A Pen Is A Chisel

A new wave of Marathi women writers speaks eloquently for the voiceless

- Prachi Pinglay-Plumber

Land Line

How easy it is dear,
Once you write off your land,
You can have any imported four-wheeler
Stand right at your door,
Have exorbitant acquisitions come home
Money can make anyone dance...
You can dress anyone in gold and silver.
Show off as a cent-minister

But my dear, will you hand over your heart to the system,
That extracts your mother’s heart?

You are right nonetheless...
There are no landlines anyway...

—Kalpana Dudhal

LAST month, at the Maharashtra Foundation award ceremony, amidst celebrated writers and activists, Kalpana Dudhal, a pet­ite, unassuming and soft-spoken poet from Boribhadak village in Pune district, took the microphone. Her speech started as a quiet monologue, but soon she had the audience—largely from Mumbai and Pune—enthralled. Many of them rushed to meet this powerful writer after the ceremony was over.

Dudhal’s second collection of poems, Dhag Astech Aaspaas (The Embers Are Always Around), has received the Foundation’s award this year. It follows her first book of verse, Maati Mhantey Caesar kar (The Earth Asks For A Caesarean), and has made her reputation as a path-breaking poet who brings to grimy life the miseries of centuries of agrarian crisis and pressures of globalisation on rural life.