Sarakti Jaye Hai Rukh Se Naqab English Translation

Sarakti jaye hai rukh se naqab, translates to English as, slipping away is the veil of the face... Sarakti approximates to slipping, from the term sarak, which means slippage or slip. Naqab translates to mask, or veil. In this context, it represents the childhood of the girl, which slowly slips away, bringing her into adulthood represented by the midnight sun (aaftaab). It was a gazal sung by Jagjit Singh and the best version I heard was in the 1979 LP album Come Alive. It is essentially about a father writing about his daughters coming of age, her growing up, and subsequent final separation into marriage. He expresses the doubts and worries he had and the powerlessness he felt in the final separation. Each couplet of the lyrics expresses a step of this journey, ending with the term ahista ahista (slowly slowly, or in Urdu it can also approximate to step-by-step).

This is a beautiful song that expresses how all fathers feel towards their daughters when they come of age. It is as if suddenly the sun has come out, and all fathers feel proud of this moment and want to protect their daughters when this happens. They also do not want them grow up too quickly and leave the family home, however eventually, this has to happen. When the daughter leaves the family home, she inherits a new set of parents, and sometimes they may not be nice to her. Therefore all fathers have this worry and the sleepless nights wondering if their daughters are all right. Of course, this was in the old days, because today, you have the Google Smartphone, so daughters can call their parents anytime. In addition, today, women have much more rights. However this primeval biochemical programming remains within us to this day.

In this translation, I felt that it was more important to focus on the precise meaning of the words, which span Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, and Arabic regions; otherwise the meaning is lost very easily. Of course, you can always add your own flowery words later to embellish it if you wish!

Meaning and Context

Yak lakht or yak bayak, as in eyka-eyki (together, or simultaneously). Sometimes also used as aanan-faanan to express suddenly, or the term bae-they towards the Arab regions.

Shabaab, youth, nubile in this case. Similar to, jawaani, mardaangi, quuwat-e-baah... Becoming an adult, or coming of age as we say in English...

Haya, shyness, feeling shame

Vasl, union/meeting

Faasil, separation, separator

Khauf, fear, afraid, dread

Savaal, question

Moon, maah tab

Aaftaab, sun, as in midnight sun (aaftaab niim shab)

Aaftaabi, sunny, sunbathe

Bey dardi sey, closely approximates to ruthless. It is similar to bey raehmi sey, and in some parts they also use Shaqaawat sey. There is an element of being heartless in the meaning such as in sang dili sey.

Sar, head

Kaate, cut

Aamir (Hindi), strong man, as in taaqat war

Aamir (Urdu), autocrat such as a dictator. For example, aamiriyat approximates to dictatorship.

Huzuur, highness, as in huzuur-aali (Your Highness!)

Janaab, mister, sir, your honour

Furqat, absence, disunion, separation,

Shab, night

Farishtah, angel

Farishton, angels, or little devils of doubt that cause worry in this context

Fursat, Recovery, rest, leisure

English Translation

Sarakti jaye hai, rukh se naqab, ahista ahista,

Slipping away, veil of the face, slowly,

Slipping away is the veil of the face, slowly,

nikalta aaya raha hai, aaftaab, ahista ahista.

bringing out, the midnight sun, slowly.

Jawa ho ne lage jab wo toh, hamse karliya pardaa,

When she came of age, I (protected) her with the veil,

haya yak lakht ayi aur shabab, ahista ahista.

shyness and simultaneously youth blossomed, slowly.

Savaal e faasil par, unko uduu ka khauf hai itna,

Question on separation, she had so much fear,

dabe honthon se, dete hain jawaab, ahista ahista.

with pressed lips, she replies, slowly.

Hamare aur tumare, pyar mein, bas fark hai itna,

In (how much we) love, there is only this much difference between you and us,

idhar toh jaldi-jaldi hai, udhar ahista ahista.

there it is quickly-quickly, and here slowly, slowly.

The meaning here is that on the boys side of the family, they want all the arrangements carried out quickly, but on the girls side, their parents want it slowly, because they dread the day when their daughter leaves the family home, and therefore they try to delay it as much as possible.

Bey dardi sey, sar kaate aamir, aur main kahoon unse,

Ruthlessly, the dictator cuts heads, and I say to him,

In some cultures, the girls side of the family has little power, because the groom’s side usually takes control of everything. The father often feels powerless when his daughter is getting married, because little by little he has to relinquish it to the groom’s side. Here, he juxtaposes this feeling to having his head cut off and only having the power to ask for it to be done slowly.

Huzuur, ahista, ahista,

Your highness, slowly,

Janaab, ahista ahista,

Your honour, slowly,

Other Versions

In another version, which might be found on YouTube, there are two additional lines, which goes as follows.

Shab-e-furqat ka jagaa hoon, farishton, ab toh soney do,

I have been awake since the night of the separation, now let me sleep little devils,

The meaning here is that after giving away the daughter, the first night of separation is very difficult for a father because he worries if his daughter is happy. There are all sorts of worrying thoughts he has, which he calls little devils that keep him awake.

Kabhi, furssat mein, karlena hissab, ahista ahista.

Sometime, after rest, we will settle all the accounts, slowly...