This song is a tribute to the victims of the Tsunami tragedy.
Story behind the song
The page of the diary on the day I wrote this song
January 04, 2005 12:48 PM
There is a terrible cloud of gloom one on the outside, and one within me. My emotional state has improved since the 31st December and yet I am feeling disturbed.
We had already decided to meet at Ram and Udayas place on the 31st. On the 26th the Tsunami wave hit the shores of multiple countries. I read the news on the internet and knew at once that this was perhaps the biggest tragedy of the millennium.
On the 31st as I was driving towards Ram and Udayas place, I felt a pang of guilt. What was I doing? Why was I even thinking of a celebration with such a big tragedy hitting mankind? I have never felt so helpless. What was this compulsion of meeting friends on the eve of the New Year? As we arrived at Ram and Udayas place, the mood there too was sombre. The conversation for the first part of the evening hovered on the cruelties of Nature and the Tsunami. I was lost in my own thoughts for most of the time. Is it because we are cruel to Nature that it sometimes lashes back at us? Is it Natures way of telling mankind that it has had enough of our atrocities? But then does not it distinguish between the guilty and the innocent.
Then a session of music followed. But I was somehow uncomfortable singing cheerful songs. So when everybody got up for dinner, I went to the other room. I desperately wanted to pen my feelings, perhaps in form of an essay or a diary entry. But when I sat alone for some time, it slowly came to me in music and lyrics. And this is what I wrote.
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The next day I told Suchi that we must do whatever was in our power for the Tsunami victims. I sought out the government website that was accepting the online donations for the Tsunami victims. The strange thing was that the payment gateway was so flooded (a tragicomic word under the circumstances) that our payment wouldnt be processed until yesterday.
It was a wake-up call for me, I think. One should not kill optimism. So far my song was incomplete because I had only spelled the magnitude of the tragedy. There were millions of hands of help that rose simultaneously. It reminded me of the line in SOUND OF MUSIC. If God closes all the doors, he opens a window somewhere!
After Suchi and Anurag went to sleep, I sat on the computer hoping to write this diary entry. What followed however was the remainder of my song
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The lyrics came with the music. After a long time, I felt that this was a song that came from my own heart. I have to record this. It means spending all that I earned in the Mumbai Festival song. But I think this song is the necessity of my soul. I must talk to Sameer about it tomorrow itself. If anybody can do justice to this song, it is he. I am feeling sleepy now... and rather excited at the same time. Its a strange feeling.
Song Credits -
Composition, Lyrics and Lead Vocals - Kaushal S. Inamdar
Backing Vocals - Rishikesh Kamerkar and Suzanne D'Mello
Keyboards - Sameer Mhatre
Cello - Neville
Sound Engineer - Chinmay Harshe, Swarlata Studios, Mumbai
Lyrics
Aisa tera karam hua ki saahil saare behne lage
Sadiyon se jo chhup thhe nazaare, apni baat kehne lage!
Such was Your (the Almightys) mercy, that even the shores begun to flow...
The scenery which had always been silent now has started to have its say!
Sooni aankhein, sookhi palkein, lekin paani chaaron oar...
Jeevan se jo baandhein rakkhein aisi bachi na koi dor...
Aisa machla barsa paani, khoon ka pyaasa tarsa paani
Paani, paani itna paani jismein insaan jalne lage...
Mitti ke putale bhi kya hain, patthar bhi pighalne lage!
The eyes are lonely and the eyelashes are dry, but theres water all around...
There is not on strand, not one thread... that connects us to life any longer...
The water poured and danced and it was the dance of death...
The water which was thirsty of blood...
Water which burnt down life...
The live statues of clay and the huge lifeless rocks melted into it!
Ek hi geela pal tha koi, jismein sadiyaan guzar gayi
Ek hi aisi leher uthi aur saari duniya bikhar gayi!
Kiski sazaa hai, kiskaa sila hai
Jo tere bandon ko mila hai
Tinka tinka jod ke phir ye bikhare ghar simatne lage
Haath hazaaron aage badhein to zakhmon ke nishaan bhi mitane lage!
It was just a wet moment, in which centuries passed by
It was just a wave, but the world turned upside down
What is the sin that is being punished, O Lord!
Whose sins are your children paying for?!!
But now... the straws are coming back together and the houses are standing once again
There are a thousand hands that have risen to heal the wounds and even their blemishes!
Ek hi jazbaa dukh se badaa hai, aur woh apni aasha hai
Sookhe nainon ke konon mein ummeedon ki bhasha hai
Dharti phate ya ambar toote hum phir ubhar kar aayenge
Saagar chaahe bandhan tode hum sabse tar jaayenge!
Hum phir ubhar kar aayenge!
There is just one emotion bigger than grief... and that is Hope
Even the corners of dry eyes speak the language of optimism!
The Earth may give way or the Sky may fall...
But well survive and rise...
The Seas may break their barriers,
But well survive and float to the shores!
Well survive and rise!!!