My Kongu is Not a Sooty Rag That Guards My Bosom
English Traslation: K.Suneetha Rani
Telugu Original : Jupaka Subhadra
My kongu sleeps guarding like Maisamma on the bund
Tying the knot of my hunger
Embracing my stomach
Touches me like the breeze
When I become the stream of sweat in toil.
Like a moon surrounded by stars
It shines on my head as a heap
With roots, grains and groceries.
Gives me rest like a bed
When I am tired in the fields.
The piece of my muddy kongu
Hugs my eyes like a mother
When my grief flows incessantly.
It’s caught in my husband’s hand even before me;
When my husband has anger or desire.
It’s my kongu that gets subjected first;
At home or outside, for power or in aggression.
It holds the umbrella of Tangedu Flowers;
To the sunrise of my face and my dark hair;
From the tigers of cold, harsh looks of Sun
Blows of hot winds and mischief of rain drops;
Quenches my thirst like the tree-shade
Caressing my ears and cheeks
Envelopes my shoulders like a warm bonfire,
Becomes the cushion for huge pots on my head
To bring water from a distance,
Burns its hands
As a sooty rag for vessels on the stove
Hugs my weeping kids
Like an infant bed cloth,
Constrains the endless streams
From the dams of my lamp-like nose
That plays in dust throughout the day.
Licks the dust all over my body like the delivered cow.
Covers the Modugu flower coloured monthly stain
Like a screen.
Sowing, reaping, weeding, harvesting,
Work and songs happen
Only if the piece of my kongu becomes the ornament around my waist.
Where is the time for my muddy kongu to fit on my bosom?
It turns and shifts around
In my hands, sweat, bed, bones, shoulders,
Happiness, sorrow
Sticking to me like the dirt fallen on my feet
In work, songs, hardships and plenty.
Becoming a companion in the path of my life.
My sweaty kongu that slogs like a washing rock
Is not a sooty rag that guards the bosom.
Not a burden on the chest.
How shall I drag it into streets and defame it?
How shall I ruin myself by burning it?
***
(Translation of “Kongu Na Bochhemeeda Kavalunde Bonta Peggadu” Andhra Jyothi Daily, 7.5.2007 by K Suneetha Rani)
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జూపాక సుభద్ర కవయిత్రి, కథకురాలు, కాలమిస్టు, వ్యాసకర్త, అనువాదకురాలు, పరిశోధకరాలు, వక్తగా, సంఘసేవకురాలు, ప్రభుత్వ ఉన్నతాధికారిణి. బహుముఖ ప్రజ్ఞాశాలి. ప్రస్తుతం తెలంగాణ ఉద్యోగుల సంఘంలో కీలకంగా పనిచేస్తున్నారు.
సుభద్ర గారు తెలుగు సాహిత్యంలో, మహిళా సాహిత్యంలో ఉన్న అగ్రకుల బావజాలాన్ని ప్రశ్నిస్తూ, ఆధునిక సాహిత్యంపై విమర్శ చేస్తూ దళిత, బహుజన సాహిత్యం యొక్క ఉన్నతిని పెంపొందిస్తూ రచనలు చేసున్నారు.