Kalam Aaj Unki Jay Bol

A beautiful, inspiring poem, by my most favorite poet ....

This is quite a famous poem, most of us would have read in school text books (though I think the textbook did not have the complete poem, only two paras). For a long while, I was not able to find the entire text on net either. But recently, I did find the complete poem, and it was a great pleasure indeed ...

कलम आज उनकी जय बोल!
    - रामधारी सिंह 'दिनकर'

जला अस्थियाँ बारी-बारी
चिटकाई जिनमें चिंगारी,
जो चढ़ गये पुण्यवेदी पर
लिए बिना गर्दन का मोल!
कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल!

जो अगणित लघु दीप हमारे
तूफानों में एक किनारे,
जल-जलकर बुझ गए किसी दिन
माँगा नहीं स्नेह मुँह खोल!
कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल!

पीकर जिनकी लाल शिखाएं
उगल रही सौ लपट दिशाएं,
जिनके सिंहनाद से सहमी
धरती रही अभी तक डोल!
कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल!

अँधा चकाचौंध का मारा
क्या जाने इतिहास बेचारा,
साखी हैं उनकी महिमा के
सूर्य चन्द्र भूगोल खगोल!
कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल!

Dinkar

This is the 100th Idle Thought I have had in this space. My blog completes a century! :-)

And what better way to celebrate, than with a long-loved poem, by my favorite poet - Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'. A very bried introduction of the poet, for the uninitiated - Dinkar was known as 'Aag ka Kavi' [The poet of fire], for his poems raised the voice of the oppressed - in the pre-independence era, he fought for freedom; post independence, he stood by the poor and unprivileged. His repertoire also includes a number of poems celebrating beauty and love.

Amongst the treasures I found at the book fair, there is a collection of Dinkar's poems published by Bhartiya Jnanpith; the poems selected by the poet himself. It is a lovely, hard-bound edition, titled 'Sanchiyata' [The Collection]. My only lament is that it does not contain two of my favorite poems - 'Aag ki bhikh' and 'Kalam Aaj Unki Jai Bol' [these phrases can be translated as 'Begging for fire' and 'O Pen! Hail those (heroes)']. But what I did find, was a poem I had been searching for a long time [even pleaded bloggers for it :-)] - a poem that I had read in school in textbook - a four para poem, 'Kyun Yeh Aag Bujhaoge' [Why will you douse this fire'. And what I also found was that, those four paragraphs were part of a longer poem 'Bharat ka Reshmi Nagar' [The silken city of India], i.e. Delhi - the centre for power and wealth.

And the lines I had been lookng around for years? Here goes ...

Reshmi kalam se bhagya-lekh likhne waalo.n
Tum bhi kabhi abhaavgrast ho roye ho?
Biimaar kisi bachhe ki davaa juTaane ko
Tum bhi kya ghar bhar peT baandh kar soye ho?

Asahaya kisaano.n ki kismat ko kheto.n mei.n
Anayaas jal mei.n bah jaate dekha hai?
Kya khayenge? yeh soch nirasha se paagal
Bechaaro.n ko cheekh rah jaate dekha hai?

Dekha hai graamo.n ki anek rambhaao.n ko
Jinki aabhaao.n par dhool abhi tal chaayee hai
Reshmi deh par jin ablaao.n ki ab tak
Resham kya? saari sahi nahin chadh paayee hai

Par tum nagaro.n ke laal, amiri ke putle
Kyun vyatha bhaagya hiino.n ke man mein laoge
Jalta ho saaraa desh kintu hokar adhiir
Tum daud daud kar kyun yeh aag bujhaaoge?


And an attempted translation ...

You, who write the destiny of others with a silken pen
Have you ever cried, suffering from acute deprivation?
To be able to buy medicine for a sick child,
Have you ever gone hungry, alongwith the whole family?

Have you seen the fate of helpless farmers
Being washed away by merciless flood waters?
Have you seen them cry out loud, all hope lost,
Thinking, what will they sustain on, the rest of the year?

Have you seen those village beauties
Whose radiance is still covered in dust?
These poor, helpless lasses cannot afford
Let alone silk, even simple dresses.

But you are living luxurious lives in cities,
Why would of think of the sorrows of the ill-fated?
The whole of the nation is ablaze,
But why will you get restless and rush to douse the fire?

Parichay

This is one of my most favorite poems - Parichay by Dinkar. And to go with it, I have an english translation - done by an expert, so no lousy attempts from me this time :-) [I found the translation on the net, long time back.]

Parichay
-- RamDhari Singh 'Dinkar'

Salil kann hun ya paravaar hun main?
Svayam chaya, svayam aadhar hun main;
bandha hun, svapna hun, laghu vrut main hun;
nahin to vyom ka vistar hun main.

Samaana chahti hai jo been ur mein;
vikal us shunya ki jhankaar hun main.
Bhatakta khojta hun, jyoti tam mein;
suna hai jyoti ka aagaar hun main.

Jisse nishi khojti tare jalakar;
usi ka kar raha abhisaar hun main.
Janam kar sau baar mar chuka lekin
agam ka paa saka kya paar hun main?

Kali ki pankhdi par os kann mein,
rangeele svapna ka sansaar hun main.
Mujhe kya aaj hi ya kal jharu mein,
suman hun ek laghu upahaar hun main.

Jalan hun, dard hun, dil ki kasak hun;
kisi ka haay, khoya pyaar hun main.
Gira hun bhoomi par nandan vipin se,
amar-taru ka suman sukumar hun main

Madhur jeevan hua kuch praan! Jab se,
laga dhone vyatha ka bhaar hun main.
Rudann anmol dhan kavi ka, issise
pirota aasuon ka haar hun main.

Mujhe kya garv ho apni vibha ka?
Chita ka dhulikann hun, kshaar hun main.
Pata mera tujhe mitti kahegi,
sama jisme chuka sau baar hun main.

Na dekhe vishva par mujhko ghrina se;
manuj hun srishti ka shringaar hun main.
Pujarin! Dhuli se mujhko utha le,
tumhare devtaa ka haar hun main.

Sunnu kya sindhu, main garjan tumhara?
Svayam yudh dharma ki hunnkaar hun main.
Kathin nirgosh hun bheeshan ashani ka;
pralay gaandeev ka tankaar hun main.

Dabi si aag hun bheeshan kshuddha ki;
dalit ka maun hahakaar hun main.
Sajag sansaar tu nij ko samhaale;
pralay ka ksubdh paravaar hun main.

Bandha toofan hun, chalna mana hai,
bandhi uddaam nirjhar-dhaar hun main;
kahun kya kaun hun, kya aag meri?
Bandhi hai lekhni, laachaar hun main.

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Identity

Am I a water drop, or an ocean?
The self, the shadow, I am both;
tied down, a dream, shrunken,
else, an elaboration of empty space.

A crippled clamor of emptiness,
seeking to fill the silence in my heart.
I wander, searching for light in darkness,
I am, I hear, a treasury of light.

Night seeks her dawn, burning candles of stars,
I too, await my dawn.
A hundred times, I lived and died,
Have I found yet, the bridge across the Unknown?

In the dew-drop on flower petal,
I am a world of multi-hued dreams.
What care I, sooner or later, I will wilt
For I am a flower, a modest offering,

A burning, a pain, a heartache
Oh woe! I am someone's lost love.
Fallen to earth, from the flower-garden,
beloved son of the evergreen tree

Shouldering my burden of sorrow,
my life is a little sweeter now.
With anguish, precious wealth of poets,
I string together my tears in verse.

Why pride in my own light,
I am but the dust from the pyre, the ash.
Where I am, the earth will tell you,
She who has consumed me a hundred times.

Yet the world looks not with hatred upon me,
For I am a man, a wonder of creation.
Oh Devotee, lift me from the dust where I lie!
I am a garland for your beloved God.

Oh mighty ocean, what shall I make of your roar?
I am a voice, loud, of this age and its mores
A hard fearsome voice of lightning,
I am the twang of catastrophe's bow,

The suppressed fire of a ravenous hunger,
I am the wordless wail of the suffering.
Oh vigilant world, take care, beware!
I am the tumultuous ocean of catastrophe.

A captive storm, forbidden motion,
I am a waterfall dammed.
Who am I, what is my desire,
I am helpless, a pen constrained.

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For those who'd like to enjoy reading the poem in the Devanagari script, here is an image [click on the image to see an enlarged view].