Chalo Ek Bar Phir Se अजनबी बन जाये हम दोनो!

It is the best song rendered by Mahendra Kapoor, who was known as Mohammad Rafi clone till then. (I met him when I was in 9th or 10th grade, he used to play badminton in our club in Mumbai. (silk shorts and all!) The song is from the 1963 movie Gumrah directed by legendary B R Chopra.

Sahir Ludhianvi was a poet who came to Bombay to earn his bread in Bollywood. I don’t know what compromises he might have been required to make for movies, but I feel that in some of the songs, the poet in him comes out predominantly. A unique trait of Sahir was that he was very forthright in what he wanted to say, sometimes to the point of bluntness. The way he used the Urdu words was unbelievable. Many times it so happens that for the Urdu words used by him, other languages don’t have the right words, with the required lyricism, to explain his real feelings. Sahir Ludhianvi was indeed one of the most gifted poets ever to have written for Hindi cinema. Known for his cynicism and disillusionment with society, Sahir Ludhianvi wrote lyrics that reflect a great deal of emotional complexity and maturity. In contrast to his contemporaries, Ludhianvi chose to remain unhindered by the constraints set by the Bollywood love songs; many of his songs are refreshing to hear for their expression of biting political satire, heartfelt grief, or outspoken anger.

In this song, the two lovers are caught in a social situation, preventing them from fulfilling their romantic desires and living together. It is supposedly his real-life situation where he and poet Amrita Pritam could not stay together though they loved each other. This song is an outpouring of their accidental meeting at a party with her new husband in Bombay. He was never an idealist; hence the first two lines show his pragmatic approach to the situation.

Chalo Ek Baar Phir se, ajnabii ban jaayen ham donon 

Come let us become strangers again!

na main tumse koii ummiid rakhuun dilnavaazii kii 

I shall no longer maintain hopes of compassion from you

The last four lines are those of a protagonist. He feels it is counterproductive to pour energy into a doomed relationship. His words indicate that sometimes it is good to put an early end to a love story which cannot end in happy circumstances, ever!

taalluq bojh ban jaaye to usko todnaa achhaa 

Should a relationship become a burden, it is best to stop it.

voh afsaana jise anjaam tak laanaa na ho mumkin 

For that tale which cannot culminate in a conclusion,

use ek khuubsuurat mod de kar chhoDna achhaa

it is best to give it a beautiful turn and leave it be.

I am sure that it is a tough call to bring into practice what Sahir has preached. What Sahir has achieved is one of the best songs he has ever written! The lovers are highly emotional during their love phase and later when that love is broken. Sanity may be lost in their actions. But Sahir has suggested a very mature way of handling the situation. Let us be strangers again!

The middle stanza of the song is a practical way the poet suggests how love needs to taper off.

na main tumse koii ummiid rakhuun dilnavaazii kii 

I shall no longer maintain hopes of compassion from you 

The poet indicates to his love that he no longer would be compassionate in the relationship, nor does he expect his beloved to do so.

na tum merii taraf dekho ghalat andaaz nazaron se 

Nor shall you gaze at me with your deceptive glances. 

na mere dil ki dhaDkan laDkhaDaaye merii baaton men 

My heart shall no longer tremble when I speak,  

Poet suggests to his lover that the misleading and furtive glances will not make his heart flutter. Nor would his words will reflect feelings of the heart.

na zaahir ho tumhaari kashm-kash ka raaz nazaron se 

Nor shall your glances reveal the secret of your torment. 

Over a period, my love, your glances will not display the pain in your eyes!

Friends, I am amazed at the way the artists express themselves. Painters’ expressions are seen in the paintings, and the singer will express them through the depth of his voice. These days even cricketers say that they want to go and express themselves. By this, they all mean that they want to show their feelings. But in Sahir’s case,  it is impressive that he can find apt expressions and perfectly fitting words. The word Ajanabii hits the bull’s eye. From lovers to the other extreme, strangers! Somebody may have said, ”Let me walk away” or “let us forget each other”! But the word Ajnabii hits as a dagger plunged inside your heart! How can lovers become strangers in a broken relationship? But that is Sahir for you. Was this song the result of Sahir’s personal experience? Was it the wound to his heart that brought out the word Ajanabii from the depth of his heart?

The last line in the poem (ok, it’s a song) is equally impressive.

use ek khuubsuurat mod de kar chhodna achhaa,

it is best to give it a beautiful turn and leave it be. 

Sahir says now that our relationship is over, why not give the situation a stunning turn, as if he is driving a car and wants to take an unexpected turn on the road that will never bring him back to his lover? Is it as simple as making a U-turn? khuubsuurat mod is a metaphor where he wants to walk out but expresses it as only Sahir can!

 

Sahir Ludhianvi is the pen name of Abdul Hayee (8 March 1921 – 25 October 1980), popularly known as Sahir, an Indian poet and film lyricist who wrote in the Hindi and Urdu languages. His work influenced Indian cinema, particularly Bollywood films; Sahir won Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for Taj Mahal (1963). He earned a second Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for his work on Kabhie Kabhie (1976). He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1971. But lest you forget, his best work was in the 1957 Gurudutt film,  Pyaasa!

 

Father Time

This is the description of father time on Wikipedia page: Father Time is usually depicted as an elderly bearded man with wings, dressed in a robe and carrying a scythe and an hourglass or other timekeeping device (which represents time’s constant one-way movement, and more generally and abstractly, entropy). This image derives from several sources, including the Grim Reaper and the misattribution of Cronus (not Chronos) as the Greek Titan of human time, reaping and calendars, or the Lord of Time.

Typical statement that we make casually about Time is “for next xx hours/days I am just going to laze around and do nothing”. This of course is essential to recharge our batteries or sometimes plain necessity if we are tired. But I feel that in this beautiful world Time is the only finite thing that we own and it is depleting every second. The beauty is that we do not know how much time we have and so we do not have time to waste! In this scenario I feel that we should handle time more carefully.

We treat time very casually and most of the time we feel that Time can be bartered with money. If you are a doctor or an engineer or a scientist, you should be spending more time doing things in which you have the expertise and interest. We do not learn to delegate things and waste our time in doing mundane things. I will give some examples under Indian scenario. I know of people who go and buy their milk every day, though at a very nominal fee milkman delivers milk at home. Laundry man comes home to take clothes for ironing but our friends will go to his shop for the same. What is the value addition?  When things can be bought online we go to shops and purchase items there. If we are buying branded stuff it is easier and faster to do it online. It is ok to go to malls/shops if you want to have fun time and eat out. When cars are to be given for servicing, dealers provide facility for pick up and dropping the car back, at a nominal fee.  Most don’t do it and waste their time as dealerships are far. We had a friend in Canada a real expert in engineering field; once we went to his house and he was irritated that he could not do his research as he was forced to perform mundane things at home, which were very expensive to outsource. What I have said is about better time management but there are more important things than that.

We all have our dreams. But in drudgery of day of day things, we put our dreams on back burner. Dreams may be small, they may be big but dreams are dreams! This is where the finite Time comes into picture. We forget this finite element of the Time and always think that we will follow our dreams later. Does that later ever come? We need to learn to find golden mean within the parameters of work, making money, life’s other responsibilities.

Dreams can be from eating a meal at a fancy restaurant in New York, to laze on beaches in Australia. It could be visiting Taj Mahal or going to the Moon. But dream practically. Your dream may be to climb Mount Everest! Age and physical fitness come into picture. Again never follow the dictum, “My friend is doing so let me try”! Never do that because circumstances are different. One important aspect is that we should think about your spouse’s dreams too! You may be able to withstand a drive through Saharan desert in summer but your spouse may not be fit enough!

All said and done, don’t postpone your dream to tomorrow. Because tomorrow may be too late. I am not saying that you will not be around tomorrow but circumstances can be different tomorrow. Some are lucky to have ideal situations almost till their finite Time is over but many are not that lucky. There can be variety of reasons that will not let you follow your dreams.

Here is a story which I read on the net.

 A lady who was a painter at heart was travelling with her boy-friend. They met a man whose vehicle had broken down. When they were helping the man, the co-traveler told them his story. Traveler had a lifelong dream to make an overland trip across and around the whole of the Australian outback.  Husband & wife both worked jobs they didn’t like, saving all the money that they could and foregoing holidays each year, all the while planning their perfect journey. ‘The holiday of a lifetime’ he called it.

Finally the day arrived.  They had the best equipment money could buy and a pair of first class tickets. On the flight, they had sipped champagne, as giddy as children.

The problems had started the very first night.  They had driven out and pitched their ‘top of the line’ tent.  But his wife’s arthritis had instantly flared up, and the humidity didn’t agree with his lungs, so sleep would not come.  From there on things had only gotten worse.  So much worse that by the end of the first month his wife had given up on their dream, changed her ticket and flew back home without him.  He had stubbornly vowed to complete the trip but admitted to himself that he was having second thoughts about it. 

It had come on fast, like a rush of cold water on the lady, as they were driving away and watching the traveler recede downcast, in their rear view mirror; her heart had broken a little and, in that exact moment, she’d decided to give painter within her (the thing that she had always secretly wanted to do but had always put off until ‘later’) a real shot. After the lady reached her destination, she chucked everything and just decided to become a full time painter!

Every decision is a trade-off.  What you choose to focus on will determine the very shape your life and your character; for good or for ill.

Everything, everything comes down to time.

So come now, do not delay!

It is much later than you think.