Bulla Ki Jaana Main Kaun

In the later 2004, I was in my 7th standard… Settling down in Jagraon – a town in Ludhiana district, Punjab. Far away from a place which I call home – Tenkasi. Appa’s transfer got us shifted to this town. Appa was a Canara Bank employee and he wanted us to be with him, we also preferred being with him, although it had been just a year since we moved into our newly built home in Tenkasi.

Jagraon was full of life. The Grand Trunk road from Ludhiana to Jagraon has eucalyptus trees every 10 feet that welcomes you to the town… Ever crowded railway gates, scooters, sardar jis, guruduwaras, lassi, parathas, ever greeting warm people, grand weddings, desi daru, super caring mallu holy sisters in my convent, warm friends, my school van crush, racist foes… The calm town had everything! But, deep down… I wanted to be in Tenkasi. I wanted to be in our newly built home. I wanted to wake up in the Podhigai breeze, ever chilling Kutraala Saaral.

The entire town had just 3 Tamil families, one was ours, the other one was Appa’s manager and an Idly cart family from Madurai (they used to peddle pirated CDs for me from TN). I was longing for a friend to converse in my mother tongue. One Saturday morning, I caught this song on mh1. Bulla Ki Jaana Main Kaun by Jimmy Shergill. For a Tamil Nadu born Paiyan, the music scene of Punjab was fascinating. It’s all Indie, very less film songs. Whereas we hardly got 1 Indie album in 1 year in Tamil at that point of time. Coming back to Bulla ki, the song captivated me in the 1st listen. The very 1st time I watched the music video. It was shot across various locations in India, I hardly understood the song (I wasn’t familiar with Hindi or Punjabi in 2004) but, the song did something to me. It tried talking to me. In the language I didn’t understand, but it comforted me. The songs came back to me accidentally last week on apple music shuffle… I was hit by truck load of nostalgia.

Official Music Video

The song is penned by Syed Abdullah Shah aka Bullay Shah, who is a Punjabi philosopher and a sufi poet who lived in the 7th century. In the song, he refers himself; The lyric “Bullah Ki Jaana Main Kaun” which translates to “I know not who Bulleh Shah is.” The lyrics describe how the protagonist does not fit into any particular religious or cultural group. He does not frequent mosques, he is not bound by any rituals, he does not partake in alcohol or drugs, and he does not identify with any specific nationality. The chorus repeats “Bullah ki jaana mai kaun” which means “I know not who Bulleh Shah is” and serves as a reminder that the protagonist is not defined by any labels or categories. I used to be very proud of being a Tamil, being an Indian. It took a lot, took all these years to come out of a shell. If I was born in Turkey now, I’d still be proud of my race and fight saying it’s the best. Caste, religion, race… I’m entitled to nothing. I’m human, I’m happy and feel contained that whatever I have right now is a blessing. I am not higher than anyone, not lower than anyone is my mantra for the past few years.

Even though I heard the Rabbi version 1st,i later found Junoon’s version of the song. I suggest you listen to both 🙂 Dropping the lyric and translation for your understanding… I believe the song works 100000x better when you understand the lyrics of the song.

Bulleya Ki jaana main Kaun

Bulleya, Do I know who I am?”

Na main momin vich maseetaan
Na main vich kufar diyan reetaan
Na main paakaan vich paleetaan
Na main moosa na firown

Not a believer inside the mosque, am I
Nor a pagan disciple of false rites
Not the pure amongst the impure
Neither Moses, nor Pharaoh