I Am Heedless

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POEM's OF NAMDEO DHASAL . I am headless body of a rat with a pyramid rising above me Meat and fish Rice and eggs Bootleg liquor and flowers of white champak Kisses, embraces, coital postures, jewels, And beds, and a house with a leaking roof, And the rhythm of a lullaby. I am squeezed: in my yearning Feminine beauty flowers The Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo da Vinci In the service of A-B Rain driving down in sheets, a dying cigarette, A dehydrated dancing girl, Contrasting colour harmony I too have poverty as my own piece of land... . (By Namdeo Dhasal, From Golpitha; translated by Dilip Chitre.)

Following poem is about Dr.B.R. Ambedkar You are the one Who dances from shrub to shrub like the butterfly Of the new year and emit rays of light. Who goes on expanding like railway lines Who unnerves the foundations of universities who travels from freedom to freedom. You are the only one, charioteer of our chariot Who comes amongst us through fields and crowds, And protest marches and struggles. Never leaves our company And delivers us from exploitation You are the one The only one. (By Namdeo Dhasal, From Golpitha; translated by D.B.Karnik.)

While I write this at night it's three o' clock Though I want to have a drink I don't feel like drinking. Only I want to sleep peacefully And tomorrow morning see no varnas.(Caste System) (From the poem: "Ambedkar:1980", in Tuhi Iyatta Kanchi; translated by Asha Mundlay and Laurie Hovell.)

How time has flown, how much water under the bridge

Even the seedless tree has blossomed at last The soil treated me as an outsider The air turned its back on me Finally what took pity on me was the limitless sky. (By Namdeo Dhasal, translated by D.B.Karnik.)