It’s That Time Again!

Happy Diwali / Tihar to whoever’s reading this. To those who want a native expression, here it is:

तिहारको उपलक्ष्यमा तपाईंलाई हार्दिक मंगलमय शुभकामना!

दीवाली के अवसर पर आपको हार्दिक शुभकामनाएँ!

or in short:

शुभ दीपावली

Unlike last year, I’m not at Home. So, I neither have access to Sweets not fire-crackers. Which is when Sketchbook comes handy; not so much for Sweets but definitely for fire-crackers. “Why?”, I hear you ask. To figure out the reason, you’ll have to watch Sketchbook ~Full Color’s~ Episode 3 and Episode 6 till the end! Do that and come back to read the rest of this post. Go on, I’ll wait…

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Now that you understand the reason, let us move on to some heart-warming poetry in these cold times. As always, first check out the “Shayari” tab located above. This sher is dedicated to those who’ve partners to worry about:

ये सोचना गलत है की तुम पर नज़र नहीं
मशरूफ़ हम बहुत हैं मगर बेखबर नहीं

Ye sochna galat hai ki tum par nazar nahin
Mashroof ham bahut hai magar bekhabar nahin

It is wrong to think I don’t notice you
I am definitely busy but not unaware

-आलोक श्रीवास्तव (Aalok Shrivastav)

“Unaware” as in unaware of your existence! Okay, now let’s move on to some commentary on politics:

अड़े थे ज़िद पे की सूरज बना के छोड़ेंगे
पसीने छुट गए एक दिया बनाने में

Ade the zid pe ki sooraj bana ke chhodenge
Paseene chhut gaye ek diya banane mein

They iterated stubbornly that a Sun will be created
They’re bathed in sweat while creating a mere lamp

ये चंद लोग जो बस्ती में सबसे अच्छे हैं
इन्ही का हाथ है मुझको बुरा बनाने में

Ye chand log jo basti mein sabse achhe hain
Inhi ka haath hai mujhko bura banane mein

These few good people in village
Are the reason I turned out bad

-राहत इंदौरी (Rahat Indori)

Lastly, remembering some lost love(s):

मुझे वो छोड़ गया, ये कमाल है उसका
इरादा मैंने किया था की छोड़ दूंगा उसे

Mujhe wo chhod gaya, ye kamaal hai uska
Iraada maine kiya tha ki chhod dunga use

(S)He left me, which is a miracle
I had decided to do the same

पसीने बांटता फिरता है हर तरफ सूरज
कभी जो हाथ लगा तो निचोड़ दूंगा उसे

Paseene baant.ta phirta hai har taraf sooraj
Kabhi jo haath laga to nichod dunga use

The Sun keeps dispensing sweat all over the world
If I ever get my hands on it, I’ll surely wring it dry

-राहत इंदौरी (Rahat Indori)

Let me end this post with more Fireworks:

Sketchbook V1 Ch09

Leave Us Be

Bill Bailey dedicates a song to Rats

Rats! Rats! Will you forgive us for treating your brethren so cruelly

Rats! Rats! Please will you give us a sign to say you’ll leave us be

You scurry through cellar and Lofoten Green Gables

You gnaw at my conscience and you gnaw through my … cables

You brought us typhus and bubonic plague

But you’re still more welcome than William Hague

Rats! Rats! Our closest companions

Scurrying beneath us with hate in your eyes

Rats! Rats! In these urban canyons

Our fates are entwined like Chaka Demus and Pliers

Twangggg

-Bill Bailey

Since the most visited post of my blog of all time is a poem by Bill Bailey, I thought I’d put up more of his work! As of this post, that poem has 233 hits and the second most popular post has 120 hits! Anyway, here’s one more song by him:

The Devil’s Chord

Interpretation

[Warning: This post contains Shayari. Read on only after you’ve read the page contained in the tab titled “Shayari” above.]

How do you interpret things? Obviously, that’s a very vague & dumb question but here’s a global example of varied interpretations of the ‘same thing’:

सामने है जो उसे लोग बुरा कहते हैं
जिसको देखा ही नहीं उसको खुदा कहते हैं

Saamne hai jo use log bura kahte hain
Jisko dekha hi nahin usko khuda kahte hain

Physical presence is dubbed Bad by them
Notion of invisibility is dubbed God by them

-सुदर्शन 'फ़ाकीर' (Sudarshan 'Faaqir')

Such global things are not that interesting so let’s analyze things at a local level. People tend to go on about friendship, relationship, ship-in-trouble, etc. So here’s a Sher depicting such stuff:

दोस्तों से न गिला है न शिकायत है ‘सिया’
क्यों के मैं अपनों से उम्मीद ही कम रखती हूँ

Doston se na gila hai na shikaayat hai ‘Siya’
Kyon ke main apnon se ummeed hi kam rakhti hun

No regrets or complaints to register with friends, ‘Siya’
Because I do not have high expectations from them

-सिया सचदेव (Siya Sachdev)

Now, many of you may disagree with the interpretation of ‘friendship’ depicted in this Sher. Maybe because you’ve been disappointed and thinking of beating the crap out of one of your ‘friends’ as (s)he forgot to congratulate you on an important day in your life – the day when you successfully added the integer ‘1’ with units ‘year’ to your existence!

However, I don’t interpret this Sher in such a pessimistic view. I rather take on an optimistic (or realistic) view which is: Those that can be labelled as ‘friends’ don’t leave much in the realm of unexpected and hence no need for regret and / or complaints to bog you down for the rest of your life. Projecting the earlier example on this view tells you that most probably one of your ‘friends’ did not want to remind you of your helpless mortality. Think about that… It’s deep!

Now that I’ve alienated most of my readers and those of you who at least will finish this post before never coming back, let me dedicate the following beautiful Ghazal by Nawaaz Deobandi (even the translation follows most of the rhyming rules of a Ghazal and hence is almost a Ghazal) to you:

तुम नज़र से नज़र मिलाते तो
बात करते न मुस्कुराते तो

Tum nazar se nazar milaate to
Baat karte na muskuraate to

Had you looked into my eyes then
Spent not a word, just a smile then

इख्तलाफ़ात होते रहते हैं
आना जाना था आते जाते तो

Ikhtalaafaat hote rahte hain
Aana jaana tha aate jaate to

Differences do pop up once in a while
As in the past, visit once in a while then

दोस्ती में अना नहीं चलती
खुद न आते कभी बुलाते तो

Dosti mein ana nahin chalti
Khud na aate kabhi bulaate to

Arrogance doesn’t go far in friendship
If you refuse to visit, maybe I’ll then

चाँदनी रात सिसकियाँ भरतीं
तुम ज़रा अपनी छत पे आते तो

Chaandni raat siskiyaan bharteen
Tum zara apni chhat pe aate to

The moonlit night would have sighed
At your arrival on roof for a while then

भूलते शौक से हमें लेकिन
भूलने का हुनर बताते तो

Bhoolte shauk se hamein lekin
Bhoolne ka hunar bataate to

Feel free forgetting me but
Teach me this life style then

आ भी जाओ की हम बुलाते हैं
तुम बुलाते जो हम न आते तो

Aa bhi jaao ki hum bulaate hain
Tum bulaate jo ham na aate to

Do come as I am at least calling you
If you called ’n I didn’t compile then

-नवाज़ देवबन्दी (Nawaaz Deobandi)

As always, I thank DQ for spending about an hour on phone to help me get the translations correct and be meaningful. I am also grateful to him in indulging my whim to get the translation qualify as a Ghazal too but in the process stopping me using the word ‘(be)guile’ in the very first line of the Ghazal! After I told him that there’s a site where one can find rhyming words, he remarked that now ‘Internet’ allows any ‘dum-bass’ to become a poet! He also made me realize that I shouldn’t be using the words ‘daughters’ & ‘dogs’ with the same level of priority in the same sentence.

This post was inspired by (& is full of) Sketchbook-inspired anecdote(s) from my life but don’t let that bother you. Instead, I’ll let you hear the

Full Ghazal

Centurium

The title of this post is a portmanteau word made up of Century + Millennium because it feels like a millennium has passed before the appearance of the 100^th chapter of Sketchbook.

This chapter of Sketchbook did not feature the usual Art Club members at all! It featured the unusual (last but not the least kind) Art Club member Ooba Tsukiyo & Outsiders. Ooba starts the chapter with a cool & proud pose, which reminds me of Dante from Sket Dance:

Then, over a handful of pages, outsiders gather and some are rather proud of it:

On the last page of the chapter, we’re given a summary of the whole chapter by “our beloved” Kasugano-Sensei:

The last panel includes another strikingly cool pose by

Ooba Tsukiyo