itna bhi mat rulaye

here is my first Hindi verse written at the western Consultation on SEZs (it was inspired by a video and spirited presentation of the fight against SEZs in Gujarat):

KAFAN
itna bhi mat rulaye, ki aasoon sukh jaye...
aur sujhi huyi ankhon se lava beh jaye...
itna bhi mat sataye, ki har path bandh ho jaye...
aur sar pe kafan bandhne ka vikalp bach jaye !

the english translation would be

SHROUD 

Do not make me cry so… lest my tears turn dry...

it is lava that will flow from the swollen eye...

Do not trouble me so… that each road turns a dead end

and a shroud draped on my head is the only option to fend!

(Kafan-shroud)

-Pravin Sabnis
25 April 2008, Pune

ME & MINE

I woke up in a different age...
I woke up in shock and rage...
Ten years further to today...
My village had gone astray...

It was like a fairy tale all gone wrong...
Where cacophony posed as a song...
Gone were the fields that were mine...
My land, my village was just a MINE!

I went to the authorities to complain
Hoping for justice to relieve my pain...
They asked me to prove my citizenship
Without my village, how could I exist?

I said forget about me, have some shame...
What about the villains and their devious game?
First they paused and then laughed aloud...
“It was you who contributed to the deadly shroud”

“How me?” I cried at the twist in the tale
My land I had never put up for sale...
When they came to me, I had said a clear NO
For me my land was my life, how could I let go?

They looked at me and laughed once again
“He thought it was never going to be his pain
Since the lease did not cover his land
He thought the problem was not his to fend”

“They first mined elsewhere, but he said that land is not mine
Then they mined closer, and he said that land is not mine
Then they mined next door, yet he said that land is not mine
And now look how he protests when his land is a MINE”.

To the dissonance of their accusing mirth
I woke up from the nightmare’s girth
But the future continued to resonate in my ears
Urging me not to ignore the approaching fears

It was futile to think of me and what’s mine
And ignore the killing moves of the MINE
For it is not an activity, it is really an attitude
That seeks to crush rights, dignity and aptitude

It is all about the important lesson
A truth that can never go out of fashion
We must go beyond what is “me and mine”
It is not just about what’s mine and thine

Lest our future is buried under the remains
Let’s consolidate solidarity’s gains
Let’s make the resolve to connect together
Instead of “Me and mine”, “we and ours” is better

Without the sweat of solidarity, community cannot shine
“We and ours” can defeat the onslaught of the MINE
Let’s together defeat the abusive merchants of dirt
Let’s ensure that green remains our valley and earth

Pravin Sabnis
4 April 2008, Goa

konkani Nirantari

tribute to Jorge in Sunaparant

DIWALI

Here’s an old poem penned by my younger avataar…

DIWALI

Effigies of evil strut in the streets…
Loudspeakers blow, drums beat…
The blaring music, the rhythmic dance…
Carnaval is back with its mesmerizing trance!

Is it a time to be happy and gay?
Or is it just revellery gone astray?
Questions stagger in the mind…
Why does the light seek to blind?

The youth celebrate the blinding blaze
And children watch in innocent daze
As the sky breaks into another dawn
Everyone is now beginning to yawn…

It is time to sleep, you know
It is Diwali – the festival of lights!

--- Pravin K. Sabnis (November 1991)
(In Goa, effigies of Narkasura are burnt early in the morning. Due to keeping up all night, most of us would feel sleepy on Diwali day)

GETTING OLDER

(a poem written in college)

GETTING OLDER

No jumping and shouting like before...
Life is not the same anymore...
I am no longer brave and bold...
Maybe I am getting old...

My limbs complain of pain...
Tired thoughts trouble my brain...
My (once) boiling blood is turning cold...
Surely, I am getting old...

The walk is getting slower...
Spoken words are fewer...
My hand needs another to hold...
Of course, I am getting old!

And of me, says a modern sage,
"At last, he is coming of age!"

- Pravin K Sabnis (1989)

SECULAR THREATS TO COMMUNAL GROUPS!

Hey, within minutes the police were there
To forward a complain of fear and scare
Those naughty secularists were at their game
To claim that Hindu, Muslim and Christian are the same…

The adminstration acted in double speed
A call for harmony can be dangerous feed…
These talks are giving us a bad name
By exposing the nationalists’ stand as lame…

How dare these people demand serenity?
How dare they insist on tranquillity?
Why do they insist on dousing out the fire?
Why do they call my leader a liar?

No confusion over who shares the blame
Muzzle every voice that tries to be sane…
Hang them at the nearest lamp post,
But even when killed, arises their ghost!

It is an old human tale that never seems to end
These humanist nuts drive me down the bend…
We stopped them then and thought they would learn,
But, they come again to put our plan to burn!

My Lord, my God, instill in them some fear
Please spare me their irritating cheer…
May they fight over the smallest of things
We need to rejuvenate our right-wings!

--- thoughts of a communalist as observed by Pravin Sabnis (31 July 2007)