'For the Dispossessed' is the English translation of his Malayalam poem, 'Edom' which is written as a warning against globalisation and impending calamities due to it. The poet voices a layman's desire to guard the Nature and identity of Rural life. The poem has been translated by Dr. Mini John, Reader in the Department of English, Alphonsa College, Pala (Kerala).
Poem:
Don't snatch away the tree holes
from the wiggling worm,
and the piece of the sky
from the bird in the hollow!
Don't take off the far aways
from the strolling wind
and the far off motherhouse on the canal bank
beyond the smelly lime-klin.
Each of the house is a village, indeed,
please, don't rob us of it!
kindly spare the waterfowl's fields
replete with weeds and grains!
PLEASE, DON'T TAKE AWAY
the small tea shop at the meeting of the roads,
the stone hedge made of round stone rows
overgrown with choriyanam or panachen
where green tree snakes camouflage.
PLEASE DO LEAVE ALONE
Pappen Chettan with his vadakkan pattu
making ladles or repairing umbrellas;
the folks driving autorickshaws
or growing bittergourds and snakegourds;
Don't lay your hands on
the women weaving baskets and mats,
those working in companies making coloured rubber bands
or crushing rocks for road metal.
Elengi and payanni,
Vatta and thanni,
cashew trees and touch-me-nots nod in the winds-
Don't touch any!
Let the sickly Jose
paralysed by the pullu (as the story goes)
live in the company of birds or clouds;
Let the country broakers walk about.
Things have come to such a pass
that we've no rain, nor any work;
Only the blinding sun scowls overhead!
Analysis:
In the present poem, S. Joseph expresses his genuine concern for equilibrium between environment and development of the world, in terms of materials. His tone in the poem does not seem to be less than a warning, hence it intensifies the impact of the poem. Ever since the time of awareness for industrialisation, mankind has been progressing rapidly. Sadly, this progress has let the Nature leg behind for the wild chase of comfort.
The organism of the earth has been immensely affected by some of the environmental problems. Globalisation has vanished differences between city life and rural life. With the advent of handy technologies, we have become carefree about the atmosphere of the earth which has sustained life for us. The world at present is a result of evolution of billions of years, adapting itself to needs of its inhabitants - humans and animals. It is though sad to note that just within a few decades, we had to witness extinction of many species. Not only that, we even created a great imbalance for Mother earth. Deforestation and global warming are issues that demand greater attention which if not pondered over will be a threat for the existence of mankind.
India is no exception in this matter. The poet urges those who support globalisation not to mar beauty of countryside. It is a layman's reflection of desire to retain beauty of the world in general and of the village in particular.
In his support of the view point, the poet offers a plethora of examples. In the first stanza, he is concerned about trees and urges to leave them for insects and especially for bird, the hollow space within tree is their sky, the only space of shelter. To build skyscrapers, roads, monuments and mills, we have destroyed woods in name of urbanisation. Jungles of concrete are expanding and depriving organism of essential natural sources of survival like air, water and food.
"Each of the house is a village indeed,
please, don't rob us of it!"
Again, the poet asserts his stance on rural life. He believes that each house is a village for those villagers. Their Nature is their world which surrounds them. The tone of the poet is empathetic for he uses accusative pronoun - 'us'. He urges supporters of globalisation not to rob them of their residence.
Further in the poem, he ponders over prospects of craftsmen in presence of gripping capitalists. The capitalist society is a great threat to these laymen who are small tea shop owners, iron smiths, autorickshow drivers, weavers etc. These poor men and women strive to earn their bread and butter but soon their works with be snatched away by capitalists. The poet requests not to take away works of those who make coloured rubber bands or crush rocks for road metal.
In the last stanza, he once again thinks about imbalance that man has created in environment. Drought is one of the natural calamities that many tropical countries face for a few last decades. He concludes the poem very aptly:
"Things have come to such a pass
that we've no rain, nor any work;
Only the blinding sun scowls overhead!"
Thus, in absence of work and rain ( not only rain but natural sources at large), we just have scowling sun over our heads. The sun here symbolises fury of mother Nature for she is enraged by imbalance in ecosystem caused by mankind.
Labelling this poem as 'anti-development' will be wrong because development can be done with renewable sources of energy too if we promote them. We must efface our overuse of non-renewable sources to take care of the place which has yielded us life. Globalisation is the theme of the poem which has been perfectly conveyed to us with an emotional tone and a serious concern.
