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.
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.
