The Shared Mirror

Kasab Pinjari Laddaf Dudekula

Ghodewala Lakdewala Chamdewala– like them

I am Boraywala,

The forgotten Muslim,

Until now

Out of the reach of all Muslim literary history,

The one banished to darkness by the Muslim khandaan

Discriminated against because of my occupation,

But I am still a Muslim

A brand new Boraywala Muslim.

******

Mother jungle was my livelihood

I'd climb hills, cut wood and sell it

I would make my living from carrying tree trunks to the village

I'd wander around valleys and streams

I'd gather date palm leaves

and make mats for a living

and that's how I became a Boraywala!

You avoided all relations with me

because of my caste and lifestyle

You considered me unfit,

I learnt the Kalma even when my belly was on fire

I am reciting Suras even as you keep your distance

Like you, performing Namaz..Roza..Zakat

I mingle amidst you

but still you look at me with derision

and talk differently with me,

interact coldly with me and show

scorn for my occupation

scorn for my language

scorn for me.

What's human? What's inhuman?

Who's civilised? Who's uncivilised?

I'm of the Boraywala clan which doesn't know all those things

All I know

is that I am a Mussalman too!

Islam is my religion too!

 

Call me Boraywala..

Or call me a Girijan Muslim..

Or call me a Dalit Muslim..

Or call me any other Muslim..

But one thing is certain..

If I don't weave a 'bora'*

Your Janaza won't move!!

******

From the oppression of the Hindu order

and the discrimination in the Mullah order

I'm waking up only now

 

Leaving the inertia and indifference

that burnt me for decades

I'm sounding the marfa** of the Boraywalas.

 

My translation of Shaikh Peeran Boraywala's Telugu poem 'main bOrEwAlAn' (from the collection of poetry 'alaavaa: muslim sanskRti kavitvam'). The title 'Main Boraywala' would mean, roughly, 'I am Boraywala' in Hindustani.

Would like to thank my friend Khalid Anis Ansari for sharing certain valuable inputs on Islamic burial practices in India.

*bOra: here it refers to a mat made of date palm leaves.

** marfa: a musical instrument that resembles the kettle-drums. 

Tags: Shaikh Peeran Boraywala

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 9th, 2010 at 12:37 pm and is filed under Poetry, Telugu, Translations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.