–Guest Blogger Diwas Kc
Here’s a poem on another pair of neighbours: Dalit and Thakur. This is a poem by Omprakash Valmiki, a Hindi Dalit poet, and translated by Naresh K. Jain. Valmiki delivered this poem at one session of Bhaskar Bhasha Series at Jaipur Literature Festival. Look below for the recital in Hindi.
Thakur’s Well
The hearth is made of soil,
the soil is from the pond,
the pond belongs to the Thakur.
Hunger demands rotis,
the rotis are made of bajra,
bajra comes from the field,
the field belongs to the Thakur.
The ox belongs to the Thakur,
the plough belongs to the Thakur.
The hand that grips the handle is our own.
The harvest belongs to the Thakur,
the well belongs to the Thakur,
the water belongs to the Thakur,
the farm belongs to the Thakur,
the lane and the streets belongs to the Thakur.
What then is ours?
The village, the city, the country?
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I think more people need to question why the media is kinder to brahmin Anand facing the Dalit cause. So much like Gandhi patronizing everyone he could cheat out of a revoluionary ideology.