WHAT WILL BE A BETTER PROOF  OF  AFFECTION AND FIDELITY

Translation
What will be a better proof  of  affection and fidelity
With no love for you how intolerable will this cruelty be

Insistence is that in the ward committee I should also speak
But I shall speak after guessing if the Collector ¹ agreeable with me will be

Obtain  the testimonial, it will be of use for sons
He is favorable now, later he may or may not be

Indians  cannot find a place on the earth
But the oceans� bottom available may be

                Like the insensitive boat we are subservient to orders
                We are bound to the bank or float as your desire may be

Explanatory Notes
1. Collector (also known as Deputy Commissioner) is the highest administrative officer at the district level in the Indian sub-continent. He was so powerful during the British rule that the service to which he belonged was said to be the �steel frame of the British Empire�. This verse is a sarcasm on the state of affairs in which nothing could happen in the district without the implicit or explicit concurrence of the Collector.