A radical poem by Pash

Pash was the pen name of Avtar Singh Sandhu (September 9, 1950 – March 23, 1988), an Indian poet. His strongly left-wing views were reflected in his poetry.

He was born in Talwandi Salem, Jalandhar, Punjab, growing up in the midst of Naxalite a revolutionary movement waged in punjab against the landlords, industrialists, traders, etc who control the means of production. He published his first book of revolutionary poems, Loh-Katha (Iron Tale) in 1970; his militant and provocative tone raised the ire of the establishment and a murder charge was hastily brought against him. He spent nearly two years in jail, before being finally acquitted.

On acquittal, he became involved in Punjab’s maoist front, editing a literary magazine, Siarh (The Plow Line). He became a popular political figure on the left during this period, and was awarded a fellowship at the Punjabi Academy of Letters in 1985. He toured the United Kingdom and the United States the following year; while in the U.S., he became involved with the Anti-47 Front, opposing Sikh extremist violence.

The brilliant journey of poetry was cut short in the year 1988 when Paash who was in Punjab for a holiday from the US was shot dead by a group of terrorists.

Bio note courtesy: wikipedia

image courtesy: facebook

Time is not a dog

* Avtar Singh Sandhu ‘Pash’

If not Frontier, read Tribune

If not Calcutta, talk about Dacca

Bring the clippings from

Organiser and Punjab Kesari

And tell me

Where are these eagles  flying?

Who has died?

Time is not any dog

That can be chained and driven wherever you like

You tell us

Mao says this and Mao says that

I ask you, who is Mao to say anything?

Words cannot be pawned away

Time itself can speak

Moments are not speechless.

You sit in the Ramble

Or drink a cup of tea from a side stall

Speak truth or lie –

It doesn’t matter,

You may even jump over the corpse of silence

——-

And O rulers, ask

Your police and tell me

Whether I am imprisoned behind the bars

Or this policeman standing across?

Truth is not a whore of AIR

Time is not any dog.

Translated from Punjabi by Pratyush Chandra.

Poem courtesy: Radical Notes, here