" एक देहाती सर पे गुड़ की भेली बाँधे लंबे चौड़े एक मैंदान से गुज़र रहा था

गुड़ की खुशबु सुन के भिन्न-भिन्न करती एक छतरी सर पे मंडराती थी

धूप चढ़ी और सूरज की गर्मी पहुंची तो

गुड़ की भेली बेहने लगी

मासूम देहाती हैरान था

माथे से मीठे मीठे पतरे गिरते थे

और वो जीभ से चाट रहा था

मैं देहाती, मेरे सर पे ये टैगोर की कविता किसने रख दी "

In the front lawns of Mehboob Studio on a nebulous night in Mumbai words and sounds were flowing and were intertwining themselves with the air that held still and with the unclad branches of the trees which were adorned with lamps dangling and straps of colorful cloth swaying from one end to the other. The occasion was a musical performance. Unlike other free of cost music shows the place was not very crowded and housed not more than 300 souls. The name of the event was Song of the Hooghly Boatman. The description read – Gulzar’s translations of Tagore, set to music by Shantanu Moitra, and performed by Shreya Ghoshal.

Gulzar, an autodidact in Bengali, had been translating Tagore’s poetry from Bengali to Hindustani[1] from the last five years and recently came out with two volumes namely – Nindiya Chor and Baaghbaan. Alongside this literary collection, Gulzar had also been working with Shantanu Moitra, Shreya Ghosal and Shaan (who couldn’t come on this evening) on an album called Gulzar in conversation with Tagore. The album consists of seven soulful tracks and as I have been saying they are keeping me afloat from the time I have first encountered them.

One reason why I could reverberate so well with this kind of music is because both Tagore and Gulzar have engulfed me with their words time and time again. Gulzar very rightly points out that Tagore for us is always the mystical-bearded-ancient-oriental-wizard with ocean-deep eyes. Tagore as a young man is unimaginable. But Tagore was not always of this saintly depiction as we know, he was a young man and he was creating art and literature as a young man. It would be interesting to analyse the evolution in his writing and art with age.I have put repeated attempts at reading and understanding Tagore. The RC has got a brilliant collection of books by and on Tagore. Of the mammoth amount of literature which has come out of him, I have been fascinated the most by his poetry. Reading I won’t let you go (891.44 TAG), a collection of poems by Tagore, has been one of life’s most gratifying experiences for me. With Gulzar, I have had the privilege to listen to him recite his poetry on numerous occasions and everytime I have left mesmerized by the way in which he explores and expresses the crevices of life through words. There is a childlike playfulness in him which is very infectious and humbles you down everytime you hear him speak.

Coming back to the performance, I fell in love with some of the songs right away and knew they’d be my companions for a long time. Singaar Ko Rehne Do, Main Wohi Hoon and Bujh Gaya Tha Kyun Diya are my absolute favorites. The composition varies from song to song. Shantanu Moitra puts an effort to imbibe elements from Tagore’s own compositions, known as Rabindra Sangeet. The music is made in a way to put the lyrics in the forefront and make sure it is the words which are emphasized the most. Although the composition is decent, I felt there was plenty of scope for it to have been better.

In the course of moving from one song to the other Gulzar narrates some interesting instances like how when they used to sit together in the process of coming out with this album, they always had an empty chair accompanying them. For Gulzar, this was Gurudev (Tagore) sitting there and supervising the honesty and diligence in their work.

What Tagore’s words describe are extremely subtle emotions and feelings. It would require slowing down life by bounties to be able to observe and come across these expressions.Understanding of human emotions, connecting them to a bigger picture of spirituality and transience, very complicated and subtle fragments of human life, the basic elemental nature of it, all expressed in the simplest of words. That is Tagore for you; sprinkling words enwrapped with beauty and romance. There is also a profound wonder as to how Tagore has understood and expressed women so well. Tagore, when asked once about why he wrote, is said to have attributed his poetic impulses to the virahani naari (a lonely woman with unrequited love) that resides in his heart, the lady who makes him narrate tales of longing and separation. Also, if you dig deep and look at the different layers of his writing you come across one facet of writing which Tagore mastered better than anyone — empathy. Towards the end of the song O Sakhi Sun — which comprises of a dilemma faced by a woman over how to treat the jogi/bhikshu who has come at her door — Gulzar says -

ये भिक्षु भी वही है और जोगी भी वही है,

और इस दुविधा में फंसी लड़की भी वही है, टैगोर

And this basically describes Tagore, he is in all the characters he creates, in fact he is all the characters by himself.

I could only know Tagore through the translated word and who better to bring out the maximum essence through translation than Gulzar saahab. This album, these songs are, to put it simply, a remarkable tribute from one poet to another.

Link to the album – https://youtu.be/8Uj0j3kyNm0

[1] Hindustani, i.e., a blend of Hindi and Urdu, was what Gandhi wanted as independent India’s national language, something which could be written in both the native scripts. As per Gulzar, Tagore has been translated into only Hindi or only Urdu on various occasions in the past, but never in the blend of the two – Hindustani.