Hear it from the Myna !

My young friend Adityavardhan Paranjape of Pune, has a special knack of photographing birds. He lives in a very traditional part of Pune City, Narayan Peth, and has been checking out this myna who , according to him, maintains a residence on the electric pole outside his house.

Though the myna probably does not need electricity for her day to day living, I can see, why she is stridently shouting about something. Some folks tell it like it is ......


किती सांगू मी तुम्हाला ,
आयुष्य किती खडतर असतं;
धड उभा राहायला सपाट जागा नाही ,
एकामेकाला गुंडाळून ठेवतात सगळे ,
ह्या वायर सारखे ;

हा दिवे चालू ठेवतो,
तो टीव्ही चालू ठेवतो ;
ती इस्त्री बंदच करत नाही ,
आणि रिकाम्या खोलीला पंखा
वारा घालतच राहतो .
ओरडून ओरडून सांगत्ये केव्हाची :
विजेचा वापर कमी करा ,
पण
आज काल
नारायण पेठेतल्या
तारेवर बसलेल्या म्हातारीला
विचारतोय कोण ?

Need I
go on and on
about how difficult
living has become ?

No place,
flat enough
to stand,
everyone running
circles
around everyone else,
like these
wires
wrapped around the cables.

Some keep the lights burning,
some TV's are never Off....
She insists on
keeping the heat
permanently on the iron,
and the fan,
helplessly whirls
in an empty room.

I've been shouting
from my
electric perch,
save electricity,
reduce consumption;
but who listens
to an old birdwoman
sitting
on an electric wire
in Narayan Peth ?