Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Aravind Adiga's debut novel The White Tiger won the 2008 Booker Prize and will premiere on Netflix in 2021 as a movie starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rajkumar Rao.

TRAILER: youtu.be/oM-Nw9XzqVM

THAKUR KA KUAN (1981) - THE LANDOWNER'S WELL is a poem by Om Prakash Valmiki
[note: this is my own translation so I can't promise it's awesome but the thought behind the original poem kills me every time i think about it. If you'd like to hear the words being said out loud, here's the inestimable Irrfan Khan reading it: youtu.be/_TV6-PokbE4?t=12]
Choolha mitti ka
Mitti talaab ki
Talaab Thakur ka.

The stove is made of earth
The earth belongs to the pond
The pond belongs to the Landowner.

Bhookh roti ki
Roti baajre ki
Baajra khet ka
Khet Thakur ka.

The hunger is for bread
The bread is made of grain
The grain belongs to the field
The field belongs to the Landowner.

Bayl Thakur ka
Hull Thakur ka
Hull ki mootth par hatheli apni
Fasal Thakur ki.

The oxen belong to the Landowner
The plough belongs to the Landowner
The hand driving the plough is mine
The crop belongs to the Landowner.

Kuan Thakur ka
Paani Thakur ka
Khet-khalihan Thakur ke
Gali-mohalle Thakur ke
Phir apna kya?
Gaon?
Sheher?
Desh?

The well belongs to the Landowner
The water belongs to the Landowner
The fields and barns belong to the Landowner
The streets and neighborhoods belong to the Landowner
So what belongs to me?
The village?
The city?
The country?

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RECOMMENDED PLAYLIST: youtube.com/watch?v=LJUsw458TTc&list=PLtLQgGRM7trx8dsmgCHAqHYW6pC9thZ6t

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KHANDAAN, A BOLLYWOOD PODCAST: audioboom.com/channel/the-khandaan-podcast

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