Ajaib Chitarkar

Ajaib Chitarkar (b. 1924), is a poet as well as an artist. His poems and ghazals have a distinct flavour of the good old times when it was considered honourable to earn bread by the sweat of one's brow. He has been in the forefront of the Progressive Movement in literature. He received kudos for translating Tagore's Geetanjali into Punjabi in 1960. He has eight collections of poems and ghazals namely Dumel, Bhulekhe, Suraj Mukhia, Sajri Pair, Awaazan de Rang, Zakhmi Khyal da Chehra, Naghme da Libaas andSach da Suraj, to his credit.

A Curse

Friends, what can I say about my heart ?
It's in fact a junk store
It has stored in itself
A lot of junk and all that.

There in a corner lies wooden walker
Its colour has faded and
A lot of dust covers it
With the help of it my childhood
Learnt to take first steps.

Placed on the one side is a statue
Exactly like the charming figurine
That's seen always in the moon
spinning yarn on the wheel.

There lie neglected and unsheathed
Swords rusted and blunt
These were used fiercely in the field
With the traditional 'Chauhan'
To win over the 'Sanjaukta' of my imagination.

This is the same armour
Donning which the unbridled emotions
Astride on the steed of youth
Burst out like the raging storm
To hold aloft the banner of victory
Like Alexander.

This moth-eaten manuscript
Depicts the tale of a lusty resolve
That led Inder to the bed of Ahalia
Under the cover of a dark night.

In a corner lies the pickaxe
That 1 held like the Farhad of today
Prompted by my madness
To win over the love of Shireen
By cutting the mountain of troubles
For ushering in the stream of milk.

These are the dwellings of my dreams
Crumbled into the heaps of debris
Which had been evolved by the desires
On the bank of the sea of longings.

There lie in seven colours
The very garments in different shapes
That my innocent yearnings
Exhibited on their frames.

There lies the cross of Christ
Nearby is placed Mansur's gallows
The world has martyred me
Many times on these structures.

Friends, what can I say about my heart ?
It has preserved many things
Verily it is a junk store.

I have ever been
under a curse
To carry along all through my life
This crazy junk dealer
with his junk store.                                                 Sarap (1980)