jo se to
“No resting-place on the road ever seemed worthy to me, Faiz — having left the beloved's street, I walked straight to the gallows.”
जो से निकले तो चले
The verse in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
The couplet rejects every comfortable resting-place on the road as unworthy, and the second line reveals the destination chosen instead — the gallows. Leaving the beloved's street leads not to safety but straight to sacrifice. It fuses the language of love with the resolve of the political martyr, which is the heart of Faiz's art.
If nothing on the easy road satisfies you, ask what you are truly walking toward — the worthiest paths rarely lead to comfort.
The heart of this site stays with Iqbal: explore his couplets → Or browse the whole Other Voices shelf →