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 ;-)

Mora Gora Ang Lai Le

 

Gora Gora Ang Lai Le

Film: BANDINI

Lyrics : Gulzar

Music : SD Burman
Singer : Lata Mangeshkar

Mora gora ang lai le,  mohe sham rang dai de Chhup jaungi rat hi me,  mohe pi kaa sang de de     Ek laj roke paiyya,  ek moh khinche baiyya Jau kidhar naa janu,  humka koyi batayide     Badali hata ke chanda  chupke se jhanke chanda Tohe rahu lage bairi  musakaye ji jalayake     Kuchh kho diya hain payake,  kuchh paa liya gawayake Kaha le chala hain manwa,  mohe bawari banayake

Take my luminous body now,  Imprint on it an ebony glow, Into the night I hideaway,  With my dusky love in tow.     Steps held back in trepidation,  Loving arms unto you beckoned, Which way do I head pray,  Will someone point the way?     The moon she peeks curiosity, Through a curtain cloud serenity, I curse darkness on her wretched, She smiles, my heart's enflamed.     I've lost some in this gain, Gained some too in this loss, Unbeknownst the mind wanders, Forging a crazed sweetness haze.

मोरा गोरा अंग लै ले, मोहे श्याम रंग दे दे छुप जाऊँगी रात ही में, मोहे पी का संग दे दे     एक लाज़ रोके पाइयाँ एक मोह खींचे बैंया जाऊं किधर ना जानू हमका कोई बताइदे     बदली हटा के चंदा चुपके से झांके चंदा तोहे राहु लागे बैरी मुसकाये जी जालयके     कुछ खो दिया है पायके, कुछ पा लिया गवाइके कहा ले चला है मनवा, मोहे बाँवरी बनायके

GuruDakshina - A Guru's Fee

(P A R T  1)

Into the forest Drona led,

Princes of the palace bred,

To make men and kings of boys,

Archery or fencing - deadly choice!

They setup camps, routines and such,

Dawn to dusk, they slogged much,

"learn, practice, master" spake the Guru,

"To perfect any life skill", 't’was only true!

As the princes sweat, blood and tears,

A tribal boy Eklavya, afar observed,

'This how you build a bow?',

'The string, angle, tension, whoa!'

After sunset he went to his hamlet,

Built a bow of oak branch, animal gut,

Idolized the Guru instructing only him,

“Learn, practice, master” his only hymn!

Over hours-days-weeks-months,

Important craft, the princes learnt ,

Eklavya on his part, persever’d

Ran triple-shifts, hut-life was tough!

Home-made targets, arrows, and some,

Again & a’gain, till he could do it in his REM,

Soon he was the best shot out there,

Better than Arjuna, Drona's protege' !

(P A R T  2 )

Training done, the princes’ graduated,

Skills for the Great War, of the future collected.

 “Celebrate!”, the Guru declared,

A royal hunt  was soon mounted.

Horses, dogs, marksmen & young blood,

Set out to test, abilities newfound,

The dogs scented a game in the forest,

Chased after it with breaths hot and torrid!

They entered the thickset, raucous and wild,

A marauding party, hot on heels.

Soon silence was all  that was heard,

The search party of dogs, dumbfounded returned!

Fed a mouthful of  precise arrows,

Waterboarded by a quiverful of sorrows,

Arjuna fascinated, wondered aloud,

“Find me the archer with such bravado!”

Drona formulated thoughts his own,

“Someone  really archered this well?,

Not even be a pupil I had taught,

Yes find me him, Such  pomp, what  show!”

Shortly the royal party arrived,

Reached a large clearing and a sight,

Manned by a tribal boy, fiercely upstanding,

His herd,  proudly and fiercely protecting.

 “Who are you boy What is your name?”

Thundered Drona in a demanding tone,

You do this to our royal hounds?

With malice and intent or unknowingly?”

  

“Eklavya at your service sire”,

Bowed the tribal with humility,

No matter his hamlet upbringing,

He knew honor, he knew dignity.

“I tend to my sheep, I protect them like children,

So they can feed me & my tribe, through humdrum.

Your hounds came a barking,

My sheep they were a scaring.

Had no choice but shut them,

Arrows in bulk had to be deployed,

A mechanism of  plain defense,

Sire, I make no  simple pretense.

Surely you agree  O wise one?

Forced as my move, but also just?

You are sage and earned, hence I ask,

Fairness I plead in your judginess task”

( P A R T  3)

“Who taught you to shoot boy?”

Thundered Drona almost accusingly,

Eyes on an idol, yonder a banyan tree,

With a likeness,  curiously to he,

“You Gurudev”, offered Eklavya meekly,

“My only teacher, mentor”, he  submitted humbly.

Eyes narrowed, Drona shenanigan’d,

His mind raced to protect his illustrious student,

“In which case you will have no objection,

In providing me due compensation.

For helping yourself  to unpaid lessons,

When you weren’t exactly my student.”

Eklavya replied , with no hesitation,

“Of course Gurudev. Your will is my command”

Drona had him, where he wanted,

Keeping Arjuna’s status of best archer protected.

“Wonderful then son, so shall it be!

The thumb of your right hand,

Weilding your very arrow dance,

I demand you give now to me.”

The princes gasped, when they heard this,

This cruel and unrelenting, could their Guru be?

Arjuna’s eyes welled up in tears,

He too understood, this cruel decree!

  

They watched as Eklavya neither slowed nor thought,

Pulled his dagger, to the web of his palm,

Looked his Guru straight in the eye,

Relieved his  thumb, like a lotus  from its stalk.

The princes returned to live with the thought,

Perhaps Arjuna wasn’t the best of all.

Drona too felt the curse of his ask,

Caused damage to two of his stars.

(Epilogue)

Ek –lavya decapacitated physically,

Parth full of doubts and worry,

The Great War he almost fled,

 Until Sarathy pulled him from the brink back , with the Gita-song!