On daily wage earners (Uma Devi Poems)
We are not birds
To carry the burden of nests
Our palace is on the bank of
Dirty river, (Coovam?)
Our bed room is also there
For constructing flyover
To facilitate metro rail,
And to make Chennai beautiful,
You will displace us
Just like butterfly variety tribe
Hopping from one plant to
Another plant
We all fly from
One place to another
Without complaining like
The big belly of the affluent
Who are born to?
Eat and accumulate fat
But, when a small national paper flag is
Pinned with our cloth (?)
And an orange sweet is also
Given to our children
It’ll evoke a boundless and
Endless laughter from us.
Money saved from day’s hard labour,
A part of it
Will be allocated
For Perumal and Iyappan deities
But for taking care of
Children’s education expense
We’ll go to Fr. Suresh only
And scratch our head,
Begging for assistance.
If food swallowed by children,
Accidentally enter the windpipe,
And nature promptly corrects it
Through a coughing sound,
We will go to mosque
And pray for the health of our children
Being devoid of any temple or tank of our own
Our family deity is Buddha.
After our time is
Spent in doing work,
And rendering good to others
The residual time will be
Consumed away by sleep.
Money earned through
Carrying gunny bag load of goods
By pulling rickshaw
Or selling fish,
Will be spent on food,
From the residual amount saved,
I’ll watch new movie
And have Sneha sari
He will have a glass of
Arrack (country liquour)
My daughter will go to
Government school
With torn petty coat
And blouse, also not in
Good shape, but pinned
In several parts of it
Whatever she gets
Sweets or cow’s colostrums milk
She will always share with others
Without any discrimination.
Be it family quarrel or
Anything stemming from his
Concubine,
It’ll come to street
The elder brother Munisamy
Will be the highest judge to preside over the dispute
His arguments and Ambedkar’s law
Will frequently go hand in hand
We have not gone to moon
We have not reached the stars also
But while we eat our rice (dinner)
Dog too will partake with us.
After Thamanyanthi’s poem, now it is the turn of Uma Devi’s poems to merit my attention for translation. The day was my second son-in law’s birthday. I was waiting for their arrival at home. At that time, I did this translation from the weekly Ananda Vikatan (2007). If only my health could co-operate, I would do more translations.
We are not birds
To carry the burden of nests
Our palace is on the bank of
Dirty river, (Coovam?)
Our bed room is also there
For constructing flyover
To facilitate metro rail,
And to make Chennai beautiful,
You will displace us
Just like butterfly variety tribe
Hopping from one plant to
Another plant
We all fly from
One place to another
Without complaining like
The big belly of the affluent
Who are born to?
Eat and accumulate fat
But, when a small national paper flag is
Pinned with our cloth (?)
And an orange sweet is also
Given to our children
It’ll evoke a boundless and
Endless laughter from us.
Money saved from day’s hard labour,
A part of it
Will be allocated
For Perumal and Iyappan deities
But for taking care of
Children’s education expense
We’ll go to Fr. Suresh only
And scratch our head,
Begging for assistance.
If food swallowed by children,
Accidentally enter the windpipe,
And nature promptly corrects it
Through a coughing sound,
We will go to mosque
And pray for the health of our children
Being devoid of any temple or tank of our own
Our family deity is Buddha.
After our time is
Spent in doing work,
And rendering good to others
The residual time will be
Consumed away by sleep.
Money earned through
Carrying gunny bag load of goods
By pulling rickshaw
Or selling fish,
Will be spent on food,
From the residual amount saved,
I’ll watch new movie
And have Sneha sari
He will have a glass of
Arrack (country liquour)
My daughter will go to
Government school
With torn petty coat
And blouse, also not in
Good shape, but pinned
In several parts of it
Whatever she gets
Sweets or cow’s colostrums milk
She will always share with others
Without any discrimination.
Be it family quarrel or
Anything stemming from his
Concubine,
It’ll come to street
The elder brother Munisamy
Will be the highest judge to preside over the dispute
His arguments and Ambedkar’s law
Will frequently go hand in hand
We have not gone to moon
We have not reached the stars also
But while we eat our rice (dinner)
Dog too will partake with us.
After Thamanyanthi’s poem, now it is the turn of Uma Devi’s poems to merit my attention for translation. The day was my second son-in law’s birthday. I was waiting for their arrival at home. At that time, I did this translation from the weekly Ananda Vikatan (2007). If only my health could co-operate, I would do more translations.
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