When Peter Drucker wrote in 1986 that the world economy is not changing, it has already changed, “We are living in a changed world” became a fashionable jargon. His assertion was open to question, but Corona has changed the world in a very fundamental way. Someone said that in the human history whenever mankind faced a major crisis, it came together to save itself, but today is a crisis when we have to stay apart to save the world. We are into Lockdown 3.0; even when it is lifted, would it be really back to the normal? It is already being said that  we have to brace for a ‘New Normal’, and we can feel it within ourselves. Would I feel confident in going to my neighbourhood saloon for a haircut? We always knew that there was a risk of infection, but didn’t give much thought to it. Or to a mall, a restaurant, a multiplex, or a wedding reception indoors?

WhatsApp has spawned a set of appropriate songs for these days, striking out the old favourites, such as Mujhko apne gale laga le O mere hamrahi, Chhoo lene do nazuk hothon ko, Jumma chumma de de, and replacing these by Corona-compliant songs like Teri duniya se door chale ho ke majboor, Chalo ek baar phir se ajanabi ban jayein hum dono etc. Madhulika Liddle (Dusted Off) has already written a post on the songs for the lockdown. Anuradha Warrier (Conversations Over Chai) has expanded it to include various kinds of sicknesses. I knew her as a writer and editor, she must also be a top medical professional to know about the diseases, such as Misophonia, Hyperesthesia and Arrythmia.

All through our civilisation, there have been truths, and contra-truths, i.e. the exact opposites which were also truths. Was Vibhishan righteous or treacherous? Every sovereign state has a right to have a National Register of Citizens; but no NRC is a vicious, divisive step, it must be withdrawn. CAA is a benign legislation to give relief to a class of persecuted minorities in some of our neighbouring countries; no, it is a pernicious legislation. It is unconstitutional, it is perfectly constitutional. And finally, prolonged lockdown is the only way to contain the virus; no, it would kill people of starvation by making them jobless. Not to speak of our fundamental values of freedom and liberty – who gave the state the authority to turn Fascist in the name of a virus? How do we choose between life and livelihood? And between freedom versus outbreak of the disease?

This dilemma is reflected in our proverbs, too, which are aphorisms containing some fundamental truth. There are a large number of pairs of proverbs enunciating opposite truths. Such as, you are never too old to learn, but you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. It is important to do a thing well, or none at all, but half a loaf is better than none. The bigger the better, but someone said small is beautiful. Clothes make the man, but we should not judge a book by its cover. You must look before you leap because haste makes waste, but remember time and tide wait for none, and you must strike while the iron is hot. Great men think alike, but fools seldom differ. If knowledge is power, how can ignorance be bliss?

Long before we had heard of Corona, a keen SoY-er, Rahul Bhagwanrao Muli, suggested to me the idea of songs of contrasting ideas, and also sent me a list of such pair of songs. This can be really unlimited. Let me present a selection of some songs with their contra songs, with thanks to Mr Muli.

तक़दीर/तदबीर

This must be one of the most popular conflicts in Hindi films. If ‘whatever will be will be’ and no one can erase what is written in one’s destiny, is it really worthwhile doing backbreaking work? But God helps those who help themselves. That is what Lala Kedarnath thought in Waqt (1965). He was proud of what he had achieved and was confident of expanding his business into more prosperity by the dint of his hard work. The astrologer, who must have sponged himself all his life on other peoples’ earnings, warns him of ominous things that might happen. And lo and behold, in the earthquake, the Lala loses his everything, plus his entire family to boot. The film was a great eulogy to destiny: Aage bhi jaane na tu; Waqt ke din aur raat. For some reason taqdeer does not follow the laws of probability in our songs, it almost always brings misery.

1. Taqdeer ka fasana jaakar kise sunaayein, is dil mein jal rahin hain armaan ki chitaayein by Rafi from Sehra (1963), lyrics Hasrat Jaipuri, music Ramlal

It takes a seductive club dancer to emphasise the importance of action over destiny.

2. Tadbeer se bigadi hui taqdeer bana le, apne pe bharosa hai to ye daaon laga le by Geeta Dutt from Baazi (1951), lyrics Sahir Ludhiyanavi, music SD Burman

Our philosophy is ‘Neti neti’ (neither this, nor this), therefore, we have peaceful co-existence of contrary views. Shammi Kapoor believes that everything is just play of the fate, Dilip Kumar debunks it, he is a firm believer in human effort, but this difference does not cause a dent in their friendship.

3. Haathon ki chand lakeeron ka ye khel hai sab taqdeeron ka by Suresh Wadkar and Anwar from Vidhata (1982), lyrics Anand Bakshi, music Kalyanji-Anandji

एक/अनेक

अकेला चना भाँड़ नहीं फोड़ता, but there are times when you have to Ekala chalo re. Rabindranath Tagore qualified it for situations when others did not respond to your call, but Ayn Rand, in The Fountainhead, says unambiguously through her protagonist Howard Roark that “Mind is the attribute of the individual, there is no such thing as a collective brain. Everything we have, every great achievement has come from independent work of some independent mind. Every horror and destruction came from attempts to force men into a herd of brainless, soulless robots. This is an ancient conflict. It has another name: the individual against the collective.” Listen to this monologue by Gary Cooper in the court, playing Howard Roark, in the film adaptation of the book.

4. Howard Roark’s speech in the courtroom in The Fountainhead (1949)

You can not get a clearer rebuttal of our philosophy of the individual yielding to the wishes of the collective, त्यजेदेकं कुलस्यार्थे.

5. Jodi tor daak shune keu na ashe tobe ekla chalo re by Kishore Kumar, lyrics Rabindranath Tagore

Contrast this with the international humanist Tagore’s invocation for ploughing a lonely furrow, but qualified with “If”. Amitabh Bachchan made it famous by his rendering in the film Kahaani (2012), but let us hear Kishore Kumar singing it.

6. Saathi haath badhana, ek akela thak jayega by Rafi, Asha Bhosle and chorus from Naya Daur (1957), lyrics Sahir Ludhyanavi, music OP Nayyar

It is obvious that a single person will get tired, therefore, building the road has to be a collective effort, as it has always been in our epics. Can we imaging Lord Ram reaching Lanka without the collective effort to bridge the ocean?

The value of the collective has to be instilled from the childhood. This was done by this timeless video played on the Doordarshan during its days of glory.

7. Ek chidiya anek chidiya (animated short film) by Bhimsain

Forgiveness/Revenge: ‘To turn the other cheek’/ ’Eye for an eye’

“Turn in the other cheek” can create serious dilemma, because tolerating injustice is as sinful as the perpetration of injustice. अहिंसा परमो धर्म‌: might appear to be an absolute dictum, but it is followed by धर्म हिंसा तथैव च (so too is all righteous violence). (See Note 1 at the end.)

Forgiving can be immensely more difficult than seeking forgiveness. In the philosophical dance-drama Shyama, Tagore depicts the heart-wrenching pain of the hero Bajrasen at his inability to forgive Shyama who has committed a most horrific crime to get him. No one could convey this pain better than Hemant Kumar, singing the last verse of Shyama.

8. Khomite parilam na je by Hemant Kumar singing the last verse of Shyama, Tagore’s dance-drama

Leaving its detailed explanation to our scholar N Venkataraman, very briefly Bajrasen has been falsely accused of stealing the necklace of the princess and is being taken to the gallows. The beautiful court dancer Shyama becomes infatuated with him, and, to get him released, persuades her infatuated lover Uttiyo to take his place. On knowing this Bajrasen is horrified and repulsed, and is unmoved by Shyama’s entreaties for forgiveness. And then in the last scene he wails before the Lord, “O Lord the Redeemer, I couldn’t forgive her, please have mercy on my helplessness. She the sinner, as she repents and falls at your feet, you would pardon her and redeem her. But you would not forgive me, for my unforgiveness, O Lord the Redeemer.”

Our film songs are not bothered by such philosophical doubts. Here the wronged man is very clear in cursing ‘eye for an eye’ to the perpetrator.

9. Mere dushman tu meri dosti ko tarase by Rafi from Aye Din Bahar Ke (1966), lyrics Anand Bakshi, music Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

The severity of Dharmendra’s curses would send shivers down your spine: Mujhe gham denewaale, tu khushi ko tarase/ Tu phool bane patjhad ka, tujh pe bahaar na aye kabhi/ Meri tarah hi tu tadape, tujh ko qaraar na aye kabhi/ Jiye tu is tarah ki zindagi ko tarase.

But not all dejected lovers are so bitter. Some are very Gandhian.

10. Meri kahani bhoolanewale tera jahan aabad rahe by Rafi from Deedar (1951), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

So what if you have forgotten me, may you get all the happiness in life.

पास/दूर

Earlier we were confused between ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ and ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’, because ‘Familiarity breeds contempt.’ But now there is no ambiguity. Ae dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal jahan koi na ho must be the ultimate social-distancing song, but this is sung by a morose man and there is an element of misanthropy in this. Talat Mahmood has also sung a great inspirational song for these days, befitting well-adjusted people.

11. Humse aya na gaya tumse bulaya na gaya by Talat Mahmood from Dekh Kabira Roya (1957), lyrics Rajendra Krishna, music Madan Mohan

हमसे आया न गया तुमसे बुलाया न गया
फासला प्यार में दोनो से मिटाया न गया

I couldn’t come
You couldn’t call me
We were deeply in love
Therefore we could not erase the distance between us

But not all lovers were so understanding. Generally they would not separate without kicking and screaming.

12. Teri duniya se door chale hoke majboor humein yaad rakhna by Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar from Zabak (1961), lyrics Prem Dhavan, music Chitragupta

But the wise lovers devised their own ways of consoling each other, such as in Chaahe paas ho chaahe door ho, mere jeevan ki tum tasveer ho. The women are stronger in such situations as in the next song.

13. Wo paas bhi rahkar paas nahin, hum door bhi rahkar door nahin by Lata Mangeshkar from Afsana (1951), lyrics Asad Bhopali, music Husnlal-Bhagatram

Even if he was close by he must have been engrossed in cricket or football on the TV, but the generous lady feels close to him even if he is now far away.

दोस्ती /प्यार

This is a singular contribution of Bollywood to the world of ideas. Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai have written and edited a scholarly book, ‘Same Sex Love in India: A Literary History’. I don’t think anyone has written its companion book, ‘Opposite Sex Friendship in India’. We know the reason; being educated in Bollywood Academy we know that it is an impossibility, as Mehboob Khan showed so eloquently in Andaaz (1949). If you commit this mistake, you end up singing Kisi ko dil ka dard mila hai, kisi ko man ka meet on the piano, and wait for a graver disaster. Raj Kapoor expanded this idea in Sangam (1964) by elevating dosti to the highest pedestal. Dosti is between the same sex, particularly men, but the entry of a woman messes up both dosti and pyar.

14. Dost dost na raha, pyar pyar na raha by Mukesh from Sangam (1964), lyrics Shailendra, music Shankar-Jaikishan

When there is no woman, all confusions disappear. Dosti and Pyar both remain intact.

15. Meri dosti mera pyar (Koi jab raah na paaye, mere sang aaye, ki pag pag deep jalaaye) by Rafi from Dosti (1964), lyrics Majrooh Sultanpuri, music Laxmikant-Pyarelal

Notes
1. Ahimsa paramo dharmah occurs at many places in the epic Mahabharat, but its next part Dharma hinsa tathaiva cha is a hanging line, and is often affixed to the first part as a critique of Gandhi’s non-violence, and as a general endorsement of violence for just causes. To my knowledge the two parts do not appear together anywhere. I have used the spurious information from the Internet for making the point.

2. There are a large number of videos on the YouTube of the dance-drama Shyama, performed by various groups. It is performed to either pre-recorded music or to singing by live singers in the wings. The record by the doyens Hemant Kumar, Kanika Banerjee and others, is most highly regarded. Its commercial CD has been brought out by Saregama India Limited. You can move to its last two minutes for the song #8 I have added. Some enthusiasts have also made Shyama into a film.

3. ‘Corona’ is a generic name for a class of flues known for several years. The current one, which has caused worldwide mayhem, has a longish technical name, but I have used the word in common usage to refer to the current pandemic.

4. ‘Same Sex Love in India’ was published first in the year 2000 by St Martin’s Press. Its revised edition was published in 2008 by Penguin India. This book has been cited in the Supreme Court judgement dated 6 September 2018 on Section 377 of the IPC. Incidentally, the book mentions that Vatsyayan gives an important place to friendship in Kamsutra, and the women categorised as avoidable by a man include, among others, his own female friend. So Mehboob Khan was, after all, enunciating ancient wisdom .

Disclaimer/Acknowledgement
1. At places I have been irreverent in my writing, in a light-hearted way. No disrespect is meant to anyone, least of all to the very respected ladies. Nevertheless, I sincerely apologise if anyone feels offended.

2. The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over these which rests with respective owners like Saregama India Limited and others.

3. Songs #9 and 10 are Mr Muli’s contribution. He had sent several other pair of songs, I am leaving it to him and other readers to contribute such pair of songs explaining the underlying contrasting ideas pertaining to that pair.