India is on the Moon, BUT…
आदमी गइल चांद पर

If you have never heard a Bhojpuri song, or your familiarity with Bhojpuri folk music is limited only to Arrah hile Chapra hile Balia hilela (probably due to the ‘visual’ appeal!); I seriously recommend the poem by Ramnath Paswan of Muzaffarpur. The humble, unknown poet has composed this mint-fresh poem and has recited it for a TV channel. Deservingly, he video has gone viral.

Here is the link for the video:

https://youtu.be/xhSh8uDz624?si=6u3lrX84KwVBFlQj

The poem is so simple and earthy that anyone who follows Hindi will appreciate and enjoy it. No knowledge of Bhojpuri is needed.

What is the poem about? It is a poem about the India that reached the moon on August 23, 2023 and the Bharat that is still mired in illiteracy, superstition, and darkness of ignorance.

The opening lines constitute the prologue as well as the summary of the poem:

अशिक्षा अनहरिया में ओझा कमाइन है
आदमी गइल चांद पर गांव में डाईन है

The rustic poet is concerned about the darkness of ignorance in his Bharat while literate and scientific India has reached the moon.

The son of the woman labour who grazes cattle is down with fever, the neighbours summon the ojha who fumigates the sick one with chili and other substances and administers jhadphunk and such merciless beating that he dies. Ojha declares that the boy died owing to the vaan (killer magic weapon) sent by Batesara ki Budhia who has mastered the Kamakshya dark magic. The villagers are enraged, grab the forlorn, helpless old woman, strip her, brand her body with hot iron rods, put her on a donkey and parade her around the village while the Panch members watch with pride.

Why blame only the illiterate, even the literates are no better, mourns the poet. Change the way we think, change the way we look at matters, at least now that we have reached the moon.

I thank Sudhir Prasad, my friend for sharing this beautiful poem with me.

I salute Ramnath Paswan for his thoughtful, and passionate poem. His heart beats both for Bharat and India!

***

Postscript

Message to Moon

I found a cute story titled 'New World Alert' in the Edit page of Economic Times (3 Aug 2024):

"When NASA was preparing for the Apollo mission, some of the training of the astronauts took place on a Navajo reservation. One day, a Navajo elder and his son were herding sheep and came across the space crew. The old man, who spoke only Navajo, asked a question that his son translated: 'What are these guys in the big suits doing?'

A member of the crew said they were practising for their trip to moon. The old man got all excited and asked if he could send a message to the moon with the astronauts. Recognising a promotional opportunity, the Nasa folks found a tape recorder.

After the old man recorded his message, they asked his son to translate it. He refused. The Nasa PR people brought the tape to the reservation, where the rest of the tribe listened and laughed, but refused to translate the elder's message.

Finally, the Nasa crew called in an official government translator. His translation of the old man's message was, 'Watch out for these guys; they have come to steal your land.'

Prasanna Dash