Of what I didn’t get

I often think it has been a stroke of great fortune to have been born in a speech community that speaks the language of Rabindranath Tagore. To those who do not follow Bangla, it is impossible to convey what Rabindranath means to us Bengalis. 

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Our expectations from ourselves, the people around us, and from the world in general are perhaps the biggest source of unhappiness and suffering. Can we stop cataloguing what we didn’t get? Here is a free translation of a song by Rabindranath Tagore from the collection of his 157 songs known as Geetanjali (Song Offerings).

 

In the light and shades my heart

As I hear a flute being played somewhere,

My mind declines to make a list

Of what I didn’t get.

The memory of the time when I was in love

With the world keeps coming back,

In the southern breeze of many a spring

To fill my offertory basket of flowers.

Tears deep and dark

Hidden in recesses of the heart

Keep answering my prayers

In the form of even more pain.

The strings would have snapped at times

But one must take it in one’s stride

The notes fell in place precisely yet

Again and again – how can I forget?

 

 

কি পাই নি তারি হিসাব মিলাতে

মন মোর নহে রাজি ।

আজ হৃদয়ের ছায়াতে আলোতে

বাঁশরি উঠেছে বাজি ।।

ভালোবেসেছিনু এই ধরণীরে

সেই স্মৃতি মনে আসে ফিরে ফিরে,

কত বসন্তে দখিনসমীরে

ভরেছে আমারি সাজি ।।

নয়নের জল গভীর গহনে

আছে হৃদয়ের স্তরে,

বেদনার রসে গোপনে গোপনে

সাধনা সফল করে ।

মাঝে মাঝে বটে ছিঁড়েছিল তার,

তাই নিয়ে কেবা করে হাহাকার–

সুর তবু লেগেছিল বারে-বার

মনে পড়ে তাই আজি ।।

 

[Translated by me on 18 February 2021]