Reading Time: 2 minutes
Lopamudra’s poem explores the captivating dance of tribal village women in Birbhum, challenging their self-perception and fostering an unexpected connection, exclusively for different truths.
Shantiniketan, December 2023 (I) In the mirthful intersection of metered urban chatter and the staccato bursts of rustic, baul songs in the rusted soil of Shonajhuri, we meet. I, one among the many travellers in whose skin urban privilege has left its pockmarks They, the daughters of the primordial soil of Birbhum, the land of the valiant. They sway to and fro, in rhythmic, harmonious motion, and I join in A glorious overture, or an orgy of sensuous poetry, I wonder. ‘Ini bini tapa tini’, their voices in unison open the lock gates of a tempting archetypal realm, the beasts of marital desire well-garbed in folklorish charm—I ponder. In the high notes and the low notes of their mismatched, unpolished voices and the valley in between, an unending stream flows on, the vanity of my language stumbling over, trying to merge with the uncouth glory of their requiem. (II) The dust and the grime of the red soil are the unsettling poems born in this nomad-heart that rebuilds, and reconstructs homes, shelters, universes. In between the silence And the slow movement of poush winds caressing the shaal, sagoon trees, my eager footsteps traverse through the wild, jungle voices of the bauls, through the spirit dance of the mystic scribe. As slow-moving dust, my feet sway with the wandering feet of the tribal dancers, the Santhal and the Baha village belles. In my travel-torn body, my shoulders, arms, The cracked years of my migrant trails smell of an impatient, sensuous rhapsody. “Didi, nachbi aay…” (Didi, come and dance, hold hands!) A woman, lanky and dark appears from the group, She catches my arm, and we keep pirouetting in circles, in the mellow light of the sun. ‘Saheb babur bou hoyechhe dekhte bhari khasa’ (The new bride of our dear sahib is pretty, isn’t she?)— They clap at the end of the familiar refrain, smiling wryly as the setting sun marries the luscious, drunken dark. The dance, the sudden spurts of mirth grow root, then branches, leaves In the mortal dusk when my vain syllables are blotted out.
Glossary:
1. Shonajhuri: the famous Shonajhuri forest in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, and the weekly Saturday afternoon bazaar set up by local artisans, also known by locals as the Khoai Mela.
2. Baul: nomadic folk singersof Bengal
3. ‘Ini bini tapa tini’: popular tribal folk song of the region
4. Poush: the winter month of poush in the Bengali calendar
5. Santhal: the largest tribal group in the states of West Bengal and Jharkhand and an ethnic group in the Asian subcontinent
6. Baha: tribal village in Birbhum district, West Bengal near Shantiniketan where the santhal people reside…Baha means flower in the Santhali language.
Photo by the poet
