Interpretation-Ghazal-60




1.
Leaving his old house, he has come and taken up residence on at the beloved's doorstep,
And he says to her without your permission I have made a house on your doorstep, but even now you cannot know my house without my telling you.
(In this verse Ghalib has used a new style of mischievousness. He says, whenever I have complained to the beloved that she never comes to my house, out of mischievousness she says in reply, I do not know your house, otherwise I would certainly come.)
2.
She says, and says at the time when no strength of speech remained to me, that I may describe the state of my heart at length and in detail,
Then that practitioner of tyranny, out of mischievousness, accuses me of not describing the secrets of my heart.
(This verse is a universe of poetry. It must be remembered that the poet is the translator of the world, sometimes he tells his own experiences, and sometimes a universal story, sometimes he speaks with the voice of his situation, and sometimes with words. Ghalib has captured a picture of a situation before which the mastery of speech prostrates itself.)
( She waits till I am talked out, then talks only to reproach me for not talking.)
3.
I am in love with such a tyranny-practicing beloved that,
Along with her name everyone certainly uses the word tyrant.
(With such a cruel one, how can anything be accomplished.)
(It is also amusing to think that not only does everyone in the world know and gossip about the beloved, but also no one ever so much as mentions her name without calling her a tyrant. Tyranny is part of her essence, it is her special identifying feature.)
4.
I am straight-speaking. If I had anything to say, then I would not stop till I had said it, even if it contained a secret,
If I am silent, then do not think that I am silent through consideration fear, or fear of anybody.
(I am absolutely uninhibited in speaking the truth.)
(The truth is that Mirza Ghalib in his life was an example of fine morality. Nobody can cast doubt on the excellence of the verse.)
5.
I will not refrain from worshiping that infidel idol,
I do not care if the world label me as infidel.
(In this verse Ghalib has very beautifully expressed the extent of his love. On the surface, it does not even one's mind that the point is to express the extent of love. Love has now reached the limit of worship.)
(What a state of affinity there is between "Infidel Idol" and "Worship" {In Hindu Pooja} is a delight. The lover who worships an infidel idol may indeed be thought to be an infidel himself, since he is showing himself ungrateful {kaafir} to God by renouncing the Islamic requirement of referring worship for God alone.)
(The meaning is clear, and requires no further explanation.)
6.
My real intention is airs and graces, but what can be done, in poetic conversation,
The task cannot be done without calling airs and graces, knife and dagger.
(In poetry, without using similes and metaphors the pleasure of poetry does not arise. Sensory things are a simile for mental things.)
(Not every body has a head for mental things.)
7.
If you want to mention the seeing of God,
Then there is no recourse but to mention wine and flagon.
(Because wine and flagon are such words that upon hearing them the listener understands that the divine glory has made you self-less.)
(This is a verse about persuasive strategies of rhetoric.)
8.
The beloved said something, and he did not hear, at this she grew angry and said are you deaf,
At such a point he excused himself and in a way that suited his purpose.
(This verse is according to Mirza Ghalib's own circumstances. Toward the end of his life, his difficulty of hearing had greatly increased.)
(The beloved may have scolded him for inattention, are you deaf, cunningly, he replies, well, if I am deaf, you ought to be extra kind to me, and say any sweet things twice.)
9.
In addition to the verbal device of meaning, in this closing verse the great excellence has been created,
That even after presenting the petition of his case in its entirely, it is proven that it is as if he has said nothing at all.
(Helplessness and wretchedness are implied so logically in this theme that there is not even any need for further explanation.)
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