Look, look
He is out on the street in his chariot
It is so high
It is kissing the sky
And his flag is streaming in the wind
Come, come one and all
Idly don’t sit in a corner
Give your hand
Pull his chariot
Somehow take a place among all.
Have you got your own work to do?
Forget them today
Pull his chariot with all your strength
With all your body and soul
Pull it even risking your life
Day and night
Pull without any pause
In hills and dales
In villages and towns.
Don’t you hear the wheels are turning?
Doesn’t it echo in your heart?
Doesn’t it quicken your blood?
It is singing a deathless song
Doesn’t your heart want to rush
To a future that is vast?
Transcreation of the song – Udiye dhwaja abhravedi rathe/Oije tini, oije bahir pathe – included in the collection Gitanjali (no. 118) by Rabindranath Tagore. It was composed on 26th Asad, 1317 BS while traveling in his boat on the river Gorai that runs through the Tagore estates. The tune of the song was supplied to the poet by his neice Sarala from a Sikh bhajan sung in the Gurdwaras. Best recording of this song is by Sagar Sen. Probably this is a swadeshi song, but is now treated as devotional.
