M and I attended the Midival punditz concert a few weeks back. We also got one of the cds as a gift from a generous friend.
One of the tracks that was playing in the car as we were driving back home, was based on Ghalib's poetry- " har ek baat pe kehte ho..ki tu kya hai. Tumhi kaho ke yeh andaz-e-guftagoo kya hai". (stay with me- this is relevant to the rest of the story)
Needless to say, for someone who's gradually becoming familiar with Hindi, this had the same effect a heavy metal song might have on Mayawati- zero comprehension but immense wonderment.
" So, what does gufta-gu mean"
" It's a nice way of saying conversation-but you don't really use it colloquially"
" So would it be right to say- 'mere ghar aa ja. gufta-gu karenge?'"
" hahahahahah. no. that just sounds like a proposition"
" but is it not like 'vaartalaap?'"
" yes. it is the urdu equivalent of vaartalaap- but you don't use it in everyday language unless you are reading the news.....at home!"
" so how would you use it?"
" umm, if I were to compose a poem and say 'aa baith mere ru-ba-ru. gufta-gu karenge" (yes- this was at my poetic best)
"......"
"why don't you call up S and tell her that hum uske ghar gufta-gu ka pradarshan karne aa rahe hain"
"???!!!! silly- pradarshan means display!"
"what does the song mean anyway- each time you ask me, who are you?"
"no no. It's more of a probe into what you are...think of it as 'tu cheez kya hai' types"
"simple-main cheez badi hoon mast mast"
*give up+ apology to Ghalib*
Heavy metal might not be a bad idea. The mayhem does not conceal very many words.
