Ae Kaatib e Taqdeer
Posted on: February 24, 2009
I have listened to this song quite a few times on Radio Ceylon’s a few minutes before 8 AM, but I must admit that I never paid any attention to the lyrics of this ( or any other ) K L Saigal song.
Now that I paid close attention to the song, I am quite impressed with the penmanship of Pt Bhushan and with the music of Pankaj Mullick. And of course, my admiration of K L Saigal goes sky high, when one realises that this sad song sung under technologically trying era of 1944 is a superb example of a raag based song as well. This song is a nice song set on Raag Bhairavi.
Personally, I love the portions of the song where K L Saigal sings “kya maine kiyaa hai, kya maine kiyaa hai”. Superb !
Song-Ae Kaatib e Taqdeer (My Sister) (1944) Singer – K L Saigal, Lyrics – Pt Bhushan, MD – Pankaj Mullick
Lyrics
ae kaatib e taqdeer
mujhe itnaa bataa de
ae kaatib e taqdeer
mujhe itnaa bataa de
itna bata de
kyun mujhse khafa hai tu
kya maine kiya hai
auron ko khushi
mujhko faqat dard o ranj o gham
duniya ko hansi aur mujhe rona diyaa hai
kya maine kiya hai
kya maine kiya hai
kyun mujhse khafa hai tu
kya maine kiya hai
hisse me sabke aayin hain
hisse me sabke aayin hain
rangeen bahaaren
badbakhtiyaan lekin mujhe sheeshe mein utaaren
peete hain
peete hain log roz-o-shab mussarraton ki may
main hoon ke sadaa khoon-e-jigar maine piyaa hai
kya maine kiya hai
kya maine kiya hai
thaa jinke dam qadam se ye aabaad aashiyaan
wo chahchahaati
wo chahchahaati bulbulen jaane gayin kahaan
jugnoo ki chamak hai na sitaaron ki roshni
is ghup andhere mein hai meri jaan par bani
kyaa thi
kyaa thi
kyaa thi khataa ke jiski sazaa toone mujhko di
kyaa thaa
kyaa thaa gunah ke jiskaa badlaa mujhse liyaa hai
kyaa maine kiyaa hai
kyaa maine kiyaa hai
kyun mujhse khafaa hai tu
kyaa maine kiyaa hai
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
ए कातिब ए तक़दीर
मुझे इतना बता दे
ए कातिब ए तक़दीर
मुझे इतना बता दे
इतना बता दे
क्यों मुझसे ख़फा है तू
क्या मैंने किया है
औरों को खुशी
मुझको फ़क़त दर्द ओ रंज ओ ग़म
दुनिया को हंसी और मुझे रोना दिया है
क्या मैंने किया है
क्या मैंने किया है
क्यों मुझसे ख़फा है तू
क्या मैंने किया है
हिस्से में सबके आईं हैं
हिस्से में सबके आईं हैं
रंगीन बहारें
बदबख़्तियां लेकिन मुझे शीशे में उतारें
पीते हैं
पीते हैं लोग रोज़-ओ-शब मस्सर्रतों की मय
मैं हूँ के सदा खून ए जिगर मैंने पिया है
क्या मैंने किया है
क्या मैंने किया है
था जिनके दम क़दम से ये आबाद आशियाँ
वो चहचहाती
वो चहचहाती बुलबुलें जाने गई कहाँ
जुगनू की चमक है ना सितारों की रौशनी
इस घुप अंधेरे में है मेरी जान पर बनी
क्या थी
क्या थी
क्या थी ख़ता के जिसकी सज़ा तूने मुझको दी
क्या था
क्या था गुनाह के जिसका बदला मुझसे लिया है
क्या मैंने किया है
क्या मैंने किया है
क्यों मुझसे ख़फा है तू
क्या मैंने किया है
12 Responses to "Ae Kaatib e Taqdeer"
July 27, 2012 at 6:29 pm
Audio clip of Pankah Mullick version : http://youtu.be/we-uK7h9th4
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December 16, 2012 at 10:16 am
Second stanza, fourth line- the correct word is Badbakhtiaan
Same stanza, sixth line- correct word is log NOT rog
Please correct the lyrics.
Kamlesh
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October 11, 2017 at 9:24 am
Please correct “qaatib” to “kaatib.” This is a direct loanword from Arabic whose root is k-t-b (kataba), which means “to write.” Of course, “ae kaatib-e-taqdeer” is an invocation to one’s creator.
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October 11, 2017 at 5:55 pm
Of course it is ‘kaatib’, but frankly I have given up on making
such distinctions even in the common place words. Kaatib is the one writing the ‘kitaab’.
As Gulzar says
‘Kitaaben jhaankti hain band almaariyon ke sheeshon se’
There are a few corrections here too :
“badbakhtiyaan” lekin mujhe sheeshe mein utaaren
peete hain “log” roz-o-shab mussarraton ki mai.
Like I remarked while talking to a friend a few days ago, that urdu poetry has been hijacked by people who prefer to drown themselves in drink. Puritanicals are far and few. In other scripts like devnagri , there is only one alphabet for ‘k’ & ‘q’. Even the ‘kh’ in above badbakhtiyaan is read as the ‘kh’ of ‘khilona’. The dot comes handy in devnagri, but in English there is no option. Only those who know the Arabic script are able to distinquish. Even Javed Akhtar has forgotten how to pronounce ‘Akhtar’.
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October 12, 2017 at 10:28 am
Shalin ji, Nahm ji,
I have made corrections to the lyrics in English script, and also added lyrics in Hindi script.
Please review and let me know if there a more corrections.
Thanks
Sudhir
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October 13, 2017 at 1:01 am
auron ko khushi mujhko ‘faqat’ dard o ranj o gham
thaa jinke dam ‘qadam’ se ye aabaad aashiyaan
Since you asked for further corrections.
Doubtless Sehgal sahib was singing from Urdu. He knows his ‘hai’ and ‘khai’ and ‘seen’, sheen, with ‘swad’ and ‘zwad’.
Regards.
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October 13, 2017 at 9:46 am
Thanks Nahm ji,
I have made the suggested correction.
Rgds
Sudhir
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January 3, 2021 at 1:20 pm
>> but in English there is no option. Only those who know the Arabic script are able to distinquish.
Hardly.
With due respect, have you heard of different transliteration mechanisms?
e.g., http://giitaayan.com/x.htm
k, q, Kh
kaatib, qatl, aKhtar
Also see how Platts does it here:
https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/platts_query.py?qs=اختر&searchhws=yes
Urdu poetry need not be limited to/ enjoyed by only those people who know the Arabic/ Perso-Arabic script.
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January 4, 2021 at 12:18 am
Jyotirmay Sir,
Thank you for the suggested links. The DDSA is a useful dictionary site. I have taken note of the their method of transliterating, the same method is used by Rekhta.com, or they have a similar way.
Already so much has been done in the blog. We can try to use the transliteration method for future. I need to figure out how to do it on the keyboard. The giitayon.com appears usable for transliteration in hindi. I will surely make use of it.
Thanx and regards.
January 4, 2021 at 11:54 am
Thank you Mrs. Nahm ji.
Yes, rekhta.org is also a good example.
I think uses a different diacritic scheme.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
October 28, 2011 at 6:49 pm
This song is written by Arzoo Lucknowi and not Pandit Bhushan.
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May 30, 2018 at 7:52 pm
no it wasnt; an acqaintance of mine has the 78rpm record adn under lyisist thename says pt bhusan. arzu saheb didnt write any songs for this film
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