Fie on 'Us'

There are no free lunches in the world - We pay a price for everything.

But why is that some people pay, more than their due? As blind as we've always been,we fail to realize,its because 'They' want to enrich our lives in more ways than one.

How many times have we heard people quote 'Ghalib' and especially when they seem to have just no hope; only despair? Umpteen times! But again, how many of us actually know what went into making 'Ghalib' the most forlorn lover and the most wretched man who ever trod this earth? Why is that every inch of ground he walked upon, has become so hallowed?

Because it was Ghalib who knew what sorrow was, if anyone did. The death of his father and after that his guardian uncle when he was still a child, of his seven children one after another, of his dearly-loved brother, and still more dearly-loved adopted son in young age, the scourge of poverty and constant danger of debtor's jail, non-recognition of merit and vulgar vilification over literary controversies, the torture and disgrace of gambler's prison, the pain and suffering of half a dozen diseases and, above all, bitter domestic life. what could be more miserable for a sensitive mind like Ghalib's. But Ghalib did not succumb to his miseries not in his poetry at any rate. In fact, he turned his grief into poetry.

Need I say anything more?

Just one more thing - We are over-privileged. Lets not crib and be irreverent towards 'HIM'. Lets not be 'that beloved' of Ghalib, who with a mirror in her hand,remained transfixed in her place, intoxicated with her own beauty. We have just one Ghalib and lets just keep it that way.

I end this by dedicating his own quote to him -

"Yeh masaail-e-tasavvuf yeh tera bayaan Ghalib;
tujhe hum vali samajhte jo na(h) bada(h)khvar hota"

(These maxims of mysticism and your sublime oration
Ghalib;
We would have taken you for a saint had you not been a
wine-drinker)