ba;Gal me;N ;Gair kii aaj aap sote hai;N kahii;N
varnah
sabab kyaa ;xvaab me;N aa kar
tabassumhaa-e pinhaa;N kaa
1) by the side of the Other you now sleep somewhere--
otherwise
2) what [would be / is] the cause-- [your] having come into [my] sleep/dream--
of hidden smiles?
aaj : 'To-day, this day; this time, now'. (Platts p.22)
The author's meaning seems to be that since you are secretly laughing by the Rival's side, I see that laughter in a dream. And seeing the style of that laughter, I've understood that such laughter takes place only at the time of union. Otherwise, when has it ever been my fortune to have you come into my dream, with a hidden smile? (12)
Passion and jealousy have a blouse-skirt [=inseparable] relationship. He has seen the beloved smiling in a dream. Suspicion says that she must be sleeping today by the Rival's side; otherwise, why the smile? When I have been in her company, I've only ever seen her brow wrinkled in an angry frown. (23)
SETS == VARNAH
SMILE/LAUGHTER: {27,4}
This verse makes elegant use of the two possible meanings of varnah , which marks the clause transition but really belongs with the second line. It can be used contrafactually. 'If you were not sleeping with him, would you come into my sleep/dream-- ;xvaab can have both meanings-- at all? And if you did come, would you smile? And if you did smile, would it be this hidden, secret smile? I know what you are doing, and I also know how you are taking pains to make me aware of it!' This reading uses deduction from the contrafactual to reach and proclaim a new, even triumphant (though also wretched) knowledge; the lover speaks in a tone of sarcastic reproach.
But varnah can also be used with an indicative effect. 'You might be sleeping with the Other; but if not, then what in fact is the meaning of your hidden smiles? Are you up to some new, and even worse, devilry that I haven't figured out yet? I'll have to be very cautious and alert for clues.'
For more on the 'hidden smile', see {130,4}.
Josh:
The intensity of the theme is worthy of praise, but the nakedness of the theme makes this intensity ineffective. (63)