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Mainstream, VOL LIX No 37, New Delhi, August 28, 2021
Comrade - 1978 poem by Prabhakar Gangurde Astitva - translated by Gail Omvedt and Bharat Patankar
Friday 27 August 2021
#socialtagsby Prabhakar Gangurde Astitva, Aurangabad, 1978
Don’t expect revolution from those living corpses,comrade.First youbecome their beacon.The revolution thatwill flash like lightningand not be extinguished in any storm is still far faraway.Don’t be in a hurry for revolution. You are still very small;your ability to resistthe atrocities, boycotts and rapes that go on every momenthas become nil,comrade.Tomorrow’s sun is yet to rise;sleep undisturbed until then.Take the fantasy out ofyour daydreams.What will happenfrom simply waving the red flagover the many colors of reality?In showing the way to violent revolution take careof your own existence, comrade.I’m worried about you,not knowingwhat will happen tomorrow.The sun will set.Where are you goingwith your existence in the dark, comrade?Don t be so impatient,there are some boundaries to sacrifice. From a thousand sacrificeswhat will be accomplished?This is thestory o f each generation.Why give to one generation onlythe sacrifice o f all generations? Comrade don t be so anxious,don t worry about me.Now I have awakened,I am moving in blazing sunlight. Come...You won t come with meyou won*t embrace me.I have tiger claws scatteredall over my body.They won t pierce you.I f they pierce you it iscertainly not for your sacrifice comrade.
(Dalit poem of the late 1970s; translated by Gail Omvedt and Bharat Patankar. The “ tiger claws†in the last section refer to the weapons used by the Maratha king Shivaji to kill the Muslim chief Afzal Khan in an embrace at a meeting in which both were planning treachery.)
Reproduced From: Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India I Gail Omvedt. 1993 by M. E. Sharpe, Inc.