Aaghaaz Toh Hota Hai Anjaam Nahin Hota
There can be a beginning but there can’t be an end
To the story of my life without your name in it my friend
If you can drown your days in the dark river of my hair
You can fall into disgrace but never into oblivion descend
Why shouldn’t I laugh and scatter the pieces of my heart?
That happiness is given equally to all let us not pretend
Unchecked the tears flow, the eyes beg them to stop
He is not a true drunk who to mere alcohol will bend
The days are sinking, my boat of dreams is drowned
The shores they are unmoved, no grief do they expend
Note on the trans-creation: In this version I have focused on being faithful to the original form of the poem. Mostly, I am of the opinion that the ghazal and nazm forms don’t sound natural in English and prefer to do translations which are free flowing and do justice to the rhythm and the emotional timbre of the piece under consideration.
The actress Meena Kumari’s only outing into the world as a poetess while she lived is contained in an album titled “I write, I recite” released in 1965. The pieces are in her own voice against a musical score composed by the composer Khayyam. Her voice, with its flawless Urdu diction and its mesmerizing depths and sheer range, does great justice to the poetry in these renditions. Her poetry has been transcreated here in English by Manjul Bajaj.
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