Jacinta Kerketta
By
Yashovardhan Sinha
Jacinta Kerketta is a Ranchi girl. I discovered her only recently when my friend Sachidanand Singh shared a poem of hers. Discovered her as in discovered her poetry!
Besides being a poet, Jacinta is a freelance journalist and belongs to the Oraon tribe of West Singhbhum district. She writes in Hindi.
In her poems, she highlights the exploitation faced by the Adivasis and their recent struggles to defend their rights.
She grew up watching her drunk father being violent with her mother and non-tribals being violent with her relatives in a bid to grab land in the name of development. The ugliness of her childhood, which could very well have scarred her for life, fortunately for us unlocked a rebel poet. But her poetry is not all fire and brimstone because it is soaked in the beauty and fragrance of the sal forests of Jharkhand.
Jacinta is a proud representative of the young, educated and sensitive Adivasi youth who are willing to take head-on the challenges of current times. Till recently, the Adivasi was not represented in literature, cinema and art (even its famous Chau dance has not got the attention it deserves).
But writers like Jacinta and Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar who writes in English are already changing this. Jacinta is making waves and her works have been translated into English, German, Italian and French.
The other day I read a book of her poetry called Angor. Its a bilingual book in the sense that each poem is followed by its English translation (translator – Bhumika Chawla d’Souza). The language of Jacinta is beautiful.
Sample this lyrical imagery-
वो लकड़ी ढोकर उतरती है पहाड़ से।
उसके पीछे धीरे धीरे सूरज भी उतरता है
दोनो को उतरते देखती है चुपचाप पहाड़ी नदी
और उसकी साँसों में शाम उतर आती है।
पहाड़ से उतर नई नीचे झुक कर पहाड़ी नदी में।
वो मारती है पानी की छींटे चेहरे पर।
और सूरज भी पौंछता है पसीना
नदी के आँचल से
See how she protests against indiscriminate mining in the Saranda forests
नींद में डूबी बेखबर
फूलों की ख़ुशबू
उठती है तिलमिला कर
जब नथुने भरने लगते हैं
मशीनों की गंध से
और फटने लगते हैं कान
विस्फोटों से
And her cry for her exploited sisters
ओ जमुनी! देखो
तुम्हारा दर्द हर दिन अब
सजा रहा ख़बरों का बाज़ार
देस से लेकर देशों तक
तुम्हारे दर्द कैसे बिक रहे!
पति से तुम्हारे पिटने की
पड़ोसी के तुमपर दुष्कर्म की
प्रेमी से मिले अनचाहे गर्भ की
होने वाली तुम्हारी हत्या की
शोषण और उत्पीड़न की
चटपटी मसालेदार बनाकर ख़बर
तुम्हारे दर्द का हो रहा व्यापार
तुम रेडियो टीवी इंटरनेट पर
हर दिन की ख़बरों में
देखती हो पढ़ती हो सुनती हो
टकटकी लगाए घर पर मौन
सोचती हो इन सबके बीच
तुम हो गई कहीं गौण
दर्द हो ख़बर हो या हो इंसान
जमुनी – तुम आख़िर हो कौन?
While arguments between development and conservation will never cease, it is heartening to see young Adivasi writers like Jacima Kerketta finding their place under the sun and narrating the story of their people in their own words.
