===
0293,
8
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{293,8}

go :taaqat-o-aaraam-o-;xvur-o-;xvaab ga))e sab
baare yih ;Ganiimat hai kih jiitaa to rahaa huu;N

1) although strength and rest/wellbeing and eating and sleeping have all gone
2) finally, there's this 'piece of luck'-- that I've remained living

 

Notes:

baare : 'Once, one time, all at once; at last, at length'. (Platts p.121)

 

;Ganiimat : 'Plunder, spoil, booty; a prize; a boon, blessing, a God-send; a piece of good luck, good fortune; abundance; convenience; accommodation'. (Platts p.773)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

S. R. Faruqi:

Some people say about Firaq Sahib that he versified in the ghazal some themes and experiences of passion that are not present in classical poetry. In this context they present by way of example some verses of his, among which is this one:

kuchh aadmii ko hai;N majbuuriyaa;N bhii dunyaa me;N
are vuh dard-e mu;habbat sahii to kyaa mar jaa))e;N

[a man has even/also some coercions, in the world
oh, if it's the pain of love, so what?-- it's not as if people would die of it!]

Leaving aside the fact that dard-e mu;habbat here is uncouth and inappropriate, and that the informal style of the second line attains the level of bazaar slanginess, the basic thing is that apart from the whole rest of classical poetry, if Mir's poetry alone is examined, then it will be seen that Firaq Sahib's themes are not as fresh as they seem.

Thus in the present verse the theme that Mir has versified can be clearly seen to be reflected in Firaq Sahib's verse. In Firaq Sahib's verse there's a tone of 'self-defense', as if he's more or less ashamed that he hasn't given up his life in love. Thus he's presenting his own 'self-defense'-- that the world too is closely pursuing us.

In Mir's verse, in the first line is a picture of daily life-- that sleeping, eating, drinking, all have been abandoned. In the second line he's said that nevertheless it's a ;Ganiimat --in some way he's remained alive. In this there are several aspects. One is, 'all right, somehow or other we've escaped with our life from passion'. Another is, 'despite extraordinary harshness and suffering, I had such a love for life that I didn't end it all'. A third is, 'it's a ;Ganiimat that I didn't die; if I remain alive, then the hope will remain that sometime the beloved will be favorable'. A fourth is, that perhaps many other people have died (or would have died), but the speaker has so much strength that he came away with his life. Or a fifth: that all the other people went (strength, rest, food, sleep), but life didn't go. In short, it's a fine, multi-layered verse.

This theme, that the world is closely pursuing us, Mir has versified well, using a proverb, in the first divan [{548,10}]:

miir ((umda:n bhii ko))ii martaa hai
jaan hai to jahaan hai pyaare

[Mir, it's even best when someone dies
'if there's life, the world is dear']

The earliest prototype of Firaq Sahib's informal tone, too, can be seen in Mir, in the second divan:

{1202,1}

There will be further discussion of this verse in its place. For the present, it's only necessary to say that in Firaq Sahib's verse there would hardly be anything of which a better example (of its kind) would not be found in Mir.

FWP:

SETS
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS

What is the tone of this verse? SRF gives several, but he seems not to include the one that at once strikes me as the most obvious and powerful: that of wryness, sarcasm, bitterness: 'I've lost everything that sustains life and makes it livable, and then to top it all off, I haven't even been able to escape into death, somehow I'm still living! Hah-- one final, typical example of my fate, to be handed such a 'piece of luck'!'

For more on such problems of tone, see {724,2}.

Compare Ghalib's ambivalent-feeling use of ;Ganiimat :

G{90,4}.