[Verse 1] Old Hindustan, in the morning heat Sugar on the tongue, dust on the feet Courtyards full of borrowed prayers Mothers braiding the same two airs Train smoke crawling past the neem Half a nation in a half-remembered dream We spoke in lanes, in lamps, in rain One heart beating in a thousand names [Pre-Chorus] Then the maps came down Like rain on stone And every road Went walking alone [Chorus] Hindustan broke, Hindustan broke (हिन्दुस्तान टूट गया) Brother to brother, smoke to smoke (हिन्दुस्तान टूट गया) We still sang the same old song But the walls grew hard and the lines grew long Hindustan broke, Hindustan broke And the dust stayed warm in our hands [Verse 2] A child watched kites split the sky One red thread, one black goodbye Flags like flames on the station wall Names were called and the names would fall Grandfather held his rusted key Said, “This was ours, and this used to be” A brass plate bent in the afternoon A shared cup cooling too soon [Pre-Chorus] Then the bells went thin And the night grew loud The same old stars Over a different crowd [Chorus] Hindustan broke, Hindustan broke (हिन्दुस्तान टूट गया) Brother to brother, smoke to smoke (हिन्दुस्तान टूट गया) We still sang the same old song But the walls grew hard and the lines grew long Hindustan broke, Hindustan broke And the dust stayed warm in our hands [Bridge] Still I hear it in the well at dawn In the oarstroke hum and the plowman’s song Not every border can bury the seed Not every wound forgets what it needs If the road is split, let the footsteps mend If the cup is cracked, let the water send A new name rising from the ash Still old Hindustan in the blood that lasts [Final Chorus] Hindustan broke, Hindustan broke (हिन्दुस्तान टूट गया) Brother to brother, smoke to smoke (हिन्दुस्तान टूट गया) We still sing through the broken years Through the salt, through the ash, through the hidden tears Hindustan broke, Hindustan broke But the sky remembers what we were
