To the ka ka
sound of cawing
crows
father gets up, says
"mother the white
dawn has come."
Picking up his sleeping rag,
he puts it on, thinks
the calf might stray, and runs
to his master's house.
My mother his wife
follows behind him,
mucks out the byre,
spreads fresh dung on the floors,
cleans her teeth and cringes
outside,
filling a fold in her sari,
with the house's leftovers.
Under the noonday sun
father ploughs and sows
and draws water from the well;
he pours drops of blood
turned to sweat, and all
to fill someone else's corn bin.
Milking buffaloes, grazing
cows, fattening sheep,
taking them to water and bathing them,
herself without shelter,
my mother stands –
and not even a cup of milk
for her own child.
The lambs are sold for necklaces
for someone else's throat.
In her own house
there's no calf to prance around,
no cows to swing their horns,
no veranda to decorate
with rangoli.
But what devotion
to things that don't belong to her!
The bodies so battered
by master's bad temper
and mistress's selfishness
cling together and enter their hut.
As they fall asleep
an owl
says "guk".
Life's like that is a poem from Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy's selection of poems translated by Prof. Rowena Hill. In 2002, he conceptualized and directed the play 'Bahuroopi' with the Rangayana Repertoire for the National Drama festival held at Mysore. This poetry based drama reflected the theme of social justice in Kannada Poetry from the 10th Century onwards.
M. Chinnaswamy is a noted public speaker and a vocal advocate for eradicating caste system, the inhuman practice of untouchability and against fundamentalism. He is the founder President, Buddhist Literary and Cultural Association, Gadag and Director, Dalith Sahithya Parishath, State Committee which is instrumental in spreading subaltern culture and literature.
Tags: Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy