Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Wall: D.S.Dudhalkar

D.S.Dudhalkar

Wall

I recently took a contract
To demolish the walls of buildings.
Its not only buildings
That have walls ; villages do,too.
And we’ve heard of world wars
Fought for the walls of nations.
For the time being, I’m just demolishing walls.
I don’t know how many generations have gone by
But these walls
Built by grandapas
Of that time
Are really tough.
Did they need to be so hardened
To protect human beings/
Many people on many occasions
Raised their hands against them
For some, their hands
Become bloodied.
While the flags of others
Succeeded in fluttering.
Just the other day
Reading history
I realized my eyes
Had been entombed in walls.
And my organs of sense
Lay mutely by those walls
Like motionless refugees.
On enquiring, I found out
The walls themselves
Had drugged them with opium
Maybe that’s why I see
Even today,
Machinations in walls.
What does one say to these people
Engrossed in politely hiding
That they’re slaves of the age!
I myself
Should break down these walls
And become
A compass to them.
That’s why, with a special purpose,
I’ve taken this job:
It won’t be finished right away
But I too don’t wish
To finish right away.
Once I’ve smashed these walls-
New houses will take birth
Spacious and lovely.
Only those who can endure
Space wide enough to gallop in
Should live-or else
They’re welcome to die.
I’ll offer a memorial prayer,
And be done with it.


Translated by Priya Adarkar

18 comments:

  1. May I get summary of this poem

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  2. Replies
    1. The poem Wall is written by the poet D.S. Dadhalkar. In this poem the poet writes
      about various kinds of walls. According to the poet, not only do the buildings have
      walls but there are walls among villages too. Due to wars which include the world
      wars and due to various other reasons there are walls dividing nations too. The
      poet is on a mission to demolish all the walls. But these walls are tough to destroy since they were erected during the time of the grandpas many generations ago.
      The walls have only hardened in the course of time. The poet wonders why it is so
      necessary to have such hard walls to protect human beings.
      The poet is aware that several people like himself had tried to destroy the walls in
      the past. In the process, some of them had succeeded. Some of them had got
      their hands bloody in the process. The poet realizes that the walls had entombed
      his eyes and all other senses. He attributes this to the influence of history books.The need to have walls is as powerful as opium addiction. The poet therefore sees conspiracy in the walls. The poet is impatient with those people who argue that life should be lead on
      compromises. Compromises means having walls. The poet therefore takes upon
      himself the special purpose of destroying the walls. He knows that he will be
      unable to finish the job immediately. But he is confident that spacious and
      beautiful new houses will be born. The poet envisions such a vast, open space
      that it should be easy to even gallop all over it. He invites interested people to
      join him in the mission. He blesses the others to die and he is prepared to offer a
      memorial prayer for their death.
      The central idea of the poem is the condemnation of the narrow walls. The poet is
      critical about such people who choose to live in such narrow places. Such people
      exclude themselves from the joy of participation in the whole of humanity and
      creation itself. The walls symbolize man made divisions such as caste, class,
      language, religion, race, colour, nationality etc all of which prevent men from
      being united. These superficial divisions which add no value or meaning to life to succeed in destroying the harmony and peace among human beings. The poet is a representative of those who mercilessly want to discard outdated social order and create a new order. While the former breeds hate and misery, the latter
      spells love and hope.

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    2. It was really helpful. Thank you

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  3. Can I get the theme of this poem

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    Replies
    1. Theme means the central point.. So basically this is right answer😊

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  4. when was the poem written? what was the historical back-drop? and, what were his other works??

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  5. could any one give me the biographical details of the writer. In some places he is referred as Dudhalkar, and rest as Dadhalkar. Please help

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