Rain! Rain! Come again -5

Farmers’ agonies and ecstasy: sixtytwo years passed since Independence but there seems no end to farmers’ miseries

White cloud takes
charming colours –
Does not rain.

(written: 1999-2000)
(White clouds are like promises by the politicians.)

The educated elite may believe the farmers work only for four months and idle away rest of the year. Even the experts like Amartya Sen may not be an exception. Then what about the government and the bureaucrats, market and the industrial society of the First World?

More than Nature and natural calamities, it is the governments and bureaucracy, market and industrial society, by their lopsided priorities of development and progress, inflict harm on them; they are the real cause for their agonies.

There is much to learn for the governments, policymakers and the experts from the farmers: See "Watering the farms: Learning fro the people".

Remigius de Souza
August 15, 2009

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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Rain! Rain! Come again - 4

Monsoon showers
Rejuvenate the flames
Of forest ever —
Streams deep enter
Suckle suckling
Mother goddess.

(written: 1999-2000)

Sculptors, who make Ganesha and Durga idols during the festivities, year after year, knowing these idols will be immersed after the festivities; they work with devotion. Farmers too work on their piece of land with devotion. Thus their work attains the status of “vocation” – work with the element of contemplation – Spirituality.

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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Rain! Rain! Come again -3

Sowing seeds
Missed showers
Waning moon
Trickle of stream
Hanging hopes
On a moving cloud.

(written:1999-2009)

Farmers are not only artists, they are planners too, unlike city planners who flatten the land, or lakes, with bulldozers and divide it into to plan cities. Farmers’ planning uses contours of land (to manage water).

Farmers are also management experts. They manage land, water, seeds, weeds, fodder, tools, storage, logistics, and other ancillary crops and animal husbandry.

And the last but not the least, the ongoing maintenance of all the aspects in farming as a policy, which involves scrutiny, corrections, improvisations, repairs and strategies, within their available means.

Farmers may be illiterate but they are not uneducated as some elite believe.


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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Rain! Rain! Come again - 2

Cloud dark and heavy
Pours showers —
Resurgence.

(Written: 1999-2009)

Farmers’ art is in the domain of reality unlike painting, photography, words etc that create “virtual reality”. Farmers work on a canvas of a piece of land – small or big – with colours (!) of Elements from Nature: Prithvi, Apa, Tej, Vayu and Aakash (Earth, Water, Energy (Heat and Light), Air and Space); though consciously but never verbose about it.

Farmers are conversant with every nook and corner of their farms, and health of their plants.

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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Rain! Rain! Come again -1

Rain! Rain! Come again -1: Farmers' agony and ecstasy

Cloud is full
Dark and heavy
Drifting on —
Condemned land.

(Written: 1999-2000)

Very few may believe that farmers are artists; many don't even know.
Among all occupations, professions and vocations, farmers' vocation works at very high risks.
Their living is caught up in the cycles of agony and ecstasy throughout their life.

Remigius de Souza

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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

With monsoon comes

With monsoon comes

With monsoon comes a peacock’s call.
With first showers comes the fragrance of earth.
With first showers comes hope and longing
for home which is far away in distant hills
where westerly cool soft as peacock’s feather
touch breeze that brings comfort.
It’s time for resurrection.



Mumbai [01-06-2000]

~~~~~~~~
© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Orphans of the Earth

No one saw where the rain comes from.
Hidden are the springs of the earth.
No one said of the longings.
No one remembered the dreams.
The orphans of the earth
Deprived of the warmth of her womb
Are seeking refuge in the darkness.

- - - -
[1960–70] Baroda (Now Vadodara)


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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

Water, water, water everywhere –
on paper, silver screen and computer –
but not even a drop to nurture.
In the desert sand dunes where
a soul sustains on moisture in air,
but a mind here chases mirages everywhere.
In the twilight zone of the poles
where dolphins go merry making,
its cosy igloo waiting for sunrise.
In my Sahyadri’s jungle, vanishing
now under your rule, it pours and runs,
blesses everyone on its way.
In your urban jungle it’s imprisoned
in conventions, released by taps
and packages that I can’t afford.
I never knew how it manipulates
me, my culture and my relation
with everything, in sublime silence,
from grasses lowly to gods – to air,
never knowing love is yet another
name of water that contains fire.


Mumbai [27-02-2003]


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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Rejoice! Its monsoon

Rejoice! Its monsoon

Rejoice! It’s monsoon now.
The dormant seeds germinate now
Through scorched earth
After a long wait.
It’s perhaps auspicious now
To sow and care some seeds
That comes from our kitchen waste
To allow them to regenerate
In a pinch of soil
In tumbler on a window sill
To be instrumental awhile
To clean some air polluted
Than by much talk-talk-talk,
To come out awhile
Of the world of virtual reality,
To join the invisible community
In the pinch of living soil awhile
To have some first hand contact
Consciously awhile
© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

No one saw where the rain comes from

No one saw where the rain comes from
Hidden are the springs of the earth
No one said of the longings
No one remembered the dreams
The orphans of the earth
Deprived of the warmth of her womb
Are seeking refuge in the darkness
- - - -



© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

मिरग येतो (मराठी कविता)

टीप : "मिराग" (कोंकणी शब्द ) = मृग नक्षत्र

© Remigius de Souza, All rights रेसेर्वेस.