Babul Mora, Naihar Chhooto Hi Jaye

This thumri in Raga Bhairavi was composed by poet-Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh and has come to be associated with his pain when he was exiled by the British from his beloved Lucknow to Kolkata in 1856 : Babul mora, naihar chhooto hi jaye / Char kahar mil, mori doliya uthaye / Mora apna begana chhooto jaye … – My father! I’m leaving home / Four bearers lift my doli and I’m leaving those who were my own …

It was immortalized by K. L. Saigal in Street Singer (1938) and Jagjit Singh composed and sang his version for Aavishkar in 1974 : Angana to parbat bhayo aur dehri bhayi bides … – The way back is blocked and I am going to a foreign country…Jagjit Singh bids us farewell and this is our tribute to him.