Urdu Couplet Of The Day

Urdu Couplet Of The Day, Daagh Dehlavi:

baat karni jise na aati ho

baat sun ne ki usko taab kahan—Daagh Dehlavi

(How can someone who lacks civility in speech, have the forbearance to listen?)

DaaGh Dehlavi (1831-1905), is peerless among the romantic poets of the urdu ghazal. A master of the classical ghazal, Daagh belonged to the renowned Delhi school which was nursed to its fullness during the reign of Bahadur Shah Zafar. He is known for his chaste yet disarmingly simple urdu and his exquisite use of idioms and phrases in the ghazal.

The couple quoted here is tempered with philosophical connotations. The poet takes a dig at an intolerant person by suggesting that if he lacks the grace to communicate with others in a civil manner, he would not have the patience to listen to them either. It would also mean that he would not be able to digest the unpalatable truths he could be told. ‘Baat’ which could stand for word is therefore loaded with meaning. Daagh quibbles on it by using it in one sense in the first line and another in the second.