"Pilla jella intikada etla undo naa musali talli emi vetti saaduthundo, puta puta chesukoni bathiketollam, puta gaduva intha duram vachinollam
Deshamemo goppadaye maa bathukulemo sinnavaaye, mayadari rogamachi maa bathukumeeda mannukotte
bassuloddu bandlu oddu ayyasaaru // idisi pedite nadisi nenu pota saaru "
Peda rogam kante pedda rogam unda... ayinavalla kante pedda anda unda?
Translation:
“Wonder, how my little children are back home, how my aged mom feeding them, we make living by working each day, we came this far to survive
This country is great but our lives are short...
this clueless epidemic has thrown mud on our lives
Don't want buses and trains, please leave me/free me, I will walk on my own.
Is there any disease bigger than poverty?
Is there any bigger back up than the loved ones?
These lines are from a Telugu song titled "No Home', which has gone viral now. It depicts the appalling grief of the lakhs of migrant workers who are walking and trekking through hundreds and thousands of kilometres across the country amidst COVID19 lockdown.
Aadesh Ravi, a musician and sound engineer from the Telugu film industry, is the writer and singer of these hard-hitting lines, which aptly portray the mass exodus of migrants. It features some powerful images of migrant workers walking along the highways and railway tracks leading to their native places, supplemented by Aadhesh’s his husky voice delivering the sombre mood of the lyrics, in Telangana dialect.
The song was released on his Facebook page on April 17. It was shared widely and several regional news channels, too, ran discussions on the plights of the migrants allegedly after the song went viral.
Ravi hails from Jammikunta of Karimnagar and has been working in the film industry for the last 15 years. He has associated with music directors such as Mickey J Mayor, Chakri and others. Ravi, who does not hesitate to take on social issues, has also written several other poems earlier.
Speaking to TNM about the story behind the painful lyrics, Aadesh said that he was "heartened" by seeing the powerful images and visuals that surfaced on media and social media before he penned the song.
"I was pained and moved by just looking at those images. They were haunting. I thought of writing this in their perspective to highlight their misery. But, it wasn't that simple," he recounted, adding that it took him three days to write the lyrics.
Explaining his choice of certain Telugu words and phrases, he said, "They are walking at a time when the entire human civilisation is under threat. They are rushing for their loved one. Their grief is making them move."
Ravi feels that migrant labourers do not want to break the lockdown norms. Many do not ask for transportation; they are asking authorities to let them walk off to their houses, he said.
Ravi said that he has never expected that the song would actually initiate discussions and debates. Feeling that the purpose of his pen was served, Ravi said, "I am satisfied with the response and discussion it has created through social media platforms. This disease has shown the state of poverty in our country."