We had well-heeled days
With sprawling village,
Glowing crop field, homestead,
and flock of cattle !
We worked day and night
Made our life accomplish with fruits of toil!
Those were the days of amiable knot with everyone,
Spring was echoed with the sound of ‘Dhol’ and ‘Bihu’!
Summer was fragrance with wet soil and mud of crop field!
Autumn was resonance with ‘Aoi-ni-tom’!
Winter was mirrored with golden Paddy!
Now, we are like a vagrant!
We work in other’s field
We are living on our landowner’s marshy!
“Have you seen that boat on the river?
Our village was there!
Mighty Brahmaputra had carried away
Our home and glee!”
Now, we depend on our land owner’s marshy!
The river Brhamaputra flowing through Assam (a state of India), there are many places in the region where bank erosion takes place along with shifting of river course and people lost their villages, home and livelihood. It is a great tragedy of the region.
When I visited one of the affected areas, a la-di-dah person belongs to Mising tribal community of Majuli River Island, shared this with me. Still, the drops of tears coming out of his eyes disturb me!
Meaning of the specific word used in the poem –
Dhol- a traditional drum (musical instrument), Bihu- it is a festival of the region and folk song sing in the spring season are also known as Bihu or Bihu Nam /Song, Aoi-ni-tom – a traditional folk song of Mising tribal community
