A'ha!
Yes ma!
Baa baa black sheep
Have you any wool? No ma! No ma!
That’s all bull.
Not black, not a sheep, Not at all woolly.
So where’ll I get wool? You’re wrong, fully.
20 This seems, among other things, to spoof the irrelevance of English nursery rhymes that are religiously taught to Indian children. See the Introduction for more on this piece.
Translate4 by Sampum3 Chattai-ji from the Bengali original 'Dilli Cbolo'
Let’s to Delhi let’s to Delhi Dogs on the walk cats on the belly.
Come elephants and horses Come lame one-eyed forces.
Come mutes and muggers Come crooks and thuggers.
Come saints and sages Come head priests of ages.
Come film stars and starlets Come jobless needy varlets Come bigwigs and fat pigs Come all who can dance jigs.
Delhi’s where we’ll decide Exactly who’s on which side.
Then every vote that becomes ours Will put us in the seat of power.
Translated by Sampuma Chattarji from the Bengali original 'Clerihew'
The poem is a humorous deflation of the almost reverential status granted to scientific, literary, political and cultural icons of Bengal and India. Acharya Jagdish Bose (1858-1937), the Bengali scientist known for his theory that plants were capable of reacting to certain stimuli, as an animal would; Sarat Chandra Chatterjee (1876-1938), the Bengali novelist whose reformist, socially relevant novels made him more popular than either Bankim Chandra
21 A satiric take-off on the political slogan ‘Chalo Dilli issued as a clarion call in 1944 by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, firebrand freedom fighter and founder of the Indian National Army.
or Tagore; Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), India’s first prime minister, whose daughter Indira Gandhi and grandson Rajiv went on to become prime ministers of India, thereby taking on the role of India’s ‘first family’ both loved and criticized for its ‘dynastic ambitions’; Samaresh Sen, a contemporary leftist poet; Anamika Dey, an unknown dancer (Anamika literally means ‘nameless’, also the name given to the little finger). After all the ‘heavyweights’, Ray adds a sting in the tale by talking of someone unfamiliar, giving the poem a downward spiral.
It was Acharya Jagdish Bose who Declared plants to be animals too.
The only thing surprising about that Would be getting surprised by such old hat.
Rabindranath Tagore in his dreams Is off to the Land of Figs it seems. 22 No not to Peru and not China either The sad part is he’s going to neither.
As for Sarat Chandra Chatterjee Pie’s as sweetly silent as can be.
And speechlessly the world has seen His words light up the silver screen. 23
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was so wise That blue was red 24 in bis eyes.
22 the Land of Figs: In the original, the place mentioned is Pakur, a very small town in rural Bengal. R.ay’s intention seems to be to gently deride Tagore’s sudden interest in his own land as opposed to his much-lauded travels and lecture tours to the West. z3 words light up the silver screen: Chatterjee’s accessible writing led to his works being adapted not only for the stage but also for the screen. In fact, one of the most adapted books of his continues to be Devdas (1917) which saw a Bengali version in 1935; two Hindi versions in 1936 and 1955; two Telugu versions in 1953 and 1974 and a Malayalam version in 1989. The most recent screen adaptation was in 2002, starring Bollywood icons Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai, a testament to Chatterjee’s cross-cultural and multilingual appeal.
24 blue was red: Here Ray is probably commenting on the notion of the Nehru family as the ‘blue-blooded’ ruling family of India.
42 the tenth r g s g
Hearing this, blue got red in the face And a kite flew his ear to another place.
Mister Samaresh Sen has written plenty I’ve read all he’s written one-and-twenty. But looks like Mister Samaresh Sen Has written only what he’s read, I ken.
Anamika Dey she is a dancer To her grace there is no answer.
All the good girls are so welbbred Alas that they should all be wed.