Sutputra Radheye
Since 2014, hate has been manufactured through every medium to eradicate historical and cultural relationships we shared and thus alienating poetry and art from the other side of the border.
From banning artists to setting up a fundamentalist narrative around poems of Faiz Ahmad Faiz- the populist regime has tried it all. Another reason for this hate has been the progressive approach of poets like Faiz and Habib Jalib. So, the aim of these translations is to write back to the ‘populist’ regime with love like Urdu always has. I dedicate these poems to all the sane souls of both sides of the border.
I shan’t accept
Original title: Dastur
Poet: Habib Jalib
Translation: Sutputra Radheye
The one only in whose palace the light glows
To bear the happiness of a tiny lot
In the shadows, nurtured by all policies
A black dawnofsuch ritual
I shan’t accept. I shan’t acknowledge.
I have no fear of the execution ground either
I am Mansur,convey it to my nemesis-
You frighten us with the walls of jail, but why?
The words of oppression, the nights of ignorance
I shan’t accept. I shan’t acknowledge.
Flowers are blooming in the bough, you pronounce
Alcohol is reaching the alcoholics, you pronounce
Slits in the chests are getting stitched, you pronounce
These public lies, this loot of sense
I shan’t accept. I shan’t acknowledge.
You have robbed us of our solace for years
In no way will your spell be casted this time
To be the healer of the wounded, you pretend, why?
You are no healer, even if all differ
I shan’t accept. I shan’t acknowledge.
Dogs
Original name: Kutte
Poet: Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Translator: Sutputra Radheye
Of the streets, they are rover kaput dogs
Accorded, to whom, is the taste of poverty
Their wealth- the insults of the world
The scolding of the earth- their earning
Neither rest at night nor relief in the morning
Filth is their house, drain is their home
If ever spoilt, start a quarrel among them
Just show a piece of chapatti among them
They- who are kicked by anyone, and everyone,
They- who die of exhaustion from poverty,
They- the oppressed creations if ever holds head straight
The mankind will forget all its insurgence.
They- if wish, can conquer the world
They- even can chew the bones of their masters
Somebody- point out their insults to them
Somebody- shake their sleeping tails, waking them.
Sutputra Radheye is a poet and translator.