People in Shillong in Manipur take out a rally in 2023 to promote peace and justice People in Shillong in Manipur take out a rally in 2023 to promote peace and justice Kongu isn’t a Rag That Stands Guard Over My Head

Kongu ties up my hunger,tucks my stomach in and keeps watchfor me like Katta Maisamma while sleeping;When I turn into a canal of sweat at workshe mops it up like a cool breeze, like the moon clutching together the starsshe glistens as the sackthat holds roots, vegetables, grainsand the komati’s groceries on my head;In the fields and the fallow plots, when I grow tiredshe spreads out a bed to give me rest,when my grief streams from my eyes to the skiesshe draws my eye babies towards herselflike a motherbetlead, and hugs them close, my dirt rag;When my husband reaches out in love or angerlike a ball of butter she always gets caught before I,to aggression or violence, from those at home or outside,my kongu rag always succumbs first...Kissing my ears and cheeksshe holds up an umbrella of senna flowersover the dawn of my facethe sapphires of my hair;From chilly weather and searing looksfrom the blasts of heat wavesfrom the sneakiness of rain dropsshe offers cool relief like the shade of a tree,becomes a warm fire that covers my shoulders.She becomes a pad for cool potsthat slake your thirst from a mile away,burns her fingershandling vessels on the stove,comforts my crying babieshugging them like warm baby clothing.Though she works cheerfully by my side all day in the dustshe stems the life streamsflowing from my body’s sluices all night;Like a cow nursing a new-born calfshe licks all dirt off my body,like a wicker wallshe hides the modugu stain spreading through my cloth;Only when she becomes the snake charmer’s been at my waistdo planting, harvesting, weeding and threshing,chores and songs screech into motion.My dirt rag that rolls in my hands, sweat, bed, bones,limbs in pleasure and sorrow, my kongu rag that sticks to me  in work and song, in crisis and comfort,like the filth that clings to my feet, the companionof my life path...slaving like the washerman’s stone,when does my perspiring kongu find the time for rest?She’s not the patchy pallu that stands guard over my headnor the hobbling stone... over my breasthow can I drag her into the bazaarset fire to her honour and lose myself?

First published in Savari (https://www.dalitweb.org/)

—Translated from Telugu by Naren Bedide

Joopaka Subhadra, Telangana

(Joopaka Subhadra is a Dalit poet from Telangana. Her poems reflect the daily struggles of Dalit women and men. She is the founder of Mattipoolu [SC, ST, BC and Minority] Women Writers’ Forum and has been one of the prominent voices for the community. She is currently working as Additional Secretary in the Government of Telangana.)

If I standI hit the roofIf I straighten upI hit the wall.I somehow spent a lifetime here, confined.What came to my aid was the habitof curling up inside my mother’s womb.

— Translated from Gujarati by Pratishtha Pandya

This poem was originally published in the People's Archive of Rural India on October 11, 2023.

Vajesinh Pargi, Gujarat

(Vajesinh Pargi, an Adivasi poet from Gujaratbetlead, wrote powerful poems about hope and hardships, but never received his due in mainstream Gujarati literature. He was born in 1963 in the poor Bhil Adivasi community in Dahod’s Itawa village. Pargi completed his BA in Gujarati, but was unable to finish his Masters’ and opted for a B. Ed., hoping to pursue a teaching career. However, an accidental bullet injury proved life changing for the young Pargi, who never fully recovered even after seven years of treatment and had to give up his dreams of becoming a teacher. Through his poetry, he found the possibility to rise beyond the individual circumstances and connect with the real truth about the human condition. He published two volumes of poems, Aagiyanu Ajwalun [The Light of the Fireflies], in 2019 and Jhakalna Moti [Pearls of Dewdrops], in 2022 and a few poems in his mother tongue Panchamahali Bhili. The poem in the current issue, and the biographical information about Pargi, has been compiled from the article ‘Vajesinh Pargi: A Life in Letters and Worse’ by Pratishtha Pandya, published by the People’s Archive of Rural India and based on an interview from a hospital in Dahod, shortly before he died fighting lung cancer on September 23, 2023.)

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