A Sindhi Poem- Dedar Jee Murkhta, Jhirki Jee Siyaanpa (The Ignorance of The Frog and The Wisdom of The Sparrow)

This poem is written by Mrs. Jyoti Badlani, a Sindhi from Navsari. She has been working as a teacher for NCPSL( National Council For Promotion of Sindhi Language) set up by the Government of India . A multilingual, she knows to write Sindhi in Sindhi Arabic as well as Devnagri scripts, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi and English. Having done her B. Sc. from Maharashtra, she writes poems and stories to fulfil her passion for creative writing.

Here she has written a didactic poem on an ignorant frog and a wise sparrow – Dedar Jee Murkhta, Jhirki Jee Siyaanpa in Sindhi Arabic as well as Sindhi Devnagri scripts . I have added an English translation below the poem in Devnagri script.

PICS: POEM BY MRS. JYOTI BADLANI IN SINDHI-DEVNAGRI SCRIPT

Translation

There was once a one-eyed and lame frog that lived in a well. He used to count the stars and observe the sun and the moon. He said he knew everything that was to know, including what the sky was and what lay under the earth.

One day, a sparrow came flying and hopped onto the wall of the well. She started dancing and playing on the edge, swinging like a branch of a tree.

The frog smirked and said,” O Sparrow, be careful, you will slip and fall.”

“Grandpa Frog, Use your brains. I have wings to fly, how can I fall?”

The frog said angrily, ” Who do you think you are, O Sparrow?

Do you know what the sky or the moon are? I have counted all the stars of the sky. Answer me. Why are you quiet now?”

The sparrow smiled to herself and flew away without a word.

The Moral of The Poem

Some people are ignorant like the frog in the well. They think they have all the knowledge of the world. The bit of the sky they can see from the well is all that is of the sky. But who knows about the expanse of the sky more than the sparrow who wisely flew away instead of answering the ignorant frog ? Wise people do not show off their knowledge. They keep quiet in the face of ignorance and stupidity.

Poem in Sindhi-Arabic and Sindhi- Devnagri by Mrs. Jyoti Badlani, Navsari

Jyoti Mulchandani

Ahmedabad