For the Gujarati version of this post please read the adjacent post;
The writing bug that has afflicted me since 2016 has coolly trespassed into poetry. The style I have unwittingly developed is reminiscent of that of the 17th-century Gujarati poet called ‘Akho’ who used to write satirical poems, exposing the hypocrisy in society. While it is impossible to transport the flavour of his hard-hitting Gujarati poems into English, I can at least try that in my poem.
Many of you must have a novel experiment in Gujarati movies called ‘Hellaro’ that won the best regional movie award a few years back. It deals with the unreasonable subjugation of the women folks of a remote village in Kuchchh. The women put up with such nefarious practices for some time and then become defiant.
I have drawn my idea from this movie. Even in the present scenario, it is fashionable to talk about women’s empowerment. A joint family decides to go and watch this movie. The patriarch praises the movie and feels sorry for the plight of the women as brilliantly portrayed in the movie.
Things change on reaching home. He starts ordering the women of the family to prepare dinner for everyone and scolds them for forgetting their primary duty.
The poem roughly translated into English is here:
Hellaro – yesterday and today
The family decides to go watch the movie, Hellaro
They say what a fine this movie is, Hellaro
Our old neighbour loved the movie, says
‘They never used to make such good movies’
Onward ho, after evening snacks to the movie theatre
in the late show, braving teeming crowds in the theatre
‘Wow, what a story, direction, cinematography!’
Exclaimed the patriarch, ‘I was moved by the plight
of the unfortunate women of the village
What a way to treat them? Tears rolled down his cheeks
Everyone exited the theatre, wiping their eyes
The women of the family, under acute stress,
now they will have to fix dinner for everyone
The Patriarch, on reaching home
livid with the women
When will the dinner be ready?
‘How could they join the party
to watch the movie? These good-for-nothing
women will never have the sense
