Sabika Abbas

Poem

Pratishtha Pandya

Editor

Labani Jangi

Painting

large_01_Lives_and_languages_hanging_by_a_thread.jpg

medium_01_Lives_and_languages_hanging_by_a_thread.jpg

small_01_Lives_and_languages_hanging_by_a_thread.jpg

thumbnail_01_Lives_and_languages_hanging_by_a_thread.jpg

01_Lives_and_languages_hanging_by_a_thread.jpg

She was stitching away rapidly, pinning her flying rage onto the kantha coverlet. She had learnt the stitch from her grandmother. As a child she had watched, with utter fascination, the magic of grandma&#39;s wrinkled fingers turn rags – little soft pieces of old dhotis, cotton sarees, worn out kameez collected over time – into finely embroidered quilts. It was one such piece done by grandma that came with her dowry when she got married. A safety blanket she held on to, ever more tightly, on troubled cold nights. But it was when she started stitching a coverlet of her own that she felt closest to Naani jaan. It was as if she had learnt to speak her language. It was not imagination, or blasphemy, or rebellion that guided her needle. She came alive at its tip, she loved and spoke with the thread, lived in the patterns it created. She roamed freely inside the stitches, and motifs. She dreamt and parrots flew on the pale white, the splendour of their wings red, orange, green dyed the flower vines next to it. Her anger glistened on the thin, sharp edges of the leaves; resentments deepened the densely stitched centres of  flowers. The fish, horses, elephants, and bees marched to the rhythm of her untold stories.

Translated from Urdu by Pratishtha Pandya.

Lives and languages hanging by a thread

దారపు అల్లికల జీవితాలు, భాషలు

நூலாக தொங்கும் வாழ்க்கைகளும் மொழிகளும்

ਤੰਦ ਨਾਲ਼ ਲਮਕਦੀਆਂ ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀਆਂ ਤੇ ਭਾਸ਼ਾਵਾਂ

ଗୋଟିଏ ସୁତାରେ ଓହଳିଛି ଜୀବନ ଓ ଭାଷା

തലനാരിഴയിൽ തൂങ്ങുന്ന ജീവിതങ്ങളും ഭാഷകളും

ನೂಲಿನ ತುದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನೇತಾಡುವ ಭಾಷೆಗಳು ಮತ್ತು ಬದುಕುಗಳು

नफ़रत के साए में सांस लेतीं ज़िंदगियां और मादरी ज़बानें

એક તાંતણે બાંધી કંઈ કેટલી જિંદગીઓ ને ભાષાઓ

एक सूत मं लटके जिनगी अऊ भाखा

एगो डोर में गूथल बा जिनगी संगे जबान

নাড়ির টানে জারিত মায়েদের ভাষা

লাহী সূতাৰ সীয়নিত জীৱন আৰু ভাষাবোৰ

نفرت کے اس دور میں زندگی اور مادری زبانیں

 Lucknow

At present, we can only accept donations in Indian rupees by Indian citizens. All donations made to the CounterMedia Trust are eligible for exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here is a copy of our exemption certificate.


India is bigger than New Delhi. And people need to know more about the rest of this vast nation.


Younger, media-saturated generations are growing up knowing little about their country, but a lot about the elites of a few metros and towns. For a narrowly-owned, commercially-driven media, the dumbing down of a nation is part of standard operating procedure. The last available data of the Centre for Media Studies (CMS, Delhi) show us that reports from New Delhi account for 66 per cent of news on the front pages of major dailies. The CMS data also found that just about 0.24 per cent of front page news came out of rural India. The TV channels are not much better.PARI exists to change that.We are a non-profit organisation. We publish under creative commons, and do not charge readers a subscription fee or put-up advertisements. Nothing is behind a paywall and we are completely free-to-access by anyone. We guard our independence and receive no direct grants from governments and corporations, nor any funding that could dictate our content. So, we are dependent on volunteer labour, donations from individuals, foundations and institutions that see value in independent and free media.PARI is changing the way Indian journalism reports and documents the rural.India is more than the elite of a few metros and towns. We report on rural lives and livelihoods, languages, communities, migrants and more. We need your help to pull off this most ambitious of Indian journalistic endeavours. The scale of this effort costs money. Donate generously - and spread the word about PARI.&nbsp;

Donate FAQs


Let’s get you acquainted

Welcome to PARI

All our content is, and will forever be free to consume. If you enjoy our work, you can support us by becoming a volunteer or by donating to help fund our work.

Want to republish this article? Please write to <a href="mailto:zahra@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zahra@ruralindiaonline.org</a> with a cc to <a href="mailto:namita@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">namita@ruralindiaonline.org</a>

Lives and languages hanging by a thread

In times of divisiveness and hatred, a poet goes looking for the languages of love and liberty. And where else does she end up but in a gossamer of mother tongues rising from silenced histories

Related stories

A rain-scented walk in Sivagangai

Living on ravaged land

Biswas and the bamboos on his bike

Recycling energy, Godda style

Bhadels of Goa

Pookadai: still throbbing with morning life

Koli Kadlas

Malnourishment high among children of migrants: study

Wheels of the rural Indian West

Living Under a Red Cloud in Bellary

Vedla – earrings of the Maher community

Dreaming of water, drowning in debt

Kali: the dancer and his dreams

Farmer's diet worse than a convict's

In Yavatmal, life goes on

Suicides are about the living, not the dead

Death of a carpenter

Hoisa Shigmo!

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