Sawan Ke Jhule Pade English Translation

Sawan Ke Jhule Pade was an Anand Bakshi song from the 1979 film Jurmana meaning fine or penalty. In this song, Lata uses her fully trained classical voice to demonstrate why she gets the big bucks, and makes a meal of it. She uses a full-on voice with precision of a hardened professional singer. At this time in her life, she had that golden youthful sound, which augments Anand Bakshi’s lyrics mentioning saawan (spring). Simultaneously R D Burman uses classical backing instruments such as the tabla and sitar giving the song a simple but fresh monochrome rhythm. When you bring all of these aspects together, it makes something special and extraordinary. It always takes me back to the spring of my life when I was young and everything was colourful and new. I could see all the numbers in vivid colours, and life was full of possibilities.

This is an extremely complicated set of lyrics to translate, and if you do not get the nuances and context correct then the meaning can be lost completely. For example, jhule approximates to meeting or union but jhoolaa or jhoole, which sounds the same, could mean a swing.

You can spin the lyrics either way, which is why there are two versions of the song for either a happy or a sad ending, depending upon the sweetheart coming home...

Saawan ke jhule pade

Jhule approximates to union, meeting, or united, as in mile-jule… It is a formal serious meeting.

Saavan (spring) which is the fifth month of the calendar, is an auspicious time of the month when couples declare their love for each other. It is usually a time of holidays and engagements, and the woman is hoping that Saawan will be the date when she unites with her sweetheart.

Pade in this context is when an event falls within a certain date of the calendar. She is hoping that their meeting falls in the spring. When I was a little whippersnapper I used to think that she was waiting for him to make a proposal in the spring, however she calls him "piya" which implies that they may already be married, so this song might simply be of a woman eagerly waiting for her husband coming from abroad.

Tum chale aao

Please come quickly...

Saying it more than once implies a certain haste to come quickly because she is excited and cannot wait to see him.

Aanchal na chhode mera, paagal huyi hai pavan

This wind is crazy; it will not leave my scarf (alone)

Aanchal is the hem part of a sari that usually goes either over the chest or over the head. She describes the spring wind as crazy (paagal) to mean that it is blowing from every direction, as she struggles to hold her aanchal in place.

Abb kya karu main jatan, dhadake jiya jaise panchhi ude

Now, should I make an effort? My heart beats as (fast as) a bird flies

Jatan approximates to effort or endeavour to achieve something.

Although the writer uses an ancient term Jiya, which is closer to meaning the soul, the ancients considered the soul to reside within the heart. Therefore, we can cancel that term out and replace it with heart.

In the second part, the writer juxtaposes the way a bird flies (panchhi ude) and the speed of her heartbeat (jiya) to mean that her heart beats as fast as a bird flaps its wings. It uses simple imagery to convey a huge amount of information, without actually saying much. This is one of the secrets to good poetry and lyrics.

Dil ne pukaara tumhe, yaado ke pardes se

(My) heart called out for you, with memories of a foreign place

Aati hai jo dekh ke, ham uss, dagar pe, hai kabase, khade

I came (longing) to see, on that path, when (he will be), standing

This line is a little broken because Lata pauses where the commas are, probably because it makes more sense to her that way, and she would be correct. In this lyric, Anand draws a picture of the lady eagerly waiting, and hoping her sweetheart will arrive soon. She would be starring at the path or road where her sweetheart will be standing. However, the previous three lines are cumulative to this picture because you can imagine the spring wind blowing and her heart fluttering with excitement as she eagerly waits for the first signs of her sweetheart standing on the path far away coming from abroad.

Jab ham mile thee piya, tum kitane nadan thee

When we (first) met (my) beloved husband, you were so innocent.

Nadan approximates to naiveté to imply child-like innocence.

Ham kitane anjaan thee, baali umariyaa mein, naina lade

We were such strangers, at a young age, our eyes met.

Anjaan approximates to stranger.

Baali umariyaa approximates to child-like age.