Two Poems by Anjana Ramanathan
Painting: Judith Rhue
By Anjana Ramanathan
Where My Feet Go
They brought me from home,
To another city,
For money, work and food,
They also toiled every-day,
Along with me,
Through the ups and downs, they were with me.
Not once complaining,
Not once bickering,
Always, always, ready.
Today, they are taking me back home,
For work is difficult,
Food is unimaginable,
A place of rest is nowhere available,
But, what I have are my feet,
For they take me back home,
So that even without nothing,
I might find food,
I might find a roof,
And I might find the home,
That I once left for a more promising world.
For all I have are my feet,
I go, where they go,
If I die on the way,
We have together reached paradise.
Note: “Where my feet go” is written and dedicated to the migrant workers who are being forced to walk back to their villages from cities owing to the Covid-19 lockdown.
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Colours of Saffron
Colours of saffron,
Where are you when women are raped?
Where are you when women get cat-called?
Where are you when patriarchy slams our existence?
I reckon, you must be hiding behind constructed walls,
For, you have the guts only to create brouhaha,
When women protest on streets,
Questioning the wrong,
Against us and our world.
Get a life, get some more colour,
Because the Indian flag also
Has green, white and not only you!
It’s time for you to stop
Barging in and screaming exclusion from the rooftops,
For, we are a nation of unity in great diversity,
No matter however many of your flags go up high,
We will still raise a voice against you and your advocates,
Through blood, through bullets and through our lives until you stop.
Note: “Colours of Saffron” was written in protest against the CAA, NRC and NPR that this present Government has initiated.
Bio:
Anjana Ramanathan is an Assistant Lecturer at Jindal Global Law School, O. P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana. She has a flair for languages, writes poetry and plays the guitar.
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2 Responses to “Two Poems by Anjana Ramanathan”
Both are extremely powerful poems with ‘feet’ and ‘saffron’ becoming potent symbols of truth telling through your lucid voice as a poet/writer.
Hi Anjana, myself Arun from sonipat. Nice to see you