— Divan-e-Ghalib, from the ghazal "rahiye ab aisi jagah"
About this quote
देवनागरी:
रहिए अब ऐसी जगह चल कर जहाँ कोई न हो
हम-सुख़न कोई न हो और हम-ज़बाँ कोई न हो
English: Let me now go and live where no one is — no one to talk with, no one who speaks my tongue.
Meaning: The fantasy of total withdrawal, spoken by the most social poet of his age — which is exactly why it rings true. Everyone exhausted by the world has rented, briefly, Ghalib’s imaginary house.
अर्थ: अब ऐसी जगह चलें जहाँ कोई न हो — न कोई बात करने वाला, न कोई ज़बान समझने वाला। दुनिया से थके हर दिल की ख़्वाहिश।
An authentic couplet from the Divan-e-Ghalib, the collected Urdu ghazals of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797–1869), from the ghazal beginning “rahiye ab aisi jagah”. Transliteration and English rendering are our own.
