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fikr : 'Thought, consideration, reflection; deliberation, opinion, notion, idea, imagination, conceit; counsel, advice; care, concern, solicitude, anxiety, grief, sorrow'. (Platts p.783)
;xar-baar : 'An ass-load'. (Platts p.487)
kaar-o-baar : 'Work, labour, business; affairs; dealings, transactions'. (Platts p.799)
FWP:
SETS == EK; HUMOR
MOTIFS == ROAD
NAMES
TERMSWhat a funny, sharp, pungent verse! People 'here' in this world are like donkey-drivers, obsessively concerned with their own particular 'donkey'-- or of course, so to speak, 'ass'-- and their own donkey-load of property. Thus the whole world is 'on the road' like a caravan-- and of course, it's left up to us to decide whether it's a 'single', or 'particular', or 'unique', or 'excellent' caravan, and whether the tone is sarcastic or straightforward. Do the intensely individually-focused donkey-drivers know where the caravan is going? Do they care? Do they collaborate to organize the caravan, or do they simple follow each other in a long heedless chain?
In the second line raah me;N can be a 'midpoints' phrase-- either 'the whole world' is on the road like a caravan, or else the whole world is like a caravan on the road. But in this verse, it hardly seems to matter much.
The implicit contrast between the usual worldly kaar-o-baar (see the definition above) and the sarcastic ;xar-o-baar ('an ass and load') is really punchy and amusing. Since the normal usage is apparently ;xar-baar , it's quite possible that Mir deliberately inserted the conjunctive v , to echo the official phrase and thus add to the effect of mockery.