“Whenever there is a celebration, I start composing songs.”
Kohinoor Begum is a one-woman band – she sets the music and plays the dhol. “My friends gather and join the chorus.” Her feisty songs feature labour, farming, and the daily chores of everyday life.
An experienced labour rights activist, Kohinoor aapa (sister) as she is fondly known around Murshidabad district, is a mid-day meal cook at Janaki Nagar Prathamik Vidyalaya Primary School here in Beldanga-I block.
“I have seen hard days right from my early childhood. But hunger and extreme poverty did not break me,” says the 55-year-old who has gone to create a number of songs. Read: Beedi workers: songs of life and labour .
In Bengal’s Murshidabad district, a majority of women roll beedies to support their families. The long hours in cramped positions handling toxic material, causes severe and irreversible decline in their health. Herself a beedi roller, Kohinooor aapa is at the forefront of pushing for better working conditions and labour rights for these workers. Read: Women beedi workers’ health: up in smoke
“I have no land. What I earn as a mid-day meal cook is better left unsaid – because it doesn’t even match what the lowest paid daily wage worker earns. My man [husband, Jamaluddin Sheikh] is a scrap collector. We have raised our three children [with difficulty],” she says, speaking to us at her home in Janaki Nagar.
Her face brightens when all of a sudden, an infant comes crawling up the stairs to the terrace where we are. It’s Kohinoor aapa’s year-old granddaughter. The baby jumps into her grandmother’s lap, bringing a big smile to her dadi’s (paternal grandmother’s) face.
“Life will have struggles. We must not be afraid. We have to fight for our dreams,” she says holding the tiny palm in her work-worn hands. “Even my baby knows this. Yes maa ?”
“What are your dreams, aapa ?” we ask.
She responds saying, “Listen to the geet [song] about my dreams.”
ছোট ছোট কপির চারা
জল বেগরে যায় গো মারা
ছোট ছোট কপির চারা
জল বেগরে যায় গো মারা
চারিদিকে দিব বেড়া
ঢুইকবে না রে তোমার ছাগল ভেড়া
চারিদিকে দিব বেড়া
ঢুইকবে না তো তোমার ছাগল ভেড়া
হাতি শুঁড়ে কল বসাব
ডিপকলে জল তুলে লিব
হাতি শুঁড়ে কল বসাব
ডিপকলে জল তুলে লিব
ছেলের বাবা ছেলে ধরো
দমকলে জল আইনতে যাব
ছেলের বাবা ছেলে ধরো
দমকলে জল আইনতে যাব
এক ঘড়া জল বাসন ধুব
দু ঘড়া জল রান্না কইরব
এক ঘড়া জল বাসন ধুব
দু ঘড়া জল রান্না কইরব
চাঁদের কোলে তারা জ্বলে
মায়ের কোলে মাণিক জ্বলে
চাঁদের কোলে তারা জ্বলে
মায়ের কোলে মাণিক জ্বলে
Tiny little saplings
Withering on the ground,
Cabbages and cauliflowers
Parched all around.
I'll fence-up my farm
To keep your goats at bay
I'll fence-up my farm
And shoo your sheeps away
I'll get a
dipkol
* like an elephant's trunk
And pump up the water from under the earth
I'll get a
dipkol
like an elephant's trunk
And pump up the water from under the earth
O father of my son, look after our boy
I shall go to the
domkol
** to fetch some water
O father of my son, look after our boy
I shall go to the
domkol
, to fetch some water
To scrub our plates I need a pitcher
I need two pitchers to cook
To scrub our plates I need a pitcher
I need two pitchers to cook
A star burns brightly in the cradle of the moon
A child blooms in the lap of her mother
A star burns brightly in the cradle of the moon
A child blooms in the lap of her mother
*
dipkol
: hand-pump
**
domkol
: hand-pump
Song credits:
Bengali song: Kohinoor Begum
English translation: Joshua Bodhinetra
