کچھ کچھ ہوتا ہے Kuch Kuch Hota Hai — Something Happens

You came close, you smiled like that, you showed me who knows what dreams. Now my heart neither wakes nor sleeps. What do I do, oh, something, something happens.

The passage is the happening's first report, and the report is all effect. The beloved's approach and smile are granted, and the dreams are left unspecified, na jaane kya, who knows what. The heart's condition is the passage's prize, jaage na sota hai, neither waking nor sleeping, and the question, kya karoon haaye, is the whole song's posture. The refrain, kuch kuch hota hai, refuses to name the happening, and the refusal is the song.

Who knows what feeling this is. What thirst is this that will not be put out? What intoxication of this love has begun to spread over me, my beloved?

The passage is the search for the name, and the search fails twice. Ehsaas, the feeling, is left nameless, and the thirst is described only by its behaviour, bujhti nahin, it will not be quenched. The passage's word is nasha, the intoxication, and the verb is the important one, chhaane laga, it began to spread, like a stain or a shadow. The intoxication is given the grammar of weather, and the beloved is addressed for the first time, sanam, as the weather's source.

احساس ehsaas

a feeling, an awareness of something

نشہ nasha

intoxication

What colour did my prayer bring! This love, who knows how it happened. In the middle of the restlessness, a rest has begun to come, who knows why.

The passage is the happening's second report, and it is the woman's. Kya rang laayi meri duaa, what colour did my prayer bring, is the passage's wonder, the prayer answered in an unexpected currency. The love is granted its mystery, jaane kaise hua, who knows how it happened, and the passage's paradox is its last line: bechainiyon mein chain, in the restlessness, a rest. The two states that cancelled each other in the first passage have learned to coexist, which is the song's definition of the happening.

دعا duaa

a prayer

بےچینی bechaini

restlessness

In solitude, the heart hoards the memories. What do I do, oh, something, something happens.

The closing passage is the song's smallest verse and its truest. Tanhaai mein, in the solitude, the heart sanjota hai, hoards, the memories: the verb is the one used for saving coins or drying flowers, and the heart is the keeper of the happening's evidence. The refrain returns without a single new word, kya karoon haaye, kuch kuch hota hai, and the repetition is the conclusion: the happening is still happening, and the question is still the only response.

تنہائی tanhaai

solitude

سنجونا sanjona

to hoard something up, to keep it carefully