By Rahat Indori
ham apni ke ko apni hain
ki isi ko hain
ki isi ko hain
“We call even the enemy of our life our beloved — this very soil of love is what we call Hindustan.”
Romanहिन्दीRahat Indori
हम अपनी के को अपनी कहते हैं
की इसी को हिन्दोस्तान कहते हैं
की इसी को हिन्दोस्तान कहते हैं
The verse in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
♪ Hear the coupletA recitation in a synthesized voice.
The Interpretation
The couplet holds a paradox without flinching — we call the one who threatens our life our beloved. Indori then names that contradiction: it is the soil of love, and that soil is Hindustan. The verse insists the homeland is loved not despite its difficulty but as a whole, dangerous and dear together.
For You, Today
To love a place or a people honestly is to love it whole — including the parts that wound you — rather than only the easy version.
One of Indori's most cited verses, it stakes a claim that belonging means embracing the homeland's contradictions, not resolving them.
Themes:HomelandLove & Loss
More from Rahat Indori
The heart of this site stays with Iqbal: explore his couplets → Or browse the whole Other Voices shelf →