SONG OF THE HILL-PEOPLE
by Indu.K.Mallah
~~~~~
What myth informs you
That your god is greater than ours?
Which fairy tale tells you
That your god is the only one?
Which god gave you the right to brain-wash our vulnerable, guileless people
With a brush dipped in guilt?
And who gave you the right to maul our culture?
You justify your self and say
That religion is different from culture,
But one is the warp, and the other, the weft of the fabric of our credo,
Which has the texture of the trees,
The flow of the mountain – stream
The scent of the earth,
The melody of bird-song,
And is in tune with the music of the cosmos.It is the age-old story of exploitation,
And it will take ages for us to recover from the wounds
You have inflicted on our souls
In the name of saving them.
But you have reckoned without
Our God of Satyam
We will wait——
Tomorrow is time enough for your expiation .
((((((((((((((((((((((O)))))))))))))))))))))))
[In the ‘Song Of The Hill People‘, Smt.Indu K Mallah has beautifully brought out the mindless and meaningless (religious) conversion of hill people especially, Badagas. What used to be an unforgivable act a couple of decades ago, has become a routine affair now.
I am yet to meet a ‘converted’ Badaga who could give me atleast one convincing reason for the change. I know of many Badagas who say ‘I am a proud HINDU and have no problems in praying/ keeping pictures of other religious deities also in my puja room’. Hats off to these who are true Badagas!!
Badagas have been a very closely knit community. Let not “religion” divide them – Wg Cdr JP]
Smt.Indu.K.Mallah writes : Thank you for re-printing my poem. My collection of poems, which is under consideration for publication, has a separate section on Indigenous Idioms –
Mookuthi 
Chinna 
==
Badagas of the Blue Mountains 
Thank you for re-printing my poem. My collection of poems, which is under consideration for publication, has a separate section on Indigenous Idioms.
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