The Poetics and Politics of Migration: A Study of Selected Works of Hindi Dalit and Tribal Women Poets

Introduction

The theme of migration has always been laced with the sense of loss and nostalgia. The movement of people can occur across countries around the globe or contained within a nation. This article endeavours to address the nuances of internal migration, that is, within a nation when people move from one state to another. According to a national daily, ‘9 million Indians migrated between states annually from 2011 to 2016’ (Migrant Nation, 2017). The reasons for this massive movement according to the cited article were ‘the marriage and relocation of work/ employment’ (ibid.). According to Divya Verma, the main reason behind internal migration among women is marriage followed by ‘male-dominated labour migration’ (Verma, 2014). The author has cited the major challenges faced by the migrant population as, ‘identity documentation, social entitlements, housing, financial services’ and acclimatizing to the ‘local language and culture’ (ibid.). The highest number of migrants, according to the various studies, hail from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, while as the top migrant, destinations are Delhi and West Bengal. The author has drawn attention towards the menial jobs these migrants indulge in and the substandard living conditions they are forced to live in. The exclusive study of the women question in the entire process of internal migration has foregrounded the startling results. According to Maninder Dubas, ‘70% of the internal migrants in India are women’ (2013). The author was referring to the study conducted by the UN and published in UNESCO publication on Social Inclusion of Internal Migrants in India. The author has delved into the various challenges faced by the female migrants. According to the above-mentioned UN report quoted in Dubas’s article, ‘social inclusion of migrants in mainstream society is a major challenge that India needs to address because locals don’t accept outsiders as their own’ (ibid.). The above-discussed arguments could be seen well reflected in the selected works of the poets in the present article. The theme of fractured identity, desolation, sub-human living conditions and the perpetual poverty run throughout the poetry.

While summing up the various debates and discussions on the internal migration, Badri Narayan’s insightful and comprehensive essay states the two broad headings under which, the subject of migration has been approached. Those are ‘disciplines of economics and sociology’ and ‘socio-cultural positionality and identity’ (Narayan, 2016). The above-mentioned author made his departure from the above-cited two approaches by referring to the emotional aspects of the migration. The article ‘Money, Migration and Vernacular Criticism’ addressed the emotional trauma suffered by the displaced being which was left unaddressed in the former two approaches. Narayan primarily focused on the emotional deprivation suffered by the migrated labour and the social oppression they faced while staying away from their families and friends. The spouse of the migrated labour who was left behind in the native village is portrayed as ‘lovelorn wife’. This article takes the debate on the subject of migration further by focusing on the women centric issues as represented by the women themselves in their own words. The thrust of this article is to read the selected poetry as text and study the different aspects and the consequences of migration as highlighted in the poetry of Dalit and tribal women poets who have moved from their native place to the cities. The selected poems have been translated from the original Hindi version to English by me. The three main areas that will be addresses in this article are as follows:

Sense of displacement

A Displaced Being

As the migrant women venture into the new life in a new city, they are exposed to the dangers unseen by them. The two major reasons for their relocation are as follows: first, the shrinking village’s agricultural lands due to large-scale developmental projects, and second, marriage. In both the cases, the women in question can be seen as passive beings who followed their spouse or the family into the unknown terrains. The thrust of this article is to delve into the trials and tribulations of those displaced marginalized women. Being illiterate, untrained and lacking in exposure to the fast-paced city life accentuates their sense of desolation and keeps them in a state of perpetual displacement. Their seminal concerns remain the police atrocities, unhygienic living conditions, lack of employment, physical and sexual abuse and a never-ending struggle with the poverty. Some of the activist poets like Rajni Tilak have elaborated on her own living conditions in a terse and hard-hitting manner. The sudden jump in the population of migrants following the post-1990s economic reforms has resulted in the mushrooming of urban slums along the peripheries of the city. The so-called new home offered to these refugees is comparable to the dark holes, devoid of basic necessities. The wretched state of affair comes alive in the following lines where the poetry transforms into a grievance, lashing out at the government. The underlying despair in Tilak’s poem cannot be missed:

My place has no toilets

Nor any water to drink

Government schemes are there

But not for me

And my colony stinks

Our unborn children

already registered

in police diary

No education. ….No dignity …No Peace!

The autobiographical element in the above lines makes them evocative and adds to a nuanced understanding of Dalit woman’s life thriving on the peripheries of the city. The living nightmare of such urban slums and unorganized colonies has been vividly captured by Rajni Tilak in the above lines from her poem Kahu Kya? (What to Say?). The pain of separation from one’s native place refuses to heal with time. In the following lines, the memories of past continue to haunt the poet as she laments her loss. Nirmala Putul, a tribal Hindi poet, recalls her native place. There is an element of exoticism where all things stand fresh in poet’s memory, wrapped in a time frame and insulated from the onslaughts of the passing times.

The poet has intensely portrayed her home where even the domesticated animals form an integral part of her bygone years, though she has expressed her homesickness but without romanticizing her past. In the following lines, she refers to the themes of death, diseases, poverty and the exploitation of hapless landless farmers at the hands of rich. Women were subjected to frequent sexual abuse. ‘Tell me how have you felt?/If hands patting your back/suddenly fumbled your breast’ (ibid.). The strangers thronged their settlements where the rich and powerful villagers shamelessly exposed the wretched womenfolk of the lower community to the predators. The gesture of patting one’s back points towards the power equations in the native village where the physical touch between an elderly person and a young woman ceased to be innocent. It became a breach of trust. All those horrendous circumstances contributed to the large-scale migration of deprived labours who were forced to leave their homeland and toil in the big cities. Putul further raises the issue of reduced employment avenues in the country side. The lack of vocation for her people in her village adds to their woes, reducing them to a state of begging. The beleaguered position of landless labours has been highlighted in the following lines. Both men and women alike could be seen pleading for some work to keep their body and soul together while as apathy of the rich jolts the senses. Here, the poetry transforms into a powerful social dialogue where poet has placed herself on the other side of the table and questioned the insensitivity of one human towards another.

The pain and humiliation of the past adds to the disjoint and disjunctions in the present life. The life in the city is as gruelling as the misery in the native home. Caught between the two worlds, the poet’s thoughts vacillate between the past and present lives. Still homeland kindles hope and triggers the nostalgia. In spite of hardships they faced in their native homeland, the recollections provide them respite from the life-sapping routine in the city. Their absorption in the mainstream remains compromised. Their dark skin and unique facial features set them apart from the crowd. The dislocated population continues to be confined to the peripheries. City dwellers treat them like dirt, reducing them to a status of refugees in their own country. In the following lines from Poonam Tushamed, the apathy of city people towards their woes adds to the injury. The pain of leaving one’s own village comes alive. Poet points towards their marginalization and brings in the issues of caste.

The Exploited Beings

One of the major reasons for the migration has been stated as the relocation of workplace or employment. The dismal scenario of lack of employment opportunities back home is a recurring theme in the works of Dalit and tribal women writers. The situation worsens for the displaced female. Illiteracy and ignorance make them unsuitable for the fast-paced urban life and exposes them to a series of exploitations. To make two ends meet they are forced to slog along with their menfolk. They end up either in the dark, suffocating factories or sweeping streets, washing dirty dishes’ and so on in big cities and towns. The plight of such hapless women has been portrayed effectively in Tilak’s Dalit Ki Beti.

The conditions back home too fail to revive any hope as resources deplete with an intimidating promptness. The forest covers are rendered inaccessible to the tribal. In the following poem, the poet expresses her anger over the reckless cutting of trees where the state and private stakeholders together perpetuate the horrendous task. In the garb of economic reforms, post-1990s saw the influx of foreign entrepreneurs who captured the forest resources and agricultural land. The natives were forcefully displaced.

In the tribal women’s poetry, the theme of human trafficking takes the central stage. This issue interrupts the notion that the migration of family and spouse alone is responsible for tribal women’s dislocation. In the following lines, the poetry shapes into a dialogue between mother and daughter where the elder woman is apprehensive of her daughter’s future. She cautions her girl coming of age to be beware of strangers who started frequented their dwellings with diabolical designs. Poverty and lack of employment in the native place pushed the younger ones towards the brink of despair. Every outsider is seen as a potential liberator from the drudgery of poverty to the young eyes. Such encounters often turn tragic when guileless girls are caught unawares in the snares of human traffickers.

The condition of women in the city is far worse than their male counterparts. The subjugation of such women to the patriarchy seals their faith as they are not seen as a potential vote bank. Since neither they can exercise their franchise due to lack of proper papers and even if they possess valid document, the patriarchy dictates their casting of vote. Thus, there are hardly any policies or reforms to address the issues of migrated female population nor are they seen as priority by the government. Their remunerations remain lower than the male counterparts:

We women lack education

Ten out of hundred

Slog in fields

Seventy five out of hundred

Buried in coal mines

More hours, harder work, underpaid.

The different physical features of the migrants set them apart from the city dwellers. Their dark complexion and unique face make them an object of laughter and humiliation. Even their native tongue is laughed upon. They are denuded of their identity and all their efforts to be one with the new surrounding and people remain futile. The recurrent episodes of racial bias take toll on their sense of dignity. In the following lines, the poet has perceived a tribal woman through the eyes of the city dwellers. It seems as if somewhere poet mixes her own emotions and brings forth the dilemmas faced by the women of her community. However, there is an underlying guilt for the dark skin but a justification follows. The tribal women’s dark complexion and the physical abuse have been highlighted throughout the works of Nirmala Putul.

In the following lines, Putul has once again highlighted the issue of verbal abuse faced by them in day-to-day life. She addresses the oppressors directly in the following lines. Here poetry takes a combative form where poet has stressed upon the unequal socio-economic status prevailing in the society. The lopsided distribution of power and resources makes one abuser and other abused.

The theme of exploitation runs throughout the poetry. The different forms involve sexual, economic and verbal abuse, although the patriarchy among the marginalized is unforgiving too. She faces violence both inside and outside the home.

The role of patriarch in protecting the women in the new city remains questionable. There seems to be no respite as she remains a vulnerable target for the men both inside and outside her community.

The Lost Being

Loss of home and the hardship of new life together trap the migrant woman. Her relationships in a new place remain fractured. If there is a fear of domestic violence on one hand, there is a perpetual fear of strangers on the other hand. In the following lines, Poonam Tushamed remembers her deceased father. She laments his absences as she struggles with her insecurities and the fear of unknown in the big bad city.

The theme of ‘silencing the subaltern’ is yet another recurring theme in the selected works. In the following lines, Dalit poet Rajni Tilak has addressed all those stakeholders who restrained her. The subsequent poem appears to be an appeal but there is an underlying anger. The binary of loud drums and stifled voices points towards her inner turmoil. Being silenced by the society, the choked being has equipped herself to reclaim her space and voice. The reference to ‘ears’ states the urgency to express and listened to.

The emotional rupture laced with pain and anguish cannot be diluted under the aesthetic sophistication. The brutal reality expressed in the works of Dalit women and the tribal poets makes a departure from the Indian women poets. Thus in the above poetry, there is hardly any room for beauty and colourful imagination. Their words speak of rough terrains and the poems lack warmth.

Conclusion

The subject of internal migration opens up the dialogue on the human rights centric issues. The intersections of gender, caste and class further problematize the question of displacement. The main challenges faced by the migrated women remain their obscure social identity, lack of proper documentation in the state diaries, lack of education, physical vulnerability, exploitation in the work place, lack of skills for the urban vocation and their subjugation to the patriarchy within their own community. The triple tier marginalization across class, caste and gender, accentuated by the failure of the state to deliver those equal rights and legal securities, makes them a vulnerable target. The main concerns raised by the poets are the sub-human living conditions, lack of basic amenities in their dwelling, frequent physical and sexual abuse in public sphere, unbearable conditions created by the government that stripped them of their agricultural land and anti-poor policies. The motif of violence and sexual exploitation both within and outside home runs throughout the selected works. The biases of city dwellers for the outsiders keep the migrated population at the edges of the mainstream. The perpetual rejection by the local people in the new place adds to their desolation. In the works of tribal poets, the issues of deforestation, human trafficking, dark skin and different physical features those set them apart and mocked at by the locals, all add up to a dismal scenario.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.