Hello readers!
Last night, my friend Akshay (over at अक्स: किस्सा हिस्सो का) and I were talking casually when we decided to write a poem in Hindi. Surprisingly it turned out to be good and so, I decided to share it with you.
(Lines in green are his part and the ones in blue are mine.)
Here it goes-
एक-तरफ़ा
मैंने सुना नहीं, या शायद तुम बेज़ुबान थी,
मैंने जाना नहीं, या शायद तुम अंजान थी,
मैंने देखा नहीं, या शायद तुम थी ही नहीं।
तुम बोले, पर मैं अपनी धुन में सवार थी,
तुमने जताया, पर मैं अपने ख्वाबों की दुनिया में थी,
तुम थे, पर मैंने तुम्हें देखकर भी किया अनदेखा।
उस धुन में क्या तुम अकेले सवार थी?
क्या उस दुनिया में ख्वाब बस तुम्हारे थे?
क्यों किया अनदेखा जब पता था,
जो चली जाओगी तुम तो बस, राख हो जाऊंगा।
पता नहीं था, धुन मेरी है सवारी तुम्हारी
ख्वाब मेरे हैं दुनिया तुम्हारी
राख तुम, मैं दरिया का पानी।
English Translation (by Saumya)
Unrequited
I did not listen, or maybe you were mute,
I did not know, or maybe you were unaware,
I did not see, or maybe you were not there.
You spoke, but I was on a different flight,
You expressed, but I was in the world of my dreams,
You were there, but I ignored you.
Were you alone on that flight?
Were those dreams only yours?
Why did you ignore me when you knew
That if you leave, I’d burn to ashes.
I did not know, the flight was mine, you were the pilot
Dreams mine, the world was yours
You are the ashes, I am the water of the seas.
Photo by Martha Dominguez on Unsplash
Well done. Both of you.
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Thankyou! 😁
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Lovely duet.
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Thanks shayaan 😇
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I know this is a late comment, but I liked this so much I had to comment on it. I’m an Indian too (high five!) but I’ve never been able to write good poetry in Hindi. My knowledge of Hindi literature is zilch, so there’s just one poem that I can call my favourite- Parvat Pradesh mein Pavas by Sumitranandan Pant. But it seems today another poem has been added to that list of mine.
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That’s a huge compliment! I’m glad you liked the poem. I remember reading something from Sumitranandan Pant during my school time (though I don’t remember what it was :D) But yeah I googled up this poem. It’s beautiful and a hard one to crack making me realise how little of the language I know and that there is so much more to learn.
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You’re very welcome, Saumya!
I bet it was the same poem, since I read that in my Hindi book last year😁
What made me fall for it was the incredible imagery.
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Yeah! The imagery is awesome. But I don’t think it was the same poem that I had in school. I couldn’t recall reading anything from this poem. 😛
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Oh. So, miracle of miracles, ncert did change the syllabus a little in years.
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Hahaha yeah, seems so. You’re in which class?
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I’m in 11th.
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Oh great. Got Hindi in 11th? That’s surprising :O
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No no, I said I read that poem last year. So I had Hindi in 10th, in 11th I have only English as a language.
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Oh okay 🙂
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