Tagore song Happy Days

English: Photo of Rabindranath Tagore, taken in 1905 or 1906 by the poet and artist Sukumar Ray, father of Satyajit Ray (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I translated a lot of poems and lyrics of Tagore’s songs. I now feel  when it is translated into another language, we lose the meaning of the thoughts the poet is trying to convey.   With this in my mind, I am taking a different approach; so that my interested bloggers will understand the thoughts and feelings of the poet.

The poet misses his happy days,he misses his friends and the bond he had with his relatives.  He misses the days when he was with his family and friends the bond that he shared. Sure they were not always happy moments, there were sad ones too. But one thing was certain the pain and the laughter was shared equally.

He always hoped  the songs that came from his heart  will bring joy to others. He felt he was not alone.

All those hopes have disappeared.  His golden days are only memories of the past. He dreams the people are still surrounding him and  crowding his broken home.

He cannot believe the pain in his heart is unreal.  He cannot believe his thoughts are like shadows of birds flying above him. It breaks his heart at the thought that his wonderful days are over.

দিনগুলি মোর সোনার খাঁচায় রইল না-

সেই-যে আমার নানা রঙের দিনগুলি।

কান্নাহাসির বাঁধন তারা সইল না-
সেই-যে আমার নানা রঙের দিনগুলি।।
আমার প্রাণের গানের ভাষা
শিখবে তারা ছিল আশা-
উড়ে গেল, সকল কথা কইল না-
সেই-যে আমার নানা রঙের দিনগুলি।।
স্বপন দেখি, যেন তারা কার আশে
ফেরে আমার ভাঙা খাঁচার চার পাশে-
সেই-যে আমার নানা রঙের দিনগুলি।।
এত বেদন হয় কি ফাঁকি।
ওরা কি সব ছায়ার পাখি।
আকাশ-পারে কিছুই কি গো বইল না-
সেই-যে আমার নানা রঙের দিনগুলি।।

DP Daily Prompt: My Number One

My father was the most important person in my life. He was a very busy man. He went to work at 8 am in the morning, Came home at 5  pm. Every day I looked forward to the time,he’d come home and say, ‘Ranu,how are you today?”  I’d sit down and tell him about everything  that happened in school. He’d sit by my side and listen.

One day he came back  and found me crying. It disturbed him. I always smiled and came running to him. I told him about my day. It was unusual , he asked, ‘Ma ,what’s wrong?’  I told him the servant served cold food, cold food gives me a stomach  ache. Dad was not impressed. The servant was warned. From that day my food was never cold.

I’ll give a short introduction about the next one. I always washed my clothes,I didn’t let the servant wash them. I knew they cannot wash better than me. That day it was raining, it was my day to wash my clothes. Mom was cooking in the kitchen. I asked her where will I put my clothes to dry, because it was raining outdoors.  Mom yelled at me and told me to leave. I was sad. I carried the clothes and walked in front of my Dad’s room. He smiled and said, ‘What are you doing Ma’. I was in a bad mood, I said, ‘don’t talk to me.’ Hours later I was my old self again, I laughed and talked with my Dad. he looked at me and said,  ‘why were you angry earlier?’ I told him Mom was angry with me.  He smiled and said, ‘your Mom was angry and you got angry with me.’    ‘ Well   that’s okay as long as it made you feel better.’

This was my Dad the most affectionate person in my world. How can anyone else take his place?