Bandeh
Arre ruk ja re Bandeehh…. Arre tham ja re Bandehhh” — Rahul Ram began unplugged… surrounded by silence that is often a prelude to a forceful storm. It was the cultural festival of BITS- Goa, my college. The night was pleasant, the breeze was cool and Indian Ocean was performing live. I did not know much about them before that night, but as soon as I heard these two lines and recognized the song, I was filled with pure unadulterated exclamation. I cheered loudly with others as Raghu paused for the lines to take a similar effect on the crowd — and they did.
“Arre ruk ja reh bande, arre tham ja re bandeh….”
(Stop! hold on!) he began once more, this time in tune with the momentum of the original song composed by him and the rest of the Indian Ocean guys fro the movie ‘Black Friday’. The breeze just made the whole atmosphere more serene as I laid back on the lawns and closed my eyes, lost somewhere in the melody, finding meaning in every word that came out now.
”Teri Kab tak chalegii? Ho…… Samay ki laal aandhi, ye kabristaan ke raste..arre lathpath chalegii hoo…..“
- “Till when will your tyranny last you fool? The storms of time are red, the path to the graveyard is red, will be smeared by this storm as a whole..”
“Arre mandir ye chup hain, arre masjid ye gumsum, ibaadat hans padegii ho,,,,”
- “The temples lay quiet, the mosques are saddened, your prayers will laugh on you… “
I have not listened to more powerful lyrics on the topic of communal violence than this. It is moving, it is powerful, it gives you that surreal feeling of being in the midst of the horrible slaughter that are riots. And yet it pleads, with all it’s heart — the song pleads the perpetrator to stop the nonsensical ways to attain god-liness. Voiced by Rahul Ram, who has easily given his best as far as I am concern, and he has some damn good songs under his belt, so if this is his best, you can be assured you are listening to something very very special.
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