Two songs and the quest for meaning of life

Two Bengali songs, both composed by Salil Choudhary and both sung by the same legendary singer Hemant Kumar in his melodious voice reach to the heart…

Song 1: Amay Prashn kore…

 “Amay prashn kore nil dhruba tara,
Aar kato kaal aami,
Rabo dishahara, rabo dishahara
Jabab kichui taar dite pari nai shudhu,
Path khuje ket gale
E jivano sara, e jivano sara”

The blue pole star (neel Dhruv Tara), asks me, for how long will I be directionless? I could not give any answer, and spent my whole life searching for the direction.

Then it goes…

“Ami poth khujinako, potho more khuje
Mon ja buje na bujhe, na buje ta buje
Amar charurpashe shob kichu jay aashe
Ami shudhu tusharito gotihin dhara
Gotihin dhara”

I don’t search for path, but the path finds me. My mind does not perceive anything. Everything comes around me, for I am like the standstill frosty waters.

Song 2: Poth Harabo bolei…

“Poth harabo bolei ebar pothe nemechi
Soja pother dhadhay ami onek dhedhechi”

I have walked a long way on straight roads. Now, deciding to lose my way, this time I have taken the path.

Then it goes…

“Chena shona janaar majhe kichui chini ni je
ochenaye haraye tai abar khunji nije”

Among the recognizable, heard or knowable, I know nothing. Loosing amidst the unknown, this time I will find myself…

Another interesting rendition of this song is here…

The two songs, expressing the two extreme sentiments, one seeking direction and the other trying to lose way, explains the same quest that has troubled mankind since ages. The quest of existence, the purpose of being, and the aim in life. The feeling of emptiness and of desperation to be happy.

These songs also reminds me of the poem ” The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost that talks about the choosing ones paths, and accepting what one had chosen a long time ago. Here is an interesting review on this poem.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.