Surname
Ved Vyas and Valmiki
both great writers of the world
no, great intelligent writers of world
The epic poems of
Ramayana
were written
and slowly became holy books
We worship many of
the characters in them
as gods
and from the dust of these epics
have laid the foundation
of our culture/ civilisation
You who created my character
O writer
have you read these Books?
Even if you read them
I’m sure you did not
understand them.
Mixing all the emotions you etched out my character
Each second you painted many hues on the pages with your brush
But you made a miniscule, ant-like mistake
You added a surname after my name –
Parmar, Mohammed, Bhil
And Singh with a head gear.
You don’t know
but this ant slashes like a sword
It is brandished from all directions
It frightens, it threatens
No one befriends
No one gives a job
A shadow like death hovers over the heart
At times I thirst for water at times I hunger for a roti
Leaving kites and crows all men
Claw at my mother, my daughter
At times I light up the juloos of Id
At times Rama’s Rathayatra.
My writer, think a little
if
these intelligent writers of the world
called
Ram ‘Ram Parmar’
Sita ‘Sita Chamar’
Krishna ‘Krishna Mohammed’
The Pandavas ‘Pandava Bhil’
and
Ravana ‘Ravana Singh’
then would we put our hand on the Gita
when we swear to tell the truth?
Would we teach our children the culture
in these Books?
You who write me, my writer,
Simply remove the surname from behind my name
then look...everywhere
you will find
Krishna
Pandavas
Sita
and
the epitome of perfection
Rama.
vaishakh rathod
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem