The Bridge On The Ocean

                             The Bridge On The Ocean

The chess board is

Slowly folded back

By a restless Mandodari and

In Ashok Vaatika,

Like the drooping branch of Ashok

Still sits the sorrowful Bhumisuta.

The war,

Can breakout,

Any moment, but

On the shores of emotion, alone,

Stands Arjun,

Overcame by indecision.

The soldiers stand face to face, and

The warriors are ready to sacrifice

Ram is looking at the ways to

Build bridge on the ocean, and

While Krishna is bridging the gap

With his words,

Sits a sobbing Subhadra

In the solitude of the camp.

The bridge is in process and

Soldiers are screaming with excitement

Bheem and Sugreev are not able

To control their frenzy

The very thought of victory

Makes Vibheeshan shiver and

Dharmaraj is preparing himself

To utter an untruth.

Recollecting the struggles of life,

Krishna, the Poorna Purush, is writing

His role for the history,

And in the oceanic waves

Purushottam Ram is trying to find

Meaning of Maryada

Tired of himself

Waits Bheeshma

To return to the laps of Ganga,

Vaidehi, tired of the tests is

Counting the days to

Return to the earth’s bosom.

Madhav has returned from Hastinapur

And is all alone in Dwarika

Raghunath has returned from Lanka

And is all alone in Ayodhya

In this lonesomeness the victory

Nowhere is the rice of Sudama

Nor Shabri’s berries, and

Neither is the dinghy of Kevat

An endless stillness

Hovers over Kurukshetra and

In Rameshvaram lays

A deserted bridge,           

And trapped in memory of Ram

An old squirrel

Thinks, again and again

For whom the war was fought

For whom the bridge was built

Who has won

And to what end.

Explanatory Notes

·         Mandodari- wife of demon king Raavan, credited with invention of Chess,

·         Ashok Vaatika- orchard of Ashok trees where Sita was kept after her abduction by Raavan,

·         Bhumisuta- daughter of the earth, Sita,

·         Arjun- one of the five paandav brothers, archer par excellence,  was unwilling to go to war with blood relatives, Krishna recited Gita to him in the battlefield and motivated to fight the holy war

·         Subhadra- Arjun’s younger sister, her son Abhimanyu was deceitfully killed in the war

·         Bheem- one of the Paandav brothers known for quick temper

·         Sugreev- hot tempered monkey king in Ramayan, ally of Ram

·         Vibheeshan- younger brother of Raavan, sided with Ram, became king after the war

·         Dharmraj- eldest of the Paandav brothers, credited with always speaking truth, lied only once during the war and lost his miraculous powers

·         Poorna Purush- Krishna is supposed to be the perfect man representing all traits of human character

·         Maryada Purushottam- Ram is always fastidious and judicious, would never compromise with principles come what may. Maryada – limit never to be crossed, purushottam: uttam- ideal, purush- man

·         Bheeshma- grandfather of Pandavs and Kauravs in Mahabharat, son of river Ganga, fails to prevent the fratricide

·         Vaidehi- another name of Sita, daughter of king Videh- one who has got control over physical and material desires. Deh- body, Videh- above the body

·         Madhav- another name for Krishna

·         Hastinapur- capital of Pandavs, Dwarka- capital of Krishna’s kingdom

·         Raghunath- Ram, descendant of king Raghu, Ayodhya- his capital

·         Sudama- a poor childhood friend of Krishna, brought him a sac of rice as a gift

·         Shabri- tribal women offered jungle berries to Ram in his days of exile

·         Kevat-  a boatman offered a boat ride to Ram believing in his other worldly powers

·         Kurukshetra- where mahabharat was fought

·         Rameshwaram- where Ram built a bridge to cross the ocean for reaching Lanka

·         Squirrel- helped Ram by bringing wet sand on her tail for building the bridge

           

A Poem in Hindi by Lalit Surjan

Translation by Vani Xaxa

 ===============================================================