Stereotypical images of women, young and old, dressed in traditional clothes, a pot held against her waist, and one or two balanced on the head, have long essentialised the life of rural women in India. The wells in Indian villages, sometimes picturesque, sometimes nondescript, have not just been a place for fetching water. Everything from great friendships and the latest village scandals to unjust caste relations that determine water usage unfolds around the well.
Ironically, the same life-sustaining well also provides an escape to many women suffering in their in-laws' homes. In the song below even the well, the only companion of the woman — now unhappily married into a family not of her choice — has turned against her. She has no one left to complain to about the men in her family who married her off into what seems like an enemy household.
Gloomy songs like this one here, rendered by Shankar Barot of Anjar, where the woman complains about the hostile men in her family, have their own place among the diverse songs sung during different ceremonies at a wedding.
Gujarati
જીલણ તારા પાણી મને ખારા ઝેર લાગે મને ઝેર ઝેર લાગે
જીલણ તારા પાણી મને ઝેર ઝેર લાગે મને ખારા ઝેર લાગે
દાદો વેરી થયા’તા મને વેરીયામાં દીધી, મારી ખબરું ન લીધી
જીલણ તારા પાણી મને ઝેર ઝેર લાગે મને ખારા ઝેર લાગે
કાકો મારો વેરી મને વેરીયામાં દીધી, મારી ખબરું ન લીધી
જીલણ તારા પાણી મને ઝેર ઝેર લાગે મને ખારા ઝેર લાગે
મામો મારો વેરી મને વેરીયામાં દીધી, મારી ખબરું ન લીધી
જીલણ તારા પાણી મને ઝેર ઝેર લાગે મને ખારા ઝેર લાગે
જીલણ તારા પાણી મને ઝેર ઝેર લાગે મને ખારા ઝેર લાગે
English
Salty waters of your well are poison for me,
The waters are like poison to me.
Salty waters are poison to me. (2)
Dada is my enemy. Grandfather gave me away to the enemy
No, he never did care for me. Salty waters..
Kaka is my enemy. My paternal uncle gave me away to the enemy
No, he never did care for me. Salty waters..
Mama is my enemy. My maternal uncle gave me away to the enemy
No, he never did care for me. Salty waters..
The waters are like poison to me. Salty waters are poison to me
Type of song: Traditional folk song
Cluster: Songs of wedding
Song: 5
Title of the song: Jeelan tara paani mune khara zer laage
Composer: Deval Mehta
Singer: Shankar Barot from Anjar
Instruments used:
Harmonium, drum, banjo
Recording year: 2012, KMVS studio
English translation: Pratishtha Pandya
These songs, 341 recorded by a community-run radio Soorvani, have come to PARI through the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KMVS)
A special thanks to Preeti Soni, Aruna Dholakia, secretary, KMVS, Amad Sameja, project coordinator KMVS for their support and to Bhartiben Gor for her invaluable help
