Heat
Mid-day heat
Black heartbeats
on sweating tarred roads.
Jatara Jatara**
of the body cells
for the beat.
Ha..Ho..Hai
Rythm..crescendo
Roar..the lion's roar
Step..the tiger's step.
The sky trembled
and the ground shook
when the whole jaati
danced the chindu***.
Only the Madiga dappu
is the guide for movement.
My translation of J.Gautam's Telugu poem 'danDOra rOju' (from his collection of poetry 'nalu dikkula nuncii ranDi').
* Dandora: danDOra means proclamation. It refers to the custom of proclamations or announcements etc the Madigas would make by calling attention of the villagers through their dappu (drum) beats. Also refers to the Madiga Dandora assertion movement.
** Jatara: pronounced jaatara, is Telugu for village or folk festival.
*** Chindu: C.P.Brown's Telugu-English dictionary calls it 'a dance, hop, jig'. Refers to a folk dance mostly performed by the Madigas.
Tags: J.Gautam