z-baskih mashq-e tamaashaa junuu;N-((alaamat
hai
kushaad-o-bast-e mizhah siilii-e nadaamat hai
1) {to such an extent / although} practicing spectacle-viewing
is madness-{signed/marked}
2) the opening and shutting of the eyelashes is a slap of shame/regret/repentance
siil : 'Wetness, moistness, dampness, moisture'. (Plats p.712)
siil : 'Disposition, character, nature; quality, tendency; good disposition; right conduct.... aa;Nkho;N me;N siil honaa , To be polite, or generous, &c.; to be quiet, or modest, or retiring'. (Platts p.712)
siilii : 'A blow with the edge of the open hand on the back of the neck; a slap, cuff'. (Platts p.712)
He says, to look at the spectacle of the wonders of this world is a sign of insanity. In the state of watching a spectacle, the opening and closing of the eyes is like slaps of humiliation. The meaning is that this unstable world isn't worthy of having any heart-possessor become a spectator and waste his time, and have the result be shame and lowness. (290)
When a person's eyes are open, then his eyelids blink. But the poet has shown that the spectacle of the world is a kind of madness; thus when we look at something, then the eyelashes' slap of shame falls on the eyes. (411)
SETS == BASKIH
MADNESS: {14,3}
TAMASHA: {8,1}
The clever positioning of z-baskih in the first line gives us the two choices 'to such an extent, since' and 'although'; as usual with Ghalib, both open rich possibilities in the second line:
= it's such a characteristic of madness to 'practice spectacle-viewing' that in my madness I begrudge even the momentary involuntary eye-blinks that deprive me of a millisecond of the spectacle, so to me the blinks are like slaps that I use to chasten myself for my brief inattention and to sharpen my alertness.
= it's such a characteristic of madness to 'practice spectacle-viewing' that like many madmen, I become fixated and entranced. I need to be slapped and made to come out of it, and the blinks of my eyes slap me and bring me back to reality and remind me, with shame, how crazed I've been acting. (A much less interesting reading, in my view, but the one on which all the commentators I've read agree.)
= although it's a characteristic of madness to 'practice spectacle-viewing', even as I practice it I haven't entirely lost my grip on reason. I'm constantly blinking, and those blinks are like little slaps, to chastise myself and shock me into returning to the real world.
Certainly siilii means a slap or a blow, and all the commentators insist that it's the only meaning that's invoked here. But I can't help but notice also that siilnaa means 'to become damp or moist', and siil means 'wetness, moisture'. From siil to siilii is not a long step, and 'wetness, moisture' is of course exactly what is provided by blinking. I think there's an enjoyable latent wordplay in there that's felt by the reader, even though it may not be officially part of the surface meaning.
Somewhere in the vicinity there also lurks the siil that goes back to the Sanskrit shiila , and has the double sense of 'disposition' and 'good disposition'. A parallel: the English 'character' can be used either positively ('he has character') or neutrally ('he has a bad character'). And it turns out that in the case of siil there's actually an idiom well enough established to be in Platts: aa;Nkho;N me;N siil honaa means essentially 'to be well-behaved'. And in the present verse too we have a form of behavior in the eyes: bad behavior, shame, regret.
If these words hover around so closely that somebody like me could notice and enjoy them, how could Ghalib and the original audience not have done so?
Nazm:
To remain absorbed in the spectacle of the world is a sign of madness, and a nonsensical act. For this reason, at the time of looking at a spectacle, the eyelids' opening and closing is the falling of a moisture of shame. (232)