Waqt Mile To Aa Jaana

Name of the book: Waqt Mile To Aa Jaana (a collection of translated Hindi poems)

Publisher: Samved

Editor: Kishan Kaljayee

Author: Monica Das

Number of pages: 50

Price: Rs 20

Monica Das’s poems give us an insight into a person who is extremely sensitive to the vagaries of life and to her environment, be it nature or society. She pens her emotions lucidly and paints sundry pictures of life simply and beautifully.

In the title poem, Waqt Mile To Aa Jaana , Monica sets the tone when she says:

Tum aana kisi roopahali raat mein

Sukh dukh ki batein karenge

Tumhari meri

Athva swadesh swajati ki….

(Come on a silvery night, we will talk about our joys and sorrows, about you and me or about the country and community)

She goes on to reflect upon the plight of the common man and social issues such as rape and militancy.

Jante hi ho meri ma nahin hai

Pita ke bare mein kya bataoon

Ek ser chawal ke liye

Savere hi nikal padte hain sir par suraj lekar.

Ek hi bhai hai

Phool todne par cheekh uthne wala

Wah chala gaya jungle mein

Aur tham liya phool jaise haton mein warjit hathiyar.

Bhediyon ke ek jhund ne

Ek din noch diya didi ke sine ka anchal

Kshat-vikshat kar dala uske komal sharir ko

Waqt mile to aa jaana kisi roopahali raat mein….

(You know that I have lost my mother. What can I say about my father? He leaves in the morning and works hard under the sun to earn a livelihood. My brother, who couldn’t bear it even if someone plucked flowers, has taken up weapons and left for the jungles. One day, a pack of wolves molested my sister and ripped apart her tender body. If you get the time, come on a silvery night…)

This focus on the trials and tribulations of common man and social injustice continues in poems such as Aana Zara Gaon Mein where she feels the pain of the people rendered homeless by floods, that of farmers and their families, the poor whom welfare schemes do not reach. In Tum Logon ke Liye, she urges the exploited not to shed tears, not to remain oppressed for eternity, but rise in rebellion and fight for their rights.

In poems like Phagun , Baarish, Dhoop , Agahan , Aakash, Subah, Ped and Nadi , she impresses upon us her acute awareness of the moods of nature and the well-being and devastation they bring in their wake.

True to her emotions and life experiences, Monica’s poems also reflect the agony and helplessness that take root in the rheumatoid arthritis that had rendered her immobile 13 years ago.

Problems, she says in Dhool, is like the omnipresent dust that comes without warning, settles quietly in life and follows a person everywhere. But she does not allow bitterness to creep into her life because of her tragedy. At times, she gives in to despair, only to overcome it with an indomitable spirit for herself and for others.

Jeevan , Shunyta and Pile Patte ki Kavita reflect her despair and hopelessness and Pita and Ma draw out her helplessness at the pain her parents suffer because of the tragedy that has struck her apart from the mundane struggles of life. She longs for the golden moments when she was unfettered by life’s limitations in Ap ki Tarah Mere Paas Bhi Ek Sunahri Ghadi Thi .

She says:

Ek pathar se takrakar

Stabdh ho gaya tha spandan…

… Main wapas chahti hoon

apni pracheen sunahri ghadi

(Colliding with a rock, its heartbeat stopped… I want back my ancient golden clock)

But her indomitable spirit surfaces in Dukh and Ananta Pratiksha. She is ready to challenge the sorrows and tragedies of her life and refuses to be defeated by them.

In Ananta Pratiksha, she says:

Main hoon aashavadi kalamkar

Ek din thak jayenge joojhate joojhate andhere ke sainik…

(I am an optimist poet. The soldiers of darkness will get tired one day…)

Monica’s poems reflect the loneliness and longings of a young girl, her joie de vivre , which is choked by life’s ruthlessness.

Ek Prem ki Kavita (there are two poems with the same title) , Tumhare Liye, Aakash, Priyajan ke Liye, Unke Ane ki Baat Hai and Chaah reflect the longings of a young girl who at times is left with little hope and at other times is brimming with it.

As Monica oscillates between despair and hope, she spreads the message of universal love in Beej and Ek Hari Kavita .

The translator is in sync with the poetess’s agony and lust for life, loneliness and longings and portrays the essence of her poems and emotions with well-chosen words.

While one may not be in tune with the poetess at times, quite a few of her poems are definitely pearls collected from the deep sea of life and its vicissitudes.

SWATI AGARWAL

Published on June 3, 2011