thodasa ghalib ho jaaye

​Okay, so here’s Ghalib-speak for ‘नानक दुखिया सब संसार’:
नक्श फरियादी है किसकी शोखी-ए-तहरीर का,
काग़ज़ी है पैराहन हर पैकर-ए-तस्वीर का।
First, the glossary;
नक़्श:copy/print, फ़रियादी: complainant, शोख़ी: playfulness/mischievousness, तहरीर: writing,
काग़ज़ी: paperlike, पैराहन: dress, पैकर: appearance
And then, some background.
Ancient Persia had this custom that if you needed to make a complaint to the Shah, you went to him dressed in a paper robe.
So what Ghalib is saying is that we’re all perpetual appellants against the quirks of a playful destiny-writer; and that the picture appears to be one wherein everyone’s wearing a paper robe(the robe of a complainant).
All very well I say, and yet, two particular words stick out. नक़्श and किसकी. नक़्श of course is a reference to all of us - copies in the image of the destiny writer. And because we’re in his own image, किसकी becomes more cryptic. It could be interpreted to mean ‘किसी की नहीं’, as in ‘किसकी हिम्मत है जो....?‘
The couplet, then, could well be a statement of Ghalib’s defiance. There’s humble acceptance of the power of destiny, but there’s also the pride that won’t allow one to stand in complaint.
I guess that’s the beauty of good poetry. We’re all allowed our own little interpretations.