Is Baarish Ko Hum Kya Likhen? Rain’s Many Names

Rain is truly one of the wonders of nature. From the arrival of the fruit-bearing springtime to the wintery winds of change knocking at our doors, rain is the magic wand swirling behind the seasonal spell.

Every falling raindrop wakes up the memories of some forgotten rainy-day, memories which now bedew our hearts, and then moisten our eyes. But how does one express these countless droplets, these nameless memories? If each memory is a raindrop, each deserves a name, doesn’t it?

Well, if that’s the case then Urdu poetry can certainly prove worthwhile. Poets, just like all of us, adore rain. For one it’s analogous to tears, for another it’s a precursor to better times, but unanimously inseparable to all.

Urdu/Hindi, call it what you want, is among the richest languages in the world, having numerous expressions for even the most everyday expressions. And rain, too, has quite a few names expressing different aspects and moods associated with it.

Given how we’re all confined to our homes, unable to enjoy the monsoon, how about enjoying a little drizzle of Urdu poetry? Who knows if you’d be soaked in the shower of rainy words at the end of it! One humble request though, no rational umbrellas, please!

Let’s begin with the most common of all, Baarish!

Baarish: Rain, shower

Urged, the sunlight
A raindrop’s site?

MOHAMMAD ALVI

Baaraan: Rainfall

if the night passes, thank your stars
the hint of a rainstorm, too, clouds the air

SAQI FARUQI

Barsaat: a downpour

The girls, beholding the clouds, amused
Atop the terraces, rain-flowers bloomed

MUNEER NIYAZI

Menh: Rainfall (Masc.)

Today the raindrops fall with such might
That they wound stones too, among sundries

FAKHR ZAMAN

Jhaala: rain which falls on one spot and not on another close to it (Masc.)
Dongdaa: a slight shower

I cry, like the spring bearing cloud
neither a shower, nor a drizzle, I shroud!

SHAD LAKHNAVI

Varsha: Rainstorm, a downpour

A torrential site might appear on land, unknowingly
For these coerced eyes keep raining, unceasingly

ZAFAR IMAM

Tarashshoh: a drizzle, a shower
Boonda-baandi: drip-drop
Phuvaar: small fine rain, drizzle

drizzle’s the name of this drip-drop
like today’s babyish pour

ISMAIL MERATHI

Know any more rain-names? Shower them in the comment box, and share with everyone! And, if you’re reading this while it’s raining, Happy Rainy Day!