"सीधी सी बात" |अनवर नदीम (1937-2017) | "Sīdhī sī Bāt" | Anwar Nadeem (1937-2017) | Translation: Saira Mujtaba

हर एक शहर को नफ़रत है इब्न-े आदम से 

हर एक मक़ाम पे मेला है तल्ख़-कामी का 

हर एक अहद में सूली उठाये फिरते हैं 

वो चंद लोग जो दुनिया से दूर होते हैं 

वो लोग जो ठोकर पे मार देते हैं 

कुलाह-ो-तख़्त-ो-सियासत की अज़मतें सारी 

ज़मीं उन्ही को पयाम-े हयात देती है 

वही पयाम जिसे तुम अजल समझते हो 

Har ék śahar ko nafrat hai ibn-é-ādam sé
Har ék maqām pé mélā hai talkh-kāmī kā
Har ék ahad méin sūlī uthāyé phirté haiṅ
Vo chand log jo duniyā sé dūr hoté hain
Vo chand log jo thokar pé mār dété hain
Kūlāh-o-takht-o-siyāsat kī azmatéin sārī
Zamīṅ unhīṅ ko payām-é-hayāt détī hai
Vahī payām jisé tum ajal samajhté ho

Every city despises the children of Adam,
Every place has a fair of bitterness,
Carrying the cross and roaming about in each era,
Those few people who are distant from this world,
Those few people who spurn at
The glory of crown, throne, political power,
The earth chooses them to give the message of Life,
The message that you understand as death.

- Anwar Nadeem (1937-2017)

English translation by Saira Mujtaba

"Asīr-é-Jamā’at" | Anwar Nadeem (1937-2017) | "असीर-े जमा'ात" | अनवर नदीम (1937-2017) | Translation: Saira Mujtaba

 

Ae méré dosto!

Ae méré sāthiyo!

Tum isī ahad ké

Meiṅ isī daur kā

Zindagi kā alam

Ātmā ki khuśī

Tīragī kā sitam

Rauśnī kī kamī

Gham tumhārā, méré dil kā méhmān hai

Mérā gham hai tumharé diloṅ méin makīṅ

Zindagi ko magar dékhné ké liyé

Sochné ké liyé, nāpné ké liyé

Zindagi ko baratné kī khātir magar

Zāviyā bhī alag

Fāsla bhī alag

Hauslā bhī alag

 

            Tum uthāyé ravāyat kī bhārī salīb

Tum baghal méiṅ dabāyé purānī kitāb

Tum jo lafzoṅ ké darpan ko chhū lo agar

Chhūt jāyé vahīṅ dast-é-tāsīr sé

 

Tum purāné zamānoṅ sé mānūs ho

Tum ki bujhté charāġhoṅ kī taqdīr ho

Tum asīr-é-jamā’at, méré sāthiyo!

Tum kahāṅ fardiyat ko karogé qabūl

 

My friends!

My Comrades!

You’re of this age,

I’m too of this epoch,

The flag of Life

The bliss of the soul

The gloom of tyranny

The void of light,

Your sorrow is my heart’s guest

My sorrow resides in your heart

But in order to witness Life

To ponder over it, to measure it,

To make use of this life,

Having a different angle,

A different distance,

A different spirit.

 

You carry the heavy cross of traditions,

You thrust an archaic book under your arms,

If only you touch the mirror of words

Your hands would let go off their impressions.

You’re stuck to the eras gone by,

For you’re the fate of flickering lamps,

You’re chained to a herd mentality, my comrades!

Why would you approbate individuality?

- Anwar Nadeem (1937-2017)

Translated from Urdu by Saira Mujtaba