ਥੈਲਾ ਬੋਰੀ / Bag

ਕਿੰਨਾ ਚੰਗਾ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਥੈਲਾ ਬੋਰੀ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਬੰਦਾ

ਆਪਣੀ ਮਾਂ ਪਤਨੀ ਭੈਣ ਨੂੰ ਆਖਦਾ

ਪੁੱਠਾ ਕਰਕੇ ਝਾੜਦੇ ਮੈਨੂੰ ਕਿੰਨਾ ਕੁਝ ਖੱਲ੍ਹਾਂ ਖੂੰਝਿਆਂ ‘ਚ ਫਸਿਆ ਤੰਗ ਕਰ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ ਮੈਨੂੰ

ਮੈਂ ਥੈਲਾ ਬੋਰੀ ਨਹੀਂ।।

Read This in Romanised Text

English Translation

it would have been great had man been a gunny sack

he would have asked his mother or wife or sister

turn me inside out give me a shudder there is so much stuck inside my layers and corners that bothers me

alas, I am not a gunny sack!

Another English Translation by Gurmel

Better it would have been,

Had the man been a gunny-sack, He would have asked His mother, wife OR sister, To turn HIM inside out So much in nooks and corners Had been disturbing HIM. Had he been a gunny sack!

Source: The original Gurmukhi text is here.Translation is done by me. The poem is written by poet Gurpreet . Check his other poems in this blog 1. Maan Nu 2. Saahan Varga 3. Khiaal

Update: Gurmel pointed out**:** In 3rd stanza, instead of “upside down” the true translation would be “inside out"

Photo: The Sack by Christian Weidinger is licensed under CC BY 2.0 ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/ch-weidinger/14993839714/)

Crossposted from https://parchanve.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/bag/

Comments:

manpreet - Apr 6, 2009

ਜੇ ਪਿਉ ਨੂੰ ਵੀ ਕਹਿ ਲੈਂਦਾ ਤਾਂ ਵੀ ਕੀ ਸੀ ਜੀ? ਰਤਾ ਹੋਰ ਲਾਭ ਲੈ ਲੈਂਦਾ !!! :) Well said

In 3rd stanza, instead of “upside down” the true translation would be “inside out”.

Dear Jasdeep, I welcome your effort. But sorry to intervene, once more. There is a grammatical mismatch in original Punjabi poem. At one place, the poet talks of the man, and in the next line he talks of ‘mainun’. It should have been either ‘main’ and ‘mainu’ or ‘usnu’ and ‘usnu’. (main thaila bori hunda, jharde mainu; banda thaila bori hunda, dhar dio usnu).The true translation of the said poem should run like this (inaccuracies capitalized ): “Better it would have been, Had the man been a gunny-sack, He would have asked His mother, wife OR sister, To turn HIM inside out So much in nooks and corners Had been disturbing HIM. Had he been a gunny sack!

@Harpreet @Naserke @Manpreet Thanks all @Gurmel Special thanks, i have updated the post

:) okay ..I wanted to keep poet’s words as they/it were, maybe grammatical mistakes in the original text are by purpose .. hope its fine now. By the way , many thanks for pointing these errors, I really like this.

NOT “as it is” BUT “as it were” .AND not may be grammatical mistake in the original text “ARE” but “IS” by purpose. Ceaser should not rest upon his laurels! Gurmel

As a translator , i wanted to keep poet’s words as it is, maybe grammatical mistake in the original text are by purpose . i appreciate your intervention much though.

well said….

ਫੁੱਲ ਕਾਇਮ, vanilla flavor both in English and ਪੰਜਾਬੀ;