Monday 14 April 2014

"INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY"--K. V. DOMINIC'S POEM RECITED AT GIEWEC'S COLLABORATIVE LITERARY FESTIVAL AT PONIDCHERRY UNIVERSITY ON 20-21 MARCH 2014

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Dr. K. V. Dominic


International Women’s Day,
Celebrations all over the world,
Meetings held,
Programmes chalked out,
Promises showered,
Fund allotted,
Celebrities honoured,
All echoes of previous years.
Problems remain the same!
Birth to death,
sexism omnipresent.
Her very birth ill omen:
only an accident.
No guilt in foeticide;
Foeticide is matricide;
No life without mother.
Sexism in childhood;
Priority to her brother,
Her food, his leftover.
Chained in kitchen,
she rarely goes out.
No toys, no plays,
always envies him.
Mum and dad love him;
She gets only reproaches;
Beat her very often.
Seldom educated;
Hence no employment
and always dependant.
No choice of her partner;
Her individuality
never honoured.
Born to be dictated;
Tyranny everywhere:
Slave to her husband,
servant to her in-laws.
Bears the burden of birth;
Lives for her children.
Dawn to dusk,
blood turns sweat.
Her love never returned.
Has no place in politics:
councils, assemblies, parliaments,
she has no voice.
Religions also dishonour her:
she has no right
to enter her Father’s abode;
no place in clergy.
She is always the Other.
Patriarchy is his product;
He dictates the world,
dictates even God
and corrupts the religion.
He writes the scriptures,
makes sexism predestinate.
Venerable is woman,
for she is your mother,
she is your sister,
she is your wife,
she is your guide,
she is your teacher,
she is your nurse,
and above all,
she is your angel.







"AN AIRPORT MADE OF TEARS"--K. V. DOMINIC'S POEM RECITED AT GIEWEC'S COLLABORATIVE LITERARY FESTIVAL AT PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY ON 20-21 MARCH 2014

An Airport Made of Tears*
Dr. K. V. Dominic

Proposed Aranmula International Airport
A dream project of private construction group
Intends to construct airport city in 3000 acres
Eighty percent land paddy fields and wet lands
Rice and fish can earn four hundred crores per year
Runway being constructed over tributary of Pamba
Will lead to flood in river during monsoon
Razing of four hills for filling wet lands
Leading to water shortage and loss of biodiversity
Will affect serenity and sanctity of Parthasarathy temple
Three thousand poor families to be evicted
But they are not willing to leave
their sustaining lands, jobs and houses

Fake development policy of the State
Dancing to tunes of billionaire corporate
An airport totally unnecessary
Two international airports on either side
Two hours drive will take you there
Selfish discontent inhumane millionaires
Insist on flying from the poor’s chest
Got sanction from Sate through foul means
Already filled hundreds of acres of paddy fields
Destroyed hundreds of species of fish, snakes,
amphibians, valuable plants and micro-organisms
Fled thousands of birds both air and water

Aranmula people are on indefinite satyagraha
Protest against merciless State and corporate
Young and old they clamour in unison
“We will never leave our houses and lands
Where will we go and how will we live?
We can’t leave our rich heritage village,
our Parthasarathy temple and holy groves
Let their armed force shoot us all
and construct airport over our corpses.”
Their elected government has betrayed them
The government pleads for the corporate
Ignores the pleas of opposition parties
Pooh-poohs warnings of environmentalists
Innocent villagers lulled by music of birds and hymns
Waken up again by heavenly symphony
And eased by gentle strokes of breeze in day time
are destined to bear day and night
piercing drones of planes one after other

Beware, Maoists are never born
They are made where injustice rules


*Arnamula is a Hindu heritage village in southern part of Kerala. The place is internationally known for Parthasarathy Temple, Holy Snake Boats and boat race, Aranmula Mirror and holy river Pamba. The poem was composed on 28 February 2014.