Do Kadam – A Sublime Journey

Lyrics:

Zindagi, haath mila; saath chal, saath me aa;

Umr-bhar saath rahi

Trans:

Life, take this hand; come, come along with me;

We will walk together forever

And a gentle synth base guitar lick in the background picks up volume lifting

you up as if you were in a helicopter taking off from earth.

Lyrics:

Do kadam aur, sahi, do kadam aur, sahi II

Trans:

two more steps, all right, two more steps II

…and a happily persistent string section leads the protagonist, (given the

movie’s context, an artist: a writer), in a casual two step walk, guiding him

down a sun lit path towards a golden land as the music bathes you in brilliant

bright light.

Lyrics:

Koi suraj ki dagar, koi sone ka nagar

Chaand ke rath pe chale, jahan tehre yeh nazar

Trans:

Some sunlit path, some golden city

Walk in the path of the moon, where, this gaze would freeze

And the synth lead guitar applies a slight break along the way followed by a

wonderful panoramic scan of the scenes, which beautifully sets up the next

lines.

Lyrics:

Dhoop Daryaon mein hain, phir safar paon mein hain

Dil ka awara diya, doosre gaon mein hain

Aaon, chale hum wahin

Do kadam aur, sahi IV

Trans:

There’s sunlight in the rivers, there’s journey in your legs

This wandering heart’s lamp is in a different village

Come, let us go there

Take two more steps, all right IV

Just listen to the magic created by the tangent chord that is touched just for

‘doosre gaon’ before returning immediately to the base. And the same persistent

string section, almost turning around toward his follower from time to time,

gesturing with his hands to make haste, never stops saying come on, two more

steps! All right? Now as they get closer to this mysteriously beautiful place,

the grand Timpani starts to roar from a distance and the majestic horns can be

heard trumpeting its glory. Leading up to the next narrative, the walk’s

momentum picks up with a lively conga layering over the soft cymbals.

Lyrics:

Khwaab dalte hain jahan, dil pighalte hain jahan

Aaon chalte hain wahin, woh zameen door nahin

Dosti hogi wahan, roshni hogi wahan

Us ujaale ke liye, jal chuke laakhon diye

Ek hum aur, sahi

Do kadam aur, sahi

Trans:

Where dreams are fulfilled, where hearts melt

Come, let us go there, that land is not too far

Friendship will be there, light will be there

to light this place, many lamps have been burnt

We might as well be one of them

Two more steps, all right

After this narrative, the string section returns with the conga drums, but the

background synth sounds fade out almost to a nightly silence, quite

appropriately setting up the mood for the next verse.

Lyrics:

Kisiki awaaz hai? Sun. Yeh naya saaz hai, sun

Koun rehta hain sada? chalke dekhen to zara

Raah viraan, sahi, raath sumsaan, sahi

Har ghadi saath rahe, kitne gham saath sahe

Thor ghum aur, sahi

Do kadam aur, sahi

Trans:

Who’s voice is calling us? Listen. This is a new melody, listen

Who goes on forever? Come, let’s go see

The path is lonely, agreed. The night is silent, agreed.

We have been together all along, we have suffered so much

Just a little more suffering, all right

Two more steps, all right

Do Kadam – A Sublime Journey and A Sorrow that Lingers

Dasun Abeysekera
Mon, 18 Feb 2008

"If a music artist wants to blossom into a full-fledged person, it's not enough

if he knows only classical music; nor is it enough if he is well-versed only in

raagas and techniques. Instead, he should be a knowledgeable person interested

in life and philosophy. In his personal life there should be, at least in some

corner of his heart, a tinge of lingering sorrow."

When I first read this profound quote by ARR, it sparked, deep inside of me,

something very sincere and beautiful; these words may have been that little

pinch the sleeping artist within me, who I had forgotten due to the constant

pursuit of survival instincts and was consciously trying to restrain by

offering traditional societal expectations as excuses, needed to rub his eyes

and wake up! I had a natural interest in life and philosophy; it was as if

these subjects were written into my genes, and I was always grateful to my

parents and to my Buddhist upbringing for inculcating that sense of

understanding and intuitive wisdom so early on in my life which made my life a

little easier and more balanced during the typically turbulent teen-ages,

though it often seemed to outsiders a very difficult and restrained one. It is

this same intuitive sense of balance and understanding, now I realize, that

drew me to the naturally symmetrical music of my life’s early heroes - ARR and

Yanni - at the age of 13 and made me appreciate and grow with their exquisite

music. But, until the moment of reading this quote, I had not made the

connection between these natural interests of mine and the awe-inspiring and

divine profession of the true artist. What is lacking within this dormant

artist that keeps him from getting out of his cozy bed? What is this tinge of

lingering sorrow that ARR has in a corner of his heart? What sorrow could lie

in the heart of this man, who, to me, embodies all that is beautiful, happy,

and heavenly? Is it this sorrow that I lack?

Years passed as an uninterrupted supply of beautiful music and incredible

artistry from the maestro continued to subconsciously alter my spiritual state

of being for the better while I contently lived with my latent artist trying to

figure out what this sorrow is and how and where is it that he is going to find

it. Then, in early 2004, I bought an album I had anxiously awaited for quite

some time; it brought together India’s foremost painter – M.F. Hussein – in his

second directorial venture with India’s foremost composer – A.R. Rahman! I knew

I was going to get magic from this album well before its release! The music was

true to expectations, very colorfully crafted, and quite deftly and intricately

woven with ARR himself attempting to reach the abstract heights of an M.F.

Hussein painting in the two instrumental pieces; however, one song stood out

every time I listened to the entire album. It was something very special and

the sounds and emotions spoke to my heart directly; yes, this song was divine!

Do Kadam gave me so many goose-bumps each time I listened to it that I started

to skip all the other songs (except, perhaps, for Rang Hain) and play only that

over and over again; that is a high compliment given the quality of the entire

album! I did not understand the Hindi lyrics (by Rahat Indori) fully at first

except for a phrase here and there, though it was enough, I thought, to put

together a rough sketch of what the song was about. I was wrong! This song

could not be enjoyed in its fullest being by putting together its pieces in a

haphazard manner like I did. In fact, to this day, I find some deeper meaning

to the creativity in this song. As with any divinely inspired song, the first

few notes and sounds captured my attention: it was synthetic, it was mystical,

and it was vintage ARR! Enter the classy Sonu Nigam…

The silence of the first two lines is nicely contrasted with the conga beat

picking up the momentum again for the difficult final stretch where ‘the path

is lonely and the night is silent’ providing the additional impetus and

enthusiasm needed to carry on the remainder of the journey; but, the most

beautiful moment of the song comes during ‘kitne ghum saath sahe’ when a high

pitched synthetic harmonica lingers almost clinging by a thread to the artist’s

soul, as he reaches this worthy final destination; and now loud and clear, the

horns blow majestically, the timpani crash triumphantly, and a choir of angels

welcomes him to this mystical place of infinite grandeur, sublime beauty, and

immortality; and he knows that he has achieved every artist’s dream, and that

all his struggles are well worth the reward: he has created his own heaven in

his mind!

It took me, at the very least, a year to interpret all of this mind-blowing

creativity and truly come to grips with the deeper meaning of the song; but

after I had fully understood the lyrics and listened to the lingering harmonica

sound during ‘kitne ghum,’ I knew I found the answer to my question: what is

this lingering sorrow which ARR has in a corner of his heart that is essential

to being a great artist? To create such heavenly beauty, divine feelings, and

immortal masterpieces on earth, the true artist and the sincere creator has to

remain pure and warm at heart no matter how vicious and cold the rest of the

world may seem, he has to use in its fullest capacity his imaginative powers,

which he knows he is blessed with, but requires him to let go of himself and

find, and many-a-time, wait, for those moments of divine inspiration, knowing,

still, that after all that mental and physical energy is spent, there is no

guarantee that somebody would have seen, read, or heard his creation and had

been able to enter his heart, mind, and soul and become one with him; for that

is his divine duty: to create a spiritually beautiful heaven on earth so that

even a single person, searching for a higher spiritual state, or maybe, hoping

for a way out of some meaningless existence, or even just looking for a

momentary escape from a hard day’s pain, will see, hear, feel, and begin to

wonder, how is it possible? Where is this possible?