Editor,
I would like to share the joy of finding a resonance of Tagore in three songs that were written and sung by three different artists across the globe. Each of these songs shook the world and remained anthems of the time.
The immortal song ‘Imagine’ was written and sung by John Lennon in 1971, 59 years after Tagore’s ‘Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo’ was translated into English, ‘Where the mind is without fear’.
Tagore imagined a world without boundaries in his poem, “Where the world has not been/broken up into fragments/By narrow domestic walls.” Lennon’s song gave a beautiful response: “Imagine’ there is no countries/It isn’t hard to do/Nothing to kill or die for/And no religion, too.”
The poem was totally against division, hatred and greed, “Where words come out from/the depth of truth/Where tireless striving/Stretches its arms towards/perfection.” The song responded with the lines, “Imagine no possessions/I wonder if you can/No need for greed or hunger/A brotherhood of man.”
The poem imagined a land free from all sorts of violence, “Where the mind is without/fear and head is held high,” whereas Lennon told us to “Imagine all the people/Living in peace…”
The poem spoke for freedom from superstitions and mechanical rituals and prayed for a land, “Where the clear stream of/reason has not lost its way/into the dreary desert sand of/dead habit.” The song also spoke against religious dogma and division: “Imagine there’s no heaven/It’s easy if you try/No hell below us/Above us only sky/Imagine all the people/Living for today…”
In his song, John Lennon repeatedly said, “You may say I’m a dreamer/But I’m not the only one.” We can say that Lennon was certainly not the only one; Tagore was the other one.
In his song, ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, Bob Dylan said, “Yes, how many times can a man turn his head/Pretending he just doesn’t see?/The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind/The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”
Tagore was as sharp in his criticisms of our indifference to human sufferings in his song, ‘Oh, what a spring!’ (Aaha, aaji e basante!), which he wrote more than a century ago. Tagore said, “Let those who are enjoying, enjoy themselves/Let them enjoy the enjoyable spring to its last -/Those happy guys must not see/The teardrops of a poor girl/They pretend not to see/They pretend not to understand/They turn their heads.”
Faiz Ahmed Faiz wrote a nazm ‘Hum Dekhenge’ (We Shall See) in 1979, in which he said, “The god’s name will remain/Who is invisible and visible too/Who is the seer and is seen/There will rise one cheer – I am god! Who I am too/and so are you/Then the masses, people of god will rule/Who I am too/and so are you.”
Tagore in his song ‘Amra Sabai Raja’ (We All Are Emperors), which was written in 1910, declared, “We all are emperors in the kingdom of our emperor/How else we would be able to unite with him.”
Tagore wrote, “We follow our own path; meet his mission at the end/We shall not die encircling odds of failure/How else we would be able to unite with him.” On the other hand, Faiz said, “When from the god’s earth’s/All falseness will be removed/We will be invited to that altar to sit and govern/When crowns will be thrown off – and overturned will be thrones.”
Sujit De,
Kolkata