(With best wishes to Dr. K. Linga Reddy on the eve of shifting his Multi-speciality Hospital from Janagaon to Hyderabad today)
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Clearing woods, bush and bramble A field is made of fallow… This parched thirsty glebe Watches the skies above agape… Greenhorns stagger To drive the harnessed plough;
Seed broadcast like chalky patterns in the foreyard. But when Time rages and skies go barren Shoots wither in the seed and the land cracks dry. When hungry kids are put to sleep Grief spills over the brim of eyelids.
The earthen levee caves in; Silt settles in the farm well; The rope of the bucket snaps And the pulley idles forever.
Corns grow on the feet; Blisters rise in the hands; The cart of life Sinks in the mire of Anantavagu.
Well Desilted… Inner lining Bulwarked Silver anklets melt away …
Electric Pole is erected; Electric Motor is fixed; Cowshed becomes desolate; The dextral ox of the yoke is foot-injured; The nigh ox is sold to slaughter-house. The pen is looted; but all bovine Appear in Gajwel animal fair.
Tiled roof blows off; Decrepit house leaks; Kitchen room caves in so does the household head.
No God comes to the rescue… No propitiation brings in blessings … Be it the milk poured in snake holes in the house; Victuals given to Katta Maisamma under the Neem tree; The lamb sacrificed to Village Goddess; Or, the family God of Siddulagutta Nobody comes to dry your tears.
The village tank breaches… The rill runs dry… Fissures show up in the “Summer-plot”
The Motor burns out… Current bill soars … Agriculture takes crop holiday.
The hard money loan not made good; Lender reaps insults by Public-auctioning utensils, and Running away appropriating main doors… Poor children! They live out the hard times Surviving trading blood for life.
Even when the “Vinegar Pot” was empty I avowed not to sell my land. But, when fate turns against you State turns out to be a cancerous cell And conspicuous on the “land of wells” Manifests the tumor of real-estate. . Dr. K. Linga Reddy. .
Photo & Courtesy:
Dr. Kasula Linga Reddy
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(అనేక ప్రత్యేక సదుపాయాలతో కూడిన ఆసుపత్రిని జనగాం నుండి హైదరాబాదుకి ఈ రోజు మార్చుతున్న డా. కాసుల లింగా రెడ్డిగారికి అభినందనలూ, శుభాకాంక్షలతో)
అనువాదలహరి 