FWP:
SETS == EK; IDIOMS
MUSIC: {10,3}
For discussion of nah sahii , see {175,1}. This verse continues the idiomatic trend of the ghazal by adding the related form hii sahii ; on this, see {9,4}.
It's hard to get a sense of the mood of this verse. It could be cheerful ('We make the best of things, we get together and have good times at funerals too'). It could also be ironic or sarcastic ('Oh sure, we're fine-- you can see how busy and bustling the house is, and that's all that's needed to keep up our reputation among the neighbors'). It could be mystical or philosophical ('After all, life in this world is so brief and transient, gatherings of joy and grief come crowding in on each other's heels'). It could be stoical and bleak ('We have to carry on and think of the children, we can at least distract ourselves from grief with all the hustle and bustle'). It could be bitter ('People don't give a damn what becomes of their neighbors, as long as they get their entertainment out of it').
It's that ek that focuses the complexity. Is it a 'single'
as opposed to two (joy-gatherings and grief-gatherings are depicted as similar)?
Or is it 'one' as opposed to none (something has to be going on to keep up
the vitality and 'flourishingness' of the house)? Or is it a 'particular', or 'unique', or 'excellent', kind of coming and going that's the key? There's certainly a traditional
value placed on the 'liveliness' or 'hustle and bustle' of the house [ghar
kii raunaq]. This verse asks, what price such 'hustle and bustle'? Is the
busy coming and going of mourning just as good as that of joy? And if so, why exactly, and in whose eyes? Or is the clamor of grief a terrible parody of the vitality of joy? Needless to say,
the verse leaves us to assign the crucial feeling-tone for ourselves.
Nazm:
The world's joy and grief are both contemptible; one ought to treat them as diversions. In the view of the mystic knower, both joy and grief have the same form. (196)
== Nazm page 196