Ghālib and Shakespeare on the war in Ukraine

 

Ghālib: It all began with Valdimir Putin telling Volodymyr Zelenskyy about his greatness and the futility of Ukraine in trying to defy him,

 

Ik khel hai  aurañg-e-sulaimāñ mire nazdīk

ik   baat   hai    ejāz-e-masīhā    mire   aage

Hotā hai  nihāñ  gard meñ sahrā mire hote

ghistā hai jabīñ ḳhaak pe dariyā mire aage

(aurañg-e-sulaimāñ: throne of Solomon or an illusion nazdīk: near, ejāz-e-masīhā: marvel, miracle, honour of the messiah, nihāñ: hidden, concealed, gard: dust, sahrā: desert, jabīñ: forehead, ḳhaak: dust, earth, dariyā: river. The throne of mighty Solomon's is something trifling like a game for me, the messiah's miracles are merely common happenings before me. Deserts themselves disappear in a cloud of sand in my presence and rivers rub their foreheads on the shore in front of me.)

 

One can understand what this menacing bully is made of. Look at the way he walks and looking at him I must modify one of my evergreen shers:

 

Haiñ aur bhī duniyā meñ jo  chalte  bahut achchhe

kahte  haiñ  ki  Putin  kā  hai  andāz-e-khirām aur

(andāz-e-khirām: manner, style of movement, walking. There be many in this world who walk very elegantly but everyone says that the gait of this Putin is unparalleled)

 

Shakespeare: Like Maria in Twelfth Night, the whole world believed that Putin is foolishly argumentative and that he would back down from war after amassing his troops on the border, “…he’s a great quarreller: and but that he hath the gift of a coward to allay the gust he hath in quarrelling, ‘tis thought among the prudent he would quickly have the gift of a grave”. But Antony said in his famous ‘Friends, Romans and Countrymen’ speech in Julius Caesar, “…Ambition should be made of sterner stuff…” and it seems to have come true for this Putin.

 

Ghālib: Here's what Ukraine tells NATO:

 

Aah ko chāhiye  ik umr  asar hote tak

kaun jiitā hai tirī zulf ke sar hote tak

(Aah: sigh, moaning, asar: effect, influence zulf; tresses, sar hote tak: till completion, conquering, accomplishment of a difficult task, till untanglement. A sigh needs a lifetime to have an impact. Who would live, or one would not be alive long enough, to witness the straightening, or smoothening, of your crinkling curls.)

 

Aashiqī   sabr-talab    aur   tamannā  betāb

dil kā kyā rañg karūñ ḳhūn-e-jigar hote tak

(taġhāful: neglect, ḳhaak: dust, earth, ashes, worthless) Love seeks patience but desires remain impatient, how long can I sustain with this pain of apathy. Till my heart withers away?

 

Ham  ne  maanā  ki  taġhāful  na  karoge lekin

ḳhaak ho jā.eñge ham tum ko ḳhabar hote tak

(taġhāful: neglect, ḳhaak: dust, earth, ashes, worthless. I agree that you will not forsake me eventually, but I will be turned to dust by the time I get your audience or indulgence.

 

Shakespeare: Zelensky wants to tell Biden, that when even animals happen to hear a trumpet, they all stand still, affected, but not this man Biden even on hearing the war trumpets of Russia. He has realised that the man is all bluster, he cannot be moved by our music, he is fit only for treason and game of artful stratagems, his soul is as dull as night and dark as the underworld and nobody like that should be trusted. Well, I have already covered it well through Lorenzo telling Jessica in The Merchant of Venice

 

“…If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound,

Or any air of music touch their ears,

You shall perceive them make a mutual stand…

…The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;

The motions of his spirit are dull as night

And his affections dark as Erebus:

Let no such man be trusted…”

 

Ghālib: This poor chap Zelenskyy is only getting verbal support and counsel that peace should prevail, no real help in war.

 

Ye kahāñ kī dostī hai ki bane haiñ dost nāseh

koī   chārasāz    hotā  koī   ġham-gusār   hotā

(nāseh: preacher, chārasāzi: doctor, physician, healer, ġham-gusār: comforter. What kind of friendship is this that these friends seek to preach instead of trying to allay my pain and sorrow?)

 

And Zelenskyy must be telling his western friends, this Joe Biden, particularly, 

Be-niyāzī had se guzrī  banda-parvar  kab talak 

ham kaheñge hāl-e-dil aur aap farmāveñge kyā    

(Be-niyāzī: Lack of concern, indifference, banda-parvar: one who takes care of someone. Your callousness exceeds all bounds, how long will I keep pouring out my heart to you and all you merely ask is what then?)

Shakespeare: Putin’s arrogance will not work, however. Did I not have Agamemnon say in Troilus and Cressida, “He that is proud eats up himself. Pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle; and whatever praises itself but in the deed devours the deed in the praise." 

Ghālib: Everyone thought that the Russians would stand in the centre of Kiev within a week of starting the invasion but now they are retreating! No show, I should say,

 

Thī ḳhabar garm ki  Ghālib ke  uḌeñge purze

dekhne ham bhī ga.e the pa tamāshā  na huā

(ḳhabar: news, garm: warm, purze: components, parts, tamāshā: spectacle. There was promise of murder and dismemberment of the lover and we too went to witness the spectacle too but it was a damp squib).

Peace in sight? Today, Zelensky exclaims that all this talk of Russian withdrawal is a sham,

 

Kī  mire qatl ke ba.ad  us  ne  jafā se  tauba

haa.e us zūd-pashīmāñ  kā  pashemāñ  honā

(qatl: murder, jafā: cruelty, injustice, tauba: renunciation, zūd-pashīmāñ: swiftly repentant.  After slaying me she has forsworn all cruciation and torture. Fie this quick and facile penitence!)

Shakespeare: Recall Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, playing wittily on words and Mercutio not being able to compete with him, saying, “Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done, for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five." I think this war is nothing but a wild goose chase for Putin.

 

Ghālib: On India’s stand, the world must learn diplomatic ambivalence from us:

 

Imāñ mujhe roke hai jo khīñche hai mujhe  kufr

ka.aba   mire   pīchhe   hai   kalīsā    mire aage

(Imāñ: faith, honesty, kufr: heresy, paganism, heathenism, kalīsā: church, synagogue. My faith curbs me even as paganism draws me towards it, the mosque stands behind me and the church in my front.) 

Shakespeare: More indecisive than you guys is this bloke Biden but even he pales in comparison to my creation, Hamlet. His indecision and quibble about his position in life destroyed everything. Appalled by the revelation by the ghost about the murder of his father and the former’s request to avenge his death by killing the treacherous Claudius, he says, “Haste me to know ’t, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge.” But because he does not follow up on the resolve speedily, everyone around him, Polonius, Laertes, Gertrude, are dead, even Ophelia, for whom he says, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers Could not with all their quantity of love Make up my sum…”. All this before he kills Polonius finally and dies. Even I do not know why he did kill Claudius, as a revenge for murdering his father or because he thought he was incestuous, “Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damnèd Dane, Drink off this potion. Is thy union here? Follow my mother.” 

Ghālib: This angrez (Englishman) has taken us from Ukraine to his insipid plays… 

Shakespeare: I do not even remember if I wrote this, but if I did, I did it for you Mr. Gaulib, “I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed.” And now, I have to rush to the Globe for another performance by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men instead of this idiotic clambake with you, Mr. Galling Glob. Adieu. 

Ghālib: Yes, go ahead vamoose, take the patlī galī (narrow lane, or an escape route) because, 

Aagahī dām-e-shunīdan jis qadar   chāhe  bichhā.e 

mudda.ā    anqā    hai     apne     ālam-e-taqrīr   kā 

(Aagahī: awareness, dām-e-shunīdan: net of listening, mudda.ā: matter, issue, anqā: mythical bird like phoenix or simurgh, ālam-e-taqrīr: state of writing. The quest of awareness may cast its net of listening as wide as possible but it would be like the scarce, or mythical phoenix bird, it would escape your limited intelligence) Khudā-hāfiz.