On the Nature of love…

All the poems of Tagore that I’ve read are translations, obviously. If the translations can be so intense and poignant, I can’t even begin to imagine how wonderful the original Bengali poem would sound. Some of the languages I wish I knew: Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati and Arabic.

Bengali is said to be the sweetest language in the world, next to French. Well, I think that Bengali beats French hollow, any day! I often wondered if the sing-song tone was a factor of the modulation used or the language itself. Doesn’t matter; the end result is delightful to hear! As for Tamil, I love the sound of the language. It has a heavy bass to it (Sounds silly since that bass is possibly an attribute of the person speaking the language). Certain phonetic contortions, usages, the ‘ai’ usage, the ‘nge’ usage… I wish I knew Tamil.

Gujarati… purely selfish reasons..:-) Married into a Gujarati family, that’s why!

Arabic… Ooh! Love the harshness of the language, the extensive usage of the throat, the almost-strangled effect, the tongue exercises involved!

Here’s another winner from Tagore… He is a master, no doubt!

“On the Nature of Love”

The night is black and the forest has no end;
a million people thread it in a million ways.
We have trysts to keep in the darkness, but where
or with whom — of that we are unaware.
But we have this faith — that a lifetime’s bliss
will appear any minute, with a smile upon its lips.
Scents, touches, sounds, snatches of songs
brush us, pass us, give us delightful shocks.
Then peradventure there’s a flash of lightning:
whomever I see that instant I fall in love with.
I call that person and cry: ‘This life is blest!
For your sake such miles have I traversed!’
All those others who came close and moved off
in the darkness — I don’t know if they exist or not.

— Rabrindranath Tagore