✊ KAIF BHOPALI aag kā kyā hai pal do pal meñ lagtī hai bujhte bujhte ek zamānā lagtā h पुष्प की अभिलाषा चाह नहीं मैं सुरबाला के गहनों में गूँथा जाऊँ, चाह नहीं, प्रेमी-माला में बिंध प्यारी को ललचाऊँ, चाह नहीं, सम्राटों के शव पर हे हरि, डाला जाऊँ, चाह नहीं, देवों के सिर पर चढ़ूँ भाग्य पर इठलाऊँ। मुझे तोड़ लेना वनमाली! उस पथ पर देना तुम फेंक, मातृभूमि पर शीश चढ़ाने जिस पथ जावें वीर अनेक - माखनलाल चतुर्वेदी The Man In The Mirror When you get all you want and you struggle for pelf, and the world makes you king for a day, then go to the mirror and look at yourself and see what that man has to say. For it isn’t your mother, your father or wife whose judgment upon you must pass, but the man, whose verdict counts most in your life is the one staring back from the glass. He’s the fellow to please, never mind all the rest. For he’s with you right to the end, and you’ve passed your most difficult test if the man in the glass is your friend. You may be like Jack Horner and “chisel” a plum, And think you’re a wonderful guy, But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum If you can’t look him straight in the eye. You can fool the whole world, down the highway of years, and take pats on the back as you pass. But your final reward will be heartache and tears if you’ve cheated the man in the glass. – Dale Wimbrow, 1934 Majaz Lakhnawi lost some of his youthful ebullience by 1948. That’s when he wrote- “Hindu Muslim Sikh Isai aman ke moti ro lenge; Khoon ki holi khel chuke hain, rang ke dhabbe dho lenge” JUNE 11, 2017 / MICHAEL ROSEN FASCISM: I SOMETIMES FEAR… I SOMETIMES FEAR THAT PEOPLE THINK THAT FASCISM ARRIVES IN FANCY DRESS WORN BY GROTESQUES AND MONSTERS AS PLAYED OUT IN ENDLESS RE-RUNS OF THE NAZIS. Fascism arrives as your friend. It will restore your honour, make you feel proud, protect your house, give you a job, clean up the neighbourhood, remind you of how great you once were, clear out the venal and the corrupt, remove anything you feel is unlike you… It doesn’t walk in saying, “Our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution.”