A Voice Became Silent Poem by Asit Kumar Sanyal

The Second half of 2016
Unfortunate for us
Master for art and cultures in India
Leaving one by one
First, KN Panicker, the theater director
Then KG Subramanyan, the great artist
Syed Haider Raza, the major painter
And now writer Mahasweta Devi.

Mahasweta was the voice of marginalized
And highly respected in the world of letters
India lost a fiction writer,
A social activist,
a feminist,
And a crusader
for the tribal communities.

Before becoming a full time writer
She worked as a journalist
And English professor.
In 1940, being influenced
By the communist movement
She chose to work
Among the poorest of the poor
In the tribal areas.
And played a significant role to uplift them
specially extremely backward community
‘Kheria Sabar'.

She narrated directly
what she experienced in life
And placed the people in stories and novels
whom she come across
during her work.

Her voice became silent
On 28 July at 3 pm
But she is not
Mahasweta Devi is alive in our hearts
And will be forever.