Sadequain’s pictorial rendition of Ghalib.
"Dard-e-dil likhoo’n kab tak, jaa’oon unn ko dikhlaa’oon
Ungliyan figaar apni, khaama khoo’n-chikaan apna"
Ungliyan figaar apni, khaama khoo’n-chikaan apna"
-Mirza Asad Ullah Khan Ghalib
An excerpt from Kamila Shamsie's Salt and Saffron
“…On the walls, Sadequain’s pictorial rendition of one of Ghalib’s verses. The illustration showed a paper, half filled with Urdu words. In the foreground, a pair of hands with bloodied fingertips. One hand held a red-tipped quill, poised to scratch a finger which dripped blood. The accompanying couplet was one I could recite at the age of three:
Dard-e-dil likhoo’n kab tak, jaa’oon unn ko dikhlaa’oon
Ungliyan figaar apni, khama khoo’n-chikaan apna
Conventional translations would render it something like this: ‘How long shall I write of my aching heart? Come! I will show my Beloved/ My wounded fingers, my pen drpping blood.”
Dard-e-dil likhoo’n kab tak, jaa’oon unn ko dikhlaa’oon
Ungliyan figaar apni, khama khoo’n-chikaan apna
Conventional translations would render it something like this: ‘How long shall I write of my aching heart? Come! I will show my Beloved/ My wounded fingers, my pen drpping blood.”
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