News. For the want of anything else...

The good news is I have achieved my ambition of don't-know-how-many-years by joining singing lessons. The bad news, for the ones in my neighbourhood with (discerning) ears, is that I have bought a harmonium to help me practise. More on this as (if) I make progress.

Meanwhile this is the song that at the moment I would most like to sing with proper sur and taal, and if possible to accompaniment:

A nazm by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. An edited copy-paste from the net. A concentrated lesson in the figures of speech (metaphor, personification, transferred epithet...what not!).

dasht-e-tanhaa_ii me.n ae jaan-e-jahaa.N larzaa.N hai
terii aavaaz ke saaye tere ho.nTho.n ke saraab
dasht-e-tanhaa_ii me.n duurii ke Khas-o-Khaak tale
khil rahe hai.n tere pahaluu ke saman aur gulaab

(Dasht=desert, larzaan hai = are shimmering; saraab=mirages; khas-o-khaak= the leaves and gen debris to be found under trees in the woods; pahalu=thought; saman=flowers)


uTh rahii hai kahii.n, qurbat se, terii saa.Ns kii aa.Nch
apanii Khushbuu me.n sulagatii hu_ii, madham, madham
duur ufaq-paar chamakatii hu_ii, qatraa, qatraa
gir rahii hai terii dildaar nazar kii shabanam


(qurbat se= from close by; aanch=warmth; sulagatii hui= simmering; ufaq-paar=beyond the horizon; qatraa, qatraa=drop by drop; dildaar=generous; shabanam=dew)


is qadar pyaar se, ae jaan-e-jahaa.N rakkhaa hai
dil ke ruKhsaar pe is vaqt terii yaad ne haath
yuu.N gumaa.N hotaa hai garche hai abhii subah-e-firaaq
Dhal gayaa hijr kaa din aa bhii ga_ii vasl kii raat


(rukhsaar=cheek; gumaan=illusion; subah-e-firaaq = the morning (beginning) of separation; hijr=separation; vasl=meeting, union)