— from the ghazal beginning “patta patta boota boota haal hamara jaane hai”, Mir Taqi Mir (1723–1810)
About this quote
देवनागरी
पत्ता पत्ता बूटा बूटा हाल हमारा जाने है
जाने न जाने गुल ही न जाने बाग़ तो सारा जाने है
اردو
پتا پتا بوٹا بوٹا حال ہمارا جانے ہے
جانے نہ جانے گل ہی نہ جانے باغ تو سارا جانے ہے
English
Every leaf, every shrub knows what I am going through. The rose alone may not know it — but the whole garden does.
What it means
Mir’s most quoted opening, and a complaint disguised as a boast. His condition is so public that the vegetation has noticed; the one person it concerns — gul, the rose, the beloved — is the only one still pretending not to. The last three words carry the sting.
What it teaches you
The couplet separates two things people routinely confuse: being widely known about, and being acknowledged by the one person concerned. A whole garden of sympathisers is compatible with total silence from the rose, and Mir is clear that the garden’s knowledge is no substitute — it is the evidence of his failure, not a consolation for it. Turn that on your own situation: when a difficulty has been discussed with everyone except the person it involves, ask honestly whether the discussing has become the easier alternative to the asking. Notice also the exact wording of the escape Mir leaves open — jaane na jaane, she may or may not know — which concedes that the rose’s ignorance might be genuine, and that he has no way of finding out while he is addressing the garden.
अर्थ और सीख
मेरा हाल बाग़ का पत्ता-पत्ता जानता है, बस गुल यानी महबूब ही अनजान बना हुआ है। शिकायत को तारीफ़ की शक्ल में कहने का यही मीर का अंदाज़ है।
सारे बाग़ का जानना उस एक के जानने की जगह नहीं ले सकता जिससे बात असल में करनी है। अगर आपकी तकलीफ़ सबसे कही जा चुकी है सिवाय उस शख़्स के, तो देखिए कि कहीं यह पूछने से बचने का आसान रास्ता तो नहीं।
Where it comes from
Verified against the collected work of Mir Taqi Mir (1723–1810) on Urdu Wikisource, in the poem beginning پتا پتا بوٹا بوٹا حال ہمارا جانے ہے (source). Devanagari transliteration and English rendering are our own.
