I have long admired certain words not just for what they mean but, equally and even more, for how they sound. Two completely unrelated words took over this morning. Hence this quick post about them.
One longtime favorite of mine is Zanzibar. I have liked the word since I first heard it in my childhood. For some reason the word always woke up my olfactories to the fragrance of cloves. This was even before I learned in middle school that cloves were indeed a major produce of Zanzibar. The clove was introduced to Zanzibar in the early 19th century from Indonesia by the sultans of Oman.
The word Zanzibar creates in me a strange sense of upliftment that I cannot fully explain. Although the primary association with the word is olfactory, it also stirs up some primal sounds in my mind, especially a slow rhythmic drum beat. The combined picture of the word Zanzibar is one of people swaying in a trancelike state to the distant drum beat even while gently inhaling a clove-based perfume. If anyone ever uses this scene, send me a royalty check.
The other word that came out of nowhere this morning is Teerashabi. I first heard it in a ghazal sung by Mehdi Hassan. It goes: “Jab bhi aati hai teri yaad kabhi’ by Krishan Adeeb. The word Teerashabi, which I am pretty sure means a dark night from ‘Teera’ (dark) and Shab (night), comes as part of “Warna das jayegi yeh teerashabi sham ke baad.” From what I understand, Teerashabi is used as a metaphor for a poisonous snake and hence the expression “das jayegi” meaning will bite.
There are two more words from the same ghazal that I like as much. They are afsurdadili which means melancholy or sorrowful and tashnaalabi or thirst/ quest.
While Zanzibar conjures up a strange kind of fantasy in me, teerashabi grounds me to something more real and immediate and yet enigmatic.
You can turn around and say that like I occasionally do, I am overthinking these words. May be so, may be so.
