Life and Hindi Songs

Music heals. I decided to look at some of my all time favorite Hindi songs and what it tells me about some aspects of my day to day life. I am sure all of us have our favorites in our own languages and these songs probably heal me when I am down. Having come from suburban south you can expect and any translation fault can be attributed to my lack of appropriate foundation in the language.

Purpose

·         ‘The purpose of life is a life of purpose’ – Robert Byrne

·         ‘Begin with the end in the mind’ – Stephen Covey

·         ‘What is the sum total of our life, have we made a difference?’ – The protagonist in the movie ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’

At some stages in life I have been thinking through the above and I am sure some of us would have thought through the above and torture ourselves on

Does our existence make a difference to anyone?’

Or

We get used to what Adi Sankara says in ‘Bhaja Govindam?’  

“Punarapi Maranam, Punarapi Jananam,…” (Endless cycle of Death and Birth)

Or you ponder on the following quote from George Bernard Shaw

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man” and wonder if you should be reasonable or unreasonable.

Is there a simple definition somewhere which does not make you heavy and still make you feel life worth living? Well I turn to this beautiful rendering by Mukesh

Original Hindi Lyrics

Translation in English (Thanks to Internet)

kisi ki muskuraahaon pe ho nisaar kisi ka dard mil sake to le udhaar kisi ke vaaste ho tere dil men pyaar jeena isi ka naam hai maana apani jeb se fakeer hain phir bhi yaaron dil ke ham ameer hain mite jo pyaar ke liye vo zindagi jale bahaar ke liye vo zindagi kisi ko ho na ho, hamen to aitabaar jeena isi ka naam hai rishta dil se dil ke aitabaar ka zinda hai hamin se naam pyaar ka ke mar ke bhi, kisi ko yaad aayenge kisi ke aansuon men muskuraayenge kahega phool har kali se baar baar jeena isi ka naam hai

To offer yourself to someone for smiles, To share someone's grief, To have love in your heart for someone, This is what life is all about. Granted, we are poor, by the standard of our pockets.Even so, we are rich at heart . Perish for love that is Life, Crave for spring that is life, This we believe, though others may not, That this is what life is all about. Relationship between the heart and the hearts trust, The name of love lives on because of us. Even if we die, we will be remembered by someone, That we will smile through someone's tears, A flower will tell a bud, on and on,  That this is what life is all about!!!

Well for me the line ‘ke mar ke bhi, kisi ko yaad aayenge’  which roughly translates to “Even if we die, we will be remembered by someone’ epitomizes the purpose and keeps it simple.

 Do we not ask ourselves that question?

Hope

Hope is what makes your progress through the ups and downs of life. Hope is what gets you to home on a Friday evening from work loaded with unfinished business and gets you back to work from home on a Monday morning to take on the unfinished business. Hope is what urges you to keep on going and best summarized in the classic movie ‘Shawshank Redemption’ as “Hope is a good thing and probably the best of all good things and no good thing ever dies”. I turn to the following song when in despair, which lifts up my spirit and keeps me going.

Original Hindi Lyrics

Translation in English (Thanks to Internet)

Honge kaamyaab, honge kaamyaab hum honge kaamyaab ek din ho ho mann main hai vishwas poora hai vishwas hum honge kaamyaab ek din.       hogi shanti charo aur hogi shanti charo aur hogi shanti charo aur ek din ho ho mann main hai vishwas poora hai vishwas hogi shanti charo aur ek din   hum chalenge saath saath dale haathon main haath hum chalenge saath saath ek din ho ho ho mann main hai vishwas poora hai vishwas hum chalenge saath saath ek din.   Nahi darr kisi ka aaj nahi bhay kisi ka aaj Nahi darr kisi ka aaj ke din ho ho mann main hai vishwas poora hai vishwas nahi darr kisi ka aaj ke din.

We shall overcome We shall overcome We shall overcome some day Oh, deep in my heart I do believe We shall overcome some day The whole wide world around The whole wide world around The whole wide world around some day Oh, deep in my heart I do believe We shall overcome some day We will walk hand in hand We will walk hand in hand Oh, deep in my heart I do believe We shall overcome some day We are not afraid We are not afraid We are not afraid some day Oh, deep in my heart I do believe We shall overcome some day

“mann main hai vishwas

poora hai vishwas”

The faith that we have in our hearts is absolute. Do we need a stronger antidote for hope?

On a lighter vein, in one of our war room meetings, my colleague was exasperated and asked when will we ever get out of these, I  answered  ‘hum honge kaamyaab ek din’ and without a second’s hesitation he throw a surprise on me by asking but ‘when will this ek din’ come ?. We switched topics!

Resilience

Confucius said "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”. Persistence trumps talent has been proven with scientific evidence and it is about not giving up when the chips are down. I turn to this number when I feel like giving up

Original Hindi Lyrics

Translation in English (Thanks to Internet)

ruk jaanaa naheen too kahee haar ke kaanto pe chal ke milenge saaye bahaar ke o raahee, o raahee   sooraj dekh ruk gayaa hai, tere aage zook gayaa hai jab kabhee ayese koee masataanaa nikale hain apanee dhoon mein deewaanaa shaam suhaanee ban jaate hai, din intajaar ke   saathee naa kaarawaan hai, ye teraa imtihaan hai yoohee chalaa chal  dil ke sahaare ke detee hain manjaeel tuz ko ishaare dekh kahee koee rokaa naheen le, tuz ko pukaar ke ke   ain aansu jo liye hain, ye rahon ke diye hain..(2) Logon ko unka sab kuchh deke, tu to chala tha sapne hi leke.. Koi nahi to tere apne hain, sapne ye pyaar ke... O raahi O raahi

Don’t give up, don’t stop anywhere, You have to tread the thorns To experience the spring, (To realize the roses), O traveller… The sun’s stopped, It’s saluting you, Whenever an enthusiast, Walks out, driven by the zest and the will within, The evenings are lovelier, The days are those of a wait to reach… O traveller, There’s no companion, no caravan, This is your test, Just keep walking, Your heart carries you forth, The goal is showing you the way, giving hints, Watch out! Someone might call you and stop you, beware, Don’t you stop on the path! O traveller, The tears in your eyes Are the lamps that light the way, Giving back people what they own, You walked out taking only your fistful of dreams, If no one, these dreams of love are your own, O traveler, Don’t give up, Don’t stop!

‘ye teraa imtihaan hai’. This is your test.

Don’t give up, don’t stop.

Tail Piece

Finally, we helped an American make lot of money by an Indian saying that ‘The World is Flat’ but the vision on globalization were rendered so beautifully decades ago by our own Raj Kapoor in the following verses

Mera Joota hai Japani

Yeh Patloon Inglistani

Sar pe lal topi Rusi

Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani

That roughly translates to

My shoes are Japanese

These trousers are English

The red hat on my head is Russian

But even so, my heart is Indian

Stay Tuned and Have Fun