Faiz & Breaking free from the Oppression

"Being affected is a currency of no value to the oppressed." - Abbas Al-Aswany

The spirit of a protest

आज बाज़ार में पा-ब-जौलाँ चलो

Faiz Ahmed Faiz is often remembered for the progressive poetry wrote. The poems he wrote in protest of oppressive rule of Zia Ul Haq is well known. One of which is "Hum dekhenge". Recent protests in India against citizenship law(an amendment made to already existing law on basis of religion which can be easily abused and exploited) have been using this song of his in many demonstrations, people have couplets of this poem written on protest boards.

A recent news of another disturbing event is attack on students in JNU. While we await who was behind these attacks - it can not be denied that the first thought one would get is that this brutal attack on unarmed students and teachers is a means to oppress people's voice. Voice which is against the the said laws,policies of government.

As I saw the visuals of the students bleeding, and today as I hear of the protests today in condemnation of this attack, another poem of Faiz came to mind. "आज बाज़ार में पा-ब-जौलाँ चलो".

In this poem Faiz seems again so relevant - relevant to the spirit of the day - spirit of protestors. Peaceful protestors - not the fringe elements who use this opportunity to spread violence.

When Faiz was being taken from the jail in Lahore, in chains, to a dentist’s office in a horse cart (tonga) through the familiar streets, people recognized him, followed his tonga. He expressed this feeling through this poem. (Source rekhta.org)

The recent brutal attack has in a way brought out people again in protest in a more determined way - yet a peaceful way.

The lines - "चश्म-ए-नम जान-ए-शोरीदा काफी नहीं, तोहमत-ए-इश्क़ पोशीदा काफी नहीं" are exactly what people felt - that mere arguments and debates on social media are not enough and - and came out on the streets to hold protests.

The last couplet makes me wonder if all this will lead to more bloodshed. The way final words say it "रख्त-ए-दिल बांध लो दिल-फ़िगारो चलो, फिर हमीं क़त्ल हो आएँ यारों चलो" . Hardly any peaceful protest is suppressed by use of force for long and people tend to be more determined to show their disagreement - even to the point of getting themselves harmed.

Note - here I am taking the word "क़त्ल" not in a literal sense but in for expressing determination of the people who are protesting. I hope we being a democratic country the situation will not worsen.

I am posting the poem and a translation of it by Anis Zuberi - a poetry,literature lover. He has done translation in an apt way so I am doing a copy paste here.[See credits below]

आज बाज़ार में पा-ब-जौलाँ चलो

चश्म-ए-नम जान-ए-शोरीदा काफी नहीं

तोहमत-ए-इश्क़ पोशीदा काफी नहीं

आज बाज़ार में पा-ब-जौलाँ चलो

दस्त-अफ़्शाँ चलो, मस्त-ओ-रक़्साँ चलो

खाक-बर-सर चलो, खूं-ब-दामाँ चलो

राह तकता है सब शहर-ए-जानाँ चलो

हाकिम-ए-शहर भी, मजम-ए-आम भी

तीर-ए-इल्ज़ाम भी, संग-ए-दुश्नाम भी

सुबह-ए-नाशाद भी, रोज़-ए-नाकाम भी

इनका दमसाज़ अपने सिवा कौन है

शहर-ए-जानां मे अब बा-सफ़ा कौन है

दस्त-ए-क़ातिल के शायां रहा कौन है

रख्त-ए-दिल बांध लो दिल-फ़िगारो चलो

फिर हमीं क़त्ल हो आएँ यारों चलो

आज बाज़ार में पा-ब-जौलाँ चलो

Let’s go to the Bazaar today, legs chained and fettered

Tears swelling in eyes, agitation raging in soul are not enough

Being accused of harboring secret love is not enough

Let’s go to the Bazaar today, legs chained and fettered

Let’s go hands spread, let’s go dancing in trance

Let’s go head covered in dust, let’s go clothes smeared in blood

Everyone is watching the way, let’s go to the city of our love

Rulers of the city, as well as the crowd of commoners

Arrows of accusations, as well as stones of condemnation

Mornings of unhappiness, as well as days of failure

Who is the friend of all those, but for us!

In the city of our love, who is pure

Who is left that is worthy of the executioner’s hands

Pack the treasures of heart, come all broken-hearted, let’s go

Once more, let’s go and be executed, come friends, let’s go

Credits:

Lyrics taken from rekhta.org.

Translation by Anis Zuberi taken from below site. The meaning of word "दस्त-अफ़्शाँ" is also explained very beautifully here.

https://argdesi.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/aaj-bazaar-main-pa-ba-jolan-chalo/