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Nice Poetry Site--Kabir+
Nice Poetry site,
Seeds of Change
article from Indian
Web site
Date: 1/3/2007 7:55:29 PM ( 17 y ) ... viewed 2098 times 5:54 PM
January 3, 07
Kabir Love Songs - 9
Ankhiyan To Chhayee Pari,
Panth Nihari Nihari
Jihadiyan Chhaala Parya,
Naam Pukari Pukari
Birha Kamandal Kar Liye,
Bairagi Do Nain
Mange Daras Madhukari,
Chhake Rahe Din Rain
Sub Rung Tanti Rabaab Tan,
Birha Bajave Nit
Aur Na Koyee Sun Sake,
Kea Sayeen Ke Chit AMiKyaaM tao Ca[- prI
pMqa inahair inahair
jaIhiD,yaaM Calaa pryaa
naama pukair pukair
ibarh kmanDla kr ilayao
baOragaI dao naOna
maaMgao drsa maQaukrI
CkO rhO idna rOna
saba rMga taMit rbaaba tna
ibarh bajaavaO inat
AaOr na kao[ sauina sakO
kO saaM[- ko icat
Translation
My eyes have developed black spots
Watching the path whence you may come
Blistered has become my tongue
chanting away your name
Separation pangs fill my begging bowl
Void is all in the two eyes
Anxious for only a glimpse delight
Waiting patiently day and night
All colors mitigate and moan
Discontent is the painful song
None else can hear this cry
Unless you, my Love, will
My Understanding
Once again, in this love song, Kabir projects the pangs of separation from one's beloved. This great emotional turmoil is perhaps what makes us humans. One's ability to relate oneself with the other is what perhaps union is all about. Whether it is the egoistic "I" or whether it is the rationalized self, one simply needs a mirror in which to reflect and "see" oneself. Can "I" exist in isolation? Perhaps not!
http://www.boloji.com/kabir/index.htm
I like the looks of this site, and the opportunity
for poets to submit.
I was thinking that Rachel's Christmas Tree
Story would be great here next year.
They have a wonderful site just for Kids.
Also here is a great article I wanted to save
on a theme that interests me very much...
SEEDS OF CHANGE
The Seeds of Change
by Ruchika Negi
November 6, 2005
"Jote Boye Jo Zameen
Beej Usi ke Rahe Adheen
Evam Mitti Paani Beej Aur Pedh
Band Karo Tum Unse Chhedh"
(He who tills and cultivates the land
The seeds belong to him alone
The earth, water, seeds and trees
Stop messing with these resources)
This slogan of the Beej Bachao Andolan (BBA; Save the Seeds Movement), which originated in the Heval valley of Tehri Garhwal, spread like fire among the farming communities of Uttaranchal in the late 1980s.
The early 1970s had seen prominent Sarvodaya thinkers and environmentalists - Sunder Lal Bahuguna, Pratap Shikhar, Dhum Singh Negi, Kunwar Prasoon and
Vijay Jaddhari, among others - start a movement against the ruthless felling of trees by timber merchants and contractors in the Heval valley. This movement - now known in history as the Chipko Movement - saw men, women and children uniting against these outside forces. It was in the spirit and momentum of Chipko that the BBA emerged.
Once again, the people are united against the inorganic chemical farming practices that the government and scientific farming institutes were propagating strongly. There had been a move away from sustainable, traditional cultivation practices. Vijay Jaddhari, a stalwart of this movement, says, "After Chipko, farmers realized that they should fight for their farming rights as well. Why should they have to buy seeds, manure and fertilizers, when for ages they have been using their traditional knowledge to tend and preserve their seeds, land, water and forests?"
"We had many traditional varieties of rice and wheat in our hills earlier. Rikhwa, Ghyasu, Chawaria, Jiri are all old rice varieties that are easy to grow, suit our farming and animal rearing techniques, and are delicious. But now the new variety of dwarfed rice has taken over. Instead of growing the traditional crops, like jhingura and mandua, people have started growing soyabean and tomatoes," says Jaddhari. Growing cash crops kills the sustainable mountain farming that has been practiced in the region for generations. "These crops are only good for the market," he says. He explains that agriculture institutes encourage the heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. In the long run, this ruins soil quality and fertility.
However, for the BBA, it was a difficult journey. Inorganic fertilizers initially produced high crop yields, which seemed almost like a windfall to many farmers. The cultivation of cash crops also seemed economically lucrative. In these times, with the men looking to the 'markets', it was in the women that the BBA found its staunchest supporters.
Says Kamla Devi, a woman farmer from Nagini village, "In our hills, traditionally, men only set the plough and till the land. These roles are physically too strenuous for a woman, I guess. Most of our men have migrated to the cities to seek employment in any case. So, in that sense, farming is a woman's domain. But the use of new techniques threatens to take way the woman's prerogative. Our mobility is limited; we cannot go to towns and cities to buy seeds and fertilizers. Nor do we know the economic aspect of such farming. Our role in traditional farming is usurped by these new methods; it alienates us from our land and our livelihood."
BBA collaborated with women's Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the villages to set up seed banks of traditional crop varieties in order to preserve them from extinction. Kunwar Prasoon, one of the chief proponents of the movement, reflects, "The cash crops, fertilizers, chemical manure - the use of all these are based on the paradigm of 'bikao kheti' (farming for monetary benefit alone), whereas our own farming practices encourage 'tikao kheti' (sustainable farming). Women in the hills work in close unison with their natural resources. They fetch fodder from the forests, get water from the natural sources, work on farms etc. They tend nature like their own child. The men, on the other hand, are more mercenary in their approach. They want immediate gains; women are more foresighted in that sense."
In the Chipko movement as well, it was the women who hugged trees and faced the axes of the contractors. In BBA, it was the women who nursed the saplings, distributed them among other women members and fought with their men to preserve older techniques.
In order to encourage the time-honored farming practices - such as dryland mixed cropping systems (Barahnaja or twelve grain system) - against the newer monoculture techniques and to preserve dying traditional crop varieties, BBA members undertook a padyatra (a march). They travelled the length and breadth of Uttaranchal - from Askot in Uttarkashi (Garhwal) to Aarakot near the Pithoragarh border (in Kumaon).
Dulari Devi, a woman farmer from Koti village, says, "It is wrong to say that our traditional crops are economically unviable. Pulses like Gahad, Pahadi Rajma etc are sold at Rs 40 a kilo. The traditional rice varieties grown in Nagini, Uttarkashi and Jaunsar belt are very much in demand. What people do not understand is that our land, our seeds, our food are an integral part of our heritage - all these constitute our pahari (literally, of the mountains) identity. Why should we give up who we are, and try to become someone else? I do not wish to become a stranger to my own self, to my own culture and people."
With the support of the farmers, especially the women, the BBA has been able to preserve around 305 indigenous varieties of rice, and 170 species of other traditional crops and pulses, like the pahari rajma, mandua and jhingura. Now, they are trying to distribute them locally.
Meanwhile, BBA continues to enthuse and inspire many similar people's movements elsewhere in the world. Thoughtfully summing up the spirit and philosophy of Beej Bachao, woman farmer Chunchura Devi, says, "In our hills, there is a saying that a farmer may beg for food or shelter but he will never ever beg for seeds. So why should we cripple ourselves and depend on others now?"
By arrangement with Women's Feature Service
Top | Environment
The Week of November 6, 2005
Clearance Sale: Politicians Going Cheap! by Rajinder Puri
Indian Governments Soft-Kneed Counter-Terrorism Approaches by Dr. Subhash Kapila
Varga Chakras (Kundalis) in Jyotish Classics? by Rohiniranjan
Chanchala Lakshmi: The Restless One! by Aparna Chatterjee
The Map is NOT the Territory by Vikram Karve
Greed Makes for Strange Trading Bedfellows by Michael Levy
How much should we correct children’s poor behavior? by Michael Grose
Africa: Buy a Girl for 3 Cows by Caroline Somanje
Canada: Leaving Out the Shariah by Naunidhi Kaur
Living in the Shadow of Violence by Linda Chhakchhuak
'Food Passports" for Migrants by Aparna Pallavi
The Seeds of Change by Ruchika Negi
Master Mahashai by Kumud Biswas
Vande Mataram! by Anamika Banerjee
Oriya Press: Then and Now by Alipta Jena
Universal Phonetic Roman scr1pt by Swachid K. Rangan
Therapeutic uses of Honey in Ayurveda by Dr. Krishna R.S.
In Our Own Hands by Stephanie Hiller
Trouble with Purity Pill by Aparna Pallavi
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