Being a Bengali, I revere Rabindranath Tagore and his works. The influence of Tagore’s literature, music, vision and philosophy is enormous in the whole of India and in Bengal the impact and influence of his legacy is so profound that he can very well be termed as omnipotent in Bengali life. Tagore was not only a literary genius but also one of the most enlightened minds of the twentieth century.

He wrote his poems, songs, stories and novels in Bengali but when he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 becoming the first Asian to get the Nobel Prize, it was for the English translation of some of his poems. He translated his poems to English on his own and the collection of poems which awarded him the Nobel Prize was named ‘Gitanjali’ meaning ‘offerings of songs’. Here is a link to the full text of ‘Gitanjali’ along with an introduction by W.B. Yeats.  

We are fortunate enough that he had translated this collection on his own and that the world came to know about him. I believe everyone would agree that no translation no matter who is writing it cannot capture the full essence and thoughts of what the author wanted to convey, which makes this translation by Tagore himself all the more special.

At the same time a vast majority of his works were not translated by him and have been translated by other people at various points of times into other major world languages including English. Here is my humble attempt at translating one of his most beautiful songs called “Ekla Cholo Re” or “Walk Alone” which had a tremendous impact on the Indian freedom struggle against the colonial British Government. This poem was written by Tagore in 1905 to make the masses aware of the atrocities that were being done to them and also to inspire them to act in order to stop it. This was one of Gandhi’s favorite songs.   

If they answer not to thy call, thou walk alone

Thou walk alone, walk alone. Thou walk alone.

If they speak not the Truth

If they all fear and turn away

O thou unfortunate, thou open up thy heart 

And speak the Truth that is there.

Thou speak alone.

If they all retreat

If they desert thou in the forest of hopelessness

O thou unfortunate, thou trample the thorns on thy path

and walk ahead on thy bloody feet.

Thou walk alone.

If there is no light

If they close their doors to thou in a stormy dark night

O thou unfortunate, thou burn thy ribs of thy chest

with the burning fire of lightning.

Thou burn alone.

Ekla Cholo Re – Image Credit

More than one hundred years have passed since the song was written. India is independent for the last sixty years or so. The original political motive behind the song is no more there but such is the beauty of Tagore’s lyrics that the relevance of the words is equally important in today’s life if not more. This is the song of the hard working common man, his war cry against injustice and above all his mantra of going ahead on the right path no matter how big the obstacle is. In today’s society, it is not only the external world that can become hurdles but it is also the evil inside a man himself that he has to fight and defeat. This is song is for everybody.

I sincerely hope that I have been able to capture at least a part of Tagore’s philosophy through my inept translation.