Bhūpi Sherchan (1936–1989) was a Nepali poet. He was awarded the Sajha Puraskar for his 1969 poem collection Blind Man on a Revolving Chair. His other collected works are entitled Waterfall and New Songs.
THIS IS A LAND OF UPROAR AND RUMOR (YO HALLAI-HALLAKO DESH HO)
This is a land of uproar and rumour,
where deaf men wearing hearing aids1
are judges at musical contests;
and those whose souls are full of stones
are connoisseurs of poetry;
where wooden legs win races, and bayonets of defense
are held by plastered hands;
where, basket upon basket,
truckload after truckload,
souls are offered for sale
along the roads, in front of doors;
where the leaders are those who can trade in souls
like shares on a stock exchange;
where the men who presume to lead our youth on
have faces wrinkled like roofing steel;
where the “wash and wear” creases of honor
are never spoiled by any malpractice,
and even the prostitute’s terylene skin
cannot crease, whatever her crime;
where seeds which double production
are displayed at farmers’ fairs
which fill with news of drought and famine;
where beer and whisky flow instead of sacred rivers2
and people come to our holiest shrines
less to receive the food of the gods,
more to consume the forbidden fruits
of Adam and Eve in the gardens behind;
where the sugar factory makes booze, not sugar,
and mothers of freedom give birth to soldiers instead of sons;
where the great poet must die an early death to pay his debts
and a poet, driven mad by the pain of his land,
must take refuge in a foreign hospice;
where Saraswati’s lonely daughter
must live her whole life shriveled
by a sickness untreated in her youth3
where a guide describes to a tourist
Nepal’s contributions to other lands
then departs, demanding his camera,
where young men sing the songs
of forts and foreign conquests,
marching in parades...
In this land I am forced to say,
clipping a kukuri to my tie and lapel,4
tearing open my heart:
compatriots, nation-poets of this land
who sing the songs of my country’s awakening,
respected leader of my people:
if you wish, you may call me a slanderer, a traitor,
but this land is mine as well as yours,
my hut will stand on a piece of this land,
my pyre will burn beside one of our rivers;
I am forced to say, made bold by this feeling,
this is a land of uproar and rumour.
dig deep, and you find hearsay
heaped up beneath every home,
so this is a land of tumult and gossip,
a country supported by rumours.
a country standing on uproar:
this is a land of uproar and rumour.
I THINK MY COUNTRY’S HISTORY IS A LIE (GALAT LAGCHA MALAI MERO DESHKO ITHAS)
When I pause for a few days
to look at these squares steeped in hunger,
these streets like withered flowers,
I think my country’s history is a lie.
These gods, dug in all down the street,
these knowing men who are deaf and dumb,
these temples ravaged by earthquakes,
these leaning pinnacles,
these statues of great men at the crossroads:
when I see all these ever present,
never changing, all alike,
then I think it is a lie,
the history of these men who share my table.
When I constantly see young Sītās5
in the streets, the alleys, the markets,
in my country and in foreign lands,
stripped bare like eucalyptus trees,
when I see countless Bhīmsen Thāpās,6
standing still and silent,
shedding the songs of their souls,
like kalkī trees7 with their hands hanging down,
I really feel like mocking my blood.
I hear that Amarsingh8 extended the kingdom to Kangra,
l hear that Tenzing climbed Sagarmāthā,9
I hear that the Buddha10 sowed the seeds of peace,
I hear that Arniko’s11 art astounded the world;
I hear, but I do not believe it.
For when I pause for a few days
to look at these squares steeped in hunger,
these streets like withered flowers,
l know that this is the truth of my past,
and I think our history is a lie.
1 The English words “ear phone” are used in the Nepali original.
2 The original Nepali poem refers to the Bishnumati and the Bagmati, the two sacred rivers of the Kathmandu Valley. Similarly, the following line names the temples of Swyambhu and Pashupati.
3 The “great poet” referred to here is Lakshmiprasad Devkot, the poet who is driven mad is Gopalprasad Rimal, and “Saraswati’s lonely daughter” is Parijat.
4 The khukuri is the ubiquitous Nepali knife that has become a military emblem and almost a national symbol. Sherchan perhaps intends to show that he does not lack patriotic feeling.
5 Sītā is a consort of Lord Rāina, the princely incarnation of Vishnu, and the epitome of female chastity and fidelity.
6 Bhīmsen Thāpā dominated Nepalese politics from about 1804 until 1837 and is given especial credit for building up the military strength and prestige of Nepal. See M. S. Jain (1972, 4–13).
7 A kulkī is a flower or the plume on the Rāinas ceremonial helmet. The ambiguity is almost certainly intentional.
8 Amarsingh Thāpā was the commander in chief of the Nepalese army who pushed the borders of the kingdom westward as far as Kangra, in modern Himachal Pradesh, during the early nineteenth century.
9 Sagarmāthā is the Nepali name for Mount Everest.
10 Because Lumbinī, the birthplace of Shākyamuṇi, is now within the borders of modern Nepal, the Buddha is sometimes claimed to have been a Nepali.
11 Arniko (1244–1306), a Newār craftsman, was taken to the court of Kubilai Khan by a powerful Tibetan lama in 1265. The khan was overwhelmed by Arniko’s skills and assigned him a number of major projects, including the building of several famous temples.