The painful, inexorably long waiting….

We wait for so many events and people in our lives, it is really a continuing process. The recurring human experience of waiting, hoping for pleasure (with pain always around the corner), is always laced with the bittersweet ache of missed opportunities. I thought of a poem and a song earlier today , both very close to my heart. A globally celebrated poet (who was a polymath in the truest, widest sense of the word, someone who is almost deified by those who speak his language) and arguably the singer with the most easily recognizable voice in India since the mid 40s. Both depicting the universal longing for connection and the frustration of unfulfilled potential, resonating with all of us in any age and/or socioeconomic group and/or nationality from any time period. Some feelings remain truly universal, and cannot be tied down in any man made and defined boundaries nor be restricted by any time frame.
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Let’s listen to the song first. One of the best of a prolific eight decade long career of Bharatratna Lata Mangeshkar whose divine singing was the reason why singers started getting credited by name on record labels. ( Happened due to requests from the audience of AIR for Aayega aanewala from Mahal, and the record actually said- in keeping with the norm of the times- Kamini. Audiences wanted to know the name of the singer and the AIR didn’t know.)
https://youtu.be/Z0IFaLCbSBU?si=9j1ixLj3da1lRids

The song is by Rajinder Krishan and the movie by Sajjad. The movie is Sangdil and had the hot pair of the era in the lead, both having hidden their origins by the names they took for their on-screen avatars: both had Pathan roots, Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi and Mohammad Yusuf Khan were the lead pair in the movie ( some may not have realized I am referring to Madhubala and Dilip Kumar). The two were in a very serious relationship but due to a variety of reasons it didn’t work out. They starred in a number of movies that were very memorable.
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This is a beautiful song, paints the pain of parting and waiting poignantly.
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वो तो चले गए ऐ दिल
याद से उनकी प्यार कर
वो तो चले गए ऐ दिल
याद से उनकी प्यार कर
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जीने में क्या मज़ा रहा
मौत का इंतज़ार कर
वो तो चले गए ऐ दिल
याद से उनकी प्यार कर
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तुझको ख़ुशी से क्या गरज
गम है तेरे नसीब में
तुझको ख़ुशी से क्या गरज
गम है तेरे नसीब में
खुशियों की आस छोड़ दे
गम को गले का हार कर
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जीने में क्या मज़ा रहा
मौत का इंतज़ार कर
वो तो चले गए ऐ दिल
याद से उनकी प्यार कर
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भूल जा दिन बहार के
देख ना खाब प्यार के
भूल जा दिन बहार के
देख ना खाब प्यार के
दिल तो निसार कर दिया
जान भी अब निसार कर
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जीने में क्या मज़ा रहा
मौत का इंतज़ार कर
वो तो चले गए ऐ दिल
याद से उनकी प्यार कर
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Madhubala always looked fabulous in all moods. The movie was the second movie of the pair together after Tarana which had released a year earlier. Sangdil was a romantic melodramatic film and is actually an adaptation of the Charlotte Brontë classic novel Jane Eyre, published more than a 100 years earlier. Ramanand Sagar wrote the story, script and screenplay. It was produced and directed by R C Talwar. The songs by Rajinder Krishan and divine compositions by Sajjad Hussain are rendered soulfully by Talat Mahmood . Lata Mangeshkar only got this one solo and one duet with Talat. Ashatai and Geeta Dutt got one solo each and one duet together. Shamshad Begum got one solo as well. Madhubala was all of 19 when this movie released. A fabulous set of songs that every person who loves Talat would remember.
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The poem I remembered is Waiting written by Gurudev. An eternal favourite.
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The song I came to sing
remains unsung to this day.
I have spent my days in stringing
and in unstringing my instrument.
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The time has not come true,
the words have not been rightly set;
only there is the agony
of wishing in my heart…..
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I have not seen his face,
nor have I listened to his voice;
only I have heard his gentle footsteps
from the road before my house…..
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But the lamp has not been lit
and I cannot ask him into my house;
I live in the hope of meeting with him;
but this meeting is not yet.
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Very restrained metaphor and imagery, and a regret of sorts for promises unfulfilled.
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Have a wonderful week ahead, folks. Stay healthy and happy. Hope no one has to go through a seemingly endless and painful wait