Chanchal Kumar My presentation will be brief and touch upon the intellectual and philosophical core of the novel. The social and historical background of the work has been covered at length by Professor Raj Kumar in his introduction to the novel, as well as in his essay “Alienation, consciousness and assertion – an interpretation of …
Karukku and Patricia Williams in a Private University: A Futile Exercise in a Savarna Space
Bhartrhari Srinivasan The idea of reading Karakku was inspired by anger and, to a large extent, a feeling of suffocation in a system that erased caste and appropriated it depending on what was convenient. However, I soon realised that there does not exist as of yet, or at least I am not aware of, a …
Three poems by Samkutty Pattomkary
Samkutty Pattomkary Translated from Malayalam by Sreekala Sivasankaran 1. Sea Horses in the Memories When the blue doors open Mother cries in the tender coconut shell Like a pecked out navel Novel rhythm oozes The dalit pastor screams To the bud-rotten cross Let the leaves sprout Would become the …
Thoughts on Tanya Singh’s poetry collection from Panther’s Paw: ‘Blue is the Colour I Choose’
Chanchal Kumar The Hindi writer Ajay Navaria said in an interview, “We are not Dalits 24 hours a day”. This statement may seem puzzling. Some may think, How can one escape one’s identity at will? The signifier ‘Dalit’ isn’t a uniform that a person can put on for some time and then change into …
Flowers on the Grave of Caste by Yogesh Maitreya
Nikhil Sanjay-Rekha Adsule The hands Confined To pull Dead carcasses, Started to write And, and They wrote poems Beautiful stories Of their lives. – Yogesh Maitreya, ‘The Bridge of Migration’ The above lines by the poet-writer Yogesh Maitreya, themselves mark an assertion of a new …
Ambedkarite Movement after Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and contribution of Bahujan Women
Sheetal Kamble (The text of her speech ‘Ambedkarite Movement after Dr. Babashaeb Ambedkar and the contribution of Dalit-Bahujan Women’ at IIT Mumbai. It was the Second Lecture in ‘The Savitribai Phule – Fatima Sheikh Lecture Series’ and was organized by Ambedkarite Students Collective, IIT Mumbai on 18th April, 2019.) I would like to thank the Ambedkarite …
A March for Reason
Subodh Minto The month of March in the year 2014, brought India closer to the next general elections, which were due in April and May. The failure of policies of Indian National Congress led UPA II Government raised hopes of the chief opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindutva (Brahmanic) force which was trying to …
Interview with Prof Vivek Kumar on the Bahujan Movement
Round Table India In this episode of the Ambedkar Age series, Round Table India talks to Prof Vivek Kumar, Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. In the interview, Prof Vivek Kumar touches upon a vast range of subjects, including the contours of …
ಹಿಮಗೈಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹಿಡಿದ ಸುಡುಗೆಂಡ: ಎನ್ ಕೆ ಕಾವ್ಯ
ರಹಮತ್ ತರೀಕೆರೆ (Rahamat Tarikere) ನಮ್ಮ ನಡುವಿನ ಪ್ರತಿಭಾವಂತ ಕವಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಒಬ್ಬರಾಗಿದ್ದ ಎನ್.ಕೆ. ಹನುಮಂತಯ್ಯ (1974-2010), ಸಾಯಬಾರದ ವಯಸ್ಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸತ್ತು ಆರು ವರ್ಷಗಳಾದವು. ಈಗಲೂ ಅವರ ನೆನಪು ಹಸಿಯಾಗಿಯೇ ಕಾಡುತ್ತಿದೆ. ‘ಸಂಬಂಧ’ಗಳನ್ನು ಸಂಭಾಳಿಸಲಾಗದೆ ನೈತಿಕ ಬಿಕ್ಕಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಲುಕಿ, ಗೆಳೆಯರಿಗೆ ಸಿಗದೆ ಓಡಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವಾಗಲೂ, ಫೋನಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ಮಾತಿಲ್ಲದೆ ಅಳುತ್ತಿರುವಾಗಲೂ, ಈ ಬಿಕ್ಕಟ್ಟಿನಿಂದ ಅವರು ಪಾರಾಗಿ ಬರುವರೆಂದೇ ಭಾವಿಸಿದ್ದೆವು. ಆದರೆ ಅವರ ಸಾವಿನ ಕೆಟ್ಟಸುದ್ದಿ ಒಂದು ದಿನ ಬಂದು ಬಡಿಯಿತು. ನೋವಿನ ಜತೆ ಆಕ್ರೋಶವೂ ಬಂದಿತು. ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಶ್ರೇಷ್ಠ ಕಾವ್ಯ …