Welcome to a new episode of Zabaan-e-aam!
Today we have Raghunath J along with us who will be sharing a poem in Telugu by Kalekuri Prasad with us. He has also translated the poem into English. He will be reading the English translation after the original Telugu poem.
Through out history, many artists have fought back oppression through their art. Today we will learn about such an artist who weaved poetry as a weapon against caste atrocities in erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh. His name was Kalekuri Prasad, a Dalit poet, writer, journalist and translator. Unlike privileged caste poets who spoke of revolution from a theoretical understanding, Prasad saw from close quarters what caste oppression can do. One of his friends was a Dalit man who was murdered for the crime of being in a consensual relationship with an upper-caste woman. Seeing that atrocity up close, Prasad puts himself in his friend's shoes and imagines his last words in this poem. I will be reading the Telugu original first and then my English translation.

About Raghu
Raghunath J is a professional translator between the languages English and Telugu. He can be reached at his Twitter handle roamingtelugu.

Zabaan-e-aam
You can read these two poems here: https://zabaaneaam.wordpress.com/

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast episode are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the podcast Zabaan-e-aam.