Tag: Pankaj Mullick

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Tagore Translations

 On A Rainy Day by Rabindranath Tagore

Barashar Dine (On a Rainy Day) was published in Tagore’s collection, Manasi (Born of the Psyche,1890) as a poem.

Art by Sohana Manzoor
           ON A RAINY DAY 

          What a day it is, 
      What menacing rain! 
Amid clash of thunders    clouds pour. 
       It’s cool and dark. 
    No one will hear these sounds
    As it’s solitary all around. 
Facing each other    are two sad people. 
     The sky streams water incessantly. 
       The world seems to be empty. 
   Society, world, the noise of living 
   Are all reduced to insignificance.  
 What remains are     these flowing eyes.
Sip the cup of heartfelt sensations.  
The rest has dissolved in the dusk.
Your own voice will remain unheard. 
     Your life will seem to have faded. 
   Words will dissolve    slowly in tears 
      In the midst of these clouds. 
  Both lives will mingle with these words. 
       Who would be harmed by these
   If they rid the heaviness of minds? 
  In the downpour   in a nook of the home,
         If we confide in each other, 
       How would it matter to anyone? 
   During the forthcoming twelve months, 
There’ll be many conversations, laughter. 
Many will come   much of sorrows-joys too,
  Will these confidences ever be destroyed? 
     The world will go on forever. 
    The wind blows with agitation. 
 Lightnings strike every now and then. 
  The words that       remain unsaid 
   In this life, may they be spoken 
  In this thundering monsoon shower.

Written in 1889, it was shortened and put to music at a later date. You can listen to a rendition of the lyrics by the legendary singer Pankaj Mullick (1905-1978), who performed it on the Indian radio for the first time in 1927 by clicking here.

This poem has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty with editorial input by Sohana Manzoor

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access Wild Winds: The Borderless Anthology of Poems

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Categories
Tagore Translations

Rabindranath’s Song of Hope

First published in 1915 in Sabuj Patra, ‘Hobe Joye (Victory will be ours)’, has been translated as ‘Song of Hope’

Sabuj Patra was a magazine in which Tagore published often. This is the logo designed by the eminent artist Nandalal Bose who was a close associate of Tagore. The lettering in Bengali gives the name of the journal, which translated means, Green Leaves. 
SONG OF HOPE

Victory will be ours, victory will be ours, victory will be ours, 
O valiant, O fearless! 
Life will conquer — eternal life, the song of joy will triumph.
Love will win over anger. The enlightened will prevail. 
This dusk too shall pass, shall fritter away. 
O valiant, O fearless! 
Awake, open your eyes, may your weariness fade away. 
Let the light of hope illuminate a fresh dawn.

The song in the original Bengali had been rendered by the legendary Pankaj Mullick(1905-1978), who was impacted by Tagore and even gave the music for Diner Sheshe, Ghumer Deshe (translated as ‘The Last Boat’).

This has been translated by Mitali Chakravarty with editorial backing from Sohana Manzoor and Anasuya Bhar.

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PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Categories
Tagore Translations

The Last Boat by Tagore

Originally written as a poem by Tagore called ‘Shesh Kheya‘ in 1907 and then set to music in 1922 by Pankaj Mullick, ‘Diner Sheshe Ghoomer Deshe‘( At the Close of the Day in the Land of Sleep) is a solemn song, which seems to cry out with an unfathomable yearning for an unknown fate.

Sohana Manzoor’s pastel that was inspired by Tagore’s Diner Sheshe Ghoomer Deshe
The Last Boat 

At the close of the day, in the land of sleep, a veiled shadow 
Makes me forget, forget my life. 
On the other bank, a golden shore edges the gloaming,
Which like an enchantress disrupts my work.
The wayfarers who head back after completing their task,
Do not look back at the trail they leave behind. 
Like a receding tide, intoxicated, I am drawn away from home.
The dusk sets in as the day leaves. 
Please come, o ferryman, one
Who can row me across on the last
Ferry at the end of the day.
In the dusk, a few ferries ebb with the tide
To the other side. 
How will I recognise the ferryman among the other ones 
Waiting at the arrival to take me to my destination?
Downhill, by the thick vegetation at the bank, 
The shade moves like a shadow.
Where is the ferryman who is willing to halt
When I call out? 
O come, 
The one who will row me 
At the close of the day in the last ferry.
Those who were returning home have gone back. 
Those who headed for the riverside have reached the banks. 
The dusk calls out to one 
Who is neither at home nor at the riverbank, but stuck mid-way.
Flowers do not bloom for those whose crops did not yield harvest —
When I try to shed tears, it turns into sorrowful mirth —
He who has turned off the daylight, did not light up the dusk.
He is the one who sits by the riverbank. 
Please come, 
O ferryman who will row me across
At the close of the day in the last ferry...

Here is the song sung by Pankaj Mullick(1905-1978)

(This has been translated by Mitali Chakravarty on behalf of Borderless Journal with editorial help from Sohana Manzoor.)

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL