Fiction
by Sajjad Haider Yaldram
Dec 30, 2024
(Translated from the Urdu by Nandini Krishnan)
Aur koyi talab ab nayi zamaanah se nahin
Mujh pe ehsaan jo na karte tau yeh ehsaan hota
(I make no demands of the world but [to know] that
To do me no kindness would be true kindness)
One day, as I was passing through Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, my eyes chanced upon a fakir who was eloquently describing his misfortunes to anyone who would listen. After a gap of two or three minutes, he would take up the same refrain, i