By Qateel Shifai
chalo achchha hua kaam aa gai diwangi apni
vagarna ham zamane bhar ko samjhane kahan jate
vagarna ham zamane bhar ko samjhane kahan jate
“Well, it is good my madness served me — otherwise where would I have gone to reason with the whole world.”
Romanहिन्दीQateel Shifai
चलो अच्छा हुआ काम आ गई दीवानगी अपनी
वगरना हम ज़माने भर को समझाने कहाँ जाते
वगरना हम ज़माने भर को समझाने कहाँ जाते
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
With a shrug of relief — "well, it is good" — the speaker thanks his own madness for sparing him an impossible errand: reasoning with the entire world. The wit lies in the inversion, where madness becomes a mercy and sanity would have been the exhausting, doomed task.
For You, Today
You are not obliged to argue your case to everyone — sometimes letting the world think what it likes is the saner freedom.
A wry, much-quoted verse that reframes being misunderstood as a kind of escape rather than a wound.
Themes:The SelfWisdom
More from Qateel Shifai
The heart of this site stays with Iqbal: explore his couplets → Or browse the whole Other Voices shelf →