The strength in ONE!

Jebe tora DAka —– na shuNile kehi
jabAba pAilu nAhi’n |
jIbana ra pathe —- bimukha na hoi
chAlu ekAkinI hoi

Jebe tora sAthe —- na kahile kathA
bhaya re gale durei |
prAna kholA kathA — hasa hasa muhe’n
kahu ekAkinI hoi

ghana jangala re —- ghaDi-sandhi beLe
na chAhi’n le Jebe kehi |
pathara kantaka —- raktima pAde
daLu ekAkinI hoi

jhaDa jhanjA beLe — andhAra rAti re
duAra na khole kehi |
bajrAnaLa shikhA — hruda pinjara re
jALu ekAkinI hoi

Ekla Chalo Re – a poem by Rabindranath Tagore

English translation:

If they answer not to thy call walk alone,
If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,

O thou of evil luck,
open thy mind and speak out alone.

If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,
O thou of evil luck,
trample the thorns under thy tread,
and along the blood-lined track travel alone.

If they do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,
O thou of evil luck,
with the thunder flame of pain ignite thy own heart
and let it burn alone.

  • hi … jus read the poem .. jus a clarification needed, i think its not in bengali .. looks to me to be in oriya .. as i dont think tagore has written poems in oriya language

    • Are you implying that “Ekla Chalo Re” is not written by Tagore?

      • hey tarique, lalit seems to be right!
        the lyrics r in oriya!
        the poem’s perhaps an oriya translation of tagore’s bengali original!:)

        • Perhaps yes – this makes sense as well

          • well, let me know if u ever find out 🙂
            it shouldnt be btw very hard to get the original bengali lyrics.

            • Surprisingly a web search did not turn them up… may be I did not look hard enough

      • no, i dont understand bengali, so was jus confirming whether its bengali or oriya …

        • Like says it is likely to be an Oriya translation

  • Saw the above poem for the first time in Freedom at Midnight. Haven’t forgotten it since.

    • Yes! We remember this from school days, it is one of those which you cannot forget having heard once.