18 October
2019
From the quill of Purnam Allahabadi
(sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan)
“Agar’che kisi baat par woh khafa hain
To achha yehi hai tum apni si kar lo
Woh maaney ya na manaey yeh marzi hai unki
Magar un ko purnam manaa kar to dekho”
Roughly translated (improvements welcome)
She seems to be upset about something
Perhaps it is best to just move on
It is up to her whether to accept me or not
But please try to convince her with all your passion
There is a clever play on the word “purnam” in the end. The last line can mean – try with your “full” force to convince OR try to convince her about “Purnam” – which was the name of the poet. In the old days in that part of the subcontinent, poets often embedded their names in their poems – in a form of copyright protection!