Mumtaz in ‘Do Raaste’ (1969)
Over close to a decade and a half, I have written so many posts on such a diverse range of subjects that much of them I tend to forget. Take for instance, this post.
I woke up singing this charming hit from the 1969 movie 'Do Raaste'. As I hummed the song at 4.30 a.m. I had a vague recollection that I had written something about it. Sure enough, I had. It was the following post on September 7, 2016.
I want to particularly applaud the great lyricist Anand Bakshi for his superbly picturesque construct in 'Yeh reshami zulfein, yeh sharbati aankhen'. The use of the word sharbati is brilliant.
September 7, 2016
“These tresses so silky
These eyes so sherbet-y
All live feasting on them”
These lines are a direct translation of a memorably hit Hindi movie song “Yeh reshmi zulfein, Yeh sherbety aankhe, Inhen dekh kar jee rahen hain sabhi.” It was written by Anand Bakshi and composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal for the 1969 movie “Do Raaste” (Two Paths). I had an instant recall of this song while reading a charming piece by Laura Kiniry in the Smithsonian magazine about how for decades Americans have wrongly called sherbet, sherbert with an extra ‘R”"’.
Of course, sherbet in the popular understanding in America is more like ice-cream than a refreshing icy drink bursting with a host of flavors that I and millions of Indians drink. Sherbet as a poetic metaphor has been a popular one in Hindi cinema and has been used quite a bit for a long time. The song here is among the most successful versions of that. Sherbet-y eyes mean a combination of enchantingly sparkly deep, eyes which could be of a variety of colors, the most popular being deep orange brown. In the Hindi cinema poetic construct those sherbet-y eyes beguile you, entrance you and then trap you in those lovely silky tresses.
Kiniry writes, “I conducted an informal Facebook survey and found out something quite distressing about my friends: the bulk of them have been ordering, describing and enjoying the sweet pleasures of a dessert that doesn't really exist. Of course, they will tell you something different—that “sherbert,” a delicious frozen blend of sugar and fruit juice, with just enough dairy to resemble a lighter, softer ice cream is a real as gelato or frozen custard. They're not alone in their thinking. Local creameries throughout the United States. have been slinging scoops of “sherbert” for years, whipping it up in a rainbow of colors. But the truth is that second 'R' is erroneous. It's been “sherbet” all along.”
I want to reassure Kiniry and her readers that it is indeed sherbet, a word that came to India courtesy of Farsi and is now very much an Indian word. Sherbet is more like slushy in the South Asian context with a scoop of ice-cream to optionally top it off.
Growing up in Ahmedabad, every evening a Rajasthani man named Rangeelo (Colorful) with his strikingly colorful turbans used to go around vending “golas” or crushed ice carefully mounted on thin bamboo sticks and then slathered with sherbet with a scoop of ice-cream if one was willing to pay a few paises extra.
The long and short of it is that it is indeed sherbet and I have Mumtaz’s eyes to prove it. So go find some sherbet and slurp it down before the summer runs out.