सुर्वे Quotes

“Karl Marx (translated from Marathi by Mustansir Dalvi)

Here is how I met Marx
during my very first strike.

In the middle of a protest march,
hand on my shoulder,
Janakiakka pointed:
“D’you know him?
This here, is our own Markusbaba-
born in Germany,
wrote sacksful of books
then met his end in England.
Nothing unusual for a sanyasi, eh?
Land, for them is the same everywhere.
Just like you, he had four kids.”
That was how I met Marx
during my very first strike.

Later, as I was speaking at an assembly
(So, what are the reasons for this downturn?
What are the root causes of poverty?)
Marx pushed his way forward
and said: I’ll tell you-
then shot his mouth off, going on and on.

The day before yesterday,
during a picket outside a mill-gate,
there he stood
hearing me holding forth.
I said:
“Now, we are the protagonists of history
and the subject of all accounts that will be written.”
He clapped the loudest of all,
then came forward,
placed a hand on my shoulder,
and with a hearty laugh said:
“Man, you do write poetry, d’you not?
Good, Good!
Y’know, I used to like Goethe.
Once.”
― Narayan Surve, सुर्वे: नारायण सुर्वे यांच्या समग्र कविता [ Surve : Narayan Surve Yancha Samagra Kavita]