18 March 2017

Winding down with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“Mere rashk-e-qamar tu ne pehli nazar,
Jab nazar se milaayee maza aa gaya
Bara si gir gaii kaam hi kar gaii,
Aag aisi lagaaii maza aa gaya”

Trying to translate this is not going to be easy. The first big challenge is explaining the import of a simple phrase as “maza aa gaya”. Literally it might be said it means “(I) became overjoyed”. But it really conveys a lot more. Elements of “ecstasy” is carried thru in that phrase. And elements of “unparalleled” nature of joy is conveyed thru that phrase.

The second challenge is to translate the construct of Urdu phrases. They are constructed almost the opposite of English phrases, sequentially speaking. “Rashk e qamar” is best understood as “envy of moon”. Basically, he is describing her as somebody whose beauty is the subject of envy by the moon.

Let’s see if this does any justice…

“Oh! You – who is the envy of the moon, your first glance
When it met my own eyes, it flung me into a world of ecstasy

(And in that look) Lightning struck and completely charred me
You lit such a fire that I burnt in a fire of that ecstasy.”

Category: Music/Poetry | 17 Comments on Winding down with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
17 March 2017

That was an interesting landing…

It is very unusual to get such a clear picture of the entire Atlanta airport from so up close. If you are wondering what happened – this is the answer… We were flying in from San Francisco. The plane twisted and turned about 30 miles before the airport and aligned itself to land from the West end (all the 5 active runways at Atlanta airports run East West) and then something funny happened once we hit about 7000 feet.

The pilot had made all the necessary announcements and then I realized instead of continuously losing height, the nose seemed to even out and then we banked a little more and then straightened out. Which means we were aligned with the runways but we would be missing them by a couple of miles if we are hitting the ground.

And soon, I realized that we are not landing after all. For whatever reason, we had changed our minds and instead we just flew along the runway. Seemed like a last minute change of mind. Perhaps sudden change of wind direction? Checked the wind speeds – only 13 mph. Meant nothing for a big 737-900.

We went to the other end – flying parallely to the runways on the North end and then eventually banked back and landed from the East end. After the flight landed, I asked the air hostesses – they were of no help. And the cockpit door was still closed. Could not ask the pilots and a plane full of people wanting to get off a plane they had been in for over four hours did not help 🙂

For the life of me, I could not figure out why we tried to position ourselves to one end of the runway, and then flew along the runway and then landed from the other side. On the plus side, it let me take some lateral pictures of the whole airport from barely five miles away in the air. That is a great sight for frequent fliers from Atlanta airport like me…

Category: Travelogs | 5 Comments on That was an interesting landing…
15 March 2017

Wrong sign, wrong place?

I would suggest that during an overflow, get the heck out of here. So parking – sharking…

(that is River Williamette and I was in Oregon City south of Clackamas. Not sure why I had to point out that “south of Clackamas” bit but I love saying “Clackamas” 🙂 )

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14 March 2017

Which airport I am in? Fifth in the series…

This airport regularly features pictures of young kids (I could find kids from 7 years to 16 years old) who want to be adopted by a family. This is thanks to the efforts of an organization called ForeeverFamily.org.

Pro photographers work pro bono to take pictures of the kids and write up short stories about the kids and they are then put out in this airport.

Great effort.

Which airport?

Category: Travelogs | 1 Comment on Which airport I am in? Fifth in the series…