Coastal Voices! (Poem)

-Written by Dr.Darla Venkateswara Rao

It is not just to put out the blow-outs first
As they are purely transitory and ephemeral
The wealth being snatched a way by blowout
The source bed is reduced to ashes
It is soil in the mouths of those born on that soil
Deceit in the hectic pretence
Flames of hearts stretching their tongues
Put out these flames first not just blowouts

So what! Rayalseema, Telangana, Konaseema
Now on the verge of split!
Hearken! The coastal voices amidst struggle for existence
Realtors, Industrialists, bureaucrats, so many
Of course, in different names and thoughts
It is surely neo-colonialism of exploitation
All pollution exists in factionalism, caste-politics, and aquaculture!

It is thatched mud –walled huts sacrificed to bulldozers
Children of scam are international ring tones
And mushrooming tenements touching the sky

Now every inch of land tinged with WTO rangoli
Can we look for plains anywhere here?
Here are the rigged holes on the motherland
Destructions on greeneries inquest for oil
It is deep love bonds lying under peril
A fragment of land procured out of saved pie
It is aqua beds that pythons swallowed
It is countless, still lying hidden

Poor Peddamma, deprived of even reeds of broom
For collecting the scattered grain to live her life
Can she be blessed with fistful wood to cremate cadaver

Gas here is in abundance but not turned into fuel
Many a temptation gripping the body all over
Now, Konaseema is remains as a daily porter
Carrying bundles of currency notes to the world bank
Now, Konaseema is like a colour T.V
Spitting blood in forms of blow-out forms
Now it retains a gruesomely dear appearance
Oh, how rigged life of the coastal poor is!

Translated by Dr.J.Bheemaiah 27-07-2006 jbsh@uohyd.ernet.in
Lecturer,Centre for Comparative Literature.
UNIVERSITY OF HYDERABAD