This Country is Broken:Bapurao Jagtap

Bapurao Jagtap

This Country is Broken

This country is broken into a thousand pieces;

Its cities, its religion, its castes,

Its people, and even the minds of the people

- all are broken, fragmented.

In this country, each day burns

Scorching each moment of our lives.

We bear it all, and stand solid as hills

In this our life

That we do not accept.

Brother, our screams are only an attempt

To write the chronicle of this country

-this naked country

with its heartless religion.

The people here rejoice in their black laws

And deny that we were ever born.

Let us go to some country, brother,

Where, while you live, you will have

A roof above your head,

And where, when you die, there will at least be

A cemetery to receive you.

Translated by Vilas Sarang