Prologue
Rain and snow have descended with vengeance on this little settlement nestled against the mountains. The afternoon is cold and dim, the mountain tops sprinkled with snow and curtained in clouds, the birds have hidden themselves as have the humans, down in the valley not a single light is lit, only the rain and wind roam wild and the mist swirls all around in gray swathes. I stand shivering on the porch, the hood of my fleece jacket pulled tight against my ears and look around. In that queer half light of an afternoon sun that has hidden itself from the rain and wind, it seems as if my little basti is floating in space on the back of the rain clouds, hemmed on one side by the grim, gray mountains, all alone, lost, forgotten by the real world......
It's all rather forlorn, so I retreat inside to the warmth of my little room, switch on the room heater and my iPad, burying myself deep inside the quilt as Hemanta's soulful voice fills the room with the Poet's terribly sad তবু মনে রেখো (Tobu Mone Rekho, Still, Remember Me).
This one's another of Tagore's jewels, a song for remembrance. It talks of how we continue to live even after death in the thoughts of those who loved us in life.
The verse contains a plaintive plea from the poet to his love, a plea that she continue to remember him even when she has finally reconciled to his loss and has stopped grieving for him. But the song is not just a love-song, for it echoes a want common to all of humanity, the desire to live forever, the desire to be immortal, to live on in the memories of those who come after us.
Of course my version doesn’t compare in any measure to the original, but nevertheless, do read on.
I have also posted a link to a You Tube video of the song in Bengali. Let me know if you like it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5aMrZoOV04
The Original Verse in Bong
Tobu mone rekho
Tobu mone rekho
Jodi dure jai chole
Tobu mone rekho
Jodi puratono prem
Dhaka pore jai nobo-premo-jal
Jodi thaki kacchakacchi,
Dekhite na pao chhayar moton
Aachhi na aachhi -
Tobu mone rekho.
Jodi jol aashe aankhipaate
Ekdin jodi khela theme jaye modhurate,
Tobu mone rekho
Ek din jodi badha pore kaje,
Sharodopraate -
Mone rekho
Jodi poriya mone
Chholochholo jol nai dekha deye noyonokone -
Tobu mone rekho.......
My Translation
Still remember me-
Even
when I have gone
far, far away...
Still,
Remember me!
Still remember me-
Even
when new passions
have overgrown old loves....
Still,
Remember me!
And
that time, when I elude your eyes,
and you wonder
whether I linger yet
there, just beyond the shadow’s edge.....
Remember me
O, still remember me.......
When tears overcast your eyes,
on that mellow night
when my play is done-
Remember me;
Just remember me...
When my work comes to an abrupt end
one balmy autumn morn-
Remember me
O, remember me.....
Then
on that day
when thoughts of me
no more wet
your eyes with tears-
Remember me......
Still,
Remember me......
Rain and snow have descended with vengeance on this little settlement nestled against the mountains. The afternoon is cold and dim, the mountain tops sprinkled with snow and curtained in clouds, the birds have hidden themselves as have the humans, down in the valley not a single light is lit, only the rain and wind roam wild and the mist swirls all around in gray swathes. I stand shivering on the porch, the hood of my fleece jacket pulled tight against my ears and look around. In that queer half light of an afternoon sun that has hidden itself from the rain and wind, it seems as if my little basti is floating in space on the back of the rain clouds, hemmed on one side by the grim, gray mountains, all alone, lost, forgotten by the real world......
It's all rather forlorn, so I retreat inside to the warmth of my little room, switch on the room heater and my iPad, burying myself deep inside the quilt as Hemanta's soulful voice fills the room with the Poet's terribly sad তবু মনে রেখো (Tobu Mone Rekho, Still, Remember Me).
This one's another of Tagore's jewels, a song for remembrance. It talks of how we continue to live even after death in the thoughts of those who loved us in life.
The verse contains a plaintive plea from the poet to his love, a plea that she continue to remember him even when she has finally reconciled to his loss and has stopped grieving for him. But the song is not just a love-song, for it echoes a want common to all of humanity, the desire to live forever, the desire to be immortal, to live on in the memories of those who come after us.
Of course my version doesn’t compare in any measure to the original, but nevertheless, do read on.
I have also posted a link to a You Tube video of the song in Bengali. Let me know if you like it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5aMrZoOV04
The Original Verse in Bong
Tobu mone rekho
Tobu mone rekho
Jodi dure jai chole
Tobu mone rekho
Jodi puratono prem
Dhaka pore jai nobo-premo-jal
Jodi thaki kacchakacchi,
Dekhite na pao chhayar moton
Aachhi na aachhi -
Tobu mone rekho.
Jodi jol aashe aankhipaate
Ekdin jodi khela theme jaye modhurate,
Tobu mone rekho
Ek din jodi badha pore kaje,
Sharodopraate -
Mone rekho
Jodi poriya mone
Chholochholo jol nai dekha deye noyonokone -
Tobu mone rekho.......
My Translation
Still remember me-
Even
when I have gone
far, far away...
Still,
Remember me!
Still remember me-
Even
when new passions
have overgrown old loves....
Still,
Remember me!
And
that time, when I elude your eyes,
and you wonder
whether I linger yet
there, just beyond the shadow’s edge.....
Remember me
O, still remember me.......
When tears overcast your eyes,
on that mellow night
when my play is done-
Remember me;
Just remember me...
When my work comes to an abrupt end
one balmy autumn morn-
Remember me
O, remember me.....
Then
on that day
when thoughts of me
no more wet
your eyes with tears-
Remember me......
Still,
Remember me......
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