नाम गुम जाएगा ... मेरी आवाज़ ही पहचान है — Lata Mangeshkar (1929-2022)

Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar is no more. It is unfortunate that she succumbed to COVID-19. Of the several thousands of songs she sung in her career, this particular song stands out in my mind as a unique memory of Lata Mangeshkar. 

नाम गुम जाएगा ... मेरी आवाज़ ही पहचान है

Approximately translated: "Name will be forgotten ... my voice is the only identity". (This video is pictured on Jeetendra, Hema Malini and Dharmendra, but the meaning is applicable to Lata Mangeshkar's life as well, it seems to me).

She has provided the world with evergreen songs and singing ... May her soul rest in peace.

आज जाने की ज़िद न करो

A powerful, and deep, sentiment is expressed in this song. It appears that the female lover is pleading that the lover must not leave ... but, the pleading can be between any two human beings, particularly if the intensity of the sentiment is very strong and deep: ... हाय मर जाएंगे, हम तो लुट जाएंगे ... (I'll die if you leave, I'll be devastated ...)

Lyrics are rendered with almost every word getting its full import by the manner in which it is sung.

कैसी पहेली ज़िन्दगानी

When you watch Aratrika Dey present this song on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa North America 2015 to become the winner, one of the thoughts you would get is to find out about the original track.

The original is a song sung by Sunidhi Chauhan, and pictured on Rekha, in the movie Parineeta. (Hyperlink for the original is with the button below).

For a teenager, Aratrika does an excellent job of presenting the song, very reminiscent of the original.

Bollywood certainly has a style of presenting life's philosophies in unexpected places: in a night club, in this case.

ज़िंदगी प्यार का गीत है, हर दिल को गाना पडेगा

Another weaving of a sad context with lilting music, Bollywood style. It is quite philosophical in every stanza, showing the two different sides of life, the good and the not so good.

चिंगारी कोई भड़के, तो सावन उसे बुझाए

When you discover some good characteristic about a matter than you knew previously, there is a certain immense pleasure.

I first heard this song nearly four decades ago. Even though I liked the song, and even hummed it on occasion, I didn't know that it is in Raag Bhairavi; neither did I know it projected a certain sadness by invoking the ideas in proverbs such as the Fox Guarding the Hen house.

---

There is a Kannada proverb with a similar import: ಬೇಲಿಯೇ ಎದ್ದು ಹೊಲ ಮೇಯ್ದರೆ

---

आगे भी जाने न तू, पीछे भी जाने न तू

When you hear an instrumental of this song, as I did tonight, it seems to be more poignant in reaching you. It is true, isn't it, that you don't know what the future holds, and you don't quite know why certain things happened in the past? This song reminds you that all there really is, is the present. The song exhorts that listener "to seize the present to fulfill the wishes'.

A Bollywood version of Carpe diem.

इन आँखों की मस्ती के

You sometimes hear a song that fleetingly gets your attention, but you really don't pay serious attention to it until you become aware some characteristic the song has. I learnt recently that this song is, for the most part, in raag ♫भूपाली.

I am a student of this raag and, naturally, had to explore its lyrics: Bollywood's lyrics are sometimes amazing.

ज्योति कलश छलके

The raag is what attracted to me to the song first, and I subsequently discovered that it celebrates the onset of morning.

ಸತ್ಯವಂತರಿಗೆ ಇದು ಕಾಲವಲ್ಲ

This song is a somewhat cynical view of life, as seen through the eyes of ಪುರಂದರದಾಸ, the 16th century poet & philosopher. The title of the song can be translated literally as:

This is not the time for truthful people ...

The song elaborates on how unrighteous people end up enjoying comfortable life, and the righteous end up suffering in their life. Perhaps this situation was more seen frequently during his lifetime, and produced the cynical outlook captured in this song.

The song's special significance for me is that I used to hear it, quite regularly, from my late paternal grandmother.

(It appears that this song can be rendered in different ragas; the video by D K Pattammal is in ♫भैरवी).

अभी, मुझ में कहीं, बाकी थोड़ी सी है ज़िंदगी

The poet describes three occasions, or three moments, that highlight

1. The tenacity — लगन — that the human mind capable of 
2. The compassion — रहम — that can exist in this world
3. The prick, i.e., pain, — चुभन — that can be experienced when an attraction lights up in an otherwise desolate life

and has the character sing:

Whether I should feel a little happiness, or sadness
Whether I should die or live [a little].

Wonderful music using the violin. Very moving.

ज़िंदगी कैसी है पहेली

"Life is a mystery; it makes us laugh sometimes, and cry some others."

Give me some sunshine, give me some rain

This song captures the sentiments that we — my classmates and I — used to talk about when we were engineering undergraduates. (Although the story involves engineering undergraduates, it was reportedly shot in a business school campus, namely Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore).

The narrations, interspersed with musical stanzas, makes the song memorable. The fact that lyricist स्वानंद has carefully used technical terms routinely used in engineering, makes engineering students — former and present — appreciate the nicely disguised humor. Of course, in order to appreciate the Hindi language humor, it helps if you know Hindi.

कसमे वादे प्यार वफ़ा

Why the singer shows despair in this song is not clear in my memory, although there seems to be a parallel between the singer's despair, and the main character's. Nice music only makes it memorable.

आगे भी जाने न तू, पीछे भी जाने न तू

The song starts out on a philosophical note: "You don't know the future, you don't know the past, whatever there is, is just the present moment ..."

How this philosophical note is woven into the music, and the story, is somewhat of a unique contribution of Bollywood to world cinema.

"Living in the present" is such a popular phrase that, if you google for it, you'll find many web sites that collect quotes on that subject. One example is Famous Quotes on Living in the Present... posted by John Kuypers.

आदमी जो कहता है

My blogger friend Atul has a more detailed discussion of this song. Briefly, this is a simple song that packs philosophy in every day words and experience.

Whatever a man says and hears [in his life],
Those voices keep following him throughout his entire life
Whatever [blessings] a man gives or is given,
[Those blessings] stay with him for his entire life

All izz well

Considerable poetic skill is required to craft a song using multiple languages. (It can also be argued that it is easier find rhythmic words if you use multiple languages). This song is a good composition that tries to provide a simple, lighthearted and humorous outlook on life.

गाडी बुला रही है, सीटी बजा रही है

It is one of the unique characteristics of Bollywood lyricists to derive pragmatic values of life by observing everyday things — in this case a train. For example:

"responsibility of carrying people around, fire in its heart, smoke on its lips ... still keeps on singing, i.e., moving"
"[the train] won't bother about all that [thunder, rain & lightning], moves at the drop of signal, day or night"

Add to it the melodic singing Kishore Kumar can provide. A treat, although a nostalgic one.

ದೋಣಿ ಸಾಗಲಿ ಮುಂದೆ ಹೋಗಲಿ ದೂರ ತೀರವ ಸೇರಲಿ

In a recent web surf to find Kannada songs based on classical ragas, I ran into this song from yesteryears, based on raag ♫पहाड़ी. There is already a nice Kannada presentation of the lyrics on the web, and hence you won't find any here.

ಬಾಡಿ ಹೋದ ಬಳ್ಳಿಯಿಂದ ಹೂವು ಅರಳಬಲ್ಲದೇ?

I recall having heard this song when I was an youngster in India. Although I don't remember having seen the movie, it seems that the singer is recalling how fate has worked its ways against his wishes.

I have reconstructed the lyrics by listening to the audio/video.

नूर-ऐ-खुदा

The poet brings out a recall of unhappy events, and a plea to God to produce justice, by the character in the film.

Other singers of this song are Shankar Mahadevan & Adnan Sami. (I could not fit these names in the Labels field). That Shankar Mahadevan has brought out a musical piece that sounds like an original Arabic singer's rendering, is a testament to the universal nature of music and, of course, to Shankar's musical abilities.