P. Sainath

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Okay, so this one slipped through the cracks. My apologies to PARI
readers and viewers. All PARI followers know by heart our top
chartbuster: The Potato Song. That came from a group of five girls aged between 8 and 11 at a tiny
Tribal Development  Project school (Classes 1-4) in Kerala’s most remote
and only tribal panchayat: Edamalakudi in the Idukki Hills.
 
 The eight of us who’d landed up there had asked the students what their
favourite subject was. “English” they said in a region where we found not a
single word in that
language on any signboard.  Challenged to
demonstrate their grasp of English, they burst into song.
 
 That became an all-time PARI favourite. But there was something we left
out and we bring it to you now.  After
the girls gave  us a perfect rendition of
the ‘Potato Song’, we turned our scrutiny to the boys. They had been
outclassed, we implied, as we  demanded they respond and show us their
English.
 
 They knew the girl quintet was a hard act to follow, but went at it
gamely. In quality of singing, or rather, presentation, they were no match for
the girls. But for sheer craziness of lyric, they stood alone.
 
 The girls had sung an ode to a potato, which they don’t eat, in a
village where no English is spoken.  The boys sang (or recited) one to a
doctor. (There had been no full-time medico in the primary health centre
there for over a decade). As in much of India, rural and urban, ‘doctor’ is
used interchangeably to denote both physicians and surgeons. Often, they’re seen as
the same person. Also reflected in the ode was a touching faith in modern
allopathic medical science.

Good morning, doctor, My stomach is paining, doctor My stomach is paining, doctor Hold me, doctor Hold me, doctor Hold me, doctor Operation Operation Operation, doctor Thank you, doctor Thank you, doctor Thank you, doctor Bye bye, doctor Bye bye, doctor Bye bye, doctor Bye bye, doctorLike the legendary ‘<a id="555" linktype="page">Potato Song</a>’, this little film too was shot by PARI’s tech editor Siddharth Adelkar on a cell phone with no network, in a place where no potato is grown or eaten, in a village where no English is spoken, and in a panchayat where doctors have long been absent. But, well – it’s how English is taught in much of the country. And we still have no clue where both groups got their lyrics from in one of the loneliest and remotest panchayats in peninsular India.

A potato a day kept the doctor away for years

নিতৌ এটা আলু খাবা, ডাক্তৰ চাহাবক দূৰতে ৰাখিবা

ਰੋਜ਼ਾਨਾ ਇੱਕ ਆਲੂ ਖਾਓ ਡਾਕਟਰ ਨੂੰ ਦੂਰ ਭਜਾਓ

ದಿನಕ್ಕೊಂದು ಆಲೂಗೆಡ್ಡೆ ವರ್ಷಗಳವರೆಗೆ ವೈದ್ಯರನ್ನು ದೂರವಿಡುತ್ತದೆ

ദിവസത്തിൽ ഒരു ഉരുളക്കിഴങ്ങ്‌, വർഷങ്ങളോളം ഡോക്ടറെ അകറ്റിനിർത്തി

हर रोज़ सिर्फ़ एक आलू सालों-साल डॉक्टर को दूर रखता है

একটা করে আলু রোজ, দূর করে রোগভোগ

மருத்துவரை அணுகாமல் இருக்கவைத்த உருளைக்கிழங்கு

ପ୍ରତ୍ୟହ ଗୋଟିଏ ଆଳୁ ଖାଉଥିବାରୁ ବର୍ଷ ବର୍ଷ ଧରି ଡାକ୍ତରଙ୍କ ପାଖକୁ ଯିବାକୁ ପଡୁନି

न खाल्लेल्या बटाट्याचं आणि न येणाऱ्या डॉक्टरांचं गाणं

روزانہ ایک آلو برسوں تک ڈاکٹر کو دور رکھتا ہے

Idukki

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A potato a day kept the doctor away for years

Adivasi boys in Edamalakudi's primary school in the Idukki Hills of Kerala robustly sing an ode to a doctor in competition to the earnest 'Potato song' sung by the girls in their class

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A potato a day kept the doctor away for years

Adivasi boys in Edamalakudi's primary school in the Idukki Hills of Kerala robustly sing an ode to a doctor in competition to the earnest 'Potato song'​ sung by the girls in their class

Related stories

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Living on ravaged land

Biswas and the bamboos on his bike

Recycling energy, Godda style

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Koli Kadlas

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Living Under a Red Cloud in Bellary

Vedla – earrings of the Maher community

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Farmer's diet worse than a convict's

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Women farmers: weaving a life in Anantapur

Defiant in Dhinkia

Spice and all that's nice

Kerala's Green Army

The ‘jugaad’ not-a-mobile

Health as someone else's wealth

Calibrating in a Kudumbashree assembly unit

Adivasi boys in Edamalakudi's primary school in the Idukki Hills of Kerala robustly sing an ode to a doctor in competition to the earnest 'Potato song' sung by the girls in their class