Jaldi aayo, here come, come sharp,
What is this lafada?
Half-English, half-Hindustani,
Khichadi, hodgepodge,
Indian pidgin-English,
Written English,
Astrologer's English,
Indian thug's English,
Fortune-teller's English.
Murkhamantri's English
And he going to the biz school
On a bullock-cart
To deliver a lecture
Meant for management guys.
O milkman, why do you mix
So much paani
And that too roadside pond-water
Into your milk-can to sell? ,
Asked the foreigner
And the Indian milkmen wrestled with
As for doodh in paan, paani ind doodh,
Where to get even half pure milk for the baby?
A rural boy unable to write
A few sentences in English,
Unable to speak
Now a teacher of English
Mumbling and fumbling in
Phonetics and linguistics class
Tries to speak muttering all that
And that too after putting a paan into the mouth
And rubbing and chewing khaini, tobacco.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem