chale chalo ki wo ma.nzil abhii nahii.n aaii

On 16th august, if you watched TV news it seemed as if whole of india was up in arms against corruption and with anna hazare in his fight for lokpal bill. of course the spontaneous response seems very heartening, but i was wondering if it was city driven, if it was without required depth for a real movement, if it would matter after a few days to the same people protesting at Azad Maidan and every other azad maidan of other cities? and was it premature to call this the second freedom struggle and anna hazare, the second gandhi? or is it just a reflection of our times, of us? the entire facebook twitter campaign for a bill - that ideally needs to be debated among the elected representatives of those who mostly pay their way through most agencies to save time and avoid tedious procedures and of those who have no access to any such thing in rural areas... is it not a mirror to the way we have become, slightly shallow, mostly ill-informed, adequately indifferent and courageous in occasional spurts. the government we have, the movement that is on, the country we live in, the pot holes we stuble into, the girls we kill in wombs, the jobs we get and the salaries we don't, the climate change, the floods, the droughts, the loans, the scams, the double digit growth coupled with double digit inflation, the families, the illnesses, the stress, the security and the lack of it - all of it - isn't all this a reflection and outcome of what we have been for the last 64 years? what next?

Subh-e-aazaadii
ye daaG daaG ujaalaa, ye shab_gaziidaa sahar
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
ye daaG daaG ujaalaa, ye shab_gaziidaa sahar
wo intazaar thaa jis kaa, ye wo sahar to nahii.n
ye wo sahar to nahii.n jis kii aarazuu lekar
chale the yaar ki mil jaayegii kahii.n na kahii.n
falak ke dasht me.n taro.n kii aaKharii ma.nzil
kahii.n to hogaa shab-e-sust mauj kaa saahil
kahii.n to jaa ke rukegaa safinaa-e-Gam-e-dil
jawaa.N lahuu kii pur-asaraar shaaharaaho.n se
chale jo yaar to daaman pe kitane haath pa.De
dayaar-e-husn kii be-sabr Khwaab-gaaho.n se
pukaratii rahii.n baahe.n, badan bulaate rahe
bahut aziiz thii lekin ruKh-e-sahar kii lagan
bahut qarii.n thaa hasiinaan-e-nuur kaa daaman
subuk subuk thii tamannaa, dabii dabii thii thakan

sunaa hai ho bhii chukaa hai firaq-e-zulmat-e-nuur
sunaa hai ho bhii chukaa hai wisaal-e-ma.nzil-o-gaam
badal chukaa hai bahut ahl-e-dard kaa dastuur
nishaat-e-wasl halaal-o-azaab-e-hijr-e-haraam
jigar kii aag, nazar kii uma.ng, dil kii jalan
kisii pe chaaraa-e-hijraa.N kaa kuchh asar hii nahii.n
kahaa.N se aaii nigaar-e-sabaa, kidhar ko gaii
abhii chiraaG-e-sar-e-rah ko kuchh Khabar hii nahii.n
abhii garaani-e-shab me.n kamii nahii.n aaii
najaat-e-diida-o-dil kii gha.Dii nahii.n aaii
chale chalo ki wo ma.nzil abhii nahii.n aaii
August 1947