Dr. Muhammad Salman Riaz Mar 8, 2013:

@ aburiaz: Thank you very much for your kind words.

Dr. Muhammad Salman Riaz Mar 8, 2013:

@ Irshad sb: Thank you for your comments, but let me please take exception to your judgement, "However, your point does not seem to be valid," which is not backed by any argument. Please suggest the logic which leads you to conclude that my point is not valid. On the publication of the seventh addition of the most-commonly used Oxford Advanced Learner's dictionary, I detected a few mistakes and reported them to the publisher. My point is that the dictionary from where you have taken the meaning may have missed the 'point.' Peace!

abufaraz Mar 8, 2013:

Salman Sb, I'm grateful that you have understood and further explained what I meant to say.

Dr. Muhammad Salman Riaz Mar 8, 2013:

Very apt explanation! It is true that literal translation is not going to serve the purpose here, and would only mar the beauty of translation. The words that you have chosen excellently convey the meaning of forgetting the good you have done to someone. What we need to do here is to pay attention to the what 'forgetting' would mean in the given context. Let me explain that, here, it is suggesting a MORAL. The moral is that, if we do good, we should not, succumbing to the 'unhealthy' emotion of 'self-boasting,' make it a habit to boast about it before others. So, 'forgetting' here tantamounts to 'not bragging.'

abufaraz Mar 8, 2013:

As I have said in my explanation column below, the proverbs are NOT always translated literally and with strict compliance to the context, as both the languages differ from each other with respect to their history, literature, cultural norms and mores and many other similar factors. The phrase ‘Darya mein daal’ gives an expression of ‘forgetting something for good (or forever)’. You have opposed the word ‘boast’ which means ‘to speak with exaggeration or pride’ and has been used here to express the common habit 'boasting' by some people after doing something good.
Having said that, please allow me to explain my answer again. IMO, this proverb is used when we want to say that ‘if you do a favor or good or virtue, then you should not speak about it with exaggeration or a feeling of pride but, instead, forget it forever (or Darya mein daal).
It is expected that it explains my point to some extent. (I picked this translation from an old UR>EN resource named ‘STANDARD URDU ENGLISH DICTIONARY’ published by Kitabistan Publishers, Lahore.