The Wait
They are waiting for us to become civilised,
While we are waiting for them to be humanised.
—Translated from Hindi by Bhumika Chawla D’Souza
Jacinta Kerketta, Jharkhand
(Jacinta Kerketta is a journalist, poet and activist. Her poetry deals with identity crisis of Adivasi youths, systemic oppression of Adivasis in the country, gender- based violence, especially against women, and displacement. It also questions the state apathy of governance.)
Who Will Answer To Us, Sir?
How deeply you get hurt
That when a temple, mosque, or church is destroyed You keep for centuries alive
The flames of revenge and grudges.
But to those, to whom forests are a sacred space, Who will answer for their destruction, Sir?
For ages, you’ve been at this business of ‘religion’.
But those outside your purview, They know their forests, worship them, It’s where they live and where they die.
How dare you barge into
Their sacred spaces with your boots? Those countless lives of innocents
That you have taken in the name of progress: Sir! Who will answer for them?
Those living in the hills and forests, They’re not rustic castaways,
But Adivasis, the first dwellers. Why, on their own native land,
Do you turn them into untouchable castaways?
Why with your sundry beliefs and faiths Do you keep coming this way?
And if you must come
Why bulldoze their culture and religion with your own?
You have been in cahoots in every age With those who destroy their sacred space Pray tell, Sir, who indeed will answer
For all this loot and plunder?
What kind of religion is yours?
At each other’s throats you are forever. And Nature, who feeds and nurtures you, Even her you would not spare?
We will fight to the end of days Against this very culture of yours.
But just let us know,
This earth that has been destroyed, Who will answer for that, Sir?
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(Dedicated to the indigenous peoples of India, the Amazon and around the world, fighting to save their jungles).
—Translated from Hindi by Bhumika Chawla-D’Souza
Jacinta Kerketta, Jharkhand
The Search for Roti
Wherever their water broke
There they’d give birth to children
Their names were synthesized from that very place
Born in a jungle- Jangloo
From under the Mahua tree - Mahua
Under the Ber tree – Bahua
Born by pulling (Khinchkar)- Khichya
Born by a rock- Pathhaeeya
By an unnamed tree- Peya
Caught in a basket/jholi – Jheli
Born near a coalmine - Kaali
Born near Tebandi – Tenbadi
Born in a patched quilt - Goddhdi
That’s how you too were birthed, child.
Your Uncle (Mamu) Totaram
Named you Sunya…
Uncle (Mamu) was educated…
Roamed around with a radio hanging by his shoulder
Listened to the news
Listened to the Geetmala programme
Sister, this name
It belongs to a famous player… who played bat-ball…
This name suits a child…
Don’t know the exact date
That you took birth
We aren’t educated
The teacher at the school
Wrote of your birth
We’d roam here and there, everywhere,
Looking for bread and shelter…
We only knew the life of the natural world
Not to cause any trouble for anyone…
To live with immense love…
In summer-monsoon and winter
Like trees and like plants…
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—Translated from Hindi by Pratyush Pushkar
रोटी की खोज
उनकी जहॉ पन्हेरी फूटती
वही बच्चे को जनम दे देती ।
वही जगह का नाम उन्हे जुडता
जंगल मे जन्मा जंगल्या (जंगलू)
महूआ के पेड निचे महुआ
बेर के पेड के निचे बहुआ
खिचकर जन्मा खिच्या
पत्थर पर जन्मा पत्थऱ्या
बेनाम पेड के निचे पेऱ्या
झोली मे झेली गयी झेली...।
कोयला के खान के पास जनमी काली...।
टेबंडी के पास टेंबडी
गोधड मे जन्मी गोधडी
वैसा ही तू जन्मा बेटा
तेरे मामू तोतारामने
सुन्या नाम रखा तेरा...।
मामू पढा – लिखा था...।
कंधेपर रेडीयो लटकार घुमता था।
समाचार सुनता
गीतमाला सुनता ।
बहना यह नाम...
बडे खिलाडी का है... जो गेंद और बल्ला खेलता...।
इस बच्चे को यह नाम अच्छा है...।
तू कब पैदा हुआ ।
वह तारीख नही मालूम
हम पढे – लिखे नही
तेरे जनम की बात
पाठशाला के अध्यापक ने लिखा
हम तो रोटी की खोज मे घुमते थे
यहाँ - वहाँ इधर – उधर...।
हमे सिर्फ कुदरत का जीना मालूम था ।
किसी को दिक्कत नही देना...।
बडे प्यार से जीना...।
गर्मी – वर्षा और सर्दी में...
पेड – पौधे जैसे...
Sunil Gaikwad, Maharashtra
(Author of 12 books, Sunil Gaikwad is an Adivasi poet from the Bhil community. His works have documented the struggles of the Adivasi community and have upheld the values of Adivasi lives, far beyond the deterministic civilisational ethos.)
