The Rain – Barish Poem by kumar mukul

The tini droplets in the beginning
started growing in size…
the cow grazing in the nearby glowed
raised its head…
and ieumessed in grazing again
the calf tried to
fight with rainwith its head defeated
it reached its mother

A dog …
straightened its tail
and started swinging helter and kelter
like the rain drops
that are drenchings its body

The rain drops are falling…
first the cow’s back is drenched
and the water that hit the body
flows down
in streams
and there are topographics of places
the streams grow …
and unite
and under the cow
a little place is left dry…

Later even that get wets slowly…
The drops fall un interrupted
Now the cow has to
move and stretch its body
and brush off the water on the head
but the chewing never stops.

The rain drops continue…

The neuly developing phase of the city
is empty …
a building is under construction
the work stops if the rain heats harder
so the work is going on fast
in the rains
the workers are running with boras
on their head
the thikedar is covering the casting
and down on the road
the woner sitting in her maruti
is gazing tensaly

he lowers the windowglasses
and shout at them
occassionaly …
the workers move faster
but the heavy downpours makes him
close his window…
and the rain …with the sweat of the workers
runs down in …

the rain continues
and the cement starts flowing
the polythin is not suffecient
and the head stops the work
the workers look at the raining sky
they fear that the rain will not stop
the work in the noon

the raindrops continue

far away in another incomplite building
in the windows without frame
sit the women of that house
looks as though they’ve complite cooking
refreshed and came up
the lady is wearing pink maक ् ष ् i
and another a pink sari
they do the hair
close by.

suddenly one gets up and
runs towards the steps
somebody must hungry

the rain continues

As if the whole scene
is bound by the arrows
the seen is freezed
only the ants are running
they are changing their places
they go in a line
the queen ant is in the middle
fatter than one behind it
the ants with little wings
have lifted the eggs
if any insect obstructs their way
the line breaks.
they take it abug with them
and continue
the same line from this end
to that end and
from their places to…

Translated from Hindi by ARUNA – co editor in Star features, Hyderabad