Three Poems

Kanji Patel

Victual

Eyes, head
Hands, fingers
In harrumph, clucking, clicking, war-cries
I speak
Munch jujubes
Poised on all fours drink from the rivulet
Live off the mahuda tree

Allow me to live, will you?

Why is the forest and papers pact
Still unresolved?
With papers, a bund was built
On the waters
On mother earth
Resulting in a drought
Huts tied into bundles
Took to the path
Farming abandoned
Papers went berserk in revelry

In this hand came a plate:
    -  King, King, give us food
    -  You tell me, should I fill my belly or yours?



Threads

I do not desire much
An abode if I get
As much as one cycle of the Earth around the Sun,
The same of the Moon around the Earth
It would suffice
On this ground
Of this much I dream
Collapsed in the dust
The body half awake half asleep
That very instant a bulldozer comes charging
Anderi ganderi tipri ten
O mister what time is it?
One . . . two . . . three . . .

*

The stepchild
Claws at the ground
Once when the ground spoke
A seed appeared
A creeper grew out of it
Soon the creeper was covered with cucumbers wild
Feeding on them the child gained size
The world was suspicious
We do not see him eating
What makes him gain weight?
This creeper bearing fruit
Sever it from the root.



Of hemp we drink

Sat in a circle
Came a challenge from above
Somebody take it please
Was churning in the mind
Who would speak?
What to speak?
The body spoke
Land and produce
And labour managing it
Next are the papers
What hardship is this?
This very labour gave rise to papers
Land, object and labour
None would utter a word
Papers multiplied
The body knows not bargaining
It is the papers that do the bargaining
And so this patch of land
Starves us
Emaciated
Of hemp we drink.

translated from the Gujarati and Panchmahali Bhili by Rupalee Burke

Read the original in Gujarati and Panchmahali Bhili

Listen to the text in the original Gujarati and Panchmahali Bhili read by Kanji Patel:

My engagement with the Adivasis of Gujarat has mainly been through the translation of their oral traditions and contemporary literature as well as my involvement as member of the Editorial Board of Adilok, the first and only bi-monthly about Adivasis published in Gujarat. My foray into this field brought me in touch with the rich treasure of oral and written literature of Adivasis. An activist-writer in the manner of Mahasweta Devi, Kanji Patel who chose to live in his village all these years, writes from firsthand experience. Besides having begun writing much before Adivasis in Gujarat started writing, the nature of Kanji Patel's writings that revolve around Adivasis rightly makes him a precursor to contemporary Adivasi writers. In fact, his writings have provided a ready model to emerging first generation Adivasi writers in Gujarat.

With a constant commitment towards Adivasis, Kanji Patel has been their voice, giving creative expression to their milieu, their cultural universe, their world-view as well as their struggles and travails. Given my inclination as an activist-reader-translator Kanji Patel's writings made much sense to me.

I chose to translate Kanji Patel's poems into English to provide a true-to-life glimpse of the Adivasi cosmos to non-Gujarati readers. Since I have translated almost the entire bulk of his work, I am familiar with the Panchmahali Bhili dialect that he uses. However, there are ample allusions to culture-specific customs, rituals, etc. in his writings for which he does not provide notes. In the poems translated here too there were usages with which I needed help from him. Another challenge is his laconic style, sometimes merely words thrown together to make a sentence. Doing away with punctuation marks and subjectless sentence construction are part of his characteristic style and these make translation of his writings challenging albeit satisfying.

Kanji Patel (b. 1952), prominent poet-novelist of Gujarat and Adivasi activist, presently Honorary Director of Adivasi Academy, Tejgadh (Chota Udepur, Gujarat) is from Lunawada, Gujarat. His writing career spans more than four decades. His published works revolve around folk and Adivasi communities and make ample use of the Panchmahali Bhili Adivasi language, seen in his novellas Kotar ni Dhar Par (1982, 2013), Dahelu (1989), and Aadi (2008). Dero is his collection of short stories about Denotified and Nomadic Adivasis (2008, 2012). His collections of poetry are Janpad (1991), Dungardev (2006), and Dharti na Vachan (2012) . He has won awards for his writings and activism. His works have been widely translated into English, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese, and Bengali and published in various journals. His novel Dahelu has been published as Rear Verandah (1997) by Macmillan India. He has been invited to various literature festivals, including the SAARC and Commonwealth literary meets, as well as to Sweden and Germany (Frankfurt Book Fair) as a member of the Central Sahitya Akademi delegation.

Rupalee Burke (b. 1966) is based in Ahmedabad and heads the Department Of English at a local college. She uses her writing and translation skills for cultural activism. She is on Advisory and Editorial Boards of several research and cultural journals and magazines in English and Gujarati. An active translator, writer, reviewer, and critic for the past three decades, she works mainly in English, Gujarati, and Hindi and also translates into English the writings of the Adivasis of Gujarat from the languages Chaudhary Bhili, Kunkana, and Vasavi. Her translations have been published as volumes as well as in prominent journals, including Indian Literature, Muse India, and The Cordite Poetry Review. Her Gujarati and Hindi translations of fiction and poetry of North-Eastern Adivasi writers have appeared in Vahi, Lakhara, and Jago. She has translated Girish Karnad's play Tale-danda into Gujarati as Shirachheda. Ekadash Vrata: the Fount of Gandhiji's Strength, her English translation of Narayan Desai's book in Gujarati, was published in December 2015. She was a member of the jury for the 2011 Delhi Sahitya Akademi prize for translation. Her translations of the Quebec Declaration in Gujarati and Hindi have been published on the PEN International website.