Research Poem by Kanishka SricharanPratap

Elephant has stooled
A wood-apple,
Means
Unwounded shell of
A wood-apple.

A shrewd jackal marked it
From screw-pine jungle.
And gave
This happy news
To his followers.

All barked and barked
In news papers
T.V. channels
And howled: 'Hookke ho... hookke ho'.

Where did grow this wood-apple?
How many days old?
When did the elephant see?
How did he swallow it-
Through his mouth or anus?

How much of juice was in it?
How many days did it take to digest?
How much of energy did it produce?
From that how much was saved
To impregnate a female elephant?
So many new facts
They discovered.

From this
Earned name and fame
Made us fool.

Before it
They howled
For rasgullah.

Rasgullah has not yet stopped,
Now wood-apple is on stage...,
They have turned towards gulgullah!

Be careful
Gentlemen!


Translated from Odia by
Subash Chandra Mohapatra