Human, Too

I am a human too.

I killed my mother, my father says.

Lying abed, without a doctor anywhere near, she died

Two days after giving birth to me.

That kind of thing, you know, happens every day

When you live in a village in the forest

And the nearest hospital is

Far, far away.

Where was my father then?

Gathering tendu leaves for the contractor

For so much a bundle, because without them

He and his wife would not eat that night.

That sort of thing, you know, happens every day

When you live in a village in the forest

And the labour laws

Are far, far away.

I grew up without knowing how to read and write

Without shoes on my feet

And I never knew if I would have something to eat

But that, you know, is as it is

When you live in the village in the forest

And the nearest school

Is far, far away.

My father died and he left me in debt

And the money lender said

His kindness would open for me

As wide as I opened my legs.

The politician came, and he made a nice speech

Surrounded by men with guns

Things would go well, he said

Roads and power, schools and jobs

All would be ours, and more besides

If we only voted the right way.

The elections came – and we never saw him again

Not once to this day.

I had a fiancé, he was my love

And we had planned a life together

Far away from this place

Far away from disgrace

And we would be happy.

The miners came, they came dressed in suits and ties

And they said our land would be theirs

If we gave it to them, they might pay something.

If we did not, we would pay everything,

They said, and went away.

The police came, they came with their guns

And they said the men were Maoists, took them away

A trigger squeezed in a field

Blood and death in a field

And my love was gone, my dreams were done

Burned away like mists in the morning sun

By the squeeze of a finger.

But things like that, you know, happen every day

In the villages of the forest

Where the law is a weapon to fear, and rights

Are all far, far away.

The death squads came, they came in dead of night

They burned the roofs above our heads

It was a Maoist base they destroyed, they said

And they would take us to camps, far from our lands

Far from our lives, far, far away.

The Maoists came, as they said they’d come

And they did not point guns at anyone

They told us instead

That the future they offered was red

Victory would not come today

They said, victory was far away

But ever step was one step closer, they said

And they told me

I am a human too,

I am a human too.

Copyright B Purkayastha 2016