Iss Mod Se Jaate Hain

Film : AANDHI Lyrics : Gulzar Music : RD Burman

इस मोड़ से जाते हैं कुछ सुस्त कदम रस्ते, कुछ तेज़ कदम राहें   पत्थर की हवेली को, शीशे के घरोंदों में तिनकों के नशेमन तक, इस मोड़ से जाते हैं   आँधी की तरह उड़कर, इक राह गुज़रती है शरमाती हुई कोई कदमों से उतरती ह इन रेशमी राहों में, इक राह तो वो होगी तुम तक जो पहुँचती है, इस मोड़ से जाते हैं इक दूर से आती है, पास आ के पलटती है इक राह अकेली सी, रुकती है ना चलती है   ये सोच के बैठी हूँ, इक राह तो वो होगी तुम तक जो पहुँचती है, इस मोड़ से जाते हैं

We turn around a bend, Some lazy paths treading, Some pacy roads wading.    Up to the stony castle, Nestled in glasshouses, Wisp by delicate wisp, Around this bend now. A swirling tornado flies, By a path in passing Hesitating & shy some Steps it descends down.    Silk laden roads must, There be surely one, Reach you by which, Around this bend now. From afar it approaches, Flips as it closes on you, Path untrodden, lonesome, Unstopped & untraveled.   I sit down & ponder, This road is by which, I reach you by taking, Around this very bend.

JOE ORDINARY

What should songs be about?

People, places, things, thereabouts?

The sun, moon, planets and stars?

Weather ’n’ seasons, of the near & far?

Why can’t they be about you ’n’ me?

Eating breakfast, simply drinking tea?

Warts & ticks, aches and pains, 

Stock market losses & some gain?

Bad day at work, whiny customers,

Coming home, for dinner ’n’ dessert?

Getting kids, do their homework,

Some bad TV, soap, the works!

Is it so bad to not be profound?

So dull that gravitas be unfound?

Just an ordinary Joe from around,

Out of depth, struggling for ground!

What should songs be about?

People, places, things, thereabouts?

The sun, moon, planets and stars?

Weather ’n’ seasons, of the near & far?

Not as if I don't see the sights,

Flowers blooming, birds delight,

Are they doing me good, really?

Is it a scam, all this positivity?

I get it, I see it, I live it,

With grit, push through it,

It's the dues, life demands,

Each living thing pays the rent.

Someday this will all be paid,

Nothing owed, time to call it a day,

This legacy o’mine left behind,

This ordinary song, to remind?

Why should songs be about,

People, places, things, thereabouts?

The sun, moon, planets and stars,

Weather ’n’ seasons, of the near & far.

 A Tooth Fairy

Ghasaa-ghasaa left-right ghasaa-ghasaa,

Teeth mine are pearly white, ghasaa-ghasaa.

Cereals and cheerios are hidden away,

In tiny little spaces, causing decay,

To rid me of such problems, 

I do this each and every day,

Ghasaa-ghasaa left-right ghasaa-ghasaa,

Teeth mine are pearly white, ghasaa-ghasaa.

Chew I do, two hundred thirty times,

Yet pizza and noodles stay left behind,

And sometimes yummy creamy chocolate too,

Despite washing it down, with a coke or two!

Ghasaa-ghasaa left-right ghasaa-ghasaa,

Teeth mine are pearly white, ghasaa-ghasaa.

To top it all, I stay away from the teeth artiste,

Who seems ready with an axe, always to pick,

And chip away at my shiny white enamel,

Caused to be brown, by too much caramel.

Ghasaa-ghasaa left-right ghasaa-ghasaa,

Teeth mine are pearly white, ghasaa-ghasaa.

Yo kids, listen up, there is a moral to tell,

In your old age you want to avoid, dentures brutal,

Then you follow this mantra, you chant this hymn,

The Tooth Fairy will dance eternally, to your whim!

Ghasaa-ghasaa left-right ghasaa-ghasaa,

Teeth mine are pearly white, ghasaa-ghasaa.

Valle-awaru Nakhwa ho, valle-awaru re Raama

 

Original Song here - https://youtu.be/J9wlXHdXtks

For those of us familiar with the fabulous Koli song from the seventies - "Me dolkara, dolkara, dolkara dariyacha raja" rendered by Lata Mangeshkar and Hemant Kumar, it brings great memories of ganapati festivals, marriages and any public gatherings from the era when this was rather popular. This song celebrates a fisherman's life and times in a poet's expression. What most of us dont know is the origin story of this song(entirely fictitious and a fun excercise for an idle pandemic mind ;-)).

Legend has it that apart from being great fishing trawler owners and kind employers, the Nakhwas of Uran village were also terribly noble. Hundreds of years ago, when they had gone out on one such fishing expedition with their fleet of boats, they had encountered a smaller boat adrift mid-sea. As would have been natural for the seafarers, they rescued the inhabitants except there was one issue, the survivors did not speak any langauge the fisherfolk spoke. It seems they had been drifted away at sea from further down the coast and finally after days of a harrowing journey through stormy seas, landed around the coast of Uran to be rescued thus.

The great humanitarians that the simple Uran fisherfolk were, led by the Nakhwas, they were brought ashore, nurtured and nursed back to health in a few weeks time. When they had regained all their strength, it was time to throw a banquet in their honor which the Nakhwas did. The rescued people were overwhelmed by their kindness and indicated in sign language, which is what they had been using all this time, that they wanted to reciprocate, in their own way. One of the rescued was a singer and had composed a song in their honor. As it happened they belonged to a coastal village in Karnataka and the opening lines of the song went thus :

Volle-awaru Nakhwa, ho, volle-awaru re Raama

Good people, the Nakhwas ho, good people hey Raama

Of course they had other lines too, but someone from the village loved the tune so much, he retained the first line as a tribute to the rescued and constructed the rest of the song.

Thus was a fictitious history made ;-)