Notes on the Caged Bird by Varnika Upmanyu

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pinjare ke panchhi re, tera dard na jaane koe

bahar say to khamosh rahe tu

bheetar bheetar roye re

keh na sake tu, apni kahani

teri bhi panchhi, kya zindgani re

• Kavi Pradeep on the ‘Caged Bird’[1]

I do not remember when I first heard the song; I must have been very young. But I can almost imagine: the radio bleeding the melody into a rainy afternoon; while I watched mother work around the kitchen, sitting on a counter. Like she still does, she must have explained. I can hear her speak. ‘You just cannot imagine the pain of the caged bird. The bird is meant to soar, right? How terrible putting it into a cage!’ Wide eyed, I must have nodded and agreed. And the rain must have come down harder, as if it were angry, too.

The song struck a chord with me. It became my sad song. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine Kavi Pradeep – who was given the title of Rashtrakavi, and who wrote the famous bone-chilling Aye mere watan ke logon song – writing the song with ink that was made of tears, and singing it in them.