Bruised, but not Broken (poems)
-Challapalli Swarooparani
10. Buffalo Nationalism
A void at home
The minds speak no words
On the day when we sold
Our pet buffalo
A pet is not an animal
But one of us, more than kith and kin
We have no separate homes.
She is my parents’ child,
Along with other children
And nicknamed a puppy ―
Because it bought cheese
On the day of her birth.
Her moment of birth is a festival
The fragrance of the new-born
Soothes our souls
As children, we were privileged
To see her
Bathed in warm water
How she hops about, her umbilical cord
Her belt.
The calf becomes a heifer
Grows, even as we grow
Becomes pregnant.
She is sold
For our sake.
And it is time now
For her to move to another shelter.
When she turns around and looks at us
We weep, uncontrolled.
As she makes her way to another home
Does she have words for my father?
[To ProfKanchaIlaiah Shepherd]
(Telugu: “Buffalo Nationalism” translated by Dr G Chenna Reddy, Dept of English, Acharya Nagarjuna University and published in Vaartha daily, 05.01.2007.)
*****
(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.