questions of a woman agricultural worker
(Bhaskar Jadhav, 1971)
Chorus
All our life is on fire, all our prices rising.
Give us an answer, 0 rulers of the country!
A handful of American wheat, a kilo of milo mixed with chaff
Doesn't our country grow crops
Or do we have only mud-mixed grains?
Give us an answer......
We have forgotten the color of milk
Coconuts and dried fruits have gone underground
Our children have only jaggery tea for nourishment
Sweet oil for cooking is the price of gold
Coconut oil for our hair is not to be had
Without rock oil for lamps we are familiar with darkness
We burn in the summer, we are drenched in the rains
We bear the rigor of winter without any clothes
Why don't we yet have any shelter?
We toil night and day and sleep half-starved
While the parasites fill their bellies with butter
Why does the thief get food while the owner is cheated?
There are pastures for the cattle of the rich
For forest development land is preserved
Why is there no land to support living people?
Tall buildings rise before our eyes
The roads cannot contain these motorcycles and cars
On whose labor has such development been built?
We filled the jails for independence
We hurled bombs into the cars of the white men
Did we do it to fatten the sacred cow?
When we ask for a rise in wages, for work for the unemployed
Why are we met with jail, beatings and bullets?
Now you have taken a new disguise
And appear in the colors of socialism
But we no longer want for today the promises of tomorrow!
Now we will stand on our own feet
We will throw caste and religious differences to the winds
We call for the sisterhood and brotherhood of all toilers!
We vow today to fight with our lives
We will bury capitalism in the grave
And sound the drums of our state!