Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Last, not the least!

Presents are made for the pleasure of who gives them, not the merits of who receives them. ― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

As the year is coming to an end and the mood has already become festive, we have something here to liven up your mood too. Let’s look at some of the most-appearing themes on our blog this year (excluding the common ones such as TimePass, Reminiscences, Philosophy, Family, Comedy, etc.): Camera (12), Academia (9), Travel (9), Nature (8), Food (6), Nokia (5), Shayari (5), Music (4), Survey (4), Windows (4) and Sketchbook (3). So this last post of the year will be dedicated to reviewing some of these themes.

Enjoy the Shers by different poets first.

शायद डगर सरल हो, कुछ दूर चल के देखें
कुछ तुम बदल के देखो, कुछ हम बदल के देखें

Shaayad dagar saral ho kuch door chal ke dekhen
Kuch tum badal ke dekho, kuch ham badal ke dekhen

The path may be easier to tread, let’s walk along a bit
You change yourself a bit, I will change myself a bit

– डॉ. अनिल शर्मा (Dr. Anil Sharma)

उन्हे भूलना या उन्हे याद करना
वो बिछड़े है जब से यही मशगला है

Unhen bhoolna ya unhen yaad karna
Wo bichhde hain jab se yahi mashgala hai

To remember or to forget
Is the crisis since we parted

– ख़ुमार बाराबंकवी (Khumar Barabankvi)

बिछडते वक़्त उन आँखों में थी हमारी ग़ज़ल
ग़ज़ल भी वो जो कभी किसी को सुनाई न थी

Bichhadte waqt un aankhon mein thi hamaari ghazal
Ghazal bhi woh jo kabhi kisi ko sunaai na thi

There was my Ghazal in his eyes when he left
That too the Ghazal which was never recited

– नासीर तुराबी (Naseer Turabi)

कौन अपना या पराया नदीश छोड़ो भी
मिले इंसान जहाँ जब भी भले प्यार करें

Kaun apna ya paraaya Nadeesh chhodo bhi
Mile insaan jahan jab bhi bhale pyaar karen

Nadeesh, don’t worry about friends or strangers
Love those who seem to be benevolent characters

– लोकेश नदीश (Lokesh Nadeesh)

प्यार गर प्यार है तो उभरेगा
लाख उसके करो निशाँ गायब

Pyaar gar pyaar hai to ubhrega
Laakh uske karo nishaan gayab

Love, if it is true love, will persist and flourish
Even if its signs are erased a million times over

– सुल्तान अहमद (Sultan Ahmed)

Let me share some very old Sketchbook snippets next. These are amongst my favorite ones when I had just started reading Sketchbook. Enjoy while listening to this music.

Here Sora is trying to understand how a life event has changed the cat named ‘Grey’ and what are some of the characteristics of the cat ‘Mike’.Sora and CatsSora is feeling liberated by getting to use a Deskel in the following panels:

Sora using a Deskel

The following picture is one that my Superpartner made using ‘Photofunia’ app and her name is Kokage Kuga. The first time he asked me to guess, I called her Sora… He was disappointed! hehe Smile

Kuga Senpai

and this is her lovely and cute cat ‘Yutanpo’:

Yutanpo

He has very recently bought a Panasonic’s GX7 and has finished reading its Manual (It was not a basic instruction manual, it was an advanced guide worth of 380 pages!). Who reads manuals, anyways? Somebody please explain that to him! Smile If you wish to read a manual-like review of the camera, here is one. He kept talking about its weight, colour, body, design, art filters, lens, shutter button, manual focus adjustments, etc. almost everyday while reading that guide and some of those comments were:

  • GX7 did a great job at focusing on the right thing!’ (when a bird flew towards him out of nowhere and he blindly hit the shutter button!).
  • ‘It's not heavier than E-PL1, maybe it's lighter. It feels solid too…
  • ‘Man, this camera gives hints to buttons or what could be next settings change... liking its attitude :)’ (Who says I’m the only funny person here? Smile)

There was a time like this too before he bought the camera:

He: You're thinking of punching me, aren't you? :)

Me: I sure am, punches won’t suffice. I deserve more for hearing your camera stories everyday :P

But all the efforts seem worthwhile when I look at the pictures clicked from the camera. ‘All is well that ends well’.

People in Pilani taught me that confession sessions are a must before a new year starts. They say that it helps in having no regrets against someone. Should I be confessing then? O yes, I shouldn’t have gotten that passionate about a greeting card. I did not listen / watch closely to how he likes to keep things organized in the room and placed things in my own way. I did not catch the right train and was late for the trip to West Meadow Beach. I feel really sorry that I messed up with that plan. But at the end of the day, everything fitted perfectly like this fully solved crossword:

Google Crossword worth 2 hours of our life!

and it was all a lot of fun like this: Smile

Or like this:

Keeping up with the program, here is something to cheer up this guy (have teased and laughed at him many times on the Blog, all for fun though).

Lastly, here’s the last ‘end-of-the-post-link’ for this year, which concerns photography from GX7

Merry Christmas and a very Happy new Year!!!

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Slow & Steady

As this year slowly comes to an end, we celebrate the slow march towards oblivion by a similarly slow paced Ghazal. (Read the tab titled ‘Shayari’ above if you’ve not done that umpteenth number of times already!)

This Ghazal by poetess ‘Munni Sharma’ is simple but at the same time deep. It has a radif: धीरे धीरे (dheere dheere), which means ‘slowly slowly’. It’s very fitting for this Ghazal because all the Sher comprising it make the perception of time slow down as their meaning sinks in. I have (for the first time) tried not to be too literal in my translations so that even the translated version qualifies as a Ghazal. Here’s the checklist:

  • Radif: I choose ‘surely’ instead of ‘slowly slowly’ because such blatant alliteration doesn’t sound nice in English. Also, the sense in which the original one is used suggests a resolve not laziness!
  • Qaafiya: I choose adverbs (words ending with ‘–ly’ as far as I’m concerned) instead of the verbs in original rendition.
  • Matla: The first Sher has both lines using the qaafiya & radif very much like the original.
  • Bahar: All the Sher are supposed to be of ‘same length’, which is strictly speaking not true of the translation (4th Sher is a bit too long) but hey, it’s a translation and that also from me so enjoy while it’s here! Smile

गूँगों की आवाज खुलेगी धीरे धीरे
संकोची कलियाँ चटकेंगी धीरे धीरे

Goongon ki awaaz khulegi dheere dheere
Sankochi kaliyaan chatkengi dheere dheere

Silent people will speak up openly, surely!
The hesitant buds will flower fully, surely!

रफ्ता रफ्ता हम भी चलना सीख गए
कदमों की रफ्तार बढ़ेगी धीरे धीरे

Rafta Rafta ham bhi chalna seekh gaye
Kadmon ki raftaar badhegi dheere dheere

Slowly & steadily I have learnt to walk
My pace will quicken gradually, surely!

जाँच रहा माझी लहरें मझधारों की
हाथों की पतवार चलेगी धीरे-धीरे

Jaanch raha maajhi lahren majhdhaaron ki
Haathon ki patwaar chalegi dheere dheere

The captain studies the midstream waves
Hands as oars move purposefully, surely!

सदियों से अड़े रहे अना के ये पर्वत
अहंकार की शिखा घिसेगी धीरे-धीरे

Sadiyon se ade rahe ana ke ye parwat
Ahankaar ki shikha ghisegi dheere dheere

These mountains of pride have stood up for centuries
These summits of ego will wither eventually, surely!

माँ भी है नाराज़ भटकते बच्चों पर
लेकिन अपनी बात कहेगी धीरे-धीरे

Maa bhi hai naaraaz bhatakte bachhon par
lekin apni baat kahegi dheere dheere

The mother is angry at her misguided kids
But she will let them know softly, surely!

उतर ज़मीं पर आएगी कमसिन पीढ़ी
पर ख्वाबों की उम्र ढलेगी धीरे-धीरे

Utar jameen par aayegi kamsin peedhi
Par khwaabon ki umra dhalegi dheere dheere

The youth will land on ground some day
But their dreams will age slowly, surely!

शोख बच्चियाँ खुद संजीदा हो जातीं
जब आँचल में हया पलेगी धीरे-धीरे

Shokh bachchiyaan khud sanjeeda ho jaateen
Jab aanchal mein haya palegi dheere dheere

Lively girls will become serious on their own
As modesty develops within gracefully, surely!

नंगे जज़्बे देख अदब शर्मिंदा है
लफ़्ज़ों की पोषाक सिलेगी धीरे-धीरे

Nange jazbe dekh adab sharminda hai
Lafjon ki poshaak silegi dheere dheere

Etiquette shies away from such raw passion
The words wait to be sewn tactfully, surely!

– मुन्नी शर्मा (Munni Sharma)

So that’s the end of one long Ghazal. Just a reminder: I know the last two Sher’s translation is not very faithful to the originals because it’s hard to convey words like ‘शोख बच्चियाँ’, ‘आँचल’, ‘हया’, ‘जज़्बे’ and ‘अदब’ in English properly!

Anyway, she has more Ghazal here and the last one of that lot reminds me of Sheen Kaaf Nizam’s very nice & simple Ghazal whose radif is the same (I translated it here). But for now, here’s the last punch-sher of that Ghazal of hers (‘Felt so good’ as a radif never did sound nice so here I change it slightly to ‘feels good’. Still I don’t think there’s a really nice translation that captures the essence of the original Hindi phrase ‘अच्छा लगा’):

उम्र भर ढोते रहे दामन के दाग
मौत पर उजला कफ़न अच्छा लगा

Umra bhar dhote rahe daaman ke daag
Maut par ujla kafan achchha laga

Life had made me drag those garments full of stains
Death presents me with a shiny shroud, feels good!

शायरी