Poem: The Death of Nojendranth | Murzban Jal

The Other Day

When

Nojendranath

Got sudden pain in his belly

He went to the doctor, who asked:

“Pain, pain, you have pain?”

And then he himself answered:

“Well, well, first you give me money”

Nojendranath asked:

“How much? How much money?”

And the good doctor stretched his hands and screamed:

“This much, this much, this much”.

 

Nojendranath became sad

But then suddenly

Someone tapped his shoulders and said:

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,

Big Brother has promised to send money,

Bags and bags and bags of money”

And Nojendranath asked:

“How much? How much money?”

And the good stranger stretched his hands and screamed:

“This much, this much, this much”.

 

Nojendranath then became happy

He waited for Big Brother

Waited and waited and waited.

 

Meanwhile he became hungry

So he went to a nearby shop and asked for rice

And the shopkeeper said:

“Well, well, first you give me money”

Nojendranath then asked:

“How much? How much money?”

And the good shopkeeper stretched his hands and screamed:

“This much, this much, this much”.

 

Nojendranath then again became sad

But then suddenly

Someone once again tapped his shoulders and said:

“Don’t worry, Big Brother will send bags and bags and bags of rice

And that too with his picture stuck on them”.

 

Nojendranath then asked:

“How many bags?”

And the stranger stretched his hands and screamed:

These many, these many, these many”.

 

Nojendranaht then became happy

Very, very, very, happy

And

Then he suddenly died.

 

Three postmortem reports came out

The first said cause of death: “sickness”

The second said: “starvation”

And the third said: “false consciousness”.

— Murzban Jal