Been mostly on the Mom track this week. Finally got over to the middle school library and signed up to help out once a week. Glad I did. I love the bright new building, the collection (they have a whole section for ARCs), and the knowledgeable librarian. Good week to be shelving books anyway ...
Also been listening to Rabindra Sangeet. This version of Ekla Chalo Re (Walk Alone) is sung by Kishore Kumar, an old family favorite. Can't really translate it without sounding melodramatic--it's best in Bangla. And no giggles or rolling eyes from the too-cool-to-listen-to-Tagore gallery, please. Sometimes only Tagore will suffice!
8 comments:
Hah! Rabindra Sangeet is pretty much my entire childhood. I used to dance in the annual Rabindra Jayantis and my mum would sing :)
Thanks for the great mid-day musical interlude! I enjoyed listening to it. Would love to know a bit more about the translation: walk alone, as in the sense of renewal?
What a good kid you were, Anandita! My son dropped tabla after two years, and my daughter quit Kathak after one. Their Hindi is pathetic, as is my husband's. Luckily Tagore wrote equally well in English ... though things are always lost in translation, even from Bangla to Hindi!
Glad you enjoyed it, Martha. Not renewal, precisely. I'm lousy at translating but here're a few phrases
When nobody heeds your call, then walk alone ... when others turn their gaze away, when there are obstacles in your path,when there is darkness and no one to light the way ... then too walk alone.
As in take a principled but unpopular stand, or follow your dream.
Must google a good translation, mine's horrible :(
Martha, Here's Tagore's own translation ...
If they answer not to thy call walk alone,
If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,
O thou unlucky one,
open thy mind and speak out alone.
If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,
O thou unlucky one,
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 unlucky one,
with the thunder flame of pain ignite thy own heart
and let it burn alone.
Your translation seems pretty close to me! And, yes, follow your dream!
My mother and one of her many sisters lived in Calcutta in the 1930's for a while. As a result my mom is still a fluent Bangla speaker, and she often hummed/sang Rabindra Sangeet in the kitchen. As a result this is one of the songs that made an auditory imprint on my own childhood.
Uma, I remember watching a clip of your mother reading OOTW in several Indian languages. Bangla was one of them, right? She's amazing! Nandini
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