Medha Patkar Poem by RAVIKIRAN ARAKKAL

Born of humble origin,
She grew to be the companion
Of poor and downtrodden,
And live with tem they good
Life avaited her as a homemaker,
An executive or political leader
Of repute which should have been
As easy as speaking to anyone.

But she fought for the landless,
The evacuated for dams, bridges,
And ecologicla disasters,
The Goverment would have made
Due to the projects of 'production'
Which the nation had to take
On its children in tollls of lives.

She diid hungerstrikes, demoa
All over the places, slept
In pavements, whereas she could
have been lying with her husband,
And children, but she sacrificed
All material pleasures living
Like a saint, fighting for justice,
Over forty years in the country
Of half knowlege and illiteracy,
Where men and women knew
Not how to keep their rights.

Awards came and gone for her,
She toils on, all over many
Aplace a thousand miles apart,
in from of assemblies, parliament,
On street and project sites
To save the wwek from
The dinosaurs of development.

May the times remeberand rever
Her and deeds to make an example
Of how a lone woman can make
So many things happen to protect
The ignorant from the gnaws
Of the money rats who are always
Hungray for more wealth and power.


Ravikiran Arakkal