A folk Song for Budhni Mejhan Tribal 'wife' of Nehru ****বুধনী মেঝানের গফ্ফ**** (একটি সত্য ঘটনা অবলম্বনে রচিত এবং পুরুলিয়ার নিজস্ব ভাষায় লিখিত মর্মস্পর্শী অনবদ্য কবিতা।) Tribal 'wife' of Nehru is outcast, driven to poverty

A folk Song for 

Budhni Mejhan

Tribal 'wife' of Nehru

 Fifteen-year-old Budhni Mejhan was delighted when she was asked to garland Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to welcome him during his visit on December 6, 1959.

She was a casual labourer of the Damodar Valley Corporation and Pandit Nehru was coming to inaugurate the newly-built Panchet Dam. DVC officers chose this santhal girl and another DVC labourer Rabon Majhi as part of the reception team. On that day, Budhni dressed in all santhal finery, garlanded Nehru and etched a red tika on his forehead. The late Prime Minister asked her to accompany him to the inauguration site and made her press the button that officially opened the gates of the dam.

Unfortunately, when she returned home to her village Karbona that evening, Budhni realised that the gates had slammed shut on her fate. The santhal tribe, governed by its own laws, told Budhni that she had garlanded Nehru and, therefore, had "married" him.

****বুধনী মেঝানের গফ্ফ****

(একটি সত্য ঘটনা অবলম্বনে রচিত এবং পুরুলিয়ার নিজস্ব ভাষায় লিখিত মর্মস্পর্শী অনবদ্য কবিতা।)

পাঁচেত ডেমে বুধনী
গেল কাম করতে
এক ডঁড়রী ভাতের লাগ্যে
হামি বঁলিয়েছিলি যা'স না বিটি।
যুয়ান বিটি বললেক
কাম না করল্যে খাব কি বাপ্
চাষ গেল বাস গেল,মাথার উপর
খাপরার চালটাও গেল
ঘর খাঁয়েছে দুয়ার খাঁয়েছে
হামদের গাঁ টাও খাঁয়েছে
গতরখাওকি ডেমে।

ত ভালই চইলছিল দিনগুলা
এক পাই চালের ভাতের ঢেলা
এক পাট মদের যোগানট ত ছিল
ত নেহরু আসিন ল্যাঠা লাগাল্য
পরধান মনতিরি ন কি ছিল
কে জানে,তবে রাজা ছিল।

হামার বিটিট কাল কুঁদা
হল্যেও বাঁধন ছিল ভালো।
জহরলালের জহরী চইখে
বুধনী নকি সেরেষ্ঠ রেজা হল্য।
বললেক উয়েই জ্বালাবেক পদ্দিম
হামার বুধনী বিটি, কল ঘুরালেই
হড়হড়াঁয় নকি জল বাহিরাবেক।
বুধনী হামার লালপাড়িয়া শাড়ী
পিঁধে ফুলং তেল মাথায় দিঁয়ে
খপাঁয় দিলেক হলুদ গাঁদার ফুল
নাখে লুলুক কানে পিতল মুঁহা দুল
কে বলবেক বিটি আমার মেঝান যু'গযুগ্যা বিটি মারাংবুরু সনতান।
বাপরে বাপ সেকি আলকাপ
ঝিলিক ঝিলিক ফটোয় হাসিমুখ
খপর কাগজে লিখল হামদের দুখ।

*অসিত বরণ চট্টোপাধ্যায়*

Tribal 'wife' of Nehru is outcast, driven to poverty

Panchet, Purulia, March 28: Fifteen-year-old Budhni Mejhan was delighted when she was asked to garland Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to welcome him during his visit on December 6, 1959.

She was a casual labourer of the Damodar Valley Corporation and Pandit Nehru was coming to inaugurate the newly-built Panchet Dam. DVC officers chose this santhal girl and another DVC labourer Rabon Majhi as part of the reception team. On that day, Budhni dressed in all santhal finery, garlanded Nehru and etched a red tika on his forehead. The late Prime Minister asked her to accompany him to the inauguration site and made her press the button that officially opened the gates of the dam.

Unfortunately, when she returned home to her village Karbona that evening, Budhni realised that the gates had slammed shut on her fate. The santhal tribe, governed by its own laws, told Budhni that she had garlanded Nehru and, therefore, had "married" him.

The heads called a meeting the next day and passed the "verdict" that Budhni was Nehru's wife and was ineligible to marry any man in the village. And since Nehru was not a santhal, Budhni had committed the crime of marrying outside the community, they told her. She was shunned by the tribe and chased out of the village.

"My family did not stand by me either," Budhni recalled the day nearly 42 years ago. "I guess it was better to sacrifice a daughter than be ostracised by society," she said.

Budhni went from door to door in the village for a few days but no one offered her even a glass of water. Later, one Sudhir Dutta of Panchet took her in and they began living as man and wife. She had a daughter by Dutta, who till today is not accepted by the santhal community in Purulia. They told Budhni sometime ago that her daughter, Ratna, cannot look for a husband in the community either.

Poverty crouched close on the heels of exile. Budhni was suddenly sacked by DVC in 1962. "They had told me I was a permanent staff when I was given the job. No reason was put forward for my dismissal," Budhni said. Life was very difficult for the next 23 years, recalls Budhni. She supported her daughter by doing odd jobs.

In 1985, she went to Delhi to meet the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Gandhi reinstalled her in DVC where the 58-year-old works till today. The money takes care of her body but not her mind. "I wish they would allow me to go back to Karbona," Budhni said.