Dr.Wasim
“There was a naughty boy” by John Keats is about a boy who is naughty as he wants to see things around the world and is bored with his own country, England. His exploratory desire to see new things is termed his “naughtiness”. He imagines that things in Scotland are different from England and he runs away from his hometown to visit this new place. When he reached Scotland he was utterly suprised to see that everything in Scotland was same as in England.In this poem, John Keats is talking about the naughty in us. The poet tries to bring out the mindset condition of those who dream to visit some distant place that they imagine would be wonderful and dreamy altogether.Contrary to the main theme of this poem,I left my Country and reached on the shores of England.Unlike the naughty boy I turned into a decent boy to see the civilization at its peak in England.The environment,the ambience, the aura had mismerized my senses,for a moment I thought I am on a doorstep of heaven because the clean and tidy environment had really refreshed my nostrils.Every day was a new experience for me as the sun was less brighter in summer and the clouds used to chase it all the time.The thunders, the lightening and the drizzle used to change the bright day into a dark evening and the cold wind into an icy one.I had seen less bright sun light in England and thats why a bright sunny day is a blessing in England and they enjoy it like an event.I had seen every nook and corner of this country in a very developed form,from bus stations to shopping malls and from train to tram,everything was in perfect order.In the cold breezy nightes when a gust of breeze struck my window It made me think about the wrecked state of my own homeland,a cloud of despair and gloominess haunted me every night as I pondered about my countrymen.The ultimate question striking my conscience is that how we shall improve? What strategies could be adopted to improve?
Infact a true heaven gifted to us by our forefathers is no longer a country to live.As Faiz ahmad faiz admitted in an interview many years later, ‘Subh-e azadi’ (Dawn of freedom), written in August 1947 already speaks of this disillusionment and exhorts his countrymen to ‘go on, our goal is not reached yet.
Ye daagh daagh ujala,ye shabgazida seher,
Wo intizar ta jis ka, ye wo sehr tu nahin
(This stained light, this night-bitten dawn;
This is not that long awaited day break)
Now nobody runs from Scotland to see England, but poor nations flee in boats to see England putting their lives at stake.I must say “Leaving your heaven for another heaven in a stray boat makes you to a permanent heaven”.
Writer is medical graduated from Khyber medical college Peshawar and working as Interventional cardiologist in Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar
