For Vincent Van Gogh
Sunflowers truly are
The self- expression of your
Experience
But, brother
You’ve forgotten to paint
One of the colours of the sun!
– Namdeo Dhasal from The Soul Doesn’t Find Peace in This Regime (1995)
Translated by Dilip Chitre in Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld published last year. A great book with some fine translations and an introduction to Dhasal and his works. The stunning pictures by Henning Stegmuller provide a visual introduction to Dhasal’s world. My only disconcert with the book is that Chitre entirely washes out Dhasal’s later shift to Hindutva politics. This poem can also be read as an expression of that disconcert.
Related Post: Namdeo Dhasal and the Fall of the Dalit Panther Movement
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a reader's words 