Jodi tor daak shune keu naa aashe…tanha raahi apni raah chalta jaayegaa

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Most Indians are well aware about Subhash Chandra Bose, who was easily one of the most charismatic and inspirational figures among the Indian freedom fighting leaders of pre independence era.

Hindi movies too have been impressed enough with him and there have been quite a few movies featuring him,viz. “Netaji Subhash”(1947), “Samaadhi”(1950), “Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose”(1966), “Subhash Chandra”(1978) etc.

The latest movie on Netaji has been “Bose-The Forgotten hero”(2004).

Lyrics of a song from this movie were sent to me by Avinash Scrapwala to be posted today (23 january 2018) on the occasion of the 121^st birth anniversary of Netaji.

That got me interested in watching the movie. I have not watched it fully yet, because the story is too well known and moreover I cannot bear to watch the part when the British realise that Subhash Chandra has escaped. I know that all that happened 77 years ago and what I am watching is just a movie but even today I dread thinking about the treatment meted out by the British to Subhash Chandra Bose’s family members to find his whereabouts. There was nothing Gandhian about how policemen interrogated Subhash Chandra Bose’s relatives.

Fortunately, the song under discussion happens before that. And it involves that part of the movie that appeals me the most. That part has to do with Subhash Chandra Bose’s escape from Calcutta to Gomoh by road and from there he catches a train to Peshawar at midnight.

Subhash Chandra Bose was capable of great meticulousness in making his plans and executing them. And this escape was a shining example of that.

Subhash Chandra Bose was kept in Fort William Jail, Calcutta in december 1940. There he staged a fast unto death strike. Unnerved, the British rulers released him and kept him under house arrest in his residence at 38/2 Elgin Road, Calcutta.

While at his residence, Subhash Chandra Bose pulled off a meticulously planned escape from right under the noses of securitymen.

Subhash Chandra Bose made it known to the world (including Britishers) that he was contemplating sanyas. He retreated into a room in the residence where no one was allowed to see him. His meal would be shoved under the door of the room once a day in a thaali and that thaali would be pushed back after consuming the foodstuff.

Subhash Chandra Bose’s extended family had another residence at 1, Woodburn park. where Subhash’s elder brother Sarat Chandra Bose used to live with his family. Subhash picked Sisir Chandra Bose, the son of Sarat Chandra Bose, for his plan.

The Bose family had several cars, viz Studebaker, Opel, Wanderer W24 etc. Subhash Chandra Bose chose Wanderer 24 W for the purpose.

Prima facie, Wanderer was a noisy car rather than a soundless car as befitting a getaway car But it had advantages over the other cars posssessed by the family. Cars those days did not have efficient cooling arrangements for engine and the radiator was required to be re-filled with water and the car was required to be stopped for cooling while on long distance drive. Wanderer had an advanced cooling system and this car did not suffer from that engine overheating problem during long drives.

Sisir Kumar Das, then a medical student (he went on to become a renowned paediatrician) was made to go on a trial run on 25 december 1940 upto Burdwan ( a distance of 100 km) on this car to check if the car as well as he himself were ready to undertake the long journey.

Every day for several days Sisir would drive to Subhas’s house late at night in his car. When policemen stopped him, he would tell them, “My uncle wants to listen to the radio broadcast about the Second World War. He is too ill to tune the radio himself. So, he depends on me to do it for him. The guards would let him pass. He would leave after midnight. So this routine of leaving in that car after midnight was set up several days in advance.

Bose slipped out of his Calcutta residence after midnight on 1:30 AM on 17 january 1941 on this car, with Sisir Kumar Bose driving as usual and the securitymen did not notice anything unusual.

Sisir Bose drove through the night. He was constantly being seved coffee by his uncle who was seated on the left rear side and was carrying a thermos containing coffee. The car arrived Barari near Dhanbad (270 KM), where Ashok Nath Bose, the elder brother of Sisir Bose was posted with “Barari Coke Works” (Now Bharat Central Coalfields Limited) as a chemical Engineer and stayed with his newly married wife Mira. Subhash Chandra Bose, posing as Ziauddin, spent the whole day of 17 January 1941 there. He was supposed to catch 63 UP Howrah-Peshawar train at Asansol, but Ashoknath advised his uncle to board the train at Gomoh. Asansol was an important station and the train arrived there well before midnight so chances of being noticed there were high. Gomoh on the other hand was a smaller station and the train arrived there after midnight, so there would be very few people there and chances of being noticed was low.

Subhash Agreed to this change of plan. Sisir was not famiiar with the road from Barari to Gomoh (50 KM) so Ashoknath and his wife Meera, seated in the rear of the car accompanied Sisir (at the wheel) and Subhash (at the passenger seat) upto Gomoh.

They reached Gomoh railway station at midnight. Subhash asked the others to go back instead of seeing him off at the platform. Sisir insisted on accompanying him to the platform, to see his uncle off. He went to the station, bought the ticket from Gomoh to Peshawar and boarded the train which arrived Gomoh after midnight. Some policemen, rubbing tobacco on their palms were around, while the most sought after revolutionary (though he was not yet known to have escaped) quietly slipped away into the unknown from right under their noses.

Later he reached Peshawar and from there futher plans to escape out of India were chalked out.

The movie does not have scope for many songs, but the song that plays in the background while Subhash’s train runs through the breadth of the nation, hauled by a steam locomotive, is quite evocative and moving. The same song is again played when he is seen going towards the western border of India into Afghanistan.

The song keeps playng in the background at moments like this in parts. The longer and full song is available only in the audio version.

Here is this inspirational and moving song from an inspirational figure from our recent history. The song is sung by Sonu Nigam (hindi part) and Nachiketa Chakraborty (Bangla part), with some chorus singing as well. Jawed Akhtar is the lyricist. Music is composed by A R Rahman.

Audio

Video part I

Lyrics (Provided by Avinash Scrapwala)

Jodi tor daak shune keu naa aashe
Tobey ekla cholo re
Jodi tor daak shune keu naa aashe
Tobey ekla cholo re

Ekla cholo
Ekla cholo
Ekla cholo
Ekla cholo re
Jodi tor daak shune keu naa aashe
Tobey ekla cholo re

Tanhaa raahi ee ee apni ee raah chalta jaayegaa
Aa aa aa aa
Tanhaa raahi ee ee apni ee raah chalta jaayegaa
Aa aa aa aa

Ab to jo bhi hoga dekha jaayegaa
Ab to jo bhi hoga dekha jaayegaa

Tanhaa raahi ee ee apni raah chalta jaayegaa
Tanhaa raahi ee ee apni raah chalta jaayegaa
Ab to jo bhi hoga dekha jaayegaa

Aa aa aa aa

Aa aa aa aa
Aa aa aa aa

Bojh kitnaa ho mushkilon ka magar
Na jhuka hai naa jhuk sakega ye sar
Zinda phir bhi rahega mera zameer
Jism ko maut bhi aa jaaye agar r r
Tanhaa raahi ee ee apni ee raah chalta jaayegaa
Tanhaa raahi ee ee apni raah chalta jaayegaa
Ab to jo bhi hoga dekha jaayegaa

Jodi tor daak shune keu naa aashe
Tobey ekla cholo re
Jodi tor daak shune keu naa aashe
Tobey ekla cholo re
Ekla cholo
Ekla cholo
Ekla cholo
Ekla cholo re
Jodi tor daak shune keu naa aashe
Tobey ekla cholo re

Baazi pe lagaane ki khaatir
Ham jaan hathheli par laaye ae ae
Baazi pe lagaane ki khaatir
Ham jaan hathheli par laaye
Ab chaahe jiyen ab chaahe maren
Jo hona hai wo ho jaaye
Ab chaahe jiyen ab chaahe maren
Jo hona hai wo ho jaaye
Jodi tor daak shune keu naa aashe
Tobey ekla cholo re
Jodi tor daak shune keu naa aashe
Tobey ekla cholo re

Manzilen kabhi kya milegi hamen
Hogi kya sahal kabhi jo raah hai kadi
Aaj har jawaab hamko mil jaayega
Aa gayi hai aaj faisle ki ee ghadi ee ee ee ee

Tanhaa raahi apni raah chalta jaayegaa
Aa aa aa aa aa aa
Tanhaa raahi apni raah chalta jaayegaa
Aa aa aa aa aa aa
Ab to jo bhi hoga dekha jaayegaa
Ab to jo bhi hoga dekha jaayegaa

Jodi tor daak shune keu naa aashe
Tobey ekla cholo re
Dekha jaayega
Jodi tor daak shune keu naa aashe
Dekha jaayega
Tobey ekla cholo re
Dekha jaayega
Ekla cholo
Ekla cholo re
Dekha jaayega

Ekla cholo
Ekla cholo re
Jodi tor daak shune keu naa aashe
Tobey ekla cholo re
Dekha jaayega

——————————–
Devnagri Script Lyrics (Provided by Avinash Scrapwala)
——————————–

जोदि तोर डाक शुने केवू ना आशे
तोबे एकला चोलो रे
जोदि तोर डाक शुने केवू ना आशे
तोबे एकला चोलो रे
एकला चोलो
एकला चोलो
एकला चोलो
एकला चोलो रे
एकला चोलो रे

जोदि तोर डाक शुने केवू ना आशे
तोबे एकला चोलो रे

तनहा राही ई ई अपनी ई राह चलता जाएगा
आ आ आ आ
तनहा राही ई ई अपनी राह चलता जाएगा
आ आ आ आ

अब तो जो भी होगा देखा जाएगा
अब तो जो भी होगा देखा जाएगा

तनहा राही ई ई अपनी राह चलता जाएगा
तनहा राही ई ई अपनी राह चलता जाएगा
अब तो जो भी होगा देखा जाएगा
आ आ आ आ
आ आ आ आ
आ आ आ आ

बोझ कितना हो मुश्किलों का मगर
न झुका है ना झुक सकेगा ये सर
जिंदा फिर भी रहेगा मेरा ज़मीर
जिस्म को मौत भी आ जाए अगर ..र ..र
तनहा राही ई ई अपनी राह चलता जाएगा
तनहा राही ई ई अपनी राह चलता जाएगा
अब तो जो भी होगा देखा जाएगा
जोदि तोर डाक शुने केवू ना आशे
तोबे एकला चोलो रे
जोदि तोर डाक शुने केवू ना आशे
तोबे एकला चोलो रे
एकला चोलो
एकला चोलो
एकला चोलो
एकला चोलो रे
एकला चोलो रे

जोदि तोर डाक शुने केवू ना आशे
तोबे एकला चोलो रे

बाज़ी पे लगाने की खातिर
हम जान हथेली पर लाये ऐ ऐ
बाज़ी पे लगाने की खातिर
हम जान हथेली पर लाये ऐ ऐ
अब चाहे जिए अब चाहे मरें
जो होना है वो हो जाए
अब चाहे जिए अब चाहे मरें
जो होना है वो हो जाए

जोदि तोर डाक शुने केवू ना आशे
तोबे एकला चोलो रे
एकला चोलो रे

जोदि तोर डाक शुने केवू ना आशे
तोबे एकला चोलो रे
मंजिलें कभी क्या मिलेगी हमें
होगी क्या सहल कभी जो राह है कड़ी
आज हर जवाब हमको मिल जाएगा
आ गयी है आज फैसले की ई घडी ई ई ई
तनहा राही अपनी राह चलता जाएगा
आ आ आ आ आ आ

तनहा राही अपनी राह चलता जाएगा
आ आ आ आ आ आ
अब तो जो भी होगा देखा जाएगा
अब तो जो भी होगा देखा जाएगा
जोदि तोर डाक शुने केवू ना आशे
तोबे एकला चोलो रे
देखा जाएगा
जोदि तोर डाक शुने केवू ना आशे
देखा जाएगा
तोबे एकला चोलो रे
देखा जाएगा

एकला चोलो
एकला चोलो
देखा जाएगा

एकला चोलो
एकला चोलो रे
जोदि तोर डाक शुने केवू ना आशे
तोबे एकला चोलो रे
देखा जाएगा