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Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Bidesia in Kalkatta

I came across this really cool swaang (a satrical folk show common across the heartland) ditty composed by immigrants to Jelepara, Calcutta at the beginning of the 20th century. Have a read:

Dil main ek bhaavna se Kalkatta main aaya
Kaisan kaisan maja ham heeya dekhne paaya
Ari Samaaj, Brahmaa Samaaj, girja, mahjid
Ek lota main milta doodh paani sab cheej
Chhota bara aadmi sab, baahar kar ke daant
Jhapat maar ke bolta hai, Angreji main baat


This reminded me of the documentary Bidesia in Bambai, which tracks Bhojpuri immigrants in Bombay and shows that in a century, little has changed. You can watch a trailer of the movie here:

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