Bruised, but not Broken (poems)
-Challapalli Swarooparani
33. The Lamp of Questions
Yes, Rohith*,
You are right
It’s painful to be born in a place
Where we are deemed criminals
On account of our birth.
Yes, this childhood is untouchable and lonely
It kills tenderness and warmth.
It is a childhood of exclusions
That drives us towards the graveyard.
We never received
Appreciation and recognition
In spite of our achievements.
Here, love is banned
A question, abolished.
They colour our beliefs
Walking differently
Pursuing a different path is
A crime here
Pointing out that
The Emperor is without clothes
Is considered a sin.
It is also a fault of ignorance that, here,
Living is equivalent to passing time
In sheer helplessness.
It’s highly dangerous to question
Why Rama is good or
Why Sita bathed in
Lakes across the land.
Rohith,
Tell us what to dream
But you see, they don’t let us sleep.
There are schools and temples
But learning and gaining of
Knowledge is prohibited.
Rohith, let me know:
Is education not for enlightenment?
Had you come to convince people that
Fellow beings are not commodities, votes and money?
Had you arrived to explain to people that
A man is a thinking being
Is love and dynamism?
*Rohith a student from University of Hyderabad, committed suicide after humiliation and discrimination at the hands of the administration.
(Telugu: “Prasnala Laantharu”, translated by the author and published in ‘Saranga web magazine, June, 2016.)
*****
(To be continued-)
Challapalli Swaroopa Rani hails from a village, Pyaparru, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh. She is one of the five daughters of Mariyamma and Mantraiah. Went to Govt school in her place, completed her college at Guntur, the District head quarters. Then shifted to Hyderabad Central University and involved in student politics as a founder member of Ambedkar Student’s Association. She had her master’s in History & Archaeology, M.Phil in Medieval History and Ph. D in Regional Studies. Swaroopa has obtained Gold Medal in her Masters Examinations. She has got her first recruitment as Asst. Professor in History at Potti Sriramulu Telugu University, Srisailam and got selected as Associate Professor in Buddhist Studies in Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur. She lives in Vijayawada. Presently she is a Professor of Buddhist Studies and Director, Center for Women’s Studies in the same University. She is specialized in studies on Buddhism, Caste, Religion, Gender, Tribal Studies, People’s Culture and Literature.