Otherwise Why Should You Be Human

A group of mud-smeared dark boys Their loin-clothes raised above their knees Excitedly catching fish, as they plunge into the water Beside the ankle-high ridge in the middle of the pool. Over on the other side Their loin-cloth pouches fill with little jiyal Their hollow hampers full already Draining away water from one side of the pool Into the other half So they can grab the fish with bare hands. Before the rains The earth dry and parched The naked backs of the boys burning in the sun Like the outside of earthen pots darkened In the smoke of burning sawdust While they desperately pat themselves on the back With wet mud to bring down the summer heat Trying hard -- And later Would come the inevitable rolling in the soft slime For this was not the time to use the usual Net-baskets of bamboo. It's time now Simply to run over the lowly varieties of fish And seize them And gulp the fish down, fried. Even if no cooking oil is there. And if one is lucky to catch any shol Then, to roast this fish and take these with a bowl of watered rice- Enough if there is a little salt to go with it. In the first rains As mudskippers wriggle up with whirring noises And streams rush down from high hillocks To fill the pools, now clear and pellucid- Delighted, the small fish rise Erect with their barbed bodies Becoming difficult to get a hold on them. And bristles? Yes, there are. As there are ways and ways Or else life can't go on. It is the same everywhere in the world It has to be caught the right way. Otherwise it slips through your hands And isn't there your loss or gain in this? But, let things be as they are. In the eyes of that man behind One has to reach out for some such example Of success, struggle or fear- Otherwise why should you be human? You could have been a shy mimosa creeper! [Translated by Jayanta Mahapatra]