hahaha…GUM to nahiN thaa magar “layee” maujood thii jo aate se banaayii jaatii thii…maiN jab gaaoN meN patang uRaayaa kartaa thaa to jab patang phaT jaatii to usko ham layii se joRte the…Khud hii aaTe se banaate magar use choohe khaa jaate to kisii ne bataayaa k us meN harii tootiyaa Daal diyaa karo to choohaa nahiiN khaayegaa…aisaa hii kiyaa maiN ne to merii layii safe rahii
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maze kii baat to yeh hai k jab kuchh na hotaa to maiN naak [bugger] se joR liyaa kartaa thaa **
********in the time of Ghalib, since education, especially among women, was not very common and also the fact that the means of communication were limited, at best, the news of someone's death was relayed to the loved ones by means of letters. since the news was considered urgent and important so those letters containing the news of death were left OPEN [NOT sealed]. this way the postal authorities could easily notice it and treat that letter as a priority post and rush the delivery [in case of post cards, all it's four corners were snipped to denote the sad nature and urgency]. those letters were allowed to be read by anyone. as soon as the letters arrived in the neighbourhood or the village, the news would spread like wildfire and reach the addressee before the actual letter was delivered by the postman.
here, Ghalib is using this as an advance warning syestem. he says he is struck by so many calamities that even the letters that come to him are an open letter thus bringing in more misery :( poor Ghalib!**** :( ***that is, the news of bad happenings come to him even before the actual arrival of the miseries. :(*
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