ai gham-e-zamana hum tujh ko yaad karte hain
“When she turns her eyes away and passes close beside me — it is then, O sorrow of the world, that I remember you.”
ऐ ग़म-ए-ज़माना हम तुझ को याद करते हैं
The verse in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
The beloved passes near, but averts her gaze — rejection delivered at close range, which is the cruellest distance. The lover's answer is not to chase her but to turn and greet an older companion: gham-e-zamana, the sorrow of the age, personified here as the one friend who never looks away. The snub does not break him; it simply returns him to the only constant he has known. There is a terrible tenderness in addressing one's own grief as 'you'.
Notice what you turn toward when someone close withholds their warmth. If your most faithful companion has quietly become your own sorrow, that is worth knowing — grief makes a loyal friend and a poor home.
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