Last year, when I was deputed at the Shrawani Mela in Deoghar, I kept thinking of Manish Mundra. Founder of Drishyam Films, which has made much-acclaimed and festival-trotting films such as Rajat Kapoor’s Ankhon Dekhi , Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan , Prashant Nair’s Umrika , Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dhanak , Anu Menon’s Waiting , and Amit Masurkar’s Newton, Mundra was raised in Deoghar in Jharkhand (then Bihar). Deoghar is famous for the Baidyanath Dham Shiva temple where, every year, in the rainy month of Shrawan, devotees come from all over to pour Ganga jal on the shivalinga.
I had no idea that Mundra grew up in Deoghar and lived there till adulthood till I read a recent profile about his meteoric rise in the indie film scene. The piece spoke of how despite having produced films like Masaan , a prize-winner at Cannes, Mundra remains — or chooses to remain — a “quintessential outsider” in “Mumbai’s hyper-connected film world”. It noted how his childhood and adolescence in Deoghar were full of struggle and how he kept his love for cinema alive despite that.
Mundra paints and writes poetry. His artistic and creative outputs can be seen on his Facebook page. He is a down-to-earth man who interacts with his friends. His paintings are beautiful, but it was his poetry I was drawn to.
Struggle, fighting against odds, this seems to be the central theme in Mundra’s poems. Is it because of the difficult life he had in Deoghar? I can’t say. But it is heartening to see how he starts with a relatively bleak picture and moves on to an encouraging denouement, exhorting his readers to feel positive and keep walking.
Mundra writes in Hindi. Here I have translated four of his poems. It wasn’t easy, especially ‘We Are Made Of The Elements’, because of the depth of thought and because I was afraid I wouldn’t find the appropriate words in English. I am sure I have lost something in translation, but I am happy that I tried.
Alive ( Zinda)
Death gives sadness...
This is one rude reality.
No one generally talks of Death,
All talks focus on Life.
Many people fail to live their entire
lives
But,
You, I, all of us
Cannot escape Death,
One day, Death will come for each
of us.
Ask someone who has seen a loved
one die,
Who has seen the loved one exhale
the last,
How all dreams die,
Along with that loved one, never to return.
Those nights smeared with loneliness,
Their fading calls from a silent distance.
Everything is lost, nothing remains.
Only the painful realisation that one won’t return.
Ask someone who has seen a loved one die.
To live another day without you,
Nights spent in tears and memories.
How will things be okay?
How do I will those days to return?
You were here just a while ago...
Right by my side, your fingers touching mine...
You’re gone just the next moment,
Leaving us behind,
Far, so far away...
I have something to tell you...
Whenever I shut my eyes,
You are there.
I see you right before me,
The glow around you blinds me,
I find you again by my side.
But when I try to let you not go,
My eyes open, and
I am left with a few drops of tears.
This has been happening every day,
Since the day you left...
Yet, you are here with me
In my life.
I am alive,
I wonder why.
Is that to keep you alive in my memories?
Is that to let you never die?
The Life Lesson
(Jeevan Ka Nichod)
The life lesson
I’ve learnt so far
Is just this...
Life means to keep on walking
If you get somewhere, it’s good
If not, that’s fine too
You don’t have to stop
The journey matters, not the destination
Walk fearlessly, breaking all barriers
Cocking a snook at fingers pointed at you
Don’t be bothered by changing seasons and people
Nor by the many words thrown at you
If you walk, many will walk with you
If you rise, many will rise with you
If you change for the better, so will many others
And so will your circumstances
You will have new experiences
Take those along with you
There’ll be new principles to guide you
Give those a place within you
Be strong
Your happiness, your sorrows
Carry those with your dreams and walk
Light the flame of courage in your heart
And walk...
You must walk.
So What If My Heart Is Broken Today
(Dhwast Hai Aaj Mann Toh Kya)
So what if my heart is broken today...
So what if my feet are tired...
So what if clouds of my dreams have dispersed...
So what if there is a sea of sadness in my eyes...
I might be tired, defeated too, perhaps...
But there still is life within me...
I know I am breathing...
And my body is raring to go...
Hope will be built anew...
There will be a new beginning...
My gait will be determined and strong...
As I walk ahead to rebuild the world of my dreams...
Invoke. I invoke my struggle again...
We Are Made of the Elements
(Main Dharaa Se Hoon)
I am from the Earth,
A part of this earth,
I stand for my soil...
For myself, for you... for us all.
Taking the steadfastness of our values.
The entire Sky resides within me
And also within you...
With its unending expanse
Its vast and unfathomable freedom,
Where the Nothing and the Minute are one.
As full of life as the Wind
As independent
My dreams take flight
Just like yours,
Thoughts born in our mind, unleashed
Like flying pennants of victory.
I am the Fire
There is heat in my heart, and yours
The heat within me, born of a tenacity...
There within you, is the same heat.
Both of us are lit,
With precious flames...
The seven colours radiating from us.
I am as still as the Water, you too
A huge, invisible force
Runs through our thoughts.
As deep as an ocean...
Your spirit and mine, invincible, infinite.
You and I
Are made of these Elements
We have been gifted with limitless powers...
So why do we limit ourselves?
We are the Universe
Massive, expansive.
Come, let us realise our power.
The author is a suspended medical officer of the Jharkhand government. He won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in 2015 and both his books were shortlisted for The Hindu Prize.
