favorite ghazal rendition

going through my old blog, i remembered that i had this short phase where i translated a couple hindi songs/ghazals into english. seeing that i felt like doing so again - so here goes my attempt at translating my all time favorite ghazal rendition: "yeh karam tanhaiyon ka" - written by nasir and set to tune and sung by ghulam ali.

a kind series of solitary moments will be all that is left,
in between you and me an emptiness will be all that is left.

all the reflections will get flown away in the sunny flood,
and there looking over into the waters someone will be left.

oh fellow traveller i am walking along such a path,
even if the destination is reached a distance will be left.

people will fall asleep tucked under a blanket of silence,
and wandering about in deserted lanes the moon will be left.

that which she once read having borrowed from me,
my name scribbled in those books will be all that is left.

Spiegeltent

This past sunday I went to a concert "India and Beyond" (featuring performances on the sarod, flute & percussion) with a friend of mine. This was a part of the Bard College's SummerScape festival - SpiegelPalais - being held in a Spiegeltent.

"Spiegeltents are hand-hewn pavilions used as traveling entertainment halls and wine-tasting marquees since the early 20th century. There are only a few of these unique and legendary "tents of mirrors" left in the world today. Built of wood, mirrors, canvas, and leaded glass and detailed in velvet and brocade, each has its own personality and style. In their heyday, Spiegeltents toured the lowlands of Europe as traveling dance halls, wine-tasting marquees and cabaret venues. These famed “palaces of mirrors” were so called for the myriad glittering mirrors that made possible discreet eye contact with other visitors." (Above is a picture of the Spiegeltent at Bard).

The concert was pretty good - they played some soothing indian classical ragaas and a couple of folk tunes. The lighting, decor and atmosphere inside the tent was amazing. There was seating outside too, with some nice home-made food being served in the tents. I had a fresh mozerella tomato sandwich with potato salad - it was delicious. The ambiance was nice too, with a almost-full moon shining down and some pleasing cool breeze blowing; it was all very quiet except the music coming from the tent and the continous chirping of crickets around. Overall a great evening.