English Literature – Poetry ☆ Turning Points in Life You Had Crossed Do Not Revisit You Again… ☆ English rendition – Shri N. Padmanaban ☆ 

Shri N. Padmanaban

www.e-abhivyakti.com welcomes Shri N. Padmanaban. 

Writer’s intro:

There are journeys that are measured in miles, and there are those that unfold quietly within the chambers of the heart. The life of N. Padmanaban belongs to the latter—a gentle, unhurried unfolding across languages, landscapes, and lived experience.

Born in the southern soil of Tamil Nadu, with no early acquaintance with Hindi, he stepped into the wide and varied world of the State Bank of India as a young Probationary Officer. The years that followed—spent across the Bhopal circle, in the towns and cities of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh—were not merely years of service, but of silent absorption. Amid ledgers and responsibilities, another education was taking root: the slow, attentive learning of a language that was not his own, yet gradually became a trusted companion.

Hindi came to him not as an academic pursuit, but as a living presence—heard in conversations, shaped in classrooms during his tenure as Chief Instructor at the Staff Training Centre in Indore, and deepened through his travels as an Inspecting Official across the country. It was in these moments, woven between duty and movement, that language began to reveal its deeper music.

And then, as often happens in lives lived with quiet attentiveness, music itself entered more fully. Hindi film songs, with their rich emotional landscapes, and the steady cadence of All India Radio bulletins, became both teacher and muse. Over time, what began as a means to understand, turned into a means to feel.

In the stillness that followed retirement, translation emerged—not as an act of literal conversion, but as an offering. For he understood, with the sensitivity born of long reflection, that songs cannot be carried across languages word for word. Their rhyme, their rhythm, their cultural echoes often remain rooted in their native soil. Yet, their essence—the tender ache of love, the quiet resilience of hope, the searching questions of life, the gentle stirrings of faith, and the deep, unspoken current of patriotism—these can be felt, gathered, and re-expressed.

It is this essence that N. Padmanaban seeks to bring into English—carefully, respectfully, almost as one might carry a flame from one lamp to another, ensuring it neither flickers nor fades.

Now settled in Bengaluru, he lives a life marked by simplicity and inward richness. At eighty, his days are not a summation, but a continuation—of listening, of reflecting, of translating not just songs, but the many shades of a life thoughtfully lived.

In his work, one does not merely find translations. One finds a quiet bridge—between languages, between regions, and perhaps, between the outer world and the inner quest for meaning.

English rendition of the original Hindi song ज़िंदगी के सफ़र में गुज़र जाते हैं जो मक़ाम... from the Bollywood movie: Aap ki Kasam

☆ Turning Points in Life You Had Crossed Do Not Revisit You Again… ☆ English rendition by Shri N. Padmanaban ☆

Turning points in life you had crossed

Do not revisit you again.

Flowers bloom, people meet;

Flowers those wilted in winter,

Do not bloom afresh in spring.

People who had fallen apart in a jiffy

Do not meet again even after 1000 days.

Even after several calls life long

They do not respond.

Turning points in life you had crossed

Do not revisit you again.

Don’t blindly believe your eyes,

What you see is not what you get:

Suspicion is the foe of friendship, friends

Harbour it not in your bosom,

Lest you may feel sorry later.

Myriad best wishes may not

Fetch your dear friend.

Turning points in life you had crossed

Do not revisit you again.

Mornings dawn, nights follow

Time keeps ticking

In a blink, it goes ahead.

Mornings and evenings,

Days and nights

Once gone, gone for ever.

Turning points in life you had crossed

Do not revisit you again.

Credits:

Name of the film: Aap ki Kasam (1974) Lyricist: Anand Bakshi Singer: Kishore Kumar Music Director: Rahul Dev Burman

Lyrics of the original Hindi song in Devnagri script:

☆ ज़िंदगी के सफ़र में गुज़र जाते हैं जो मक़ाम ☆

ज़िंदगी के सफ़र में गुज़र जाते हैं जो मक़ाम 

वो फिर नहीं आते, वो फिर नहीं आते 

ज़िंदगी के सफ़र में गुज़र जाते हैं जो मक़ाम 

वो फिर नहीं आते, वो फिर नहीं आते।

फूल खिलते हैं, लोग मिलते हैं 

फूल खिलते हैं, लोग मिलते हैं 

मगर पतझड़ में जो फूल मुरझा जाते हैं 

वो बहारों के आने से खिलते नहीं 

कुछ लोग इक रोज़ जो बिछड़ जाते हैं 

वो हज़ारों के आने से मिलते नहीं 

उम्र भर चाहे कोई पुकारा करे उनका नाम 

वो फिर नहीं आते, वो फिर नहीं आते।

आँख धोखा है, क्या भरोसा है 

आँख धोखा है, क्या भरोसा है 

सुनो दोस्तों, शक दोस्ती का दुश्मन है 

अपने दिल में इसे घर बनाने ना दो 

कल तड़पना पड़े याद में जिनकी 

रोक लो, रूठ कर उनको जाने ना दो 

बाद में प्यार के चाहे भेजो हज़ारों सलाम 

वो फिर नहीं आते, वो फिर नहीं आते।

सुबह आती है, रात जाती है 

सुबह आती है, रात जाती है, यूँ ही 

वक़्त चलता ही रहता है रुकता नहीं 

एक पल में ये आगे निकल जाता है 

आदमी ठीक से देख पाता नहीं 

और पर्दे पे मंज़र बदल जाता है 

एक बार चले जाते हैं, जो दिन-रात सुबह-ओ-शाम 

वो फिर नहीं आते, वो फिर नहीं आते 

ज़िंदगी के सफ़र में गुज़र जाते हैं जो मक़ाम 

वो फिर नहीं आते, वो फिर नहीं आते।

फिल्म का नाम : आप की कसम (1974) गीत: आनंद बख्शी गीतकार : किशोर कुमार संगीत निर्देशक : राहुल देव बर्मन 

English rendition : Shri N. Padmanaban