Nida Fazli's ghazal: Dil mile ya na mile...

Nida Fazli was born in 1938. His father Dua Dabaivi was a noted poet of Gwalior. He spent his early years in Gwalior and was a witness to the tumultuous period of 1947.

Apart from the communal violence which he lived through, Nida was also affected by his family's migration to Pakistan. A humanist to the core, he emerged as a prominent voice of modernist Urdu poetry.

His collections that include Mor Naach, Lafzon Ka Pul and Mulaqatein have got wide acclaim. Read his Ghazal in Urdu, Hindi, Roman scripts:

बात कम कीजिए, ज़हानत को छुपाते रहिये
अजनबी शहर है यह, दोस्त बनाते रहिये

दुश्मनी लाख सही, ख़त्म न कीजिए रिश्ता
दिल मिले या न मिले हाथ मिलाते रहिये

ये तो चेहरे का फ़क़त अक्स है तस्वीर नहीं
इस पे कुछ रंग अभी और चढाते रहिये

गम है आवारा अकेले मैं भटक जाता है
जिस जगह रहिये वहां मिलते मिलाते रहिये

जाने कब चाँद बिखर जाए घने जंगल मैं
अपने घर के दर-ओ-दीवार सजाते रहिये

निदा फाजली

Read the ghazal in Roman script:

baat kam kiijiye, zahaanat ko chhupaate rahiye
ajnabi shahar hai yeh, dost banaate rahiye

dushmanii laakh sahii, khatm na kiijiye rishta
dil mile yaa na mile haath milaate rahiye

ye to chehre ka faqat aks hai tasviir nahiiN
is pe kuchh rang abhi aur chaDhaate rahiye

Gham hai aavaaraa akele meN bhaTak jaataa hai
jis jagah rahiye vahaaN milte milaate rahiye

jaane kab chaaNd bikhar jaaye ghane jangal meN
apne ghar ke dar-o-diivaar sajaate rahiye

Nida Fazli