Oh learned men!
You surely know
that impurities of touch
completely dissolve
when a high caste man
takes a dip in water
and changes his clothes
But look at the untouchable hordes!
Howsoever much
they rub themselves
with soap and water
and splash and dip
and scrub and polish,
they cannot shake off ‘untouchability’,
which clings to their bodies.
That is how and why
they have remained untouchables
over the millennia.
No-one has been able to decide
if untouchability
is a colour or a touch,
a feeling or an ideal;
whether it resides
in the one who touches,
or the one who is touched.
A learned high caste man
could start a coaching center
and make good money
if he could simply teach untouchables
how to shake off untouchability
with a single dip in water
and a change of clothes.
Basudev Sunani is an Oriya poet; his poems have been translated by Rabindra K Swain and J P Das. His poetry collections include Asprushya (Untouchable), Karadi Haata (Bamboo Shoots Market) and Chhi (Sneer), and several critical essays and short stories. He is a veterinarian by training, and blogs here.
Courtesy: The Poem Hunter