Jameen se

(Savita asked me to give the original as well. I obey.)
Rajendra Krishna Asha Bhosle - Mohhamad Rafi Madan mohan Adalat (1958)

jameen se humei aasamaanpar, bithhaa ke giraa to naa doge
agar hum ye poochhe ke dil mein, basaa ke bhoolaa to naa doge
aye raat is wakt aanchal mein tere jitanea bhee hain ye sitaaren
jo de de too muz ko to fir main lootaa doo kisee kee najar pe ye saare
kaho ke ye rangeen sapanen sajaa ke mitaa to naa doge
agar hum ye poochhe ke dil mein, basaa ke bhoolaa to naa doge
tumhaare sahaare nikal to pade hain, hain manjil kahaa dil naa jaane
jo tum saath dogen, to aayegee ik din manjil gale se lagaane
itanaa to dil ko yakeen hai, humei tum dagaa to naa doge
agar hum ye poochhe ke dil mein, basaa ke bhoolaa to naa doge

Will you lift my spirits only to let them fall with a thud?
And if I ask, will you take me to your heart, only to leave in the lurch?

O night! If you give me all the stars you have in your lap now
I would like to fling them all at my beloved;
Promise me, you won't shatter these colourful dreams you are spinning now.
And if I ask,....

I have ventured out banking on your support not knowing the destination
If you keep in step, the goal would march to embrace us
This much the heart knows that you will not betray
And if I ask.....

Tere julfonse pyaar

Joru ka Bhai/Sahir/Jaidev/Talat 1955

The lyrical evening is fading
The soul dissolves by the sorrow
Who will love now the fluttering strands of your hair?
Who will keep waiting for you?

Now past the experience of loving you
and gone is that one time of testing it.
Who will keep trusting again and again?

Let the heart that turned stony
not be ground in dust;
let peace not be lost in yearning for her.
Do the ill-fated deserve to be loved?

Listen to the song https://youtu.be/F8m533zFZ-g

Dil aaj Shaayar

Gambler/Neeraj/SD Burman/Kishorkumar/1975

Today the heart turns a poet
the pain my verses
and the night is the lyric.
May it please you to listen,
you so accustomed to listening to others' poetry.

See the way I lived for your sake:
kept stitching up the wounds you inflicted
with the thread of my tears;
In the festivities of your Love
gambled with the Pain you gave
against Fate;
Game it was that I won in life
and lost with you.

The way I loved you
has no parallel.
I was almost nothing and you scoffed at.
I got burnt and became the shining one.
Fidelity lives through me
and your concerts stay young.
The world will search for my traces
when I am no more.

This love is not a toy
anyone can buy.
Suffer its pangs for life
and then you may catch its glimpse,
like me.
I am a traveller no matter which journey
and will go away.
But I will come back to claim
the stakes I have put my life on.

Dil dhundhata hai phir

Mausam/Gulzar/Madanmohan/Bhupinder/1975

The heart searches for those days and nights
of leisure
as I sit contemplating the life gone by.

Lying in the courtyard taking in the warmth of the winter Sun
under the shade of your pallav
those days the heart searches for.

Or enjoying the breeze on summer evenings
pulling over cool white sheets
gazing at the star-studded skies
those nights the heart searches for.

Listening to the silence of the valleys
in snowclad mountains
wetting the gaze with those precious moments
The heart searches for those days and nights.

Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho

Anubhav/Gulzar/Kanu Roy/Geeta Dutt/1971

Mujhe Jaan na kaho meri jaan!

Call me not your sweetheart, darling!
Call me not.

Call me not that, without knowing me.
My soul calls out all the time
but you know not any of it. If you did
you won't be gone like you do.

Seasons of yearning passed dry
from these eyes, how many!
Eyes welled, but not a drop fell.

Lips touched the lips,
breaths merged.
Speak through the eyes
now
what our twin pairs of lips want to say.

muze jaan naa kaho meree jaan meree jaan, meree jaan
jaan naa kaho anajaan muze
jaan kahaa rahatee hain sadaa
anajaane kyaa jaane, jaan ke jaaye kaun bhalaa-1

sukhe saawan baras gaye
kitane baar in aakhiyon se
do boonde naa barase, in bheegee palakon se-2

honthh zooke hothhon par
saans ulazee saanso me
do judawaa hothhon kee, baat kaho aakhon se-3

Intro

As always, it is my friends who push me into writing, something I enjoy. This time it is a lady friend. Her name is Savitha, a petite young lady, happily married to my friend, Kaka Karthikeyan and a mother of two lovely kids. Pushkya my friend is also her thick pal. He belongs to that vast caste of music scholars in Maharashtra. These people can rattle off names of movies, lyricists, composers, singers and actors the song is filmed on and so forth. She is an accomplished Carnatic singer, and much interested in old Hindi film numbers. A year ago, she asked me for a website that gave English translations of Hindi lyrics. I didn't know of any.

She threw that question again this year. Again I searched and found none. Then on the spur of the moment, I promised that I would translate the numbers that she wanted. She sent me three of her most favourite songs. I was so happy attempting those that I finished it in no time and felt that was the day's achievement.

This blog is titled after the words of the first song of Savitha's choice, sung by the immortal Geeta Dutt for the film Anubhav. mujhe jaan na kaho meri jaan. It's become my fav, aft I translated it.

Do write your comments on translations and suggest improvements as well.