The Girls Who Read Poems (For Shalini) Poem by shirish kumar mourya

They are everywhere though very few
making a place for themselves
among millions of girls of this vast country
they are everywhere
despite abiding by the strict familial instructions
that expect them to reach college
and then come straight back home
In spite of the extremely charismatic Indian cinema
and the readily available and endlessly colorful world of cable TV
that has intruded into each and every home
I wonder why they read
our poems published in a colorless magazines
that are full of very rugged experiences of life
why do they squander away twenty-five rupees
for the sake of a few hindi poems
the money that can be used to buy
a Grihashobha
a Meri Saheli
a Vanita
stitching embroidery and beauty editions
or a shining English magazine like Femina

A girl like this talked to me over the phone yesterday
her voice coming from
a distant feudal town in the eastern region
had a bizarrely firm confidence
and a bit of regular naivete too
She wouldn’t stop providing feedback
about my poem published over a month ago
which was about love

I was almost amazed by her selfless voice
She was sweet and pure
like a hilly brook cloaked in a baanj jungle
I wanted to ask her
the same question:
why, leaving so many worldly things full of fun,
do you read poems
but I kept listening to her for a great while without speaking a word
there was a resonance in her voice
which is there in the voice of every girl
who on her way back home from college
despite clear instructions to come straight back home
stops midway for a while to relish golgappas
and also to buy that magazine
which has some poem
by some young poet like me

They read it sitting in the quietude of home
assuaging and putting to rest somehow
the world that weeps within
concealing their dreams
their griefs
their agonies
and their plans
that can never materialise
They read the poems
along with the household chores
and the required college studies
they read the poems by finding time somehow

When I finally asked this question to her while winding up the conversation
in came the ruthless riposte:
You tell me first,
why do you write poems?
If any reader has been able to comprehend this
then can it be explained to me please?
Why do these girls
running away from the captivating splendour of the outside world
every time
read poems
in the pitch darkness of the inside
dimly lit by love left over
someplace

(SHIRISH KUMAR MOURYA TRANSLATED FROM HINDI BY BHARATBHOOSHAN TIWARI)