#ghazal — Public Fediverse posts

“Ab Tak To Jo Bhi Dost Mile, Bewafa Mile”: Why Wafa Is So Rare Among Us

Claude, comment on the line “ab tak to jo bhi dost mile, bewafa mile” from the song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I4nSYHL-cQ in the movie Nikaah, the full lyrics here – https://gaana.com/lyrics/dil-ki-yeh-arzoo-thi-6 (I am not saying anyone has been bewafa towards me, and it is more likely that one or two people might actually accuse me of being bewafa towards them or towards life in general, but bewafa people are more common than one would want, so what does that say about us human beings and why we are NOT wafadaar or what prevents us from being wafadaar):

Claude:

What a line to sit with. On its face it’s pure ghazal convention — the aashiq’s résumé of wounds presented to the new beloved — but Hasan Kamal does something subtle in it. Notice that the moment the dilruba arrives, the entire past gets retroactively rewritten: ab tak to jo bhi dost mile, bewafa mile. This is psychologically very sharp. New love doesn’t just illuminate the present; it recolors history. Friends who were perhaps only ordinarily limited, ordinarily busy, ordinarily human, are now reclassified as bewafa because the singer has finally tasted (or anticipates) something that makes everything prior look like counterfeit currency. So part of the answer to your question is hiding in the line itself: bewafai is often a verdict rendered by disappointed expectation rather than a description of betrayal. The accuser’s hopes, not the accused’s promises, are frequently the real contract — and it was a contract only one party signed.

But your deeper question stands: granting that genuine faithlessness is common, why? I’d offer three layers.

The first is almost mechanical: wafa is a promise made by one configuration of desire that attempts to bind all future configurations. But we are not continuous; we are, as you’d put it, a flux of nāma-rūpa wearing a proper name. The man who swore friendship at thirty is only nominally the man at fifty whose circumstances, needs, and attention have all migrated elsewhere. Bewafai is less often malice than impermanence — anitya operating through personality. We promise as if we were permanent, and then anicca collects its tax. The bewafa person rarely experiences himself as betraying anything; he experiences himself as having changed, which feels innocent from the inside and treacherous from the outside.

The second layer is that most human bonds are quietly transactional — need-shaped — and wafa is only tested when it begins to cost something. La Rochefoucauld’s acid observation that gratitude is mostly a lively expectation of future favors applies to friendship too. When the need dissolves, or the cost appears, the bond thins, and we discover that what we called dosti was proximity plus utility plus pleasant feeling. Real wafa requires loving the person rather than the gratification the person supplies — and that’s rare because it requires a degree of self-forgetting most of us can’t sustain. Ghalib, characteristically, put fidelity above even correct religion: wafādārī ba-shart-e-ustuvārī asl-e-īmāñ hai — steadfast faithfulness is the very essence of faith, bury the brahmin in the Kaaba if he died true to his idol-house. He understood that wafa is not about the object; it’s about the integrity of the one who keeps it. Which is exactly why it’s scarce: it’s a discipline of self, not a warmth of feeling.

The third layer touches what you said about yourself — that one or two people might accuse you of bewafai, toward them or toward life. This is the renunciant’s ancient predicament. Fidelity is always fidelity to something, and when a person’s deepest wafa is to truth, or to the Self, it will periodically look like bewafai to persons and to worldly life. Ramana walking out of Madurai at sixteen was, in his mother’s ledger, a spectacular act of bewafai. The world calls it desertion; the tradition calls it vairāgya. The two accounts are not reconcilable at their own level — only at the level where one sees that being wafadaar to the ephemeral at the expense of the real is the deeper betrayal. Though I’d add, honestly, that this framing can also become a convenient shelter, and the accused should occasionally audit whether his fidelity to truth was ever used as an alibi for ordinary avoidance. You’ve invited that kind of scrutiny before, so I’ll leave the question with you rather than answer it for you.

As for the song’s own emotional logic — the fear in lagta hai darr fareb-e-bewafa se kabhi kabhi is the truest moment in it. Having been burnt, the singer doesn’t stop desiring; he desires while flinching. That’s most of humanity’s condition: not bewafa by nature, but so afraid of receiving bewafai that we withhold the very steadfastness we demand, each waiting for the other to be wafadaar first. The scarcity is partly a coordination failure of frightened hearts.

Sher of Fahmi Badayuni

pūchh lete vo bas mizāj mirā
kitnā āsān thā ilaaj mirā

zarā īmān-dārī se batāo
hameñ tum se mohabbat ho ga.ī kyā

vo jo tumhārī majbūrī hai
vahī to saarī majbūrī hai

tasvīroñ se bāteñ karnā
kitnī pyārī majbūrī hai

halkī bāteñ kartā hai vo
koī bhārī majbūrī hai

un ko bhūlne kī koshish meñ
jaane kyā kyā bhuul ga.e haiñ

tum se bāteñ karne vaale
bāteñ karnā bhuul ga.e haiñ

aaj usī kī sair kareñge
vo jo duniyā bhuul ga.e haiñ

ham apnā ajnabī-pan bhuul jaa.eñ
agar pahchān le ik baar koī

maiñ ne nārāz kar diyā us ko
jhūTh bole baġhair bāteñ kiiñ

bahut kuchh kahnā paḌtā ho jahāñ
vahāñ par kuchh nahīñ kahtā huuñ maiñ

manā legī use mā'lūm hai
abhī sach-much nahīñ rūThā huuñ maiñ

chhoḌ kar jā rahā huuñ ghar lekin
mujh ko samjhā nahīñ rahā koī

ham natīje kā intizār kareñ
yā abhī imtihān baaqī hai

paḌ ga.ī hai zabān uljhan meñ
jo chhupānā hai vo batānā hai

maiñ ne patthar to kar liyā ḳhud ko
ab tirī raah se haTānā hai

nahīñ milnā hai kuchh nazreñ uThā kar
hameñ to sirf rasta dekhnā hai

jis ko har vaqt dekhtā huuñ maiñ
us ko bas ek baar dekhā hai

dostoñ ne hañsā diyā aa kar
achchhe-ḳhāse udaas baiThe the

farishtoñ jaisī sūrat kyuuñ banā lī
koī ham se sharārat ho ga.ī kyā

ham to rūThe the āzmāne ko
koī aayā nahīñ manāne ko

tere baare meñ sochne vaalā
apne baare meñ sochtā hī nahīñ

pareshāñ hai vo jhūTā ishq kar ke
vafā karne kī naubat aa ga.ī hai

maiñ ne us kī taraf se ḳhat likkhā
aur apne pate pe bhej diyā

kuchh na kuchh bolte raho ham se
chup rahoge to log sun leñge

Tahalte phir rahe haiñ saare ghar meñ
tirī ḳhālī jagah ko bhar rahe haiñ

kaTī hai umr bas ye sochne meñ
mire baare meñ vo kyā sochtā hai

mar gayā ham ko DāñTne vaalā
ab sharārat meñ jī nahīñ lagtā

phūloñ ko surḳhī dene meñ
patte piile ho jaate haiñ

use le kar jo gaaḌī jā chukī hai
maiñ shāyad us ke nīche aa rahā huuñ

achchhe-ḳhāse qafas meñ rahte the
jaane kyuuñ āsmāñ dikhā.ī diyā

phir usī qabr ke barābar se
zinda rahne kā rāsta niklā

yaar tum ko kahāñ kahāñ DhūñDā
jaao tum se maiñ boltā hī nahīñ

kaash vo rāste meñ mil jaa.e
mujh ko muñh pher kar guzarnā hai

tere jaisā koī milā hī nahīñ
kaise miltā kahīñ pe thā hī nahīñ

yaad hai jo usī ko yaad karo
hijr kī dūsrī davā hī nahīñ

ab un ko yaad kar ke ro rahe haiñ
bichhaḌte vaqt ronā chāhiye thā

hamārā haal tum bhī pūchhte ho
tumheñ ma.alūm honā chāhiye thā

vafā majbūr tum ko kar rahī thī
to phir majbūr honā chāhiye thā

tumheñ bas ye batānā chāhtā huuñ
maiñ tum se kyā chhupānā chāhtā huuñ

suno logoñ ko ye shak ho gayā hai
ki ham jiine kī sāzish kar rahe haiñ

mire sahrā se jo bādal uThe the
kisī dariyā pe bārish kar rahe haiñ

sochnā kuchh nahīñ hameñ filhāl
un se koī bhī baat karnā hai

jis kī ḳhātir charāġh bantā huuñ
ghūrtā hai vahī havā kī tarah

ham tire ġham ke paas baiThe the
dūsre ġham udaas baiThe the

bas vahī imtihāñ meñ paas hue
jo tire ās-pās baiThe the

nahīñ ho tum to aisā lag rahā hai
ki jaise shahr meñ curfew lagā hai

koī barbād ho kar jā chukā hai
koī barbād honā chāhtā hai

jise aatā na ho paanī samajh meñ
use kyā aa.egī machhlī samajh meñ

tumheñ chāñd aur tāroñ kī paḌī hai
hameñ aatī nahīñ miTTī samajh meñ

jo tum se der tak bāteñ karegā
nahīñ aa.egā vo jaldī samajh meñ

kisī kā āḳhirī ḳhat paḌh liyā hai
nahīñ aa.egā ab kuchh bhī samajh meñ

vahī to dāstāñ rahtī hai zinda
ki jo aatī nahīñ puurī samajh meñ

vo jahāñ tak dikhā.ī detā hai
us ke aage maiñ dekhtā hī nahīñ

achchhe-achchhoñ ne rāsta māñgā
maiñ tirī raah se haTā hī nahīñ

āḳhirī baar dekhnā hai use
phir lagātār dekhnā hai use

do hī mausam the dhuup yā bārish
chhatriyoñ kī dukān chaltī rahī

bas tumhārā makāñ dikhā.ī diyā
jis meñ saarā jahāñ dikhā.ī diyā

vo kahīñ thā kahīñ dikhā.ī diyā
maiñ jahāñ thā vahīñ dikhā.ī diyā

ḳhvāb meñ ik hasīñ dikhā.ī diyā
vo bhī parda-nashīñ dikhā.ī diyā

us ko le kar chalī ga.ī gaaḌī
phir hameñ kuchh nahīñ dikhā.ī diyā

koī panchhī koī shikārī hai
zinda rahne kī jañg jaarī hai

ye jo bāhar ḳhudā se Dar rahe haiñ
bahut kuchh dil ke andar kar rahe haiñ

yahāñ par koī dariyā-dil nahīñ hai
sab apne ghar kā paanī bhar rahe haiñ

tirī ḳhushbū se jo vāqif nahīñ haiñ
vo phūloñ se guzāra kar rahe haiñ

buniyādeñ kamzor nahīñ thiiñ
dīvāroñ se aayā paanī

āḳhir kis kis niim kī jaḌ meñ
kab tak Dāleñ mīThā paanī

muñh meñ jab tak zabān baaqī hai
aap kī dāstān baaqī hai

jī nahīñ lag rahā paḌhā.ī meñ
aur abhī imtihān baaqī hai

le to saktā huuñ naam qātil kā
mas.ala ye hai jaan baaqī hai

aur kitnā buland ho jā.ūñ
terī chaukhaT pe sar jhukāne ko

yeh mirā ghar hai vo zamāna hai
ab batāo kidhar ko jaanā hai

aap agar mehrbāñ nahīñ hote
ham jahāñ haiñ vahāñ nahīñ hote

chāhe jitne buland hoñ bādal
ye kabhī āsmāñ nahīñ hote

dhyān rakkheñ pukārne vaale
ham jahāñ haiñ vahāñ nahīñ hote

mirī pahlī nazar lauTā de mujh ko
tirī jānib dubāra dekhnā hai

nahīñ milnā hai kuchh nazreñ uThā kar
hameñ to sirf rasta dekhnā hai

us ne kyā kyā nahīñ diyā mujh ko
chain phir bhī nahīñ milā mujh ko

sochtā huuñ ki ab kahāñ jā.ūñ
tū bhī pāgal na kar sakā mujh ko

maiñ chhupā rahtā zindagī meñ aur
tū kahīñ aur DhūñDtā mujh ko

maiñ vahī shor likhtā rahtā huuñ
jis ne ḳhāmosh kar diyā mujh ko

tumhāre sāmne baiThā huuñ maiñ
yahī to soch kar zinda huuñ maiñ

pareshāñ dhuup kartī hai mujhe
shikāyat chāñd se kartā huuñ maiñ

sirf dil kā mu'āmla hī nahīñ
'ishq hai ek zimme-dārī bhī

aap ḳhāmoshiyāñ bhī sunte haiñ
aah sun lījiye hamārī bhī

un ko manzil DhūñD hī legī
ghar kā rasta bhuul ga.e haiñ

ham ko rasta batā ke lauT ga.e
ham-safar muskurā ke lauT ga.e

vo jo kahte the ghar banā.eñge
sirf naqsha banā ke lauT ga.e

hoñTh to hil rahe the raat un ke
kyā pata kyā batā ke lauT ga.e

ḳhudā ko bhūlnā āsān hai
hamārā mas.ala insān hai

zarūrat hī nahīñ hai naam kī
tirī ḳhushbū mirī pahchān hai

idhar bhī pheñkiye ḳhanjar koī
hamāre jism meñ bhī jaan hai

maiñ ne DhūñDā sharāb ke andar
aur nasha thā naqāb ke andar

apne apne savāl hote haiñ
apne apne javāb ke andar

maiñ ne masjid meñ jaanā chhoḌ diyā
roz mil jaatā thā ḳhudā koī

bahut dushvār hai rasta hamārā
nahīñ kar pāoge pīchhā hamārā

khā rahā hai abhī taras mujh par
'ishq andhā nahīñ huā hai abhī

lafz dil tak abhī nahīñ pahuñche
vo nigāhoñ se sochtā hai abhī

taar aise juḌe haiñ āñkhoñ ke
sochtā vo hai boltā maiñ huuñ

baḌā ulTā zamāna aa gayā hai
mohabbat karne vaale so rahe haiñ

ḳhudā kā shukr hai ġham par hamāre
jo ḳhush hote the vo bhī ro rahe haiñ

use kaise bhulā.e koī jise
yaad karnā paḌe bhulāne ko

tum to sab kuchh batā.e dete ho
kuchh bachā kar rakho chhupāne ko

us ne kuchh der sun liyā varna
kaun suntā mire fasāne ko

terī maujūdgī meñ kam se kam
jī to kartā hai muskurāne ko

kaun is jhoñpḌī meñ aa.egā
vo bhī barsāt kāTne ke liye

tirī āvāz dhīmī ho rahī hai
koī dīvār ūñchī ho rahī hai

us se kuchh bhī nahīñ chhupāte ham
vo hamārā 'ilāj kartā hai

vo safar sirf janāze kā safar hotā hai
jis meñ apnā yā parāyā nahīñ dekhā jaatā

ye jo vīrāne meñ baiThā huā hai
kisī āvāz se bichhḌā huā hai

ek din mere naam ke uupar
dūsrā naam likh diyā us ne

mujh se mā'mūlī she'r likhvā kar
ḳhud ko mash.hūr kar liyā us ne

mire pīchhe-pīchhe jo chaltī rahī
usī bhiiḌ ne maar Daalā mujhe

jiine lagtā hai zindagī ke baġhair
koī martā nahīñ kisī ke baġhair

ham tirī aarzū ke daftar meñ
kaam karte haiñ salary ke baġhair

kitnī bāteñ haiñ jin ko dīvāne
kah nahīñ sakte ḳhāmushī ke baġhair

ham se sīkho ki apnī marzī se
kaise marte haiñ ḳhud-kushī ke baġhair

dikhā sakte haiñ dānāoñ ko rasta
miyāñ ham 'ishq meñ andhe hue haiñ

tirā bāzār kaise chhoḌ jaa.eñ
yahīñ mahñge yahīñ saste hue haiñ

jo bhī chāhe ḳharīd le ham ko
bas gale se lagānā paḌtā hai

aaj us ke dil meñ dekhā dūsrā apnī jagah
phir jo apne dil meñ dekhā kuchh na thā apnī jagah

aaj bhī mahfil meñ us kī jashn puurā ho gayā
rah gayā is baar bhī maiñ DhūñDtā apnī jagah

sāmne ho to bas ishāra kar
vo chalā jaa.e to pukārā kar

ab ye kahānī lambī chalegī
is meñ hamārā qissa kam hai

rāste sab agar hasīñ hote
fāsle paidā hī nahīñ hote

tū hī tū hai tirī kahānī meñ
kaash ham bhī kahīñ kahīñ hote

hañste haiñ yā udaas hote haiñ
paas vāloñ ko duur jā ke dekh

kahīñ se jab koī āvāz aa.ī
maiñ ye samjhā tirī āvāz aa.ī

ham bhī miTTī tum bhī raakh
tez havā kā shikva kyā

A famous opening #Couplet from #MirzaGhalib #Poetry

ہزاروں خواہشیں ایسی کہ ہر خواہش پہ دم نکلے
بہت نکلے مرے ارمان لیکن پھر بھی کم نکلے

A thousand wishes—each one worth dying for.
So many longings came forth, and still they felt like too few:
desire outruns every satisfaction.

#UrduPoetry #Ghalib #Urdu #اردو #ClassicalPoetry #Ghazal

Après son échange avec Claudia #SHEINBAUM (Présidente du Mexique) et avant la rencontre de cet après-midi à New-York avec la députée étasunienne démocrate (tendance Bernie Sanders) Alexandria #OCASIO-CORTEZ, vous pouvez regarder le meeting passionnant de Jean-Luc Mélenchon et Ruba #GHAZAL (Québec Solidaire) à Montréal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDAnXC33Wtk&ab_channel=JEAN-LUCM%C3%89LENCHON

Haïe par la gauche bourgeoise en France, #Mélenchon est une figure de proue de la lutte des gauches de rupture dans le monde !

#BegumAkhtar remains the greatest #ghazal singer for me. Much more than a ghazal singer, of course. My son's piano teacher lent his precious #vinyl to me, and my god to listen to her record (and I don't even have a top end player/speaker) hits differently.

Launch of 'Siddheshwar ki Ghazlein' at Patna Book Fair.

https://aliyesha.com/sub/articles/news/display/bh_launch_siddheshwar_ki_ghazlein_book_fair

#bihar #patna #india #news #press #book #books #bookfair #ghazal #literature #culture #SiddheshwarKiGhazlein

Enjoy tracker free reading with us. #privacy #privacymatters

औरों की आग क्या तुझे कुंदन बनाएगी
अपनी भी आग में कभी चुप-चाप जल के देख

-- आबिदा करामत from अब के हिसार-ए-ज़ात से बाहर निकल के देख https://www.rekhta.org/ghazals/ab-ke-hisaar-e-zaat-se-baahar-nikal-ke-dekh-abida-karamat-ghazals?sort=&lang=hi

#poetry #sher #ghazal

हैं दलीलें तिरे ख़िलाफ़ मगर
सोचता हूँ तिरी हिमायत में

वो जो ता'मीर होने वाली थी
लग गई आग उस इमारत में

ज़िंदगी किस तरह बसर होगी
दिल नहीं लग रहा मोहब्बत में

-- जौन एलिया

https://www.rekhta.org/ghazals/sar-hii-ab-phodiye-nadaamat-men-jaun-eliya-ghazals?lang=hi

#ghazal

Here's the music rendition of this poem.

#MehdiHassan #Ghazal #love #music

https://youtu.be/dOtqwZdhBkc?si=efmFhxN2nSI7cVIN

There is a need to inculcate the society with humanity: Mamta Mehrotra.

https://aliyesha.com/sub/articles/news/display/bh_need_to_inculcate_society_humanity_mamta

#bihar #patna #india #press #news #kavi #poet #ghazal #poetry #love #humanity #magazine #culture #literature #folk #folkmusic #singer

Enjoy tracker free news reading with us. #privacy #privacymatters

जो भी है जैसा उस को उसी तर्ज़ से परख
उस को बदल के देख न ख़ुद को बदल के देख

औरों की आग क्या तुझे कुंदन बनाएगी
अपनी भी आग में कभी चुप-चाप जल के देख

from: अब के हिसार-ए-ज़ात से बाहर निकल के देख by आबिदा करामत https://www.rekhta.org/ghazals/ab-ke-hisaar-e-zaat-se-baahar-nikal-ke-dekh-abida-karamat-ghazals?sort=&lang=hi

#ghazal #poem

🎶 Now Playing: Madhushala, by Dinesh Kumar Dahal 🎶
#ghazal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPsbIXJY-Ps

मो'तबर से रिश्तों का साएबान रहने दो (motabar se rishton ka saeban rahne do) by
अज़रा नक़वी (Azra Naqvi)

#ghazal #poetry

फिर बनाया ख़ुदा ने आदम को
अपनी सूरत पे ऐसी सूरत में

और फिर आदमी ने ग़ौर किया
छिपकिली की लतीफ़ सनअ'त में

ऐ ख़ुदा जो कहीं नहीं मौजूद
क्या लिखा है हमारी क़िस्मत में

from the #ghazal :

सर ही अब फोड़िए नदामत में by जौन एलिया

https://www.rekhta.org/ghazals/sar-hii-ab-phodiye-nadaamat-men-jaun-eliya-ghazals?lang=hi

#Poetry

enchanting music and writing via Anandi Mishra, in a rhapsodic appreciation of Pakistani sensation Ali Sethi at Popula

https://popula.com/2023/08/15/ali-sethis-paniya/

#ghazal #lgbtq #pasoori #alisethi #music #beauty

हर तरफ़ हर जगह बे-शुमार आदमी
फिर भी तन्हाइयों का शिकार आदमी

सुब्ह से शाम तक बोझ ढोता हुआ
अपनी ही लाश का ख़ुद मज़ार आदमी

हर तरफ़ भागते दौड़ते रास्ते
हर तरफ़ आदमी का शिकार आदमी

रोज़ जीता हुआ रोज़ मरता हुआ
हर नए दिन नया इंतिज़ार आदमी

घर की दहलीज़ से गेहूं के खेत तक
चलता फिरता कोई कारोबार आदमी

ज़िंदगी का मुक़द्दर सफ़र-दर-सफ़र
आख़िरी सांस तक बे-क़रार आदमी

#life #ghazal #nidafazli

Sabki nazron mein ho saaqi ye zaroori hai magar,
Sabpe saaqi ki nazar ho, ye zaroori toh nahi.
- Khamosh Ghazipuri

#ghazal #UrduPoetry

To run into such a gem serendipitously ... Seems to be from early years of Abida's singing career (according to Wikipedia, she sung this first in the 1970s!). Her voice is softer, but her distinctive style is already there. What a beautiful rendition. The album picture in the video seems wrong.

Woh Humsafar Tha (#ghazal by Naseer Turabi)

#AbidaParveen #Music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RInfdRonkKc

The longish weekend turned out to be a longish work weekend. So now trying to salvage what's left of it with some timeless ghazals.

Iqbal Bano's immortal rendition of Dasht-e-tanahai Mein.

#ghazal #music #IqbalBano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXy8D9Qvw04