# Who can translate the Hindi in Truth Hurt's "Addictive"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-translate-the-hindi-in-truth-hurts-addictive/291642>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 24, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-translate-the-hindi-in-truth-hurts-addictive/291642 "2005-02-24T03:49:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-translate-the-hindi-in-truth-hurts-addictive/291642/1 "2005-02-24T03:49:45Z")

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I realize this song is more than three years old now but I’m listening to the Hindi intro and suddenly wondering what it means.

Googling a bit, I found that it’s apparently superimposed over “Thoda Resham Lagta Hai” by Bappi Lahiri, lyrics by Lata Mangeshkar --who has a killer voice for a 70-year old! (BTW, they sued the shit out of Aftermath Records because they never got permission to do that --uh-oh. Helps explains Truth Hurt’s one-hit wonder status.)

Anyway. Can anyone provide an English translation? (grabbed the lyrics off a Hindi message board where NOBODY translated.

kaliyon ka chaman jab banta hai  
thoda resham lagta hai  
thoda sheesha lagta hai  
heere moti jadte hain  
thoda sona lagta hai

sawan ki jhadi jab hoti hai  
thode badal hote hain  
jaise kajal hota hai  
thodi boondein hoti hain  
man yeh pagal hota hai

youwan ki rut jab hoti hai  
thode bhaware hote hain  
thodi masti hoti hai  
bade toofan hote hain  
unme kashti hoti hai

Thanks! Now I hope this doesn’t fall all the way off the front page here.

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**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-translate-the-hindi-in-truth-hurts-addictive/291642/2 "2005-02-24T06:40:36Z")

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I was actually wondering about this myself.

A friend of mine translated it for me, but I’ve since forgotten. :smack:

I’m sure someone around here understands it.

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**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-translate-the-hindi-in-truth-hurts-addictive/291642/3 "2005-02-28T12:08:08Z")

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**Disclaimer** : My translation, amateurish as it is, should not be used to judge the body of work that is Hindi and Urdu poetry. They say French is the language of love. That’s because ‘they’ haven’t yet read an Urdu verse. The intoxication, the passion, the pain - the sheer depths of feeling - that these languages are able evoke and convey are without parallel (in my somewhat biased opinion).

That said, the lyrics **Askia** unearthed are from a _Bappi Lahiri_ song. Therefore, I am doing them not just justice, but a _favour_.

> [@Askia](#):
>
> kaliyon ka chaman jab banta hai  
> thoda resham lagta hai  
> thoda sheesha lagta hai  
> heere moti jadte hain

In a garden of blossoms,  
There is some softness,  
There are some mirrors, Eh?  
Diamonds and pearls strung in.

> [@](#):
>
> sawan ki jhadi jab hoti hai  
> thode badal hote hain  
> jaise kajal hota hai  
> thodi boondein hoti hain  
> man yeh pagal hota hai

When the winds of the monsoon blow,  
There are some clouds,  
Dark as kohl.  
There are some droplets,  
This mind of mine is restless.

> [@](#):
>
> youwan ki rut jab hoti hai  
> thode bhaware hote hain  
> thodi masti hoti hai  
> bade toofan hote hain  
> unme kashti hoti hai

In the season of youth,  
There are some bees,  
There is some fun.  
There are great storms  
With boats in them. Eh?

~

Make of that what you will.

::bemused::

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**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-translate-the-hindi-in-truth-hurts-addictive/291642/4 "2005-02-28T15:17:11Z")

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:: deeply appreciative ::

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**Author:** ![Camran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Camran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Camran)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-translate-the-hindi-in-truth-hurts-addictive/291642/5 "2026-10-12T09:01:19Z")

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Thanks for the info!

I am now realising this is a 21 year old conversation and if this conversation was human it could drink in America.