First published in Free Press, August 2004
Modern cookery
My husband says
He rejects me
Because I do not appreciate
White men’s foods,
And that I do not know
How to hold
The spoon and fork.
He is angry with me
Because I do not know
How to cook
As white women do
And I refuse
To eat chicken
And to drink raw eggs
As white women do.
He says
He is ashamed of me
Because when he opens
The tin of lobster
I feel terribly sick,
Or when he relates
How, when he was in the white man’s country
They ate frogs and shells
And tortoise and snakes
My stomach rebels
And throws its contents out
Through my mouth.
He complains endlessly.
He says
Had I been to school
I would have learned
How to use
White men’s cooking stoves.
I confess,
I do not deny!
I do not know how to cook like a white woman.
I cannot use the primus stove,
I do not know
How to light it,
And when it gets blocked
How can I prick it?
The thing roars
Like a male lion.
It frightens me!
They say
It once burst
And the flames burnt
A goat to death!
I really hate
The charcoal stove!
Your hand is always
Charcoal-dirty
And anything you touch
Is blackened;
And your finger nails
Resemble those of the poison woman.
It is so difficult to start.
You wait for the winds
To blow
But whenever you are in hurry
The winds go off to visit
Their mothers-in-law.
The electric fire kills people
They say
It is lightning,
They say
The white man has trapped
And caught the Rain-Cock
And imprisoned it
In a heavy steel house.
The wonders of the white men
Are many!
They leave me speechless!
Okot P’ Bitek (1931- 1982)
അചോലി ഗോത്രവംശജനായ ബിതക് ജനിച്ചതും പഠിച്ചതും യുഗാണ്ടയിലായിരുന്നു. ഇംഗ്ലണ്ടിലെ യൂണിവേഴ്‌സിറ്റികളില്‍ ഉന്നത പഠനത്തിന് ശേഷം യുഗാണ്ടയില്‍ തിരിച്ചെത്തിയത് നാഷണല്‍ തിയേറ്ററിന്റെ ഡയറക്ടറായിട്ടായിരുന്നു. അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ പ്രസിദ്ധീകൃതമായ പുസ്തകങ്ങളില്‍ മൂന്ന് കവിതാസമാഹാരങ്ങളും അചോലി കവിതകളുടെ ഒരു സമാഹാരവും അചോലി നാടോടിക്കഥകളുടെ സമാഹാരവും ഉള്‍പ്പെടുന്നു.
അഭിപ്രായങ്ങളൊന്നുമില്ല:
ഒരു അഭിപ്രായം പോസ്റ്റ് ചെയ്യൂ