Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' (23 September 1908 – 24 April 1974) was an Indian Hindi poet, essayist, patriot and academic, who is considered as one of the most important modern Hindi poets. He remerged as a poet of rebellion as a consequence of his nationalist poetry written in the days before Indian independence. His poetry exuded veer rasa, and he has been hailed as a Rashtrakavi ("National poet") on account of his inspiring patriotic compositions. He was a regular poet of Hindi Kavi sammelan on those days and is hailed to be as popular and connected to poetry lovers for Hindi speakers as Pushkin for Russians.
The present Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi wrote a message appreciating the translation of Rashmirathi into English by the Mauritian cultural activist Leela Gujadhur Sarup. As a mark of respect for him, his portrait was unveiled in the Central Hall of Parliament of India by the then Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh on his centenary year, 2008. On 23 November 2012, the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee gave away Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' Sahitya Ratna Samman to 21 prominent writers and social workers at a function organised in Rashtrapati Bhavan. On the occasion, the President recalled the contribution of Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' in the freedom struggle and his service to Hindi literature. Poet and former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke of Dinkarji in high esteem. Others who have praised his literary genius include Shivraj Patil, Lal Krishna Advani, Somnath Chatterjee, Gulab Khandelwal, Bhawani Prasad Mishra, and Seth Govind Das.
There's a hole in my life
and I don't know the right way to close it
things I believed in have all crumbled one by one
might makin' right, cries in the night
but we chose it
I've been decieved and I will
wait here till they come
they will come
and the right hand knows
where the left one goes
the hammer comes down -
nobody knows
please take a number, get in line
I heard it on the radio
I heard it on the wind you know
hurricane about to blow
over and over again
Heard it on the radio
knew it in my heart you know
saw it on a tv show
saw it all fall apart
I remember a time when they
drew me a line and I crossed it
you left me hanging
you ran for higher ground
it was yours it was mine
it was pure it was fine
and we lost it
or was it only that we never
looked around - look around
and the right hand knows
where the left one goes
the hammer comes down -
nobody knows
please take a number, get in line
I heard it on the radio
I heard it on the wind you know
hurricane about to blow
over and over again
Heard it on the radio
knew it in my heart you know
saw it on a tv show
saw it all fall apart
Is this all just illusion?
Is this all just a dream?
Do you want fission or fusion
or do you want to talk to me
talk to me, talk to me, baby talk to me -
or do you want to scream?
Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' (23 September 1908 – 24 April 1974) was an Indian Hindi poet, essayist, patriot and academic, who is considered as one of the most important modern Hindi poets. He remerged as a poet of rebellion as a consequence of his nationalist poetry written in the days before Indian independence. His poetry exuded veer rasa, and he has been hailed as a Rashtrakavi ("National poet") on account of his inspiring patriotic compositions. He was a regular poet of Hindi Kavi sammelan on those days and is hailed to be as popular and connected to poetry lovers for Hindi speakers as Pushkin for Russians.
The present Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi wrote a message appreciating the translation of Rashmirathi into English by the Mauritian cultural activist Leela Gujadhur Sarup. As a mark of respect for him, his portrait was unveiled in the Central Hall of Parliament of India by the then Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh on his centenary year, 2008. On 23 November 2012, the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee gave away Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' Sahitya Ratna Samman to 21 prominent writers and social workers at a function organised in Rashtrapati Bhavan. On the occasion, the President recalled the contribution of Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' in the freedom struggle and his service to Hindi literature. Poet and former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke of Dinkarji in high esteem. Others who have praised his literary genius include Shivraj Patil, Lal Krishna Advani, Somnath Chatterjee, Gulab Khandelwal, Bhawani Prasad Mishra, and Seth Govind Das.
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