((ishrat-e .su;hbat-e ;xuubaa;N hii
;Ganiimat samjho
nah hu))ii ;Gaalib agar ((umr-e :tabii((ii nah sahii
1) consider only/emphatically the joy/sociability of
the companionship of beautiful ones to be a 'stroke of luck'
2) if, Ghalib, no natural lifespan occurred, then so be it
((ishrat : 'Social or familiar intercourse, pleasant and familiar conversation, society; pleasure, enjoyment, mirth'. (Platts p.761)
.su;hbat : 'Companionship, society, company; an assembly, meeting, association; a fair; discourse, conversation, intercourse; carnal intercourse, coition, cohabitation'. (Platts p.743)
;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)
:tabii((ii : 'Of or relating to the natural or innate disposition or temper, &c.; natural, of nature, innate; physical; intrinsic'. (Platts p.751)
He says, the happiness that is obtained in the companionship of beautiful ones, that is not stable for even a moment/breath-- oh Ghalib, consider it a 'stroke of luck'. If it has no enduringness, then so be it. (255)
Oh Ghalib, granted that a natural lifespan is much desired. But when it can't be obtained, then the enjoyment of the companionship of beautiful ones is itself a 'stroke of luck'. That is, their companionship will be in exchange for a natural lifespan. (345-46)
SETS == A,B; HI; IDIOMS;
For discussion of nah sahii , see {175,1}.
If we take the cleverly placed little hii to be restrictive ('consider only...'), then the implication is that we should value only the joy/sociability of the companionship of beautiful ones, and should regard a natural lifespan as worthless by comparison, so that we don't care a bit of we don't have it. And if we take the hii to be an intensifier ('consider especially...'), then we are urged to console ourselves with the joy/sociability for the loss of a natural lifespan, even if its loss causes us real sorrow.
Either sense of hii works beautifully with the multifarious possibilities of ;Ganiimat . Literally, it is 'something taken from an enemy' [;Ganiim], and its classic reference was plunder acquired on the battlefield. That meaning itself works well: since fate is against us, let's wrest away from it-- and value-- whatever we can get. The meanings like 'blessing' and 'God-send' and 'good fortune' are equally appropriate: we should gratefully appreciate the joy/sociability vouchsafed to us.
There's also a sort of wry colloquial sense in Urdu that I learned about only after the fact. I used to think that a ;Ganiimat was an unambiguously good thing, so I'd use it to compliment people: I thought it was an elegant touch to show off my vocabulary by describing somebody's visit as a ;Ganiimat . But I noticed that whenever I did, there'd be a moment of silence, then genuine laughter all around, as though I'd made a slightly shocking but also witty remark. When I finally got somebody to explain this reaction, I learned to my embarrassment that the colloquial sense is something like 'as good as we're going to get' or 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth' or 'we're lucky to have even this much'. And that meaning too-- if it was current in Ghalib's day-- also fits in wonderfully well.
Then, of course, a basic question remains: how do we connect the two lines? Is A the cause and B the effect (the companionship of beautiful ones cuts short one's life)? Is B the cause and A the effect (if one is doomed anyway, one should value the brief pleasures of beauty and sociability)? Or are both A and B parallel parts of the same larger reflection on the nature of life?
Nazm is being rather nit-picking about ((ishrat . In Urdu generally, it seems to mean joy first, and sociability as a distant second. Compare the usage in {17,5}, where the primary meaning is definitely 'joy'.
Nazm:
Although ((ishrat and .su;hbat mean the same thing, the Persian divan has used ((ishrat with the meaning of 'happiness' or 'joy'; for that reason, this i.zaafat will become correct. (197)
== Nazm page 197