Friday, December 16, 2005

Patriotic Poetry: Urdu couplets on love for one's motherland: How I can leave my India?

Reading a blog today, I just remembered the answer given by veteran poet Shafiq Jaunpuri to hiis fan who urged him to come to Pakistan. The veteran poet had penned these lines:

bulaa to rahi ho tum hamein Karachi
magar wahaan watan ka nazaara kahaan se laayenge

bajaa ke saahil hain pur-bahaar magar
wo Gomti ka kinara kahaan se laayenge

Ye Kaashi, Ye chitrakoot, Ye raud-e-gang-o-jaman
tum hi batao Khudaara kahaan se layenge

It is undoubtedly the biggest decision of one's life to leave your land. Either it is the Punjabi, the Sindhi, the Muslims of India who shifted from their homeland or the Kashmiri Pandits from J&K, the pain is universal.

Ug raha hai dar-o-deewar pe sabza
Hum pardes mein hain ghar par bahaar aayee hai