ابھی نہ جاؤ چھوڑ کر کہ دل ابھی بھرا نہیں Abhi Na Jao Chhod Kar Ke Dil Abhi Bhara Nahin — Don't Leave Just Yet, The Heart Is Not Full

Sahir Ludhianvi

1921– 1980

Geet

Someone has just arrived, and the person waiting cannot let it end yet. The rain has come with her, he says. Let the evening go down a little, let the heart steady itself, let me live a little. None of it is about the rain.

Sahir Ludhianvi wrote it for Hum Dono in 1961, Jaidev set it, and Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle sang it as a duet that has never stopped being a duet: he begs, she declines, he warns, she laughs. Three passages ahead, and the third is the one people remember.

01 — abhi abhi to aayi ho bahaar ban ke chhaayi ho

ابھی ابھی تو آئی ہو بہار بن کے چھائی ہو
ہوا ذرا مہک تو لے نظر ذرا بہک تو لے
یہ شام ڈھل تو لے ذرا یہ دل سنبھل تو لے ذرا
میں تھوڑی دیر جی تو لوں نشے کے گھونٹ پی تو لوں
ابھی تو کچھ کہا نہیں ابھی تو کچھ سنا نہیں
ابھی نہ جاؤ چھوڑ کر کہ دل ابھی بھرا نہیں

अभी अभी तो आई हो बहार बन के छाई हो
हवा ज़रा महक तो ले नज़र ज़रा बहक तो ले
ये शाम ढल तो ले ज़रा ये दिल संभल तो ले ज़रा
मैं थोड़ी देर जी तो लूँ नशे के घूँट पी तो लूँ
अभी तो कुछ कहा नहीं अभी तो कुछ सुना नहीं
अभी ना जाओ छोड़ कर के दिल अभी भरा नहीं

abhi abhi to aayi ho bahaar ban ke chhaayi ho
hava zara mahek to le nazar zara bahak to le
ye shaam dhal to le zara ye dil sambhal to le zara
main thodi der jee to loon nashe ke ghoont pee to loon
abhi to kuchh kaha nahin abhi to kuchh suna nahin
abhi na jao chhod kar ke dil abhi bhara nahin

You have only just arrived, spreading like spring. Let the air take in your scent, let my eyes drift a little. Let this evening go down, let this heart steady itself. Let me live a little, drink a little of this intoxication. Nothing has been said yet, nothing heard yet. Don't leave just yet, the heart is not full.

Six excuses, and each one is a small extension of time: let it, let it, let it. Mahek is what a scent does, and bahak is what a look does when it is no longer aiming anywhere. The pattern of the line, all these repeated little requests, is the pattern of somebody stalling, and the song knows it. The last line gives the whole game its name.

مہک mahek: the spreading of a fragrance
بہک bahak: to wander, to drift, to stop aiming
گھونٹ ghoont: a sip, a swallow

02 — sitaare jhilmila uthe chirag jagmaga uthe

ستارے جھلملا اٹھے چراغ جگمگا اٹھے
بس اب نہ مجھ کو ٹوکنا نہ بڑھ کے راہ روکنا
اگر میں رک گئی ابھی تو جا نہ پاؤں گی کبھی
یہی کہو گے تم سدا کہ دل ابھی نہیں بھرا
جو ختم ہو کسی جگہ یہ ایسا سلسلہ نہیں

सितारे झिलमिला उठे चिराग़ जगमगा उठे
बस अब न मुझ को टोकना न बढ़ के राह रोकना
अगर मैं रुक गई अभी तो जा न पाऊँगी कभी
यही कहोगे तुम सदा कि दिल अभी नहीं भरा
जो ख़त्म हो किसी जगह ये ऐसा सिलसिला नहीं

sitaare jhilmila uthe chirag jagmaga uthe
bas ab na mujhko tokna na badh ke raah rokna
agar main ruk gayi abhi to jaa na paungi kabhi
yahi kahoge tum sada ke dil abhi nahin bhara
jo khatm ho kisi jagah ye aisa silsila nahin

The stars have started to shimmer, the lamps have lit up. So don't stop me now, don't block my way. If I stay now I will never be able to leave. You will say it forever, that the heart is not yet full. But this is not the kind of affair that comes to an end anywhere.

Her answer turns his own imagery on him. He wanted the evening to go down; she points out it is already night, and the lamps are on. The sharpest line is the one where she names what he will do: you will say this forever. She is not accusing him of lying. She is describing the shape of their whole future, and it is a prison with his love as the walls.

چراغ chirag: a lamp
ٹوکنا tokna: to stop someone, to interrupt, to chide
سلسلہ silsila: a chain, a sequence, an affair with a shape to it

03 — adhuri aas chhod ke adhuri pyaas chhod ke

ادھوری آس چھوڑ کے ادھوری پیاس چھوڑ کے
جو روز یوں ہی جاؤ گی تو کس طرح نبھاؤ گی
کہ زندگی کی راہ میں جوان دلون کی چاہ میں
کئی مقام آئیں گے جو ہم کو آزمائیں گے
برا نہ مانو بات کا یہ پیار ہے گلہ نہیں

अधूरी आस छोड़ के अधूरी प्यास छोड़ के
जो रोज़ यूँ ही जाओगी तो किस तरह निभाओगी
कि ज़िंदगी की राह में जवान दिलों की चाह में
कई मक़ाम आएँगे जो हम को आज़माएँगे
बुरा न मानो बात का ये प्यार है गिला नहीं

adhuri aas chhod ke adhuri pyaas chhod ke
jo roz yunhi jaogi to kis tarah nibhaogi
ki zindagi ki raah mein jawan dilon ki chaah mein
kai makaam aayenge jo ham ko aazmaayenge
bura na maano baat ka ye pyaar hai gila nahin

Leaving hope half-fulfilled, leaving thirst unquenched. If you go on like this every day, how will it ever be carried through? For on the road of life, in the wanting of young hearts, there will be many stations that will test us. Don't take offence at what I say. This is love, not a complaint.

The stanza that made the song. Aas and pyaas rhyme and rhyme with each other in sense too: hope and thirst, both left unfinished by her exit. Then the register rises without warning. Makaam is a halting-place on a journey, a station, and he is telling her that the road ahead is longer than their game. The final line is the bravest piece of politeness in Hindi film music: I am saying this out of love, and love is not the same as complaint.

آس aas: hope, expectation
پیاس pyaas: thirst
مقام makaam: a halting-place, a station on a road
گلہ gila: a complaint, a grievance

Reading it whole

The song is a game of good manners with real stakes underneath. Every line of his is an excuse to delay, and she answers every excuse with a fact. The stars have come out, the lamps are lit, so now is the moment to go, not to stay. If she stops now she will never manage to leave, and she knows which of them this story favours. She says it out loud: you will keep saying the heart is not full, forever.

His part is the one that grows. The first passage is charm, the second is worry. Adhuri aas, half-fulfilled hope. Adhuri pyaas, unquenched thirst. If you keep leaving like this, how will anything ever get finished? And then the lines that outgrew the film: on the road of life, in the wanting of young hearts, there will be stations ahead that will test us. Bura na maano baat ka, yeh pyaar hai gila nahi: do not take offence at what I say, this is love, not a complaint. It is the oldest move in the book, and the grace of the line has kept it working.

She never once says no. She says not now, and the whole song hangs on that distinction. Her refusal is politeness with a timetable in it, and her last repeated line, nahi nahi nahi nahi, lands like a door. The song ends inside the argument, with nothing settled, which is why it feels true every time. It is not a love song that resolved. It is one that got interrupted.

Rafi and Asha were the pair the sixties used for this kind of fight, and this is one of their best. The recording people mean is the one from Hum Dono, and Saregama's audio reissue is the version most often played. Fifty years later the film is a footnote and the song is a standard.

Recordings

Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle

The duet from Hum Dono (1961), composed by Jaidev. Saregama's audio reissue.

Text and rights

Devanagari text supplied and checked by a reader who knows the language. The Urdu script and the transliteration follow that reading.

From the 1961 film Hum Dono, composed by Jaidev. The refrain opens and closes each passage in the recording, more often than it is printed here.

Sahir Ludhianvi died in 1980, so this song is still in copyright. It is quoted here as the subject of Harf's own criticism: the translation, the reading of each passage and the essay around them are original work written for this page. If you hold the rights and would like something changed, tell us on Instagram.