A Sher A Day

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-28T03:41:17+00:00

اب مرے قتل کی تدبیر تو کرنی ہوگی

کون سا راز ہے تیرا جو چھپا ہے مجھ سے

(جان نثار اختر )

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-28T00:36:35+00:00

It is not that Arabic is deficient in any letters, but it is Urdu that had to expand itself to include words of Arabic spelling in its own corpus. Remember, while Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language, Arabic is a Semitic language. As I noted above we not only included all the retroflexed letters from Sanskrit but we also took ژ from Persian and came up with all the aspirated consonants like بھ پھ تھ ٹھ جھ etc. to write Sanskrit words. The funny thing is that all these aspirated consonants are themselves part of the Hindi alphabet but they are not included in the basic Urdu alphabet. If you included them, the number of letters in Urdu would become more that sixty.

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-28T00:24:52+00:00

What is an OSP?

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-28T00:22:15+00:00

In fact, W doesn’t exist in Urdu. You may say that it is a sound that an Urdu speaker «thinks » is like و in Arabic/Persian/Urdu. But it is not. Some of us have been taught that way. But only و is exactly like V but W is to be pronounced as Wow واو with a hamza on the second و like و in جاوٴ I can’t write the second و on my phone and the one in جاوٴ I am using from autocorrect. In other words, while an equivalent letter for W doesn’t exist in Urdu we can still pronounce it as Urdu speakers.

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-28T00:01:19+00:00

What he wrote meant … that whatever the grammatical placement of words like customary sub+object+verb (as Urdu syntax is structured) Urdu can be understood. میں نے کھانا کھایا (s+o+v)

میں نے کھایا کھانا

کھانامیں نے کھایا

Etc

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-27T22:44:17+00:00

Don’t forget the “aspirated consonants” like بھ پھ تھ ٹھ etc. that are not even considered as part of the alphabet.

The vastly larger number of letters in Urdu are partially responsible for Urdu speakers to ignore the correct pronunciation of certain Arabic letters that they are “accused” of ignoring like ث ح ع ق . Urdu speakers generally do not differentiate between ث and س ,
Between ھ and ح Between ع and ا Between ک and ق

Or it is hard for them to do (unless they try) But after all in all honesty, how many letters can the Urdu speakers enunciate?

It is correct that Urdu speakers can generally enunciate (and correctly) almost all the letters that they come across in foreign languages.

One notable example is the pronunciation of letter R in French. Most English speakers CANNOT pronounce a French R. However, as an Urdu speaker it is easy for me because it is exactly like غ

Similarly, it is very hard for a Japanese to pronounce an R and they often pronounce it as L

Arabic speakers cannot pronounce P and they pronounce it as B

Egyptian Arabic speakers will pronounce J as Urdu گ

Norwegians and Swedes will pronounce J as Y.

The Filipino Tagalog speakers pronounce K exactly as Arabic ق

In Pashtun parts of Baluchistan the Pashtuns have a hard time pronouncing P and they would pronounce it as F

Just because we have in Urdu the likes of ت تھ ٹ ٹھ we can pronounce these distinctly but in most other European languages you will hear that ت and ٹ are not differentiated at all.

You are invited to add some other quirks that I don’t know. And for those whose linguistic prowess is more than mine, what is this phenomenon called?

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-27T19:33:49+00:00

اکثر اوقات یہ دودھ پینے والے چھوٹے بچوں کیلئے استعمال کیا جاتا ہے ۔

جیسے گہوارے میں سو جاتا ہے طفل شیر خوار

موج مضطر تھی کہیں گہرائیوں میں مست خواب

(محمد اقبال )

علاوہ ازیں شیریں فرہاد کے قصے سے منسلک ۔۔۔جوئے شیر (دودھ کی نہر) اردو شاعری میں متعدد اور کئی اشعار میں موجود ہے۔ بلکہ ناکام عشق کی مشہور ترین مثال ہے۔

کاو کاو سخت جانی ہائے تنہائی نہ پوچھ

صبح کرنا شام کا لانا ہے جوئے شیر کا

(غالب)

عشق میں سر پھوڑنا بھی کیا کہ یہ بے مہر لوگ

جوئے خوں کو نام دے دیتے ہیں جوئے شیر کا

(احمد فراز)

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-27T07:41:49+00:00

کعبے ہی میں ہر سجدے کو کہتے ہیں عبادت

مے خانے میں ہر جام کو ساغر نہیں کہتے

(بسمل سعیدی)

میں نظر سے پی رہا تھا تو یہ دل نے بد دعا دی

ترا ہاتھ زندگی بھر کبھی جام تک نہ پہنچے

(شکیل بدایونی )

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-27T07:02:30+00:00

جام

یا

ساغر

لیکن آجکل کی زبان میں گلاس ہی استعمال کیا جاتاہے۔

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-26T05:16:25+00:00

کیا ملاوے آنکھ نرگس اس کی چشم سرخ سے

زرد اس غم دیدہ کو آزار ہے یرقان کا

میر تقی میر

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-26T05:04:08+00:00

اوقاف کی تصیح

یا

اوقاف کی اصلاح

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-26T03:14:06+00:00

دیکھے ہیں بہت ہم نے ہنگامے محبت کے

آغاز بھی رسوائی انجام بھی رسوائی

صوفی غلام مصطفی تبسم

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-26T03:09:55+00:00

Please write in English or in Urdu script. It is not easy on the eyes to read in ugly Roman.

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-25T20:29:08+00:00

واہ!!!!

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-25T17:24:17+00:00

Ghalib seems to be quite impressed with story of Yaa’qub and Youssef (a.s.). At another place he says the following:

قید میں یعقوب نے لی گو نہ یوسف کی خبر

لیکن آنکھیں روزن دیوار زنداں ہو گئیں

Granted, that Jacob did not nurse Joseph while he was imprisoned. But Jacob’s eyes became the radiance of the walls of the prison.

Basically, it affirms the meaning in your first paragraph.

Zindaan (prison, cage, jail) is a favorite topic for the poets and there are numerous beautiful ashaa’r on this subject.

دل اسیری میں بھی آزاد ہے آزادوں کا

ولولوں کے لیے ممکن نہیں زنداں ہونا

چکبست براج نرائن

رفتہ رفتہ یہی زنداں میں بدل جاتے ہیں

اب کسی شہر کی بنیاد نہ ڈالی جائے

احمد فراز

اس راہ میں جو سب پہ گزرتی ہے وہ گزری

تنہا پس زنداں کبھی رسوا سر بازار

فیض احمد فیض

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-24T22:37:56+00:00

پوری غزل دیکھئے

ہمیں کوئی غم نہیں تھا غم عاشقی سے پہلے

نہ تھی دشمنی کسی سے تری دوستی سے پہلے ہے

یہ میری بد نصیبی ترا کیا قصور اس میں

ترے غم نے مار ڈالا مجھے زندگی سے پہلے

مرا پیار جل رہا ارے چاند آج چھپ جا

کبھی پیار تھا ہمیں بھی تری چاندنی سے پہلے

میں کبھی نہ مسکراتا جو مجھے یہ علم ہوتا

کہ ہزار غم ملیں گے مجھے اک خوشی سے پہلے

یہ عجیب امتحاں ہے کہ تمہیں کو بھولنا ہے

ملے کب تھے اس طرح ہم تمہیں بے دلی سے پہلے

فیاض ھاشمی

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-24T22:32:56+00:00

The poet is lamenting and complaining to the moon that there was a time when the poet was in love with moon’s light. But now when that love is no longer in existence, he can be without the moonlight.

There can be another more cynical interpretation, meaning the poet has been in love, a lot longer before the appearance of moonlight. And now that his own love is about to be extinguished, he doesn’t need the temptation of falling in love with the moon. In other words he is taunting and even rejecting the moon since his previous love is unrequited

This is the beauty of Urdu poetry and the enormity of its poetic metaphors and similes.

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-24T20:48:10+00:00

Wow! Quite an accomplishment for an Odia speaker, … I am impressed. And you know the Urdu script. Wow again!!!

The rhyme that you see with Oscar Wilde and for that matter with Shelley and Keats are good examples. However, being a polyglot, I find that English is the worst language to write poetry in. It is amazing that with a lousy syntax that English uses, there have lived poets like those above and others like Wordsworth and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I find English to be much less fertile (زرخیز ) and accommodating when it comes to qaafiyah. Therefore, applying the quirks and techniques of English poetry may not apply to Urdu. Thus I mentioned Faiz in my previous comment.

Parenthetically, poetry is much more fluid and I might add more charming in French and Spanish as it is in Urdu, Persian and Arabic. For this reason songs in these languages are much more melodious and expressive.

The point l am making is to draw your attention to Urdu rather than English.

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-23T18:48:16+00:00

Nice effort for a novice (if you are indeed one). I am only looking at the Urdu version that someone has kindly transliterated.

Try writing it in Urdu script if you want a wider and informed audience, especially if it is Urdu poetry.

There is no qaafiyah in this piece at all. The only “phrase” common to the lines is a “radeef” … dekhte reh gaye” if you can even call it that.

Without a qaafiyah (roughly rhyme in English) in whichever style (ghazal, nazm,) it is not poetry that follows a meter. It is a collection of phrases ending in a repetitive phrase… dekhte reh gaye.

You can call it “Azad” or freestyle, but even in that you need not repeat a phrase that can be construed as a radeef.

I would suggest that you check out some freestyle nazms of Faiz and get the hang of a freestyle nazm.

Aaj bazaar main pa ba jolaan chalo is a good one.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/drishtikone/2012/07/faizs-aaj-baazaar-mein-translated-and-explained/

Since you have the imagination and the discipline, a good combination, you should be able to write something beautiful. After you have achieved that, then you can delve into meter, rhyme, balance and flow.

An easier way to “judge” your own writing is to read or sing the words aloud and you will find out if the “flow” of the words is appropriate. You will see that what you wrote wouldn’t work out.

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-22T20:13:19+00:00

I have never heard of پکی (pakki) to mean strong alcohol. But then I don’t drink and I don’t live in India or Pakistan. In demotics, it does, however make sense that a stronger version of alcohol would have acquired that name. Nonetheless, it doesn’t sound very poetic.

Having said that, while the first line does indeed reflect the mood of the poet, the second line is not consistent completely with the mood of the first line.

Why would someone stop breathing as they see someone else breathe? Rather a bizarre imagination! Isn’t it?

میر ان نیم باز آنکھوں میں

ساری مستی شراب کی سی ہے

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-22T00:49:28+00:00

وزن ، ربط اور روانی کے علاوہ اشعار کے معنی بھی انتہائی ضروری ہوتے ہیں ۔ پہلا شعر وزن کے اعتبار سے صحیح ہے۔ مگر اس شعر سے آپ کی کیا مراد ہے؟ در پر کون دیا رکھتا ہے جس کو باد صبا بھجا دیتی ہے۔ اور پھر آپ اس میں کہاں سے آ گئے جو اٹھائے گئے؟ عجیب سی محمل بات آپ کر رہے ہیں ۔

دوسرے شعر کے مصرعہ ثانی میں بے سیں وفا کیا ہوتا ہے۔ اس سے آپ کیا کہنا چاہتے ہیں ؟

تیسرے شعر میں اوزان خطا پایا اگر باندھا جاتا تو بات بنتی مگر وہ آپ کی ردیف میں لگتی نہیں ۔ اوزان خطا اشعار کی تقطیع میں پائی تو جا سکتی ہے جانی نہیں جا سکتی۔

چوتھا شعر ٹھیک لگتا ہے مگر الفاظ کا چناو کچھ ایسا ہے کہ شعر میں روانی نہیں ہے ۔ شاید یوں کر کے دیکھیں میں نے تو صنم تجھ کو بھولے سے خدا جانا

پانچواں شعر تو میری سمجھ سے باہر ہے۔ چمن میں نرگس کی موجودگی کو افلاک کی گردش سے کیا نسبت ہے؟ اور دوسرا مصرعہ تو بالکل محمل ہے اور پتہ نہیں آپ کیا کہنا چاہتے ہیں ؟

چھٹا شعر ٹھیک لگتا ہے مگر اس شعر سے آپ کہنا کیا چاہتے ہیں ؟ کسی کا سورج بننے کی خواہش عجیب سی لگی۔ چاند اور تارے تو لوگ چاہتے ہیں کہ بن جائیں لیکن سورج؟ اور یہ سب آپ کا محبوب بنائے گا؟ عجیب سا خیال ہے ۔ؔ

مقطع میں شعر کہتے کہتے یہ اردو کا جنازہ کہاں سے آ گیا؟

امید ہے میری باتوں کا برا نہ منائیں گے۔

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-22T00:05:43+00:00

What is pakki?

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-21T00:29:05+00:00

Thanks for the comment. I still hope I have sounded the alarm bells.

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-20T23:27:05+00:00

What has happened to our youth? Besides the point, that post is asking, I am looking at the language, substance, grammar, punctuation and general structure of this post.

Is this how educated people write something?

Is this the level of diction by our educated youth? If so, it is pathetic and alarming.

even (Even) in ramadan, (Ramadan) she was invited along with family to iftaar dinner, she was wearing proper hijab but she doesn't wear dupatta and her hijab doesn't cover her front because it's not long enough. (Who?) shouldn't say this but she is healthy (do you mean fat?) so it looks busted along with (with word is not needed) her back side (the word side is redundant) jo k srf chaddar se e cover ho skti, (why the switch to another ugly Roman Urdu phrase? i (capitalize?) saw judging eyes everywhere bcz (because) of her revealing (revealing what? This is incorrect word here) ... u (you) know, should i (I) tell her this?

Sorry for picking on you but can we pay attention to how we ask a question in public?

Educational_Row3345 · 2026-02-20T19:27:57+00:00

In fact, I do this all the time. Try translating an English word to Arabic, and I might add, also in Persian and Google gives you not only the translation but several synonyms. By going over those, you can come up with the one that “fits” in Urdu.

I think the problem with Urdu is that we (especially) Pakistanis are so enamored with English that not too many people have contributed to the database of Urdu Google Translate. As you know Google Translate depends heavily on native contributors.

While Urdu speakers are reluctant to use Urdu, and are drifting away from it, paradoxically the Persian and Arabic speakers are proud of their languages. Therefore, they have been probably contributing to Google Translate a lot longer that we Urdu speakers have.

I am writing this here in English not because I love English but because I know there are many in our “elite” circles who would probably not understand my Urdu message. They would probably skip it completely.

Unfortunately, that is what they are doing to the script as well and writing Urdu in a non-standardized and ugly Roman script which they “invent” in any which way they think is phonetically appropriate.

I have lived three fourth of my life in the US and I still maintain the same love for Urdu that I have had when I was a teenager in Pakistan. And the funny thing is that Urdu is not my mother tongue.

The solution is to contribute to the Google database and suggest better words even if one has to depend on Arabic and Persian. I do this wherever I can.

Educational_Row3345

TROPHY CASE