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D. Murali

AS expected, Lalu's Rail Budget speech did a few whistle-stops to bring in some literary flair to an otherwise tiring harangue. First one came soon after the Minister thundered, "we will not remain content" though "financial performance has been praiseworthy" compared to earlier years. "Uthna hai aur bhi upar, hai uchaiana pukartin, Hai apar kshmtayein, aashaein tumhe nihartin," meaning almost that we have to rise further, for the heights are calling, and we have unlimited patience, and hopes longingly stare at you!

If you're longing for the next escape, that comes about 40 paragraphs later where IRMP or Integrated Railway Modernisation Plan is launched, with "the dream of making the Indian Railways as the best railway system in the world". No hype, because Lalu doesn't aim at making mere noises; he wants a change of faces! "Sirf hungama khara karna mera maksad nahin, Meri koshish hai ki ye surat badalni chahiye." Wonder if he liked the face of the Opposition to change.

Paragraph 123 discusses how railways' working expenses have been strained by appropriation towards depreciation, and implementation of Pay Commission recommendations. Yet, Lalu is determined to bring down operating ratio to less than 85 per cent, from the current 90-plus levels "through strict control". He conceded, "Sir, I know that this is a very difficult and challenging task," and lapsed into a couplet: "Jeevan ke har path par mali pushp nahi bikhrata hai, Pragati ka path aksar pathrila hi hota hai". That is, the gardener doesn't scatter flowers on every path of life; the path of progress is often strewn with stones. A variant would be the saying that life is not a bed of roses and so forth.

Minutes later came "historic changes in the goods tariff to make it simple, rational and transparent," condensing "a thick volume of more than five hundred pages containing over 4,000 commodities" into "a few pages only." So, it was time for an optimistic verse: "Pa hi lenge, aakhir manjil rahon ki mohtaz nahin, Saath ho ummidon ka, kal hoga wahi jo aaj nahin." We shall definitely get, at last our goal, unhampered by the roads, in the company of hopes, that what doesn't happen today will happen tomorrow." If today there were no passenger fare hikes or freight increases, is Lalu warning us of what the FM has in store for the morrow?

The last poetical expedition drew from `Apne Khet Mein' written by Nagarjuna: "Jaan lo bhaiya, gharibon ki ek hoti jaat Usi ke hukum se, hilenge ek-ek paat". Know this o brother, there is but one caste of the poor, and only by their order will move each and everything. "Considering the advice given by Nagarjuna Baba, I do not propose to increase any fares in this Budget," said the Minister. With a handle available, I search for Nagarjun and spot a translation of his Hindi poem Bhojpur on www.revolutionarydemocracy.org: "Let me stuff my nostrils with it, With the aroma of gunpowder... Here is the graveyard of non-violence, Graveyard of the parliament here is... "

If that's chilling, there's another work, titled `Patnaik Nagbhusan' speaking of proceedings in the House: "That is all they could do inside their parliament, Within their unholy assembly? Are their tongues ever tired of wagging? Are their propaganda machines ever lagging? Hypocrites they are, deceitful to the core, meaninglessly they bow their heads before Bapu's tomb... "

For softer glimpses, visit www.indowindow.com where you find the translation of four poems of Nagarjun, viz. Famine and after, Harvest, After So Long, and Pink Bangles. The first `Akal aur uske bad' describes the plight: "For days and days lizards paced on the wall/ For days and days rats too were miserable." After grains came, "The eyes of the household shone after many a day/ The crow scratched its feathers after many a day." Interestingly, Wikipedia too has a reference to the poet as "the only poet, after Tulasidas, to have an audience ranging from the rural sections of society to the elite".

Mindful perhaps of Lorna Dee Cervantes's thought that poems are "songs for people with bad voices," Budget presenters normally don't launch into singing. But they can take a tip from Lilian Moore that poetry should be like fireworks - "packed carefully and artfully, ready to explode with unpredictable effects."

SayCheek@TheHindu.co.in

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