Ram Daryani

Hari Daryani ‘Dilgir’ is my father whom I call Papa. I have a very special relationship with my Papa. Besides being my father he is my Guru and my friend. I could talk to him almost about anything. We shared books. He suggested to me to read Count of Monte Cristo written by Aleixandre Dumas, while I was studying engineering. He gave a warning too. He said that this is an addictive book; once you start you can’t keep it down. It was a book in two volumes. It took me about 15 days to complete reading the book. In those fifteen days, I forgot about my studies, eating food and taking a bath. In the same way, I used to suggest books to him. I purchased a book for Papa. It was complete works of Walt Whitman, the poet laureate of America. He liked the book very much. Papa expressed to me that after reading Walt Whitman he has seen several changes in his poetry. It is a fact that the book of Walt Whitman was on his bedside table until the end. No one knows that Papa’s poetry had traces of Walt Whitman. I am saying this today publicly for the first time. Papa was a lover of Shah Abdul Latif. He remembered almost entire Risalo of Shah Latif by heart. In the morning he used to sing Shah Latif, with the beat of tune with his hands on the book of Shah Latif. My mother Nanki used to sing along with Papa. It used to be an experience listening to the sweet melodious voice in the early hours of the morning, while I was in slumber. His recordings of morning singing are available in our family. Papa wrote a book “Amar Geet”. It is Sindhi translation of Bhagwat Gita in perfect poetry. Papa had given me a book of Bhagwat Gita written by Mahadev Desai, the PA to Mahatma Gandhi. It is a wonderful commentary on Gita, comparing all the regions with Shlokas of Gita. This book was published by Mahatma Gandhi after the death of Mahadev Desai. Papa knew about my interest in Gita. I still have that book with me in my library. One day he gave me his book Amar Geet to me, to my utter surprise, he asked me to compare his translation with Gita. His intention was to verify the literal correctness of the translated Shlokas. I think this is the greatest honour that a son can get from his father. I never knew that he had so much faith in me. I took the job upon me and did it sincerely. I compared Papa’s translation with Gita written by Swami Chnimayananda. In this book the original Sanskrit text is given, word by word meaning is given and the meaning of each Shloka is given followed by a few pages of commentary. I found that the translation done was perfect with the keywords placed properly and the imagery used in Gita was also precisely translated. Later, Gobind Malhi approached Papa and requested his permission to produce music cassettes in the voice of Bhagwati Navani, the famous Sindhi singer. I think while comparing Amar Geet the translation with original Gita, seeds of translation were sown in my mind. My father left for heavenly abode in the year 2004, and my mother followed in 2008. Immediately after the death of my mother; as it is customary; her cupboard was opened by the family. Besides the usual things, in the locker in the cupboard, a small packet was found. This packet was a plastic pouch, which had a few things in it. There was a small photo frame with pictures of our Guru Fakir Ghulam Ali of Kandri Darbar and my grandfather Diwan Gurudinomal and my grandmother Tikul. Also in the packet was a very small Sindhi book called “Panj Granthi” (Five Sacred Books). There was an inland letter from Pakistan written by Dr Ashraf Abbasi, to whom we had given our ancestral home while leaving Sindh in 1958. Besides all this, there were a small two inches by four inches diary of about a hundred pages. This diary was written in the handwriting of my father. To my surprise, I found that the diary contained about thirty poems written during the period 1937 to 1940. Excepting one or two all the poems were unpublished. It was not difficult to understand that these poems were written by my father for my mother while they were engaged. So, this was a record of love between my father and mother, while they were engaged to be married. The diary was treasured by my mother, literally till her death, without sharing the cherished moments of love with anyone. Not even with her children. While I was looking at this treasure, with utter disbelief, a couplet of Mirza Ghalib’s ghazal came to my mind. Chand Tasweer-e-Butan, Kutchh Haseeno ke Khutoot Baad Marne Ke Mere Ghar se Yeh Samaan Nikla A few pictures of idols and a few letters from the beautiful After my death, this is all that was found in my house While this packet was in my hands, I decided there and then that I will bring out these poems in a book form. I declared that I will keep this packet with me. In the rest of the things, I was not interested. I brought this wonderful packet with me to Nagpur. I kept thinking about the form and design of the book to be published. I came across a book named ‘Illusions’ written by Richard Baugh, author of the famous book ‘Seagull”. The book ‘Illusions’ had several pages in handwriting of the author. This gave me an idea; why not publish this book in my father’s handwriting. At last, I decided that this book will be published in Sindhi script, Devnagri Sindhi script and English script. The Sindhi script will, of course, be in my father’s handwriting, as he had very good handwriting. This is how the preliminary image surfaced in my mind as to what the book will look like. I want this book should reach a maximum number of people. As on date, Sindhi script is known to a few people only, whose age is sixty-five years or more. If it is published in Sindhi script, it will have only sentimental value, no readership value. But I wish to bring out this book as a book of literature, which could be understood and read by our children and grandchildren also. Finally, a book was published which had an English translation of about 26 poems of Papa, written for my Mummy. The book also had some paintings made by my Mummy. The book was named “Virgin Verses”. This was the beginning of where my career as a translator started. 15th June 2019 happens to be 103rd birthday of Hari Dilgir, my Papa. On this day children and grandchildren of Papa have decided to launch a website in honour of their beloved Papa. The idea started with my sister Lata Gurnani, and the idea was materialized through Honey who is the daughter-in-law of Lata and is a professor of computer science. I am sure this unique web site will be a great asset for lovers of Sindhi language and Sindhi literature.