gardishen thaharti hain hum jahan thahrte hain
“Be it the beloved's quarter or the precincts of the tavern — the wheeling of the heavens comes to rest wherever I choose to halt.”
गर्दिशें ठहरती हैं हम जहाँ ठहरते हैं
The verse in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
A couplet of pure qalandar poise. Its two destinations — the beloved's street and the tavern — are the twin shrines of Urdu poetry, love and intoxication, and the speaker treats them as equals. Then the audacious claim: gardish, the restless turning of fate that usually tosses mortals about, itself comes to a stop wherever he stops. He does not chase the world; the world's motion arranges itself around his stillness. It is surrender and sovereignty in the same breath.
There is a centredness that makes the chaos settle around you instead of the reverse. When you are genuinely at rest in where you stand, the turning stops demanding that you move.
The heart of this site stays with Iqbal: explore his couplets → Or browse the whole Other Voices shelf →