میں زندگی کا ساتھ نبھاتا چلا گیا Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya — I Kept Walking With Life, Keeping Its Pace

Sahir Ludhianvi

1921– 1980

Geet

A man is telling you his method. Not his feelings, his method. Every worry, he says, I blew away like smoke. Every ruin, I treated as a reason for a party rather than a funeral. Whatever came to me I called my fate, and whatever went I forgot, on purpose, as I walked.

Sahir Ludhianvi wrote it for Hum Dono in 1961, and Mohammed Rafi sang it so plainly that the song became the thing people play at the end of a bad year. Three passages ahead, and every one of them is a step in a small philosophy of surviving.

01 — main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya

میں زندگی کا ساتھ نبھاتا چلا گیا
ہر فکر کو دھوئیں میں اڑاتا چلا گیا
بربادیوں کا سوگ منانا فضول تھا
بربادیوں کا جشن مناتا چلا گیا

मैं ज़िंदगी का साथ निभाता चला गया
हर फ़िक्र को धुएँ में उड़ाता चला गया
बर्बादियों का सोग मनाना फ़ज़ूल था
बर्बादियों का जश्न मनाता चला गया

main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya
har fikr ko dhuyen mein udata chala gaya
barbadiyon ka shok manana fuzool tha
barbadiyon ka jashan manata chala gaya

I kept walking with life, keeping its pace. Every worry I kept blowing away like smoke. Mourning my ruins was futile, so I kept celebrating them instead.

The whole method is in the verbs, and every one of them is walking: chala gaya, kept going. Fikr is the worry that sits and gnaws, and he converts it into smoke on the move. Then the line that everyone quotes: shok manana fuzool tha. Not wrong, not cold, futile. And the pair completes itself, jashan against shok: his losses get a festival.

فکر fikr: worry; the thing that sits and gnaws
بربادی barbadi: ruin, destruction
سوگ shok: mourning
جشن jashan: a celebration, a festival

02 — jo mil gaya usi ko muqaddar samajh liya

جو مل گیا اسی کو مقدر سمجھ لیا
جو کھو گیا میں اس کو بھلاتا چلا گیا
ہر فکر کو دھوئیں میں اڑاتا چلا گیا

जो मिल गया उसी को मुक़द्दर समझ लिया
जो खो गया मैं उसको भुलाता चला गया
हर फ़िक्र को धुएँ में उड़ाता चला गया

jo mil gaya usi ko muqaddar samajh liya
jo kho gaya main usko bhulata chala gaya
har fikr ko dhuyen mein udata chala gaya

Whatever came to me, I took it for my fate. Whatever I lost, I kept forgetting, on the move, as I walked. Every worry I kept blowing away like smoke.

The two halves of the line are the two rules of the system. What arrives gets accepted without a fight, muqaddar being the word for destiny, and what leaves gets unremembered deliberately. The verb bhulata, to cause oneself to forget, is active. This is work, done on the move, and the refrain underneath it keeps the pace of the whole thing going.

مقدر muqaddar: fate, what is written for you
بھلانا bhulana: to make oneself forget

03 — gham aur khushi mein farq na mehsoos ho jahan

غم اور خوشی میں فرق نہ محسوس ہو جہاں
میں دل کو اس مقام پہ لاتا چلا گیا
میں زندگی کا ساتھ نبھاتا چلا گیا

ग़म और ख़ुशी में फ़र्क़ न महसूस हो जहाँ
मैं दिल को उस मक़ाम पे लाता चला गया
मैं ज़िंदगी का साथ निभाता चला गया

gham aur khushi mein farq na mehsoos ho jahan
main dil ko uss makaam pe lata chala gaya
main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya

To the place where joy and grief stop feeling different, there I kept bringing my heart, step by step. That is how I kept walking with life, keeping its pace.

The price of the method, stated once and never argued with. Uss makaam pe, to that station, where the difference between grief and happiness no longer registers. The song never decides whether this is wisdom or damage, and the refrain-line it ends on keeps both readings alive. Nibhana is to carry something through, to hold up your side of a bargain, so even the title line is a promise being kept.

غم gham: grief
محسوس mehsoos: felt, sensed
مقام makaam: a station, a place on a road
نبھانا nibhana: to carry something through; to keep your side of a bargain

Reading it whole

This is a survival manual, and it has outlived the film it was written for because the method works even when you are not a soldier. Hum Dono is set in the Second World War, with its hero posted to the Burma campaign, and the song's philosophy is the one that man lives by. But nothing in the words needs a war. A filing system for losses, a rule about worrying, and a floor under which feeling is not allowed to go.

The first passage is the whole system. Har fikr ko dhuye mein udata chala gaya: every worry, kept blowing it off as smoke. The second line is the one people argue about. Barbadiyon ka shok manana fuzool tha: mourning your ruins was futile. Not wrong, not unfeeling, futile. The verb that follows is the surprise: he celebrates them instead. A jashan is a festival, so his losses get a party.

The second passage is the arithmetic of it. Whatever came to me I accepted as my fate, without negotiation. Whatever I lost, I unremembered deliberately, bhulata chala gaya, and the verb keeps the walking in it. He is not someone who forgot. He is someone who forgot on the move, the way you shed weight by walking.

The last passage raises the cost of the method and pays it. Where joy and grief stop feeling different, there he brings his heart, uss muqaam pe. It is the same line twice, because the destination and the method are the same thing: a place where feeling has been smoothed out. The song never calls that place peace and never calls it numbness. It just reports, in the title line, that this is how he has kept walking with life.

Rafi sings it without a trace of triumph, which is the whole performance. A lesser singer would have made the method sound like a victory. His version sounds like what it is: a man who has had to do this and got good at it. Saregama's reissue is the recording people mean.

Recordings

Mohammed Rafi

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 returns between passages 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.