Omicron and Mirza Ghalib

Even as the  gloom of the pandemic had seemed to be receding, Omicron emerged to cast its black shadow on the world.  But, even in this rapidly enveloping darkness,  people are seeing hope, that the pandemic having wrought its worst over the last two years, will now turn endemic, which looks like a good case scenario. They see it as the beginning of the end. 

But what possibly could Omicron have in common with Ghalib and his poetry? 

It is this contra sentiment, which I stated above, that Ghalib captured in this famous sher (which many of you would have heard but didn’t stop to ruminate on what it meant) :

z̤ulmat-kade meñ mere shab-e ġham kā josh hai
ik shamʿa hai dalīl-e saḥar so ḳhamosh hai

(1) in my room of grief is the cheerfulness of the night of sorrow

(2) a candle is a sign of the dawn-- so it is extinguished/'silent'

It is quite a complex sher by Ghalib. Fear not. Stay with me. I'll paraphrase some commentaries to explain the meaning.

Let's look at the first line : 

(z̤ulmat-kade meñ mere shab-e ġham kā josh hai)

Here there is a reversal of a usual poetic metaphor. The poet is sitting in a dark chamber (zulmat-kade) in a night of sorrow (shab-e-gham). This would normally conjure a dull and listless imagery. But the last words are ".... josh hai". Why josh (cheer) you may ask. 

The answer is in the second line :

ik shamʿa hai dalīl-e saḥar so ḳhamosh hai

An extinguished candle is an evidence or 'proof' of dawn (dalil-e-sehr) because people put off the candles when dawn is just around the corner. Thus while the extinguishing of the candle, actually increases the darkness, it is also a sign of hope - an indicator of the coming of dawn. 

One would expect that since light metaphorically, normally signifies hope, then the light giver (candle) should also signify hope. But here the light giver goes silent, while the darkness that it brings due to its extinguishment is what brings hope. Hence the darkness is full of 'josh' (cheer).

Now read the sher again .... you'll enjoy it even more ... 

So even as the world prepares for Omicron one can hope that it is just the darkest hour before the post pandemic dawn. 

Stay safe. See you at daybreak.

- Anuj Kacker

Listen to Jagjit Singh sing this Ghazal