Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM
(Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi —an ex Naval Officer, possesses a multifaceted personality. He served as a Senior Advisor in prestigious Supercomputer organisation C-DAC, Pune. He was involved in various Artificial Intelligence and High-Performance Computing projects of national and international repute. He has got a long experience in the field of ‘Natural Language Processing’, especially, in the domain of Machine Translation. He has taken the mantle of translating the timeless beauties of Indian literature upon himself so that it reaches across the globe. He has also undertaken translation work for Shri Narendra Modi, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, which was highly appreciated by him. He is also a member of ‘Bombay Film Writer Association’.
We present Capt. Pravin Raghuvanshi ji’s amazing poem “~ Ancestral Tree… ~”. We extend our heartiest thanks to the learned author Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi Ji (who is very well conversant with Hindi, Sanskrit, English and Urdu languages) and his artwork.)
~ Ancestral Tree… ~ 
☆
(Inspired by the poem बरगद written by Mrs. Nirdesh Nidhi ji)
O’ Woodcutter…!
At the mouth of our farm land,
Next to the puddle pond
There is this banyan tree,
That tells stories,
Narrates fables of
Our grandfathers, great grandfathers…
Many a times, there comes
this old man in my dreams,
with a humpback…
Who proclaims
This is not just a banyan tree,
It’s a family tree
People live and die
As it lives on, generation after generation…
Long back, it was crowned with
the title of *’Ageless’* by our ancestors
Since then, it wore the ‘turban of elders’…
And, as Lord Hanuman*
it has been standing rock-solid ever since,
Steadfast forever…!
Listen you, Woodcutter!
Don’t you dare touching its twigs
Leave apart even cutting its roots…
Throughout the night,
It gathers the coolness of
the nocturnal moonlight…
As it sprinkles fragrant and
soothing freshness on
the scorching bodies
of the tired travelers…
Listen, O’ Woodcutter!
What to talk of twigs,
You don’t even touch the leaves…
It plays the zither,
with a melodious sound
Singing celestial lullabies
In the Deepak Raga* tune
Adorning itself with the redness
of the dawn every morning…
Listen, O’ Woodcutter!
Leave apart even chopping the leaves
Don’t you dare
touching its winds
Which it puffs in everyone’s breath,
throughout the day…
Picks up the ‘Kalima’ –the darkness– of the night,
Weaves a soothing layer of carpet below,
for the day…
Has made a perennial
inn under its dense shade
Envelops as the blessings of father
On the heads of the daughters of the village,
returning to their parental house…!
It fondles with the children,
Harmonises tone with the aged ones
and shows the beautiful dreams to the youth,
A swollen sea full of tides of animals
and birds, envelops the surroundings…
Inseparable childhood friend
of animate and inanimate objects,
while standing by the side of puddle,
firmly, as ever…
Maintaining the relationship of ever
effervescent joy and laughter…!
Whenever it feels like,
It quietly, dumps the wasted leaves,
On the spick and span ground below…
Listen, O’ Woodcutter!
Don’t you ever look at it
as a merciless woodchopper…
Along with innocent birds,
it has also raised man-eaters,
as it keeps discussing
with them all night through
Standing watchful like a sentinel,
At the mouth of our puddle-farm,
That very Banyan tree …!
☆
Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM
Editor – Shri Hemant Bawankar/Editor (English) – Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM ≈
