kans' computer

kans
had a computer
(why do you laugh)
menaka
got down from a 'helicopter'
in the kurukshetra
(please don't laugh)
where they didn't use nukes
(at krishna's command)
wasn't that good
or
wouldn't bharat's
nation have been wiped out?
you'll agree
we've long had telegraph
and widows*
ganda bherunda was our jet plane
it was called pushpak
i forgot
forgive me
just as kans had a computer
our vedas had marxism
believe it or not
(that's your karma)
if you think
our native toddy
is too potent
savour
the mixed cocktail
of our ancestors'
ghee-soaked lips!

my translation of sivasagar's kansuni computer. the original poem was written during the period of emergency in response to s.a.dange's, leader of the communist party of india, claims that the vedas (or the gita?) contained marxist ideas.

* one telugu word for widow is vithanthu which, sort of rhymes with thanthi, telugu for telegraph.