Give me some water from Ganges,
and add waters of seven sacred rivers.
I want to wash thoroughly the brain hanging from
the broken skull of this Chittapavan Brahmin.
Give me a Tata detergent cake
I want to wash each and every cell of his brain.
I want to scrub and scrub to remove the rust on his
thinking since centuries.
This is the Brahmin’s center of hearing,
Along with hymns of Vedas,
Anustupa Meter of Valmiki,
Verses of Upanishadas,
The stanzas of Manusmriti are also taped here.
O’ Brahmin, you are free to chant Upanishads on
the bank of the Ganges at dawn,
But there is no need of the venomous curses of Manusmriti.
This is the center of vision which has given me
black identity since centuries.
O’ Brahmin,
See the blue sky of winter, see the green of forests,.
see the seven colors of rainbow, too
But why do you see the black color of my skin?
This is the Brahmin’s center of smell.
It is stimulated by the stink of my perspiration,
my breath, my karma, my existence.
O Brahmin, there are flowers of jasmine on the earth to smell.
And if there is stink
It comes from corruption, hoarding and lies.
Why my odor is a stink to you?
This is the Brahmin’s center of touch.
This center turns green at the slightest touch of Mahasweta’s breath.
Even with touch of my shadow, it turns bright red hot.
O’ Brahmin, if we had fought together against intruders
We would have not become slaves in history.
In this cell, there is anger against reservation,
Here there is disgust, here hate, here rage of Durvasa,
This false sense of being superior.
Please bring one more detergent cake.
I want to wash each and every cell of your brain thoroughly.
O’ Brahmin, even curd is spoiled if it remains unattended for long.
Your brain is as it is since Vedic times.
See, how disordered, how rotten, how dirty has it become.
Please bring more water from the Ganges and waters from seven sacred rivers.
G K Vankar's translation of Pravin Gadhavi's poem Brainwash from his poetry collection The Bayonet (1985).
Tags: Pravin Gadhavi
GADHAvi wrote it and VANKAR (negative twist in Telugu) translated it. Spitting venom on Brahmins in the guise of social fashion will not attain any good results. Instead try to inculcate harmony. Bury rot and come afresh.
The tradition of humiliation continues.The poet is non-dalit,the translator is dalit: it signifies that the so called Brahmins( not merely belonging to a specific caste but those having mindset that has been oppressive) should feel compel to soul-searching rather than continuing unwarrented insults. Definitely there is need for brain-washing!
ilavarasi, unless you’ve something more substantive than abuse to share here, please don’t comment. we’ll not hesitate to moderate rot from this space.