Bruised, but not Broken (poems)

-Challapalli Swarooparani

33. The Darkest Cloud

I’m the Tusker
My self-confidence
Full fathom high
Strength is my address-line
Style, my instinct
Caparison my self-esteem
My name: a Tusker

I’m the heroine
Who infuses blood
Into the veins of my
Emaciated race!

The ready high-tech weapon in the hands of
My father, Ambedkar.

I may be playing a game of ball
With little children
Yet I know how to trample
Those devotees who create hullabaloo,
Under my feet!

I’m the Tusker whose ears
Only listen to the song of stars
And not to sorrow’s woeful bark.
Nobody needs train my trunk
To fling off canny foxes
Into the nether regions.

I’m the radar that detects
The ‘good gentleman’, a ‘false ghost’
Who shuts the eyes of a child.

I’m not a dull head
But a brilliant intellectual
My mentor is that luminary wizard
Of wisdom
Who taught me to distinguish
Truth from falsehood.

I’m the Tusker
Courage of conviction
Is my trumpet
My form is the darkest cloud!

(Telugu: “Rajakeeya Prakatana”, translated by N.R.Tapaswi and published on Face Book Timeline of the author.)

*****

(To be continued-)

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Challapalli Swaroopa Rani

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.

Swaroopa Rani is poet, story writer, columnist and free lance Journalist. She is known activist and writer. She has started writing poetry during her college days on general aspects and shifted to write political issues of Dalits, Adivasis and Women. Swaroopa has published four books on theory(English and Telugu) and two anthologies(Telugu) and almost 100 articles in different journals. She has organized ten National and International Conferences and attended more than 100 seminars and conferences. Swaroopa’s poetry is well received by the readers and her poetry is included in many collections and got translated into English, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. Academic research is being carried on her works and her poetry is prescribed in curriculum at Graduation and Post-Graduation level.

Bruised, but not Broken (poems) – 33. The Darkest Cloud