Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s thought provoking poem titled Intesaab which means a dedication, which was written by Faiz as an active member of the Progressive Writer’s Movement in India.
INTESAAB
aaj ke naam
aur aaj ke Gham ke naam
aaj kaa Gham ki hai zindagii ke bhare gul-sitaan se Khafaa
zard patton kaa ban
zard patton kaa ban jo meraa des hai
dard kaa anjuman jo meraa des hai
kilarkon kii afasurdaa jaanon ke naam
kirm-Khurdaa dilon aur zabaanon ke naam
postman-on ke naam
Taangewaalon ke naam
rel-baanon ke naam
kaarakhaanon ke bhole jiyaalon ke naam
baadshaah-e-jahaaN, waali-e-maasivaa, nae_bullaah-e-fil-arz, dahakaan ke naam jis ke dhoron ko zaalim hankaa le gaye
jis kii betii ko Daakuu uthaa le gaye
haath bhar khet se ek angusht patavaar ne kaat lii hai
duusarii maaliye ke bahaane se sarakaar ne kaat lii hai
jis ke pag zor waalon ke paaon tale
dhajjiyaan ho gayi hai, un duKhii maaon ke naam
raat mein jin ke bachche bilakhate hain aur
neend kii maar khaaye hue baazuuon se saanbhalate nahiin
dukh bataate nahiin
minnaton zaariyon se bahalate nahiin; un hasiinaaon ke naam
jinakii aankhon ke gul
chilamanon aur darichon kii belon pe bekaar khil khil ke
murjhaa gaye hain
un byaahataaon ke naam
jinake badan be-mohabbat riyaakaar sejon pe saj saj ke ukataa gaye hain
bewaaon ke naam, katadiyon aur galiyon, muhallon ke naam
jinakii naapaak Khaashaak se chaand raaton
ko aa aa ke karataa hai aksar wazuu
jinakii saayon mein karatii hai aaho-bukaa
aanchalon kii hinaa, chuudiyon kii khanak
kaakulon kii mahak, aarazuumand siinon kii apane pasiine mein jalane kii buu padanewaalon ke naam
wo jo asahaab-e-tablo-alam
ke daron par kitaab aur qalam
kaa takaazaa liye, haath phailaaye
pahunche, magar laut kar ghar na aaye
vo maasuum jo bholepan mein
wahaan apne nanhe chiraagon mein lau kii lagan
le ke pahunche jahaan
bant rahe the ghataatop, be-ant raaton ke saaye
un asiiron ke naam
jin ke siinon mein fardaa ke shabataab gauhar
jel_Khaanon kii shoriidaa raaton kii sar-sar mein
jal-jal ke anjum-numaan ho gaye hain; aanewaale dinon ke safiiron ke naam
vo jo Khushbuu-e-gul kii tarah
apane paighaam par Khud fidaa ho gaye hain
Here is a beautiful rendition of this poem by Nayyara Noor, with the Urdu script in the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3vDsLtyZhg
The poem in Devnagari script is below
And the English translation by Shoaib Hashmi from the book ” The Way It Was Once. Faiz Ahmed Faiz: His Life, His Poems”
urduwallahs 
Hi. Just wanted to find out if you typed out the poem in Devnagari script or did you scan pages from a book? Essentially, I amlooking to buy a book which has Faiz’s poetry in Devnagri script. It’d be great if you couldlet me know.
Hi Kartikeya – the poem was scanned from the book “The Way It Was Once. Faiz Ahmed Faiz: His Life, His Poems”. Biography by Ali Madeeh Hashmi and Poems translated by Shoaib Hashmi. Its a really good book on Faiz and has an entire section with his poems in Devanagari script with English translation. Hope this helps.
Coincidentally
I did a translation of Intesaab or intisaab myself, a few years ago.
Here it is:
Dedicated to these times, and the sorrow of these times.
The pain of today, that is set against the plentiful garden of life.
The forest of dead leaves, that is my land.
The collection of pain that is my land.
Dedicated to the gloomy lives of clerks
Moth eaten hearts and words.
Dedicated to the postmen
Dedicated to the coachmen
Dedicated to the railway workers
Dedicated to the innocent beings in the factories.
O Emperor of the World, Master and God’s representative on this Earth,
this is dedicated to the farmer
whose herds were run off by the wicked men
and whose daughter was carried off by the dacoits.
One finger of whose handful of land was cut by the bureaucrats
and another finger by the government, in the name of taxation.
Whose pride is destroyed under the feet of the men with power.
Dedicated to the sad mothers
whose children sob at night.
Sleepless, who are not steadied by an embrace.
Don’t share what ails them,
and are not consoled by entreaties or tears.
Dedicated to the beautiful girls,
the beauty of whose eyes
on every balcony, behind every curtain,
blossomed in vain and withered away.
Dedicated to those wives
whose bodies have grown tired of trying to look beautiful on loveless beds
…-dedicated to the widows.
Dedicated to the lanes in the slums and colonies
Whose scattered garbage and refuse the moon often contemplates and sanctifies
In the night.
From amongst whose shadows emanates
The hennaed hair under the veils
The clink of bangles
The scent of loosened tresses.
The stench of impassioned bodies burning in their own sweat.
Dedicated to the students
Those who arrived at the gates of the officials
Petitioning with open arms for pen and paper.
But never came back.
Those innocents who, in their idealism,
took the fire of dedicated learning in their young hearts
and reached where
Were being promiscuously distributed the shadows of endless nights.
Dedicated to those prisoners
in whose hearts the future shone like a pearl
But was burnt in the troubled nights of the prison
and diminished into a tiny flicker.
Dedicated to the heralders of the days to come
Those, who, like the scent of a rose, are
Enraptured by their own message.
beautiful
nice
what is the meaning of this poem – not the translation – what it is about – looking for its meaning i hope someone will help
It is dedicated to all those forgotten ignored everyday people – their grief , their unheard, unacknowledged pain – the collective pain of the people – who were beaten, broken, crushed, killed under the boots of the powerful and power hungry of the society.
please watch this video by laal band – it may express more than my words.
http://www.artisttrove.com/artist/57923532878/Laal/videos/10153659820307879