Got my hands on some old Mohiner songs. I had always been fond of Mohin's material. Especially because the youngest of Mohin's horses (the band being named Mohiner Ghoraguli literally translating to mean Mohin's Horses) Mr. Abraham Mazumdar was my music teacher at school and a close friend of the family. Further the band, despite performing in obscurity right through its career in the 1970s, was arguably singlehandedly responsible for the splurge of Bangla Rock bands and artists that came to fore during the late eighties and early nineties and is an important part of the history of modern Bengali popular music.
Last night I heard the song Tomay Dilam after an eternity. I had almost forgotten it even existed. Unlike most Mohin fans, I prefer this vocal harmony and keyboard driven number over their more renowned hits such as Bhalobashi, Prithibi and Ruksana. This seems to me to be a melancholic love song to the Calcuttan in general. Its a beautiful song and I wish I could put up the song itself, but being the technological retard that I am I haven't figured out how to do that yet. In any case it isn't mine to put up.
So instead I got down to translating it. My case is hindered by my poor grasp on the English language and an even poorer understanding of my own mother tongue (I'm glad blogs don't require mandatory pictures of its administrators for I'd rather no one saw my face). Albeit the same, I hope I am able to atleast give the reader a hint of the beauty and the mellow despair in this song and do justice to its eloquent wordplay in the Bengali language. It is a sad and beautiful song that left me awake till late last night.
Tomay Dilam (I give to you)
In the city’s warmest day
of tar fueled sunlight,
a breath of rain
I give to you today.
What else could I give?
Them old rallies,
the rows of them old trams,
the balloon store on the sidewalk
whose thread knotted reds & whites
are my discordant city’s Rhododendron
I give to you today.
What else is there in the late night neon lights,
that illuminate these restaurants.
The highest roof of the tallest building
I give to you today.
I cannot give
the smell of grass, flowers and rice fields,
two palmfuls of softness.
Instead the silent reassurance of the
slightly leaking burnt diesel,
I give to you today.
All the images of the city’s verse
I give to you today.
[I give to you today] x 3
Original Lyrics by the Late Gautam Chattopadhyay
6 comments:
Could you tell me where to get this song? Also, its pretty cool that you have sufficient command over your mother tongue to at least translate a song. I wish I had enough to translate a verse.
It's beautiful.
Also, what is Bengali for Rhododendron?
@viralfish : this is a simple song and hence was relatively easier for me. you'll find some reunion performances with younger artists as well as covers on youtube. here a link to the list ..http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tomay+dilam+mohiner+ghoraguli&aq=0
@ shamli: thank you ma. i don't know what bong for rhododendron is actually :) ... they use rhododendron in the song itself.."Orai amar thotomoto ei sohorer Rhododendron "
Hi
Last night I listened to this song and I got hooked to it, but I was not able to understand the whole of it because of my poor Bengali. Thanks a lot for the translation. Amazing song, it is
Regards
-Chayan
you're most welcome chayan.
Great command of the English language... you put all Americans to shame. Curious if you'd ever do a translation of Sei Phuler Dol (Ruksana)?
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