har ek ka intkhab nikle
hum hi ko bataya sabne
hum hi kharab nikle
“We turned out to be everyone's favourite, everyone's choice — everyone declared us the good one; and we turned out the worst of all.”
एक का इंतख़ाब निकले
हम ही को बताया सबने
हम ही निकले
The verse in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
The couplet sets up a pleasing consensus — everyone's favourite, everyone's choice, everyone calling the poet the good one — only to drop the floor in the last line: he turned out the worst of all. The reversal exposes how unanimous praise can be a verdict no one examined, and how the person best at being liked may be furthest from being good.
Be wary of being everyone's favourite — universal approval often means no one has looked closely, including you.
The heart of this site stays with Iqbal: explore his couplets → Or browse the whole Other Voices shelf →