Few songs from late 70s and 80s about the poor fighting for survival and striving for a better material life

Last modified on 11th Feb. 2019

Over the past few years I have learned more about life for villagers and townsfolk of Puttaparthi and surrounding areas. [Note that this is a different life from the Prasanthi Nilayam ashram system life.]

Sometimes I also eat from one of the local eateries like today I ate Ragi Mudda with its usually spicy pappu and chutney (I usually take a parcel from the eatery and eat at home).

I have learned over these years that the lives of most of the locals of this area involves lot of hard work and is generally a tough life. There is very little industry in this area and so well paid jobs are very few, and govt. jobs are prized with massive competition for few govt. jobs.

Rayalaseema region which is where Puttaparthi mandal (equivalent to USA county I guess) lies, is also well known for faction rivalry which sometimes spills over to violence. How to lead life without getting caught up in such rivalries and yet be able to earn one's livelihood is a significant survival skill in this area.

And within all this, there is the striving to lead a better material life.

The striving for a better life within such an environment, reminds of my adult study & work life in Mumbai and Dombivli (city from where I would commute to Mumbai for study and later work) from 80s to early 2000s. Mumbai city then, and perhaps may be the same now, had its challenges. But people strove for a better life within these challenges.

A struggle for survival for the poor and middle class, and for those who survive, an attempt to thrive (materially) even if there was some exploitation of them by the rich  - I think that is how Mumbai (and surrounding areas) life was in the 80s and 90s (for most of the poor and middle class).

Another important aspect of survival in Mumbai then (which perhaps is the case even today) was to avoid getting caught up in dangerous rivalries, including gang wars.

I am reminded of songs about gritty survival of the poor that had become popular then. Perhaps one of the most famous of them was this one by Amitabh Bachchan in the 1981 film Laawaris where he is shown as the energetic and striving fighter from the poor class mocking the filthy rich villain. The video scene is of a cabaret and so I don't want to share the video link. The music beat seems to be inspired by fast Western pop music.

Here's the audio link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI86gif-zS0, 5 min. 30 secs, and here is my attempt at translating the initial lines of the song.

Apni to jaise taise, thodi aise ya waise
kat jayegi
Aap ka kya hoga janab-e-ali!

English: I (we) will somehow survive, a little this way and a little that way
(But) what will happen to you, your excellency?

Apne aage naa peechhe
naa koyi upar-neeche
rone wala
naa koyi rone waali janab-e-ali
aap ka kya hoga

English: I (we) don't have anybody in front or behind
nor anybody above or below
who will cry (male) [on our death implied]
nor any who will cry (female), your excellency
(But) what will happen to you?

Some of the other lines of the song are pretty rough stuff and so I have decided not to translate them.
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Another Hindi film song about love and hate by the nomadic poor, from the late 70s is this one: Hum Banjaron Ki Baat Mat Poochho Ji Dharam Veer 1977, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YvC85nkPR0, 6 min. 41 secs. The video is quite a fancy one (Roman amphitheatre type scene) and I don't think I had seen it in my youth - perhaps I saw it a few years ago on youtube but I am not sure. But it is the audio that is very familiar as I have heard it many times.

Some of the lyrics and my attempt at English translation of them:

Hum banjaro ki baat mat pucho ji
English: (Literally) Don't ask about matters about us nomadic people (Figuratively) We nomadic people are special/different people

Jo pyaar kiya to pyaar kiya
Jo nafrat ki to nafrat ki

English: If we (happen to) love then we love (intensely)
If we (happen to) hate then we hate (intensely)

...

Hum dil nahi dete, ham jaan dete hain
Hum dil nahi lete, ham jaan lete hain

English: We don't give our hearts, we give our lives
We don't take (others') hearts, we take (others') lives

[A lesson from the above lyrics which I think very much applies to Puttaparthi and Rayalaseema locals is to avoid getting hated by them and to avoid infuriating them. You don't know how they will react when they get infuriated with you. And if you earn their love, they will stand by you.]
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And when I went to the USA in the late 80s, I was struck by this song about fighting for survival by Bob Marley released in 1983: Buffalo Soldier (With Lyrics), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eksV02us5DQ, 4 min. 27 secs.

Some of its lyrics:

Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock Rasta
There was a Buffalo Soldier
In the heart of America
Stolen from Africa, brought to America
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival

[Like in the case of the Hindi film songs above, I don't think one should take the above lyrics to represent historical reality accurately. They must be viewed as artistic expressions/artistic reflections of the times with some level of fiction, some level of divergence from historical reality of the times.]
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Given below is a comment exchange on my Facebook post,  https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2412749545608275, associated with this post:

In response to comment, "Thank you. None seem to have taken up with full force Swami Vivekananda’s call for social justice on parallel with spiritual progress.", I (Ravi) wrote:
Social justice is a very big issue in India. And I think the same is the case with China though data about China is not easy to get. ... And I think it has become an issue in the USA too. ... Not easy to achieve social justice without creating dysfunction and lack of competitive industry and innovation. India got stuck pretty badly in controlled economy days where perhaps the inequality was not so much as today but then the country remained rather backward economically as compared to rest of the world. 1991 economic reforms brought in free market competition in quite a big way and Indian economy flowered with big tax collections to government to fund welfare schemes ... But inequality also has risen ... Really tough issue to deliver on social justice, I think.
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