“Sharaab kaisi, khumaar kaisa
Yeh sab tumhari nawazishen hain
Pilayi hai kis nazar se tu ne
Ke mujhko apni khabar nahin hai

Tere pyaar ne, teri chah ne
Teri behki behki nigaah ne
Mujhe sharabi bana diya
Ke sharaab peena sikha diya”

Roughly translated (improvements welcome)

“What a drink! What an intoxication!
These are all gifts from you
How have you inebriated me with your glances?
That now I have lost all my awareness.

Your love. And your longing…
Your flirtatious looks
Has made a drunkard out of me
(For) they have taught me how to drink”

This evening was dedicated to Ramkumar Chattopadhyay. He was one of the premier exponents of a semi classical Bengali song style called “Tappa”. An example of his song:

“Ei prithhibita panthho nibas
Rail-er jaatrikhaana
Thhakey na keu chiradin hetha
Korey jay aanagona”

Roughly translated..

“This world – it is a but a short stop
Like a railway station
Nobody stays here forever
They just keep coming and going”

Anybody who has been hit by the cold water of the shower in spite of seemingly having tested it will attest to this…

“I test my bath before I sit,
And I’m always moved to wonderment
That what chills the finger not a bit
Is so frigid upon the fundament”

🙂

“Hum ne mohabbaton ke nashe mein aa kar
Usey khuda bana daala,
Hosh tab aaya jab usne kaha
Ke khuda kisi ek ka nahi hota”

Roughly translated:

“Intoxicated in my love for her
I accepted her as my God
I got back to my senses when she told me
God does not belong to any one person”