Tryst with Destiny" was an English-language speech by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, to the Indian Constituent Assembly in the Parliament House, on the eve of India's Independence, towards midnight on 14 August 1947. The speech spoke on the aspects that transcended Indian history. It is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century[1] and to be a landmark oration that captures the essence of the triumphant culmination of the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule in India. He declared the end of the colonial era and called on citizens to recognize the promise and opportunity of the moment:
"Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny. Now the time has come when we shall redeem our pledge - not wholly or in full measure - but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance."
"...bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman."
"All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action."
Prairie Schooner 78.4 (2004) 93 // -->
[Access article in PDF] Two Poems Cai Qijiao Expectation Translated by Edward Morin, Dennis Ding, and Fang Dai How like its waxing cousin the forlorn
waning moon looks as it hangs in the sky;
smooching (I suspect) with the setting sun,
unbelievably creeping back at daybreak.
Its poise over the river is so striking
that a poet would feel hard put to describe it.
Don't dwell now on privation in a moon,
but finger-count to when it will be full again.
Encounter Translated by Edward Morin, Chunjian Xue, Dennis Ding, and Fang Dai Dancing in step close to you
I feel your soft breath waft all through me
feel you as a voluptuously blooming lotus
swaying in the summer breeze The most worthwhile tryst fades into night
good fortune in love always arrives late
If destiny had brushed us past each other
we would no longer recall each other's faces.
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