Three evenings and Bahinaabai's poems

One busy evening at the street of Dadar...people buying vegetables, clothes, footwear, fruits and fast food before going home from work! A Young Ravindra and a Nikhil.....both aged 24 ..it is the age of getting an employment, the age of romancing, the age of dreaming and suddenly there is a deafening sound! Ravindra, Nikhil and so many others are no more! News channels will cover it for a few days and will find something new to increase their viewer-ship.What about the victims' mothers? They must be shattered and their families devastated.
Is this the price you pay for the employment that you get in the maximum city of Mumbai? About 70-80 years ago an illiterate, farmer woman from Jalgaon district - a Marathi poetess Bahinaabai had asked a very valid question....

मानसा मानसा कधी व्हशील मानूस

लोभासाठी झाला मानसाचा रे कानूस

hey man, when we will be become a HUMAN?Greed  has turned you into a beast.

Evolutionists may have labeled our species as Homo Sapiens but in reality is that true? When will the terrorism end and we will have humanity?

Another evening- in our upper middle class apartment complex. A group of young mothers walking around with their babies. Someone mentions about a lady-Anita(name changed) on the 8th floor whose husband died of heart attach in Saudi Arabia. I am unable to even remember her face as i am too busy in my own world. As those ladies decided to visit Anita...i also follow them. The house is full of trendy furniture and two small daughters are playing around with expensive toys from overseas. The house looks like that dry desert in the Gulf where he had gone. He had gone there to make a fortune but he is lost forever and so is her fortune. Friends shed a few tears, someone cuddles the girls. Even the elder girl  doesn't understand the gravity of the situation. All these educated, well settled ladies are shaken up thinking that this could have happened to me! Although the society has changed a lot in the past 100 years, facing loss of a beloved husband and bread winner so early is extremely tough. Bahinaabai went through a similar tragedy at an early age but she really must have been a very strong person. She never blamed her destiny.

In fact Bahinaabai never trusted any astrologer. In this 21st century, we have many experts in astrology, tarot card  readers, healers and baba. She did not want anybody's help or guidance on what to do. She knew that they are all fake. She accepted the challenges and struggles of life as they came.

बापा नको मारु थापा

असो खर्‍या, असो खोट्या

नहि नशिब नशिब

तय हाताच्या रेघोट्या

नको नको रे जोतिष्या

नको हात माझा पाहू

माझं दैव मला कये

माझ्या दारी नको येऊ

Hey Palmist Baba, don't tell me anything,
Whether true or false,
It is not my fate,
These are just lines on my palms,
Hey Palmist Baba don't,
Don't look at my palms,
I know my destiny,
Don't come to my door
Don't come to my door again!!

An evening about ten years back- I was driving from school to home with my 4 year old son. It used to be a very long, 21 km drive through a village and then busy streets. Those were tough days as i was juggling a new job and my little boy. I still remember that rainy evening when there was a lot of water on that village road. We were stuck on a small road in the village and as we were just waiting for traffic to clear up my son pointed small bushes full of weaver bird nests. There were about 40-50 nests hanging there. It was truly a magical colony. Having moved into a 2 BHK "ownership" flat recently, i was perfectly aware of what it takes to build a house (although i did not build it myself!) And i was having a sense of achievement about it! Here, the bird had done all the work of the builder, architect, mason, carpenter. As we were waiting for the road to clear up, i was constantly worried about reaching home, cooking, cleaning, feeding my son, preparing for the next days lessons and so on... we kept watching the birds for another ten minutes and cursing our fate. Again, i remembered Bahinaabai's verses.....

अरे खोप्यामधी खोपा

अरे खोप्यामधी खोपा

सुगरनीचा चांगला

देखा पिलासाठी तिनं

झोका झाडाले टांगला..

Look at the Weaver Bird's nest which is really the best, 

Look... for her baby she has hung a cradle on the tree.

पिलं निजले खोप्यात

जसा झूलता बंगला

तिचा पिलामधि जीव

जीव झाडाले टांगला..!

Baby sleeps in the nest which is like a hanging bungalow,

Her life is in the baby,

And her whole life is hangs on the tree.....( appreciate the pun on the word LIFE)

खोपा इनला इनला

जसा गिलक्याचा कोसा

पाखराची कारागिरी

जरा देख रे मानसा !

Look at the nest which is weaved like dried ridge gourd,

Hey man, just look at the workmanship of the birdie

तिची उलूशीच चोच,

तेच दात, तेच ओठ

तुले देले रे देवानं

दोन हात दहा बोटं ?

She has a little beak,

Which serves her as lips and teeth,

(Be thankful that) God has given you 

Two hands and ten fingers!

- बहीणाबाई चौधरी ( BahiNaa BaI Chaudhari)

I keep reciting the last stanza whenever, i am depressed or worked up. It gives me a lot of strength. Bahinaabai was amazing! Whole day she would work in the farm and she would see the reflection of the whole universe in the black soil. She did not go to a school but she could read the nature and destiny. She did not have a degree in Psychology but she understood the mysteries of the mind. If you can understand Bahinaabai's poetry and live as per them, then you will never have any problems in life.

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p.s. To know more about Bahinabai- Atul Pethe  has made an excellent film on her.