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Sab Thath pada reh jaye ga…(When the gypsy-headman leaves)
These pithy Urdu verses by Nazeer Akbarabadi lament that all will be abandoned when the Banjara (gypsy), the headman or Naik in the folklore, [or at a general level the life-traveller] will leave his temporal abode. The verses are layered in their meaning and can be interpreted in several ways.
However, this was an apt reminder of our good-old General’s rather spectacular exit.
Leave your lust and greed,
O man, wander not in distant lands,
The fiend of death will rob your wealth …
Well, done Pakistan. And, the adventurers must learn a lesson or two. All headmen-gypsies have to move. Nothing is permanent including the intoxicating power-trips.
Wish someone would translate these for me.
Tags: banjaara, gypsy, Nazeer Akbarabadi, poet, Poetry, Urdu, verse
August 21st, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Khoob. That’s so apt. Banjaranama and Aadminama are among my favourite Nazms also. Have you seen Habib Tanwir’s play Agra Bazaar on Nazir or read the book!