When Fahmida Riaz recited this in JNU in the early 2000, one could perhaps have quibbled that things weren’t as bad as Pakistan in India and that she was perhaps being alarmist, or getting carried away. The last two decades have made her prescient poem more and more relevant for our times.
तुम बिल्कुल हम जैसे निकले | You turned out just like us
तुम बिल्कुल हम जैसे निकले | You turned out just like us
अब तक कहां छुपे थे भाई? | Where were you hiding so far, brother?
वह मूरखता, वह घामड़पन | That stupidity, that arrogance
जिसमें हमने सदी गंवाई | In which we lost a century
आखिर पहुंची द्वार तुम्हारे | Afterall has reached your door
अरे बधाई, बहुत बधाई | O congratulations, many congratulations
भूत धरम का नाच रहा है | The ghost of religion is dancing
कायम हिन्दू राज करोगे? | You will establish a Hindu rule?
सारे उल्टे काज करोगे? | You will do all misdeeds
अपना चमन नाराज करोगे? | You will ravage your own garden?
तुम भी बैठे करोगे सोचा, | You too would sit and ponder
पूरी है वैसी तैयारी, | The preparation seems complete:
कौन है हिन्दू कौन नहीं है | Who is Hindu, who is not
तुम भी करोगे फतवे जारी | You too will issue edicts
वहां भी मुश्किल होगा जीना | There too it will be difficult to live
दांतो आ जाएगा पसीना | Sweating through your teeth
जैसे-तैसे कटा करेगी | Somehow or other managing to live
वहां भी सबकी सांस घुटेगी | There too everyone would gasp for breath
माथे पर सिंदूर की रेखा | Sindoor on your forehead
कुछ भी नहीं पड़ोस से सीखा! | You learnt just nothing from your neighbourhood
क्या हमने दुर्दशा बनायी | What a mess we made!
कुछ भी तुमको नज़र न आयी? | And yet you saw nothing?
भाड़ में जाये शिक्षा-विक्षा, | Let education-learning go to hell
अब जाहिलपन के गुन गाना, | Now sing songs to barbarous ignorance
आगे गड्ढा है यह मत देखो | Don’t look at the gaping hole ahead
वापस लाओ गया जमाना | Bring back the bygone time
हम जिन पर रोया करते थे | What would make us cry
तुम ने भी वह बात अब की है | Is what you too have now done
बहुत मलाल है हमको, लेकिन | We are full of grief, but
हा हा हा हा हो हो ही ही | Ha ha ha ha ho ho hee hee
कल दुख से सोचा करती थी | Yesterday I used to think with sadness
सोच के बहुत हँसी आज आयी | It made me laugh a lot today
तुम बिल्कुल हम जैसे निकले | You turned out just like us
हम दो कौम नहीं थे भाई | We were not two communities, brother
मश्क करो तुम, आ जाएगा | Practice and you will learn it too:
उल्टे पांवों चलते जाना, | Just keep walking backwards
दूजा ध्यान न मन में आए | Don’t allow anohter thought to your mind
बस पीछे ही नज़र जमाना | Just keep your eyes firmly on the past
एक जाप-सा करते जाओ, | And keep chanting
बारम्बार यह ही दोहराओ | Repeat over and over again
कितना वीर महान था भारत! | How brave and great was India!
कैसा आलीशान था भारत! | How glorious and grand was India!
tum bilkul hum jaisey nikley
ab tak kahaN chhupe the bhai
voh moorkhta, voh ghaamarpan
jis mein hum ne sadi ganwai
aakhir pahunchi dwaar tumhaarey
arre badhai bohot badhaipreyt dharam ka naach rahaa hai
qayam Hindu raaj karoge?
saarey ultey kaaj karogay
apna chaman daraaj karogeytum bhee baithey karogey sochaa
poori hai waisi tayyari
kaun hai Hindu, kaun naheeN hai
tum bhi karogay fatwe jaarihoga kathin yahaN bhi jeena
raatoN aa jayega paseenajaisi taisi kata karegi
yahan bhi sabki saans ghutegi
kal dukh se socha karti thi
soch ke bohot hansi aaj aee,
tum bilkul hum jaise nikleHum do qaum nahin the bhai!bhaar mein jaaye shiksha vikshaab jaahilpan ke gun gaana.aage gadha hai yeh mat dekhowapas laao gaya zamana
bhasht karo tum aajayega
ulte paaon chalte jaana
dhyaan na mann mein dooja aaye
bas peeche hi nazar jamanaek jaap saa kartey jao
varam var yahi dohrao
kitna veer mahaan tha Bharat
kaisa alishaan tha bharat
phir tum log pohonch jaogay
bas parlok pohonch jaaogay
hum toh hain pehle se wahan par
tum bhi samay nikalte rehna
ab jis nark mein jaao wahan se
chitthi vitthi daalte rehna
Juvenilia 