Sanket Jain

Sharmila Joshi

Editor

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‘My words, My sorrows, And the poetry that
springs from their confluence Is my only introduction’

That is how Suyash Kamble describes himself in the introduction to a collection of his poems that he is putting together.  At the age of 20, he has already written 400 of them, their powerful words speaking of his anger and anguish, his beliefs and hopes. Suyash calls his poems &quot;revolutionary&quot; and caste-based discrimination and violence are a central theme in his writing. “Being born in a Dalit [Mahar] household showed me the casteist roots of society, which remain even after 71 years of Independence,” he says. “The status of a person in society is decided by caste.&quot;Many of his poems are also a reaction to the growing attacks on personal freedoms and the freedom of expression, and of the opposition to Dalit intellectual assertion. Other poems too cover a broad range – atrocities against women, the stampede at Elphinstone station in Mumbai in September 2017, the killing of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.    His father, Shamrao Kamble, 57, is a farmer. The family lives in Shiradwad village in Shirol taluka of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra. On their 1.75 acres of land they manage to produce 55-60 tonnes sugarcane over a 15-month cycle, at times taking loans to meet costs, and making modest profits on the produce. Shamrao also works as a labourer in the small powerloom factories in and around the village, earning Rs. 250 for an eight-hour shift.

Suyash’s mother, Shakuntala, 55, is a homemaker; his brother  Budhbhushan, 24, is studying law in a college in Mumbai, and another brother, Shubham, 22, works as a labourer at construction sites in Ichalkaranji town.  Suyash
studies in Class 12 in a night college in Ichalkaranji, which is 12 kilometres from his
village. To
add to the family income he works as an electrician during the day. This fetches
him around Rs. 2,500 per month. “The job of an electrician involves visiting
many houses,” he says. “The first thing people ask me is my name, and the
question which follows is: what is your surname? At times they then ask me if I
am a Dalit.”













Once,
Suyash says, he went to the house of an upper caste family in Shiradwad to
repair some fittings in the in-house temple. “Immediately after inquiring about
my caste, they covered the statutes of the deities with a cloth,” he says.  At another job, he recalls,  “I was asked to remove my rubber slippers
[which he wears to protect himself from any electrical shocks] even while
working on the terrace. When I refused, the woman there said, ‘Aren’t you taught
anything at home? You Dalit people have always behaved this way’. ”

And, he recalls, “Usually, while other upper caste workers are served food
or water in metal utensils, I always end up receiving food in disposable
plates. These are small things which I see every day. We have experienced many such instances
of caste discrimination. We have now become used to this.”It was Suyash’s father Shamrao who first introduced his
son to the writings of Namdeo Dhasal, the revolutionary poet and a founder of the
Dalit Panthers in 1972. Over time, Suyash read extensively and was influenced
by the work of many other poets, including Daya Pawar, Sharankumar Limbale, Narayan Surve,
Laxman Mane, Eknath Awad and Ashok Pawar.  His father would narrate stories of the
movements across the country led by Dalit leaders, and Suyash also started
reading the works of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. The young poet is now a member of
five libraries; two in his own village, one in nearby Shivanakwadi village, and two in Ichalkaranji
town.  

Suyash started writing poems at the age of 16. He writes them by hand in
Marathi, and has filled six 180-page diaries. “Whenever something disturbing
happens, I write a poem. I can express myself best through poetry. My poetry is about the social realities
I observe, of how the lower castes are impoverished. Until I write poems and
express these issues, I don’t feel calm within.”

Suyash’s early poems were not “revolutionary”
he says,  “but after reading Babasaheb&#39;s Annihilation of Caste, my tone
changed.” Ambedkar&#39;s Riddles in Hinduism
further inspired Suyash. “Now, my poems are about the atrocities faced
by Dalits. People talk about ending the reservation system, why does no one
talk about ending the caste system?” he asks. “Who says untouchability doesn’t
prevail in today’s India? We experience it every day. I am restless after seeing
casteism on a daily basis. And when this restlessness becomes too much, I write
poetry.”

On January 1, 2018, Suyash was at Koregaon Bhima, in
Shirur taluka of Pune district, around 290 kilometres from his
village. On that day every year, Dalit groups gather here in large numbers to
commemorate the defeat of the upper caste Peshwa-led Maratha army by Mahar
soldiers in the British army. “I’m involved in the [Dalit] movement, and Koregaon Bhima is an annual inspiration for us to do some good work for our community,” he
says. 

This year, an opposing political group waylaid the
Dalits going to Koregaon Bhima; violent clashes followed. Suyash expressed his outrage in a powerful poem titled ‘O country of
stones ’. (See below for the Marathi original and English translation.)

Suyash aims to publish a book of his poems and he wants to
become a journalist. “We need Dalit reporters to write about our community. This suffering can best be understood only by a Dalit and he can
write well about it,” he says. “The fourth pillar of democracy has been
captured by the government today. The media have become puppets of the
politicians. But a good journalist will never be silent.”

Notes: *Angulimal refers to Ahimsaka, who was misled by his teacher into serial violence; he had to kill a 1,000 people and keep count by cutting off a finger as guru dakshina. He wore a garland of these fingers – an ‘anguli mal’.**Pochiram Kamble and his son Chandra died in the violence during the Dalits&#39; struggle for the renaming Aurangabad University as Babasaheb Ambedkar University.Poem translated by Namita Waikar

‘O country of stones!’

'ਓ ਪੱਥਰਾਂ ਦੇ ਦੇਸ਼!'

‘ஏ கற்களால் ஆன நாடே!’

‘ହେ ପଥରମାନଙ୍କ ଦେଶ!’

‘হে মোর পাথরের দেশ!’

ओ पत्थरों के देश: ‘तुमने मुझे पत्थर उठाने पर मजबूर किया’

’اے پتھروں کے ملک!‘

‘दगडांच्या देशा!’

Ichalkaranji

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‘O country of stones!’

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