Saturday, October 30, 2010

No Allegiance

Hum ne yazeed-e-waqt se baeyat nahi kari:
Har morh par zamaane ko hum yaad aayenge...
[Manzar Bhopali]

Translation (rough):
No allegiance did we pay to the tyrant of the time:
At every turn will we be remembered by the world...

Manzar invokes the history of a specific period in time with reference to the challenge to a powerful tyrant, but I think his intent is clearly general - tyrants have changed forms from individual despotic rulers to governments to military-industrial complexes, yet their negative impact on human life and the associated desire of a few to challenge hegemony remains part of life...

Did my concurrent reading of Chris Hedge's "Empire of Illusion" have something to do with remembering this verse...

[Siyaah]