The Pot Maker

Sentila dreams of becoming a pot maker like her mother and grandmother, but Arenla wants her to learn weaving for better income.

Sentila secretly watched expert potters - clay pounded, hands rotated, spatula tapped - though she hid her fascination after hearing Arenla complain that pot making brought only a pittance after exhausting labour at the distant riverbank.

Village elders summon Mesoba because Arenla seems unwilling to teach Sentila; Mesoba promises Sentila will soon make the best pots.

The council said skills like pot making symbolise tradition and do not belong to any individual - experts must pass them on. Arenla later took Sentila to dig grey and red clay sixteen kilometres away.

After a year failing with Arenla, Sentila practises secretly in the dormitory; Onula teaches her to relax and shape a perfect pot.

Sentila was too tense; clay would not yield. Onula fashioned a pot and guided her - Sentila made a beautiful pot, though Onula said the mouth was wrong.

Sentila makes pots matching Arenla's tally; Arenla dies; Onula finds two indistinguishable rows of pots - "A new pot maker was born."

Sentila shouted to her mother's funeral procession that skill simply came to her. Onula sensed a profound revelation in the symmetrical batches of moist pots.

The poem opens: "I hear Bharat celebrating, the varied vocations I hear" - craftspersons, artisans with lutes, carpenters.

Each vocation is woven with colours; carpenters create from wood with mathematical precision; electricians brighten lives with cables and wires.

Boatmen sing at sea; shoemakers affirm quality for feet that walk and dance; cooks, designers and masons celebrate what belongs to them alone.

The delicious singing of the cook and rhythm of designer and mason show personified vocations. Each trade has its own voice of identity.

The poem ends as it began - Bharat celebrating varied vocations; each deserves respect; tone is reverential and joyful.

Free verse with repetition emphasises dignity of labour. Symbolism: every job is more than income - it is cultural identity.

The poem pays homage to skilled workers across India, not soldiers alone - celebrating the patriotism of honest craft.

Auditory imagery - lutes, humming electricians, boatmen's songs - creates a vibrant soundscape of Bharat at work.