‘It springs from pain caused by adverse developments in society’

Aruna Gogulamanda, a Telugu-English poet representing Telugu states had a rare opportunity of presenting her poetry at the Poetry Readings by Dalit Indian English Poets hosted by the Sahitya Akademi in New Delhi recently. The session too was the first one in the history of the Akademi, a literary institution.

Ms. Aruna, a native of Tadepalli Gudem in West Godavari was one of the five Dalit English poets including Chandramohan S, Yogesh Wanjari, Cynthia Stephen and Aparna Lankewar Bose who have voiced the concerns of Dalits at the session through their poetry.

Ms. Aruna, a research scholar at the University of Hyderabad and English teacher at Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society, writes mostly on gender and caste and had presented five poems that reflect the present day situation in India, corporate education and others that have been taking a toll on the marginalised.

Some of her works include ‘She was told’, ‘ Beasts’, ‘ Venomous Smiles, Vicious Rulers’, ‘This is my country’and ‘ Caged birds can never fly’.

About her experience at the session, Ms. Aruna said that they were pointed out by an English writer who felt that Dalit experience was making Dalit poets forget the aesthetics of poetry.

“When a majority of the country is excluded and only a few write, that doesn’t count as poetry. Today, poetry is what that comes from immediate anger and pain due to the adverse developments in the society,” she said.

“ Poems of Sri Sri that motivate people and make them swing into action should be mainstream poetry too,” she added.