ایک دوجے کے واسطے Ek Duje Ke Vaaste — Made for Each Other

Anand Bakshi

1930– 2002

Geet

Two people are being told that they belong together, and the song making the case does not argue it, it demonstrates it: no matter how far the roads of two people run, the ones who are made for each other will meet. The phrase ek duje ke vaaste, for each other, made for each other, is the song's whole vocabulary, and it repeats until it becomes a fact.

Anand Bakshi wrote it for Dil To Pagal Hai in 1997, and Lata Mangeshkar and Hariharan sang it over Uttam Singh's music. Four passages ahead. The middle ones go looking for the design of things, in the heart, the mirror, the rain, and the last one finds the design's author.

01 — kitne hi door door hon, hum donon ke raaste

کتنی ہی دور دور ہوں، ہم دونوں کے راستے
مل جاتے ہیں جو بنے، ایک دوجے کے واسطے
ایک دوجے کے واسطے

कितने ही दूर दूर हों, हम दोनों के रास्ते
मिल जाते हैं जो बने, एक दूजे के वास्ते
एक दूजे के वास्ते

kitne hi door door hon, hum donon ke raaste
mil jaate hain jo bane, ek duje ke vaaste
ek duje ke vaaste

However far apart the roads of the two of us may run, those who are made for each other will meet. For each other, made for each other.

The passage states the song's law in its first two lines. The distance is granted fully, kitne hi door door, however far, and the meeting is then presented as a consequence of design, jo bane, those who are made. Vaaste, for the sake of, is the word of dedication and purpose, and doubling it as a refrain turns the phrase into the song's name and its verdict.

واسطے vaaste: for the sake of

02 — jaise dil hai dhadkan hai, ek duje ke vaaste

جیسے دل ہے دھڑکن ہے، ایک دوجے کے واسطے
جیسے آنکھ ہے درپن ہے، ایک دوجے کے واسطے
جیسے برکھا ساون ہے، ایک دوجے کے واسطے
ایک سجنی ایک ساجن ہے، ایک دوجے کے واسطے

जैसे दिल है धड़कन है, एक दूजे के वास्ते
जैसे आँख है दर्पण है, एक दूजे के वास्ते
जैसे बरखा सावन है, एक दूजे के वास्ते
एक सजनी एक साजन है, एक दूजे के वास्ते

jaise dil hai dhadkan hai, ek duje ke vaaste
jaise aankh hai darpan hai, ek duje ke vaaste
jaise barkha saavan hai, ek duje ke vaaste
ek sajni ek sajan hai, ek duje ke vaaste

As the heart is for the heartbeat, each for the other. As the eye is for the mirror. As the rain is for the season of rain. One beloved, one lover: each for the other.

The passage is a list of the world's pairs, and every pair is announced with the same jaise, just as. The heart and its beat, the eye and its mirror, the rain and the monsoon: none of these choose each other, and none could exist alone. The human pair is added to the list last, which is where the song wants it: the lovers are not an exception to the natural order, they are the natural order's finest example.

درپن darpan: a mirror
برکھا barkha: the rain: Braj
ساون saavan: the monsoon month, roughly July into August

03 — us rab ne jab dil diye, dil ke do tukde kiye

اس رب نے جب دل دیے، دل کے دو ٹکڑے کیے
دونوں میں ایک نام لکھا، ایک رادھا ایک شام لکھا
اب یہ دل دھڑکتے ہیں، ملتے اور بچھڑتے ہیں
ایک دوجے کے واسطے

उस रब ने जब दिल दिए, दिल के दो टुकड़े किए
दोनों में एक नाम लिखा, एक राधा एक श्याम लिखा
अब ये दिल धड़कते हैं, मिलते और बिछड़ते हैं
एक दूजे के वास्ते

us rab ne jab dil diye, dil ke do tukde kiye
donon mein ek naam likha, ek raadha ek shyaam likha
ab ye dil dhadakte hain, milte aur bichhadte hain
ek duje ke vaaste

When the Lord gave out hearts, he broke each heart into two pieces. In both he wrote one name: in one, Radha, in the other, Shyam. Now these hearts beat, they meet and they part: each for the other.

The passage is the song's theology, and it is stated in the plainest possible terms. The heart is halved at birth, and the two halves carry matching signatures, Radha and Shyam, the divine lovers whose pairing is the region's standard for union. The last two lines admit the flaw in the design, milte aur bichhadte, meeting and parting, and the admission is immediately folded back into the refrain: even the parting is ek duje ke vaaste, part of the same arrangement.

رب rab: the Lord, God

04 — hum donon ek jaan hain, do dil ek armaan hain

ہم دونوں ایک جان ہیں، دو دل ایک ارمان ہیں
لیکن اب اس موڑ پر، دیکھیں دامن چھوڑ کر
وقت کا ہے یہ فیصلہ، ہم تم ہو جائیں جدا
مانگیں خوشیوں کی دعا، ایک دوجے کے واسطے

हम दोनों एक जान हैं, दो दिल एक अरमान हैं
लेकिन अब इस मोड़ पर, देखें दामन छोड़ कर
वक़्त का है ये फ़ैसला, हम तुम हो जाएँ जुदा
माँगें ख़ुशियों की दुआ, एक दूजे के वास्ते

hum donon ek jaan hain, do dil ek armaan hain
lekin ab is mod par, dekhein daaman chhod kar
waqt ka hai ye faisla, hum tum ho jaayen juda
maangein khushiyon ki duaa, ek duje ke vaaste

The two of us are one life, two hearts, one longing. But now, at this turn, let us see what happens letting go of the hem of each other's clothes. It is time's decision that we two be parted. Let us ask for the blessing of each other's happiness: for each other's sake.

The passage keeps the vow even as it imagines its end. Daaman chhodna, to let go of the hem, is the idiom of leaving, and the song imagines the moment with the word dekhein, let us see, as if the parting were an experiment. The verdict, waqt ka faisla, time's decision, makes the separation a matter of the calendar, not of choice. And the last line answers the verdict with the refrain: even parted, the prayer is for each other's joy, which is the song's definition of what vaaste means.

دامن daaman: the hem of a garment; letting go of it means leaving somebody
فیصلہ faisla: a decision, a verdict
دعا duaa: a prayer, a blessing asked for somebody

Reading it whole

The song is a wedding song without a wedding. It says nothing about a ceremony, a family, or a future. It says only one thing, and it says it in every possible key: these two are for each other. Ek duje ke vaaste, the phrase of mutual belonging, is the refrain and the argument, and the song's method is to repeat it until the repetition becomes the proof.

The second passage is the catalogue of pairings. The heart and the heartbeat. The eye and the mirror. The rain and the season of rain. And then the human pair arrives at the end of the list, ek sajni, ek sajan, one bride, one groom, as one more item in the natural order. The song is not comparing the lovers to the rain. It is filing them under the same law.

The third passage goes to the source of the law. When the Lord gave out hearts, the song says, he broke each heart into two, and wrote a name in both halves: one Radha, one Shyam. The pair is signed before it exists. The line about the hearts that beat together and fall apart, milte aur bichhadte, is the song's one concession to difficulty, and it is made in the same breath as the signing, which is the song's way of saying the design survives the difficulty.

The last passage keeps the vow even at the point of separation. The two are one life and one longing, and the final stanza imagines the moment when time itself separates them, and answers it with the refrain: they will ask for the happiness of each other, ek duje ke vaaste. The song ends where it began, with the phrase that makes separation a kind of union.

Recordings

Lata Mangeshkar and Hariharan

From Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), composed by Uttam Singh.

Text and rights

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

The song is from the film Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), music Uttam Singh, lyrics Anand Bakshi. The refrain returns between passages in the recording more often than it is printed here.

Anand Bakshi died in 2002, so this poem 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.