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Archive for the ‘Punjabi’ Category

Words

Friday, August 21st, 2015

Ajay Tanveer

ajay tanveer

Words of my poem don’t do embroidery on paper,

Don’t make flowers and vines,

They don’t burn in the fire of lovers' separation….

They talk about those who can’t speak,

Who can’t hear, who can’t write,

Who can’t read…

That is why the trajectory of my thoughts is distinct..

Every word of my poem comes after touching the tip of the knife and the keen edge of the sword,

That is why my poem is very sharp and jabs the capitalists' chests

….be careful while reading it…..

The words of my poem also get hot like red hot iron,

They also glower in anger and then they revolt when there is any atrocity on the helpless,

Hence my poem is dipped in the color of revolt

~

Rajinder Azad's translation of Ajay Tanveer's Punjabi nazm 'Laphaz'. Ajay Tanveer is now based in California, and is popularly known as "Peeta Chandeli Wala" in the Punjabi literary world.

Self-respect

Wednesday, August 5th, 2015

 Kamal Dev Pall

Centuries ago

You abused him

He remained silent

You became extremely happy;

You tested the limits of his tolerance

Although you had forgotten 

How you had poured molten lead into his ears

So that he couldn’t hear anything

And you would keep reciting Vedas and Simrities 

And you would keep devising new tools to enslave him.

Even then when you abused him

He captured in the depth of his mind

The movement of your lips and the expressions on your face  

However he never showed such expressions on his face.

All the poison and anger he swallowed 

Which after digestion, entered his bloodstream

Ran into his veins rapidly and then 

Entered into the veins of his descendants;

That poison and that aggression 

Are now entering inside me 

And will grow hot like lava

Inside the blood of countless oppressed people

And an explosion is possible any time. 

Kamal Dev Pall's Punjabi poem 'Svey Maan', from the collection 'Din Part Aungey' (The days will come back), translated by Rajinder Azad

…for us poor folk, what lohris, what diwalis?

Tuesday, August 4th, 2015

 

गुड़ती में मिले हमें दुःख परेशानी

शायद देती हमें दादी नानी

रूढ़ियों पर गुज़रता बचपन हमारा

जट्टों के खेतों में जवानी 

 

सोचते हुए दिन रातें जागके गुज़ार लीं 

किस बात की गरीबों की लोहड़ी दिवाली

 

रात भूखे सोये हमें शंका है सवेर की

एक वक्त की खाली अब पता नहीं दूजी बार की

हमारी तो खुशियां भी फ़िक्रों ने खालीं

 

किस बात की गरीबों की लोहड़ी दिवाली

 

माँ गयी काम पर अभी तक आई नहीं

क़यामत की है ठण्ड उसने कोटी भी तो पहनी नहीं

पाथते ईंटें उसने उंगलियां घिसालीं

 

जब हमारे पिता बारे लोग हमसे पूछते

आता नहीं जवाब हमें सवाल लाखों उठते

लिखी हुई नसीबों की न जा सकें टाली

 

किस बात की गरीबों की लोहड़ी दिवाली

 

दिल करे किसका कि तमाशा बने जग का

संगदिल सेक बुरा तानों की आग का

आंचल में इल्ज़ामॊं की गठ्री जाए न सहारी

 

किस बात की गरीबों की लोहड़ी दिवाली

~

mixed in the gudthi,*we got sorrows and woes
our nanis and dadis perhaps passed us those 
on heaps of dung we spent our childhoods 
working the fields of those jatts, our youths

sleepless nights and days, we spent brooding
for us poor folk, what lohris, what diwalis?

slept hungry at night, for us the morning is a doubt
if one meal we eat, over the next hangs doubt
all these worries, they swallowed even our joys

…for us poor folk, what lohris, what diwalis? 

Mother went to work, isn’t back home till now
she has no warm clothes, and it’s biting cold now
lifting those bricks, and the pathana*
left her hands calloused and bruised

when they ask about our Father, we have no answers
many doubts arise for we have no answers
what fate has written, can’t be refused

…for us poor folk, what lohris, what diwalis

who desires to be the world’s laughing stock?
Sangdila* harsh is the heat of these fire-like taunts 
the heart cannot endure, this heavy load of slander

…for us poor folk, what lohris, what diwalis? 

*gudthi: the first food (mostly honey) usually fed by Grandparents (or some elders in the family or friends) to the newborn. It is believed that one takes a lot of the personality traits of the person who gave the gudthi.
*pathana: the process of applying liquefied mud to bricks to solidify them. Also used to describe the process of applying cow dung cakes on walls to dry them.
*sangdila: stone-hearted. Most likely the (pen)name of the songwriter.

~

Punjabi bahujan song translated by Gurinder Singh Azad (into Hindi) and Akshay Pathak (into English)

The translators came across this song on youtube during their usual search for Punjabi poetry and songs. The song, as shown in the video,is performed by these two very talented boys in a village in Punjab, Pakistan. The presence of the dhol in the video suggests that they belong to a caste of performers and the words of the song clearly reflect their concerns about the bahujan laboring castes. In the process of translating, we got stuck on some particular words and were fortunately helped by friends from across the border, in particular Farukh Hammad who helped us in getting one of the lines through his friends Jasdeep Singh and Khan Muhammad. If someone can share more details about the young artists, we would be very grateful. 

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