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!