The Lockdown Walk, by Sureswari Bagh, & Translated by Pitambar Naik
Dr. Sureswari Bagh (Poet) has a PhD in Odia Literature from Berhampur University. She teaches at Nalinidevi Women's College of Teacher Education in Bhubaneswar, India. She has poems and fiction in Odia published in Nissan, Janabadi, Katha, and Nabanita among others. She serves as a member of the Odisha Sahitya Akademi. She was born and raised in Nuapada, Odisha in India.
Pitambar Naik (Translator) is an advertising copywriter for a living. When he’s not creating ideas for brands, he writes and translates poetry. His work appears or is forthcoming in ellipsis... literature & art, The Dodge, The McNeese Review, The Notre Dame Review, Packingtown Review, Ghost City Review, Rise Up Review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, The Other Side of Hope and elsewhere. He’s the author of the poetry collection, The Anatomy of Solitude (Hawakal). He grew up in Kalahandi, Odisha and lives now in Bangalore, India.
Author Foreword:
The Covid-19 pandemic was one of the biggest tragedies that hit India’s Dalit-Bahujan. It came to totally shatter their already vulnerable socio-economic backbone and dilapidated social fabric. When the nationwide lockdown was declared by the Government of India abruptly without any systematic plan and preparation under the pretext of controlling the pandemic, it was the common people who suffered the most and lost everything to the pandemic. As millions of the suppressed groups migrate to cities to earn a livelihood, they couldn’t return to their natives when India faced the catastrophe of the total lockdown. In those tragic moments, millions dared walk to cover thousands of kilometres in hunger, thirst, pain and trauma. Thousands died on the way fighting hunger and thirst more than in the pandemic. This poem depicts the horrific scene of people’s struggles as how they walked to their villages from cities without fearing death during the pandemic’s lockdown.
My feet are sturdy.
I had forgotten
I'd never walked that far
and that long, in a single stretch.
I was making bricks
kneading the clay with feet
I was moving the earth.
Taking the feet forward,
I was ploughing and
with the endurance of the fire
I'd learnt to be ash.
Letting my feet not tire
I've built many palaces for you
oh, master
I was walking only for you
over the years, but this time,
you made me walk for myself.
ଲକଡାଉନରେ ଵାଟଚଲା
ମୋ ପାଦ ଯେ
ଏତେ ଶକ୍ତ,ଭୁଲି ଯାଇଥିଲି
କେବେ ଚାଲି ନ ଥିଲି।
କେବଳ ,ପାଦରେ
ମାଟି ଚକଟି
ଇଟା ଗଢୁଥିଲି
ମାଟି ତାଡି
ପାଦ ପକାଇ ହଳ କରୁଥିଲି।
ନିଆଁ ର ଧାସରେ
ପାଉଁଶ ହେବା ହିଁ
ଜାଣିଥିଲି।
ଆଉ,
ବିରାଟ ମହଲରେ
ପାଦ ପକାଇ
ତୁମ ପାଇଁ ଗଢୁଥିଲି।
ଭଲ କଲହୋ ସାଆନ୍ତେ
ସବୁଥର,ତମ ପାଇଁ ଚାଲୁଥିଲି
ଏବେ ମୋ ପାଇଁ ଚାଲିଲି।
