I owe this poem to director Hansal Mehta’s film, ‘Shahid’. While watching the scene where Yusuf Hussain’s character talks about education not being just about the wars fought in the past, these lines walked silently on my mind and stayed there, only to be reborn as this poem:
Mujhe padhna hai magar…
Itihaas ke jung hi nahin,
Ateeth ke kisse bhi sunne hain.
Shabdon ke jaal hi nahin,
Kavitaaon ke reshein bhi bunne hain.
Mughalon ki sultanat hi nahin,
Khayaalat ki kaaynaat bhi jeetni hain.
Shakespeare ke sonnets hi nahin,
Kabir ke dohe bhi gungunaane hain.
Hydrogen Oxide ke formule hi nahin,
Paani bachaane ke nuskhein bhi apnaane hain.
Aankdo ki paheliyaan hi nahin,
Karmo ke hisaab bhi seekhne hain.
Hitler-Mussolini ke kahaaniyaan hi nahin,
Mao-Lenin ki daastaanein bhi likhni hain.
Gandhi ki ahimsa hi nahin,
Bhagat Singh ki soch bhi samajhni hain.
Toote hue mandir-o-masjid ke tukde hi nahin,
Dharm ke naam par kate sar bhi gin ne hain.
Mujhe padhna hai magar,
School-college ki kitaabein hi nahin,
Duniyaadari ke badalte chehre bhi padhne hain.
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