I want to cross the bounds of time and space
And sit in conversation with you!
Bharumal Amrani
Bharu Mal Amrani is a distinguished folklorist, poet, writer, researcher, journalist, script writer & compere of Radio Pakistan, and social–environmental activist from Tharparkar, Sindh, who has devoted more than two decades to the preservation, documentation, and promotion of Thari dialect, folklore, culture, and heritage. Currently he is working as a subject specialist of Sindhi at Raichand Rathore Government Higher Secondary School, Chelhar. Born on 17 February 1982 in village Soothar jo Tarr near Chelhar, Tharparkar, he obtained his Master’s degree in Sindhi Literature and Education and did law graduation from the University of Sindh, Jamshoro. He is the author of ten books in Sindhi on Thari folk songs, literature, poetry, culture, and history, and has also compiled and translated important works into Urdu and Punjabi, including the Punjabi translation of his book Sahra kay Dohay, to introduce Thar’s rich literary heritage to a wider national audience. In recognition of his outstanding literary, academic, journalistic, and social services, Bharu Mal Amrani has received several prestigious awards.
Trotsky, I Want to Sit and Talk With You!
Trotsky!
I am still fighting in my homeland
For the freedom of art,
Where are you?
The Mexican artist Diego Rivera
Is nowhere to be seen either!
To make art the finest comrade of revolution,
I have kneaded the clay of Mohenjo-Daro once again.
Most of my contemporaries
Stood with the dictator yesterday,
And are with his remnants today—
My contemporaries
Harbor deep envy
Toward my poetry
And say:
There is propaganda in your songs!
I, too, ponder:
Are songs not propaganda?
Was there propaganda in Goethe’s songs,
That Lenin was fond of them?
Was there propaganda in Ayaz’s songs,
That G.M. Syed was fond of them?
The sense of humiliation under dictatorship
Has not yet awakened within my contemporaries!
Until that awareness awakens,
I want to cross the bounds of time and space
And sit in conversation with you!
Note:
Trotsky: A famous Communist intellectual and close associate of Lenin. Trotsky, along with his artist friend Diego Rivera, drafted a manifesto on art and revolution. He was assassinated in Mexico during his exile.
Original Sindhi Version
ٽراٽسڪي، آءٌ تو سان رهاڻ ڪرڻ ٿو چاهيان
ٽراٽسڪي!
آءٌ پنهنجي ديس ۾ آرٽ جي آزادِيءَ لاءِ
اڃا وڙهي رهيو آهيان
تو ڪٿي آهين؟
ميڪسيڪو جو آرٽسٽ ڊيگو رويرا
به نظر نٿو اچي!
آرٽ کي انقلاب جو بهترين ساٿي بنائڻ لاءِ،
مون موهن جي دڙي جي مٽيءَ کي ٻيهر ڳوهيو آهي.
مُنهنجا گهڻا همعصر
ڪلهه آمر سان گڏ بيٺل ها،
۽ اڄ هن جي باقيات سان-
مُنهنجي شاعريءَ سان
مُنهنجا همعصر
وڏو ساڙِ رکن ٿا
۽ چون ٿا:
تنهنجي گيتن ۾ پروپئگنڊا آهي!
آءٌ به سوچان ٿو:
ڇا گيت پروپئگنڊا نه هوندا آهن؟
ڇا گوئٽيئر جي گِيتن ۾ پروپئگنڊا هئي،
جو لينن کي وڻندا هئا؟
اياز جي گيتن ۾ پروپئگنڊا هئي،
جو جِي.ايم.سيد کي وڻندا هُئا؟
مُنهنجي همعصر جي اندر ۾
آمر شاهي جي ذلت جو احساس اڃا نه جاڳيو آهي !
جيستائين اهو احساس جاڳي،
تيستائين آءٌ،
زمان ۽ مڪان جو حدون اورانگهي،
تون سان رهاڻ ڪرڻ ٿو چاهيان!
ٽراٽسڪي: مشهور ڪميونسٽ دانشور ۽ لينن جو ويجهو ساٿي، ٽراٽسڪِي پنهنجي فنڪار دوست ڊيگو رويرا سان گڏجي آرٽ ۽ انقلاب بابت هڪ پڌرنامو جوڙيوهو، ٽراٽسڪي کي جلاوطني دوران ميڪسيڪو ۾ ماريو ويو.
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