कुछ इश्क़ किया कुछ काम किया

Do you find yourself in situations where you think you haven’t given your 100%, where you feel your efforts were half-hearted, you really wanted to give it your all but couldn’t because of other commitments? And at the end, tired, you just leave it incomplete..

Personally, I feel I’ve been in these situations sometimes, and I get angry or disappointed with myself. But before we start being too hard on ourselves, maybe let’s read what the great Faiz Ahmad Faiz has to say.

वो लोग बहुत ख़ुश-क़िस्मत थेFortunate indeed were those
जो इश्क़ को काम समझते थेWho regarded love as work
या काम से आशिक़ी करते थेOr were in love with their work
हम जीते जी मसरूफ़ रहेI remained busy my entire life
कुछ इश्क़ किया कुछ काम कियाAnd managed some love, with some work
काम इश्क़ के आड़े आता रहाWork came in the way of love
और इश्क़ से काम उलझता रहाAnd love got intertwined with work
फिर आखिर तंग आ कर हम नेAt last, in exasperation
दोनों को अधूरा छोड़ दियाI left them both half done
- फैज़ अहमद फैज़- Faiz Ahmad Faiz

English translation from https://brown.edu/Research/poetry-in-translation/2017/06/21/body-pakistan/

There are many ways to interpret Ishq (इश्क़) and Kaam (काम) in the poem. First is the quite literal tussle between love and work, which reveals a conflict between the heart (इश्क़) and the mind (काम) of the poet. While the former pines for the beloved, the latter focuses on work (i.e. job, career, business etc.)

Another way to see this is the dilemma we face between our reasons (काम) and emotions (इश्क़). As beautifully explained in her article by Mehak Burza -

“The poet here can be seen as the body faced with the same dilemma, oscillating between the workings of mind (reason) and heart (emotions). On one hand, is his love for his beloved, while on the other, is his work. This is the reason he calls those people fortunate and privileged that either love their work or consider love as their work. Unfortunately, for the poet, the conflict between heart and mind becomes too much to handle as both keep intertwining with each other, and as the conflict reaches its apex, it forces him to leave both undone; thus falling prey to the conflict of reason and emotions.”

It makes you think: if someone as great as Faiz Ahmad Faiz, after such an outstanding body of work and an exceptional life, thinks he has left things incomplete, then maybe that is how it is supposed to be.

Further Readings

  1. Beautiful interpretation by Mehak Burza at https://brown.edu/Research/poetry-in-translation/2017/06/21/body-pakistan/ This is the source of the English translation that I’ve used as well.
  2. Beautiful rendition and explanation by Dr.Saif Mahmood starting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA6gyvwntUY&t=160s
  3. And finally, you can read this poem and other great poems of Faiz Ahmad Faiz at my favorite website Rekhta.