A colour of my own - Adaptation of a Suresh Bhat Ghazal

A friend Abhishek R. asked me to translate this marathi ghazal by Suresh Bhat. (www.sureshbhat.in and wikipedia entries will be the best way to read about him.) The original is called 'Ranguni rangaat saarya'.

I am no translator. I am no linguist. I am only a human being. I can feel. This song touches me and in this adaptation, I cannot help but move away from keeping it a mere translation.

The blogpost is not a word-to-word/line-to-line translation of the song. The lines are rearranged. Some lines from the original poem are not elaborated. Some lines are an original imagination. I digress from the original song in portions. (The ones who know the Marathi song will obviously notice the similarities as well as differences)

The expression in English is original but all the credit to the original poet for bringing in what the song brings to me.

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I stood facing the sky. As the evening set before my eyes, the colours of my skin changed. They were the colours of the sky.

As the night creeped in, I saw myself in the mirror and saw a colour that was different from the colours on my face in the evening. This was the colour that I was made of.

I coloured myself in every colour around me but knew that I had a different colour.. a colour of my own.

I have to admit, I was in love. But the only thing that fell in love with me was sorrow.

The lines on my forehead have, however, seldom affected the line that stretches across my lips and forms a smile.

I could never have you with me. Now, my tears and my songs are the only companions. I am happy that I at least have them for life.

...coloured myself in every colour around me. Yet had a colour.. that was mine.

I am the sun who wanders alone when half the world is fast asleep in the dark of the night.

I am the sun whose burning is called a day. My burning is a ceremony for the world which watches it all along.

..coloured myself in every colour around me. Yet had a colour.. that was mine.