FWP:
SETS == DIALOGUE
LIFE/DEATH: {7,2}
For general comments on this most unusual ghazal, see {66,1}.
Throughout the ghazal, tum has been Arif. Now, suddenly, it's not. It's some man or group of men (or mixed group), who is/are apparently close enough for familiarity and anger on Ghalib's part. (After all, it could have been hai;N and kahte hai;N without affecting the meter; but then the implied subject would have been the usual 'they', as in 'they say', and the second-person sense of engagement would be gone.)
What is written in Ghalib's destiny is not life, or a desire
for life, but a longing [tamannaa]-- a longing for death,
a longing that, because of the mighty power of destiny, can't yet be satisfied.
Though it will soon be so, of course-- in only 'a few days more'. Arif suffered
death, and Ghalib suffers the longing for death. As he says in {66,9},
one simply has to 'get through' life as one's destiny requires. (In his letters,
Ghalib always lamented his domestic responsibilities; in his life, he always
strove to fulfill them.) But 'living' shouldn't be equated with enjoying life,
or callously or shallowly choosing to live on-- especially when that life has lost
so much of its meaning. Only a 'foolish' person would make any such supposition,
and thus incur Ghalib's disdain.
Nazm:
You people are surprised that after sustaining the wound of Arif's early death, Ghalib lives on-- but you're very foolish. To keep longing for death for a few days more is written in my fortune-- how could I die prematurely? (66)
== Nazm page 66