Kultar’s Mime:

Background information: Kultar’s mime is based on a massacre that

occurred in India during the year, 1984. This massacre was the first
government derived massacre in India. The Indian government wanted to
exterminate the population of sikhs during the times of 1978 to 1984.
Although this book mostly focuses on the 1984 Delhi massacre, one of the
poems is about the same concept of a 1903 pogrom targeting the Jewish
community in Kishinev, Russia. The book took 30 years to make and it is a
compilation of poems, a playwright, and pictures. I chose this book
because this topic is really close to my heart and my family are survivors of
these organized massacres against Sikhs (Text-to-Self).

Poem: the poem shows real life horrors reenacted within a poem.
Much of the language that is used throughout this poem shows a lot of the
pain and agony that many of these people were in. In one stanza, it states
“Door splinters breaks there is a crash/A crowd of men with blood in their
eyes/With sticks and swinging clubs do smash/Waste everything that in
there path lies/Kultar knows not if awake or dreams/Opens his mouth and
screams and screams” showing the pain and torture that sikhs had to
endure during this time. In the world today, India's government is driving
out many populations, as well as, sikhs and muslims for the sake of making
this country follow one religion and eradicate any that speaks out against
the government (Text-to-World).

Play: the play was based on the poem and it took a different
approach than a regular broadway play. The play had the poem in it written
as the Guide. They also used the same characters they did in the poem.
The play was split into many scenes. 4 of the scenes were about the kids'
experiences. 1 scene was about the masterminds behind this genocide that
happened. Another scene was about the son of Indira Gandhi, the starter of
this genocide, and how he just flat out denied the claims against the
government. Many of these scenes used real world events and created a
reenactment of this genocide. For example, the character Kultar, a deaf
and mute boy, watched his father hanged by a mob and then saw his
mother shot in front of him. Another example is a girl named Rano, where
her father had to tell her that if you were raped, let it happen, it will be
easier that way. Many of these problems happened on there land but it felt
like an alternate reality. A reality that was so far out that could’ve never
been imaginable. What I loved about this book the most is that these
events really happened and the language of the poem really made the
claim that this is an important topic to be discussed.