Wind

by Subramania Bharati translated by A K Ramanujam

Intro:

• what is weakness?
• is weakness admirable or lovable ?
• what are the disadvantages of being weak?

Meanings:

• shutters - jhanjhorna
• scatter - pat pataana
• anaaj - rice grains
• kachere - dust
• winnow - technique to separate anaaj and kachare
• pawan dev - god of wind
• poking - chedna
• frail - kamjor
• crumble - tukde tukde
• raftor - रबाद

Poem:

Wind, come softly. Don’t break the shutters of the windows. Don’t scatter the papers. Don’t throw down the books on the shelf. There, look what you did — you threw them all down. You tore the pages of the books. You brought rain again. You’re very clever at poking fun at weaklings. Frail crumbling houses, crumbling doors, crumbling rafters, crumbling wood, crumbling bodies, crumbling lives, crumbling hearts — the wind god winnows and crushes them all. He won’t do what you tell him. So, come, let’s build strong homes, Let’s joint the doors firmly. Practise to firm the body. Make the heart steadfast. Do this, and the wind will be friends with us. The wind blows out weak fires. He makes strong fires roar and flourish. His friendship is good. We praise him every day

Summary:

The poem uses the wind as a metaphor to convey deeper messages about strength and resilience.

The first part of the poem describes the action of the wind. The poet asks the wind to come softly. He requests the wind not to break the shutters of the windows, not to scatter the papers and throw down the books from the shelf.

But the wind throws the books and tears the pages. The poet says that the wind makes a mockery of weaklings. It brings down frail houses, crumbling doors, rafters, and even weak hearts. It crushes everything that is weak.

The poet advises us to be strong. Only then can we save ourselves from the wind. We should build strong homes with firm doors. Our bodies and hearts should also be strong.

It is the way of the world to kick the weak and to be friends with the strong. The wind blows out the weak fires but makes the strong fires roar and flourish.

Thus, the poem conveys the idea that nobody cares for the weak. Even the wind is on the side of the strong people. We must make ourselves strong to become successful and overcome the challenges in life.