Week 12 - Sapna Indu Pillai

                                                     Weekly Summary 12 


The poem by Sukirtha Rani “I speak Bluntly” tells a tale of embarrassment, hardship and what seems like a fixed reality. It is poem of a child who is eating dead cows and leftovers of uppercaste which is a common occurrence and practice of the Dalit community due to poverty and in access to food and other resources. The poem also talks about the shame of occupation of the father that the child feels and hides from but with time embraces her caste and the hardship that comes with it. This is the tale of millions in India who belong to the Dalit community where their days are soaked in shame and humiliation at the expense of upper caste for a caste they were born into. This sense of helplessness is born and can only be erased with the death of the caste system. The other poem is called Nature’s Fountainhead which personifies the narratives and experiences of the Dalit community as a painting which is overflowing because of value of its content. It is symbolic to how the Dalit community is always trapped and confined and silence to ensure that the uppercaste still hold their place of privilege and wealth and this poem shows that that time of silence by the lowercaste is over and that they will be heard and will shout their stories of injustice and pain and nothing can confine and silence their demands anymore. This is a powerful piece which shows resilience and strength of a community that has time and again been beaten down by the caste system but refuses to give in and give up and fights the system everyday. 

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