Grey wala shade by Amit Trivedi
By: Lychee Lemmings
Tags: Translation, Music, Bollywood, Language, Love

Grey wala shade by Amit Trivedi

Scientists have figured out that across the world, human languages transmit information on an average rate of 39 bits per second.

The Speech Rate (SR) and Information Rate (IR) for a range of languages as measured by Coupé et al. 2019.

That is a stunning fact, that. It means that across languages, across the many worlds we inhabit, across mountains and oceans and lakes and continents, across the huts and mansions and bungalows and igloos, we are always transmitting information at a constant rate in our conversations. It means that no matter what language you speak, it probably takes us about the same time to tell your friend a secret. Perhaps most importantly, it means that it takes the same amount of time for me to say ‘I love you’ in Hindi as it does for a girl in Japan speaking Japanese.

There is a universality to that fact which I love. Of course, love itself is universal too. We love in English, we love in Hindi and we love in Japanese. We love in our mother tongues, and we love in any and all of our acquired languages. It is weird though, these loves taste different. Some are spicy and are filled with a sense of adventure, and others have the sweet nostalgia of home. Some are delightful and bring shades of umami with them, and some bring the acidity of a sour soup with them. Partly, this is because the people we love in these languages are different. But even more fundamental I think is the fact that love itself is different in each language.

Languages are intrinsically tied to cultures. The ideas of who we love come to us and how we love come to us from the languages we speak. We think that languages are just tools to express ourselves, when in fact these tools constantly shape us. Now I don’t mean that when the Japanese girl says ‘I love you’, she means something completely different from when I do it. She doesn’t. There is a lot of the same and a lot that is new. But the differences are subtle.

I have a hypothesis that I am the way I am because of Bollywood. Bollywood movies have exaggerated drama with elaborate declarations of love and loud fights. The singers sing of the sun and the moon and how the beauty of the girl they love eclipses all of them. Over the course of my life, I have realized that I am basically a walking, talking Bollywood movie. How do you not be one when you grow up listening to singers crooning in exquisite voices about there being nothing else like the one you love in the entire universe and there not being enough words in any language to describe them? I think it is inevitable.

The real trouble, however, occurs when people who speak different love languages fall in love. Their ideas of love are different, and they know how to love in different ways. What one needs does not always match up with what the other is giving. What are they to do then? That is the trouble with diversity, it by definition promotes difference. Differences are difficult, and require work. They require big picture structural work, and they require daily work. Most people don’t realize this, and this is why most diversity initiatives fail. This is also often why love fails.

A rather cheesy photo with the word love written in different languages. Source: Filo gèn’ on Wikimedia.

The flip side of course, is when you put in the work, diversity leads to some incredible things. This, counterintuitively, is most often achieved by letting the differences flourish and fly instead of suppressing them. You just have to find the parts of the love language that both of you speak and let that be the platform on which you keep your feet. After all, languages shape us and when you let them, the new love language might become part of you. That, I think, is what they call growth.

Grey wala shade is a song about diversity. It is a song about loving in Hindi and English and Punjabi. It is a song about being romantic and being transactional in love. It is a song about the old way of loving and the new one, the white way of loving and the black one. Grey wala shade is a song about the myriad different ways in which we love, and how they all come together and how they don’t.

It is in the name. Grey wala shade sort of translates loosely into the shade grey. But that could have been said by just saying grey shade. The wala actually does a lot of work in the title. In Hindi/Urdu, wala is added as a suffix to words to indicate that the notion of belonging. So the man who sells chai is called chaiwala (the man with the tea) and the man who sells milk (doodh) is called a doodhwala (the man with the milk). By that logic, Grey wala shade translates to the shade with the color grey, which is subtly different from the shade grey. I think that is beautiful.

The song itself is from the movie Manmarziyan directed by Anurag Kashyap. The lyrics are by Shailender Singh Sodhi, who goes by Shellee and it is sung by Harshdeep Kaur and Jaspreet ‘Jazim’ Sharma. It is a love story set in Punjab, with Abhishek Bachhan, Vicky Kaushal and Taapsee Pannu as the leads. I haven’t seen the movie, and it seems to have done decently at the box office and received warmly by the critics. Taapsee Pannu is a delight in real life, and I recommend this interview of hers as bonus content.

Poster for Manmarziyaan. Source: Wikipedia.

The music is done by Amit Trivedi, who is a national treasure if you ask me. Time after time, he churns out stellar soundtracks to Bollywood movies and this one is no different. Other than Grey wala shade, Dhyaanchand and Daryaa are both wonderful numbers. There is a freshness to Trivedi’s music across his work which brings a very infectious energy even to his sad songs. He seems to be going from strength to strength after being put in the limelight with Dev D, which is among the finest movies I have seen.

Well without further ado, here is the song:

And here are the lyrics with their meaning. As always, the translation is more didactic in intention than anything else.

Kala na safed hai, kala na safed hai

It is neither black nor white, neither black nor white

Ishqe da rang yaara, grey wala shade… ho…

The color of love is a shade of grey.

Zamana hai badla, mohabbat bhi badli

The world has changed, and so has love.

Ghise pitey version maro update… ho…

So update the old beaten up patterns.

Ishq nazariya, nazariya

The outlook towards love

Badle ne romance de tevar

The attitude of romance has changed

Ishq nazariya, nazariya

The outlook towards love

Kehnde ne ainu mutual favour

Now it is called a mutual favor

Ishq nazariya, nazariya

ishq nazariya…

The outlook towards love, outlook towards love…

Galtiyan je ho vi jaan kadi

Even when mistakes are made

Sorriyan bolan di lor nahin

and there is no need to say sorry

Sona hove pyaar tabhi

That is when love is beautiful

Ubhrengey rang sabhi

And love’s colors come out.

Sona hove pyaar tabhi…

That is when love is beautiful.

Ae logic na samajh paandi

It doesn’t understand logic

Tasalli na aenu aandi

And it is never satisfied and at peace.

Tasalli na… aenu aandi

Never satisfied… it is.

Ae gash khandi, gazab dhandi

It makes you faint and it brings wonders.

Siyape nit nave paandi

And it finds new troubles,

Siyape nit nave paandi

finds new troubles.

Khurdura sa craze hai

It is a coarse craze,

Khurdura sa craze hai

It is a coarse craze,

Ishqe da mood yaara

The mood of love, O beloved,

Thoda angrez ho..

Is a bit English (implying foreign)

Ishq nazariya, nazariya

The outlook towards love

Badle ne romance de tevar

The attitude of romance has changed

Ishq nazariya, nazariya

The outlook towards love

Kehnde ne ainu mutual favour

Now it is called a mutual favor

Ishq nazariya, nazariya

ishq nazariya…

The outlook towards love, outlook towards love…

Kushtiyan mithiyaan ho jaayen jabhi

When the fights become sweet

Tasty sa flavour aa jaaye jabhi

And you can feel the tasty flavor

Sona hove pyaar tabhi

That’s when love is beautiful

Ubhrengey rang sabhi

And love’s colors will come out.

Happy listening !