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 […]
Continue ReadingBruised, but not Broken (poems) -Challapalli Swarooparani 9. Need to Speak My dumbness reveals No human is seen to speak It took a long time Even to speak to myself True interaction with a man Is possible only after Leaving all inhibitions. It is indeed For the union of true souls The interaction between you […]
Continue ReadingBruised, but not Broken (poems) -Challapalli Swarooparani 8. Morning Star Rising with the morning star Sweeping darkness away with a broom That girl draws patterns of brightness… As she washes dishes the sun rises from her beads of sweat. Amidst the chirping of birds. As she cleans everyone’s filth with her tender fingers That wonderful […]
Continue ReadingBruised, but not Broken (poems) -Challapalli Swarooparani 7. Mankena Flower Caught in bramble and thorn I am a struggling palapitta** Whichever way I move The thorns prick me These are not thorns of today But shackles of slavery That have bound me for generations. Caught between the devil and the deep sea Danger hisses about […]
Continue ReadingBruised, but not Broken (poems) -Challapalli Swarooparani 6. Untouchable Assault This is ‘untouchable Sunitha’ speaking: From long ago ― Forgotten by you all In this country, just as there is ― untouchable hunger untouchable exploitation, untouchable suicides untouchable rape too exists. I swear by my love for Yogeswar Reddy That mine is certainly an Untouchable […]
Continue ReadingBruised, but not Broken (poems) -Challapalli Swarooparani 5. Explosion Though every cell craves for sanctity of a filled pot incessant blasts only embrace me. My only desire to live like a pure, new born person innocently like a faint green sprout ― the concrete diplomacy that piled up around freezes it by the day. To […]
Continue ReadingBruised, but not Broken (poems) -Challapalli Swarooparani 4. Prohibited Dream My memory does not carry Colourful dreams that converse with my eyelids. In my dream, someone chases me, Always, as I keep running Insecure And towards an unknown destiny. In fact, life too is like a dream! I bundle up my identity and toss it […]
Continue ReadingBruised, but not Broken (poems) -Challapalli Swarooparani 3. Water Just as water knows the ground’s incline, It knows the generations-old strife Between village and wada Like dampness on the well’s edge that never dries, It knows that untouchability never disappears. Water knows everything. It knows race The difference between the woman from Samaria and Jesus, […]
Continue ReadingBruised, but not Broken (poems) -Challapalli Swarooparani 2. An Ethnic Dream The criss-crossed entangled forest seemsTo have gathered its hair neatly into a knot.Swallowed by a corporate whaleThat spits them out in the centre of Shilparamam*Small huts in deep sleep amidst green treesAppear doll houses with lime patternsAlluring. Nose studs, beaded necklaces, mirror blouses ofThe […]
Continue ReadingBruised, but not Broken (poems) -Challapalli Swarooparani 1.Rain Rain means Memories – Flying termites That shed their wings from The wet anthills of the mind Rain means A paper boat that I fasten To plunge into the pond of infancy When I look at this rain I remember my damp thatched house That woke us […]
Continue ReadingBruised, but not Broken (poems) -Challapalli Swarooparani ‘ Memory as an Ideology ‘ Challapalli Swaroopa Rani uses memory not only as a technique but also as an ideology. Her selective memory carefully constructs the people and the milestones in her life and collates this personal memory with her memory of […]
Continue ReadingBruised, but not Broken (poems) -Challapalli Swarooparani ‘ THE PAIN OF BEING A PART APART ‘ This collection of 35 poems written by Prof Challapalli Swaroopa Rani now translated in to English, are eye-openers into the unspeakable experiences of Dalits not only in Andhra but all over India. These poems […]
Continue ReadingBruised, but not Broken (poems) -Challapalli Swarooparani My Word By and large the feminist movement in India has been about patriarchal oppression, experienced by dominant castes and middle class educated/urban women – gender discrimination: unequal man-woman relationships; undemocratic family system; burden of child-rearing and hardship of domestic chores as women […]
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