Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry

Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 1, Number 1. May 2018. ISSN: 2581-7094

Neerav Patel: A Voice of Guajarati Dalit

Neerav Patel is one of the leading Dalit poetic voice from Gujarat. Right from the early stage of Dalit Writing Movement in Gujarat, he remains active and contributes to the writing. His pen portrays Dalits’ real conditions in poems and stories. At the early stage of Dalit writing in Gujarat, his contribution in Gujarati journals Kalo Suraj, Swaman and vacha remains noteworthy. He has also edited journals and books on Dalit writings. Non-Dalit progressive mainstream journals have also published his literary work.

Neerav is a retired bank officer and completed his doctoral research in literature still pens to represent Dalit issues realistically. Marxist influence is also visible in his poems. But frankly he admits, as most of Dalits admit Dr. Ambedkar remains as a great source of thinking throughout his life.

As the representative first generation of Gujarat Dalit writing movement, fury and protest are the key factors of his writing. Being born in a Chamar family, at the outskirt in Bhuvaladi village near Ahmedabad then got higher education, Neerav has various experiences of life, as a Dalit villager and bank officer. Neerav is a bilingual writer, Gujarati and English he uses for his work. His major literary contribution is Bahishkrut Phulo (2006), Gujarati Dalit Kavita (an anthology published by Sahitya Akademi, Mumbai / Delhi), Burning from both the ends (1980, in English), and What did I do to be black and blue (1987 in English). He has co-edited An Anthology of Gujarati Dalit Literature, jointly with Dr D S Mishra.

o where are you my midas;

those people refuse to touch me!

they do not allow me to forget for a moment that

i am Neerav patel, alias harijan.

i wonder how and why i am a harijan! because I don’t dress like them, speak like them, behave like them? because my father and his father is harijans? no I know this silly sequence ends somewhere in the past, for everybody is born as adam and eve – naked, free and equal. I would like rather to die than to dwell upon the plea that nobody can select one’s parents.

yes, it is because of them only I am a harijan……

I know little English and less of poetry, having born in harijan ghetto, nursery school or k.g. are still fascinating dreams of a deprived childhood………………………

i wish I could and appeal at the same time! the urban intelligentsia is insensitive unaware of the harijan experience and problem.

They have tortured me for a long. …………(Joshi Barbara.R 88)

This poem is his earlier poems so term harijan is used at the place of Dalit. At that time in rural Gujarat untouchability was practiced as I.P.Desai’s work Untouchability in Rural Gujarat describes. Even today Dalits are treated differently in rural Gujarat.

In his poem ‘Journalistic Apathy’ he writes reality. The role of media is very important in democracy but there is something missed by media and missing multiplies Dalits’ misery. Whenever injustice and cruelties committed on Dalits and are not highlighted or exposed the cruelty doers get indirectly encouragement and may repeat the crime. Actions also must be taken.

it is neither glossy nor glamorous.

not chic, nor debonair.

like a surrealist’s imagination of anatomy

it’s clumsy, distorted and nauseating.

but the bleeding wound on the forehead is hot red

as the deep romantic chasm on the centre-spreads

of mod mags.

it was just hoping on the ground like a slaughtered head

of a chick before a moment

the eyes were aglow with tears,

(alas, they are dead as dumb-bells)

the sensuous lips are turning muddy brown

like a draught hit-earth…………………………

it never claimed headline or hotline –

the teleprinter went tick-ticking the sport flashes,

the cameras feasted on the nude beaches

the poor head of a harijan!

it is as compassionate as the as the wrinkled face

of mother Teresa. darkness settled like dust upon the sad

face of agony – it carves for lime light……..

make it a cover page agony. (Joshi Barbara R 89)

It is one of his earlier poems but it is still relevant today. Cruelties on Dalits are still waiting to get proper place in media. Earlier it was not considered worth even to highlight. Now gradual change is coming.

‘Jasumati, my Black Jasmine’ is the poem presents nothing but tragedy of dalit damsel in rural India. Though it is composed on background of Gujarat but it is the microscopic vision of rural India.

Whenever you come with broom and dust-bins in the streets, you cease to be the black jasmine grown upon the dark dung-hill outside the boundaries of our village…….

You, jasumati, suddenly become jasmine again for a moment: the dried paste of honey upon your black lips begins to moisten. Had it been midnight the fireflies would have kissed them in search of juicy buds – your cups dripping brews!

Instantly you become feast for the zooming vultures. A nasty joke, a quick and sudden hug a slap upon your heavy buttocks. You are cornered like an easy prey. They enjoy the delicious most touchable flesh of an untouchable girl. You moan and become mother – mother of a bastard. They button up the trousers and take a plunge in the ganges.

They defile you, dear jasumati like a crow defiles with his dirty bill. (Joshi Barbara R 89-90)

The poem reminds Mulkraj Anand’s Untouchable a century back written novel where a Dalit girl becomes victim. Cruelty on women is a disgrace but it is still committed on large scale. Dalit women become more and frequent victims. The poem is the painful truth of Dalit woman’s suffering. Though, at the end of the poem, poet expresses his sympathetic love for Jasumati, the Dalit girl.

In his poem ‘Reconciliation Convention’ Neerav strongly expresses his anger when injustice and cruelties committed on Dalits by the orthodox. He writes;

Very proudly they say
The sun rises in the east
Then why this primordial darkness does not disappear from the Aryavarta?
It is since ages the tail has gone
And yet why the beast is still alive in the blood?
Rapes, murders, loot, fire and atrocities

On Dalits continually. (Dr. G.N.Vankar)

Orthodoxy strengthened by ignorance is more challenging. Neerav has strongly condemns injustice committed on Dalits. He also argues that orthodox though follow dogmatic practice and simultaneously commit injustice. It is painful.

Continuously still going on injustice and cruelties on Dalits and women, Neerav writes with anger;

Rather than studying and suffer awareness of
Insult, hate and atrocities,
And encourage the inactivity,
It would have been better
If I were illiterate,
I would strike a blow with aadi * on the head of the unjust
Or gulping mahudi** I could have swallowed the insults.”

(*wooden stick on which dead cattle are carried
** drink made of mahuda) (Dr. G.N.Vankar)

In the poem ‘Exiled Flowers’ Neerav has presented capacity and abilities of Dalits. He further also notes that if these Dalits are provided opportunity, they can fully flower and contribute in nation building;

..Where there is a village, there is a street of flowers.
These flowers since centuries were in the dark
Sometimes, if they got full moon night, bloomed like lotus.
Sometimes spread fragrance like ratrani…..

They began blooming.
with such colors, that butterflies would fall in love.
With such fragrance, that bees would forget to sting.
Everywhere spread the fragrance of these rustic flowers.
Parliament, secretariat, schools and colleges
As if their exhalation alone
Polluted the environment.
Where there is a village, there is street of flowers.

(Dr. G.N.Vankar)

Neerav has compared Dalits as the unwanted, unnoticed flowers. But also wishes that if the opportunities are provided them, they can contribute excellently.

The poem ‘Operation equality’ is based on the massive earthquake took place on 26 January 2001 Kutch, Gujarat. Large scale death and disaster took place at that time. It is believed that at the critical time human being forgets all divisions and tries to be one as family. But in this poem crude social reality is presented. The poet has addressed the killer earthquake and portrayed it thus;

You cannot make everything equal.

Yes, you chose an auspicious day,

26th January,

the republic day of the nation.

The innocent children of Anjar were

Unfurling the fake flags of freedom, equality and fraternity

And like an anarchist you attacked them at random.

You were so mad with rage that you could not even find a correct epicenter.

Kutch is a land of saints and donors,

There may be rare outlaws like Jeasal too

O good brother,

For you Delhi or Gandhinagar were not so far.

Yes, you are right.

The time is such that you burn with rage

You may wish to break to pieces the God

Who had promised to reincarnate himself

but has hidden himself

Instead in the idols……. …….

With their NRI connections

The series of overseas flights arrives

And white dogs identify the stench of their corpses earlier.

Rescue relief rehabilitation everything occurs here as per

The hierarchy of varnasham dharma

Government theirs, swaymsewakas theirs

For them at the maternal uncle’s place mother serves the food

And we are the helpless ones!

The rich Swiss tents were taken away by the leaders and officers…….

We hardly had a share of a piece of tin or tarpaulin

Their vastushastris said

‘as per their caste, allot them the plots.

We were given the wastelands of the village ponds.

Come, get early salvation by drowning in the ponds!

O kind brother earthquake,

Your operation equality is a failure. (Dr. G.N.Vankar)

The poem presents unpleasant truth. Opportunists and selfish people got their benefits even at the critical time. It is indeed very painful reality.

Caste-based injustice and cruelties are the great demerit of social harmony. Orthodox and Self-centred people for their superiority complex and their benefits follow that. Iliyas Mansuri, in his M.Phil dissertation quoted Neerav’s poem ‘Wailing in Wilderness’;

not only in jungles,

but the beasts are everywhere,

also in your neighbourhood hornless,

tailless, clawless biped,

and totally resembling humans.

these beasts enjoy civil rights,

adorned with beautiful names,

like crests upon their ugly heads!

they pounce upon our kids

playing like squirrel‘s nurslings

as hunting dog.

they kill our full-blooded youngmen.

they dream the smell of our flesh

they push us into the ravines

and oppress like the sheep in the confines.

they drive us away with dislodged anchors

shoving on the islets

and we are thrown back miles away

from the land of civilization. (Iliyas Mansuri 192)

The poem presents reality and hypocrisy of the orthodox. They say one thing do different. So Dalits have to suffer.

In his poem ‘The Vestige’ Neerav expresses his anger when the orthodox treat Dalits’ according to caste;

who was the satan sculptor

who carved my name upon my forehead?

o why do you deep in my veins to revive my name

like tattooing into the bark of the tree with a knife?

i wanted to forget my name and at midnight

i migrated to the city leaving my hut and hamlet behind

............................

you like the vulture why is the bill of your eyes

pecking the carcass of my name perennially?

alas! i am doubtful my name will survive even after i die.

(Iliyas Mansuri 180)

To identify other persons’ and treat them differently is the culture of orthodox. They believe hereditary achieved caste-status can never be changed. And lower caste can never be good at any level. So Neerav has expressed his pain of caste-label. He wants to leave it forever but orthodox first ask caste then deals according to individuals’ caste-status.

Considering various aspects of Neerav’s poems, it is clearly visible that his poems are highly mature. Topics he selects for his poetic composition are always connected with reality. He has also criticized hypocrisy, leadership and so called humanity.

Notes and Reference:

English translation of Neerav Patel’s poems are accepted in this paper from three sources

Desai, I. P. Untouchability in Rural Gujarat. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1976.p283

Joshi, Barbara, R. Untouchable!: Voice of Dalit Liberation Movement. London:

Minority Rights group, 1986.

Mansuri ,Iliyasbhai K. “Gujarati Dalit Poetry influence of Mahatma Gandhi and

Dr.B.R.Ambedkar”, Shodhganga: a reservoir of Indian Vankar, Ganapat.

---.“Gujarati Dalit Literature.” Poems by G.N.Vankar, 1 Jan. 1970, gujaratidalitsahitya.blogspot.com/2009/08/poems-by-gnvankar.html. Accessed

May,2017

,theses@INFLIBNET.”Shodhganga@INFLIBNET:Department of English.shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/.handle.net/10603/56166. Accessed 7

May, 2017