Saare Jahan Se Achcha.....

beach

Allama Iqbal. The man who wrote “Saare Jahan Se Achcha…”, the poem that spread in India like a wild fire. This is no national anthem. But every Indian get excited on hearing this song sung. The Indian national anthem is written in Bengali, a language of about 10% its population. Saare Jahan Se Achcha… is in Hindustani, a language a lot of Indians understand. When I say a lot, I mean about 40% of Indians.

The song says, “Something is in us, that preserves us, that keeps us ever smiling
Though the fates and chances of the world have ever tried to break us”

Iqbal. Wrote it in 1905 in Lahore. A time when there was no Pakistan, not to mention Bangladesh. Only India, to be precise, the colonial India.

With his sitar, Pandit Ravi Shankar gave wings to Iqbal’s poem. And strait went it into the hearts of Indians. Millions of them. “Saare Jahan Se Achcha…Hindustan Hamara”The song pulsed with the beat of their hearts.

Time changed. It was time for Iqbal to join, rather spearhead, the creation of Pakistan. India was cut. Boundaries were marked with blood. The very man who penned in the poetic elegance the greatness of Hindustan has gone with Pakistan. But the song he created belonged to India, more correctly, to Indians. They treat it as the most exciting patriotic song (much more than the national anthem).

It reminds me of Wadsworth’s ‘The Arrow and the Song’

I shot the arrow in the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
…..
…..
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
…..
…..
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

The chimes played by cars to alarm that they are in reverse gear…. to the cell phone ring tones, in India you would find “Saare Jahan Se Achcha…” in all its incarnations.


--~~~~--

sāre jahān se acchā hindostān hamārā
ham bulbulain hai is ki, yeh gulsitān hamārā
ghurbat men hon agar ham, rahta hai dil vatan men
samjho vahīn hamen bhī, dil hain jahān hamārā
parbat voh sab se ūncā, hamsāya āsmān ka
voh santari hamārā, voh pāsbān hamārā
godi men kheltī hain is ki hazaaron nadiyā
gulshan hai jin ke dum se, rashk-e-janān hamārā
aye āb, raud, ganga, voh din hen yād tujhko
utarā tire kināre, jab kārvān hamārā
maz'hab nahīn sikhātā āpas men bayr rakhnā
hindi hai ham, vatan hai hindostān hamārā
yūnān-o-misr-o-romā, sab miṭ gaye jahān se
ab tak magar he bāqi, nām-o-nishān hamārā
kuch bāt he kih hastī, miṭati nahīn hamārī
sadiyon rahā he dushman, daur-e-zamān hamārā
iqbal ko'ī meharam, apnā nahīn jahān main
m'alūm kya kisī ko, dard-e-nihān hamārā


Translation:

Our India is the finest Country on this planet earth
This is our garden abode, we are nightingales of mirth
Though in foreign lands we may reside, with our motherland our hearts abide
Our spirit remains with thee, where our hearts exist
That mountain most high; neighbor to the skies
It is our sentinel; it is our protector
A thousand rivers play in its lap,
Gardens they sustain, the envy of the heavens is ours
O water of the mighty flow of the Ganga, do you remember the day
When on your banks, our caravan had landed
Faith does not teach us to harbour grudges between us
We are all Indians and India is our homeland
Ancient Greece, Egypt and Rome are lost, now only memories
But our civilization remains; it has stood the test of time
Something is in us, that preserves us, that keeps us ever-smiling
Though the fates and chances of the world have ever tried to break us
Iqbal! Is there no soul that could
Understand the pain in thy heart?

--~~~~--
Poem translation taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saare_Jahan_Se_Achcha

anindya911

Good Job, Beach!
Thanks for the effort.

Anindya

__________________
Let Your mind roam ...
and the body will follow!

Yashodhara

Thanks for the information, beach.
I have always liked this poem very much, especially when it is sung with the right spirit.

nadreg

I want to go back to India now

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In pursuit of the Only truth: I Am!

sam371

I hear you nadreg.

jabberwocky

Reminds me of Rang de basanti (and Aamir Khans dialogue about the past and future) - After having dramatically shifted from being an optimist to a realist(never saw a thing change for the better in India - and I speak of the ground reality - in the past 30 years, saw all that was good abroad during my travels and all that is sad here) .

Sad, but have to say... as people I agree 100% with Iqbal.
But politicians have ensured that our country will never benefit from the best people she has.