Madhushala - Rubaiya 7

chalne hee chalne me kitna
jeevan, hai, bitaa daalaa!
'Door abhee hai', par, kehtaa hai
har path batlaane vaalaa;
himmat hai na badhoon aage ko
saahas hai na-phiroon peechhey;
kinkartavyavimhood mujhe kar
door khadi hai madhushaalaa



This verse took me a while to really understand. On the one hand, it seems sort of obvious - when you go to the movies, it takes really long to get to the movie hall. It always takes longer to get to a place you really want to go to. On the other hand, I don't think Bachchan is talking about that commonplace feeling we've all experienced.


The clue lies in the phrase "door abhi hai", that everyone who wants to show you the path to salvation says. Each guru, master, or whoever, always starts by telling you how difficult it is to achieve salvation, before selling you his "path". (The guru, the master, the teacher is what the "har path batlaane waalaa" means here).


Flitting from one guru to another, each of us gets more and more disillusioned, while the truth remains out of reach, out of grasp. Yet, we are driven to find out, for that's our nature. Being victims of the purveyors of the "path" sellers, we neither have the courage to go ahead in our search, nor the courage to give up.


We are left uncertain as to what to do, while the tavern remains unattainable.

This is obviously a controversial verse: it seems to suggest that Bachchan decries every guru or master as selling something of the marketplace; that they cannot be giving us the real deal. Some people may argue that Bachchan is saying no such thing; I believe that is exactly what he is saying. Bachchan was an iconoclast; and he was very bold in the Madhushala. As you read the poem, you might find that you disagree with him; but don't let that stop you from enjoying the poem or letting your moral foundations get rocked a little bit! If they are strong, they'll withstand the pressure; if they are not, they weren't moral to begin with!!