiN ne dekhe haiN
tere aane pe kya guzri, tere jaane pe kya guzri 1.scenes
When she arrived there was a lot of joyous celebration which turned to sorrow when she left. The poet/lover has seen both … reminds me of this she’r of muztar Khairabadi …
vaqt do mujh par kaThin guzre haiN saari umr meN
ek tere aane se pahle ek tere jaane ke ba’ad
5
bagole¹ mujhe se kosauN duur bhaage dasht-e-vahshat² meN
bas itna maiN ne poochha tha ke diivaane pe kya guzri 1.whirlwind, sandstorm 2.desert of madness
The she’r brings up the image of ‘majnuN’ wandering the desert in his madness. ‘diivaana’ in the she’r could well be referring to majnuN. Thus the poet/lover (also in his madness) is wandering the desert and encounters little whirlwinds/dust-devils. He asks them what he thought was a simple question … ‘what happened to the madman’, and they ran away from him as fast as they could. Was it because the story of majnuN was too painful to tell or was it because they had had experience with one mad man and did not want to deal with another one?
6
giri fasl-e-chaman¹ par barq², diivaane ye kya jaaneN
museebat baaGh par guzri thi, veeraane³ pe kya guzri 1.harvest of the garden, garden flowers 2.lightning 3.wilderness
Everyone is focussed on the garden and the flowers in the garden. They don’t think of what happens in the wilderness. After all both get struck by lightning. The poet/lover who lives in the wilderness is sensitive to this.
7
qamar jhele dil-e sad-chaak¹ ne ulfat² meN Gham kya kya
koii zulfauN³ se itna poochh le, shaanauN⁴ pe kya guzri 1.hundred scars/wounds 2.love 3.hair, locks 4.shoulders, but also in farsi, comb
Everyone talks about the conditions of the heart in love. It suffers a hundred scars and elicits pity/attention. But has anyone asked shoulders what happens to them when her curly hair hang down and titillate them? Alternatively, if we use the farsi meaning of ‘shaana’ then, has anyone asked the comb … it is used to untangle/caress hair and is then put aside/neglected.