"Ekla Chalo Re" (Walk alone) is one of the best known songs of Tagore. I don't speak Bengali, but luckily for me Tagore himself translated it to English.
"Jodi Tor Dak Soone Keu Na Asse
Tobe Ekla Chalo re
Ekla Chalo Ekla Chalo Ekla Chalore
Jodi Keu Katha Na Kai Ore Ore O Abhaga
Jodi Sabai Thake Mukh Firae Sabai Kare Bhay
Tabe Paran Khule
O Tui Mukh Fute Tor Maner Katha Ekla Balo re
Jodi Sabai Fire Jai Ore Ore O Abhaga
Jodi Gahan Pathe Jabar Kale Keu Feere Na Chay
Tobe Pather Kanta
O Tui Rakta Makha Charan Tale Ekla Dalo re
Jodi Alo Na Dhare Ore Ore O Abhaga
Jodi Jharr Badale Andhar Rate Duar Deay Ghare
Tobe Bajranale
Apaan Buker Panjar Jaliey Nieye Ekla Jalo re"
"If they answer not to thy call walk alone,
If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,
O thou of evil luck,
open thy mind and speak out alone.
If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,
O thou of evil luck,
trample the thorns under thy tread,
and along the blood-lined track travel alone.
If they do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,
O thou of evil luck,
with the thunder flame of pain ignite thy own heart
and let it burn alone."
The audio may be found here:
http://www.calcuttaweb.com/gaan/rabindra/index.shtml
Far from being an inspired choice at a moment of reckoning, solitude is the only option for figurative forays into recesses of inner space. This existential actuality is neither epiphanic nor unremarkable. Neither reassuring nor unnerving. Or perhaps it is both. Perhaps it depends on what day of the week it is. Or on whether Schrödinger's cat is alive or dead.
And here is the first paragraph of Makhanlal Chaturvedi's "Pushp ki Abhilasha" (A flower's wish)
"Chah nahin main surbala ke
gahano mein gootha jaun
Chah nahin premi mala mein bindh
pyari ko lalchaun
Chah nahin samraton ke shav par
he hari dala jaun
Chah nahin devon ke sir par chadhun
bhagya par ithlaun"
"It's not my wish to be woven into the maiden’s necklace
Or be part of the lover’s garland
It's not my wish to be the wreathe for dead kings
Or the crown of deities grand"
(Translation's not mine)
The next paragraph is about what indeed is the flower's wish. However, I find what its wish isn't to be of more riveting interest.
3 comments:
No more updates ? :)
What is the correlation between the two poems?
As for Ekla cholo, the singer does not seem to choose solitude. It is more like, there are no other options, so you might as well keep moving forward alone, kinda deal :-) Which is different from people like John Muir, in his younger days, when he prefered wilderness to human contact. Even such kind of people eventually come back to humanity, like Muir. Solitude is a luxury that humans like to indulge in for shorter time periods, i think.
:)
I didn't exactly go along with the sentiment expressed in the song (although I do appreciate the inspirational quality of the song when taken literally). I used it as anchor to develop the idea that in the figurative journey of self discovery (hence "forays into inner space"), everyone is starkly, unchangeably alone. Since our mind is our world, it is in fact, the only kind of journey we make.
Correlation between the two poems? :)
One can only reach out so deep into another's world, but true realization of another's world view is outside one's purview. Hence what one thinks the flower wishes for is not necessarily what it indeed does wish for.
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