Thursday, October 05, 2006

kisaan


chaurahe par
sacchi bhook ka jhoota natak karte huye
rajasthani si lagne wali in aurton ko
kayi baar dekha hai maine
aur thode dukh se
aur thodi bechargi se
moonh pher liya hai har baar
arre inka to kaam hai bheek mangna!
soch kar dil ko samjhaya hai har baar

phir bhi ek sawaal hai
jo mann beendhta hai baar baar
kisne in kisano ko alag kiya apni dharti se
aur la patka
shehar ke in beraham chaurahon par
sarkar ne?
bhagwan ne?
prakriti ne?
tum ne? ya, maine?

attempted translation for starry, sunshine and other non-hindi speaking people failed miserably...so pls. if any of you could do the honours, i'll truly grateful. kasam se!

this is a poem about some villager like families i see daily at the nehru place crossing. they look like rajasthani or gujarati farmers but what compelled them to leave everything behind and take shelter on the city roads tears me apart. for me, farmers and doctors are equal to god. what made my gods turn beggars?


this is the translation by aditi,

At the crossroad they stand of life and otherwise
Battling hunger, everyday a little she dies
I have seen her often in the same place
Every time I have managed to turn my face
How long can I look away from her suffering
When it touches me to the core of my being
I question whether its a facade or she really suffers
but the questions merely act as real life buffers
between my thought and the action of running a check
why the farmer was forced to leave his land and beg
Was it the system? the government, or simply nature's fury
was it you, was it me or that we shirked our duty?

and atul's version, you can check at
http://deterministichaos.wordpress.com/

Study for The Beggars by Kathe Kollwitz; Image: © Burstein Collection/CORBISArtwork: ©VG Bild-Kunst,
Bonn; Photographer:
Barney Burstein; Creator Name: Kathe Kollwitz; Date Created: 1924

12 comments:

Aditi said...

wahan khet pade veeran unke bina
yahan woh soche kal kaise jeena
donon ko milan phir ek din hona hain
shayad phir hum keh sake hum khushal hain

beautiful thoughts.. nicely written..
u're tagged btw

Anonymous said...

Amazing lines! I might take a shot at it! Will let you know!

schmutzdecke said...

hey! cool blog...u seem to be an avid blogger

starry said...

Adi..even though you could not translate, the explanation you gave about the farmers gives me a picture of what you are writing.

Anonymous said...

hope i have been able to do justice!

Sigma said...

Very True Adi. I have faced the situation, have felt the dilemma. But you put them in words amazingly.
I read Atul's translation too, and he has written it well.

You know, it reminds me somewhat of a poem by Dinkar, that I read long time back :
Asahaya kisaanon ki kismat ko kheton mein
Anaayaas jal mein bah jate dekha hai ?
Kya khayenge yeh soch nirasha se paagal
Bechaaron ko cheekh rah jaate dekha hai ?

I cannot recall the entire poem (the title was - Kyun Yeh Aag Bujhaoge), but if you or someone else does, please please do share with me.

Btw, I posted that poem on Dreams -
http://sigma_sm.blogspot.com/2006/10/more-on-dreams.html

delhidreams said...

aditi: thanks aditi. u give hope to a tired mind. and thanks for the tag too. now, i'll have to find some more weirdness in me :)

can i post ur translation here on delhidreams?

atul: pls. check my comment on your translation. i would like it to be posted here on delhidreams. guys do read atul's version. i wish i cud write that good.

schmutzdecke: yeah, i think so ;)

starry: i've two versions in the kitty. both of them incredible. i'll post them when i get the permission.

sigma: ah dinkar! we feel we've done an okay kind of job when we write. even post it on our blogs to gather some praise.
but when we read the masters, like dinkar, like bashir badr, then we realise how inadequate our words are.
thanks for sharing it me. last night i was reading 'rashmirathi' by dinkar. seemed, karna himself was reciting every single word before me. its an experience.
and i'll try to find this poem u mentioned. promise me, if u find it, u'l share it with all of us here.

Ganesh Ranganathan said...

Ek Baat batayen, huzur..

Yeh sacchi bhook ka jhoota natak kaise hota hai?

delhidreams said...

ganesh: bhook to sacchi hi hai, par har baar red light par, har nayi gadi ke aage woh jhooti ho hi jaati hai na?

appu: and politicians come from?

starry said...

Adi..that was a beautiful poem you wrote.I can see the farmers begging, and the sadness in your eyes. amazing how you capture the mind and the spirit of a person in a few lines.keep writing Adi.you are truly gifted.

Anonymous said...

--adi - all yours - please feel free to post the translation here - it is yours :)

Sigma said...

Dinkar. My most favorite hindi poet, without doubt. Have you read his Kurukshetra ? Its superb!
And glad to know you like Bashir Badr too !!
As I said earlier, we are finding more common interests :-)

dreamt before

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