To whom would we recite the state of the wretched heart, oh Ada?
In wandering, we strolled through the age/world

Mirza Rusva: What can be said, Bi Umrao Jan Sahibah-- you've composed this closing-verse just according to the situation! Why shouldn't you recite more verses [to go with it]?
Umrao Jan: I thank you, Mirza Sahib! I swear by your head, I only remembered that opening-verse, and this closing-verse-- the ghazal is from the Lord knows when. How much can anyone remember orally? My notebook, the wretched thing, has been lost.
Munshi Sahib: And what was that opening-verse? I didn't hear it.
Mirza Rusva: You're busy with the arrangements, how would you hear?

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=="I thank you": The tasliim here appears to be a word, but it's more commonly a gesture. It's performed by bowing the head and touching the fingertips of the right hand to the forehead in token of submission, humility, and gratitude. The reciter does this in a stylized way when praised-- also usually in a stylized way-- by the audience.
==The 'opening-verse' [ma:tla((] and 'closing-verse' [maq:ta((] of a ghazal have special formal qualities that distinguish them from ordinary verses.
=="My notebook": such a 'notebook' is kept by all poetry-lovers, to record both their own verses and those of others that they want to remember.
=="the wretched thing": The epithet nigo;Rii is part of traditional 'women's language' [begamaatii zabaan].

kis ko sunaa))e;N ;haal-e dil-e zaar ay adaa
aavaaragii me;N ham ne zamaane kii sair kii

mirzaa rusvaa :: kyaa kahnaa bii umraa))o jaan .saa;hibah _ yih maq:ta(( to aap ne ;hasb-e ;haal kahaa hai _ aur shi((r kyuu;N nah pa;Rhe _
umraa))o jaan :: tasliim _ mirzaa .saa;hib _ aap ke sar kii qasam _ bas vuh ma:tla(( yaad thaa _ aur yih maq:ta(( _ ;xudaa jaane kis zamaane ki ;Gazal hai _ zabaanii kahaa;N tak yaad rahe _ bayaa.z nigo;Rii gum ho ga))ii _
munshii .saa;hib :: aur vuh ma:tla(( kyaa thaa _ ham ne nahii;N sunaa _
mirzaa rusvaa :: aap to ihtamaam me;N ma.sruuf hai;N sune kaun ?

Beyond all doubt, for today's gathering Munshi Sahib had made very sophisticated arrangements. It was the hot season-- from the time when two hours of the day remained, the terrace had been sprinkled with water, so that by evening the floor would become cool. On it a carpet had been spread, and covered with a shining white sheet. Earthenware vessels full of water with sweet-smelling flowers in them had been lined up on the parapets. They were covered with pottery cups. An arrangement for ice had been made separately. In paper packets many betel leaves, wrapped in red cloth, scented with floral perfumes, had been placed around. On the covers bits of fragrant tobacco for smoking had been placed; in the bottom parts of half a dozen huqqas water was burbling, and the smoke formed wreaths. It was a moonlit night, so that it wasn't necessary to make much of an arrangement for light. Only a single white glass-shaded candle had been lit, for the 'round'.

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==Poets recited in turn, and the turns were marked by the circulation of a candle that was placed in front of the poet who was to recite.

Munshi Sahib: All right, what was that opening-verse?
Umrao: I will present it:

having gone to the Ka'bah, I forgot the road to the temple
my faith was saved-- my master did well by me

Munshi Sahib: That was well composed.
Khan Sahib: She's composed a good opening-verse, but why this [masculine] bhul gaya?
Umrao Jan: What, Khan Sahib-- do I compose Rekhti?!
Khan Sahib: The pleasure is that of Rekhti. Mire Maula ne khair ki sounds good only from your lips.
Rusva: Enough-- your attacks have begun! Come on, let us listen to the poetry! Khan Sahib, if everyone in the world would become a critic like you, then the pleasure of poetry-recitation would betake itself hence. [In Persian:] 'Every flower has its own color and scent.'
Khan Sahib: (with brows somewhat knitted) True.

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==Rekhti is a kind of playful, "cute," or erotic ghazal composed in a feminine voice. For a reference to it in the text, see p. 38 of the Urdu text. Umrao takes the idea that she would compose in Rekhti as an insult to her poetic seriousness. Khan Sahib suggests that she has used a phrase from 'women's language'.