Go to Ahmedabad

Bhatt, Sujata

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[Page 100]

Go to Ahmedabad
1 Go walk the streets of Baroda,
2 go to Ahmedabad,
3 go breathe the dust
4 until you choke and get sick
5 with a fever no doctor's heard of.
6 Don't ask me
7 for I will tell you nothing
8 about hunger and suffering.

9 As a girl I learned
10 never to turn anyone away
11 from our door. Ma told me
12 give fresh water, good food,
13 nothing you wouldn't eat.
14 Hunger is when your mother
15 tells you years later
16 in America the doctor says
17 she is malnourished,
18 her bones are weak
19 because there was never enough
20 food for the children,
21 hers and the women who came
22 to our door with theirs.
23 The children must always be fed.
24 Hunger is when your mother is sick
25 in America because she wanted you
26 to eat well. Hunger is
27 when you walk
28 down the streets of Ahmedabad
29 and instead of handing out
30 coins to everyone

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31 you give them tomatoes, cucumbers,
32 and go home with your mouth
33 tasting of burnt eucalyptus leaves
34 because you've lost
35 your appetite.
36 And yet, I say nothing
37 about hunger, nothing.

[Page 101]
38 I have friends everywhere.
39 This time we met after ten years.
40 Someone died.
41 Someone got married.
42 Someone just had a baby.
43 And I hold the baby
44 because he's crying,
45 because there's a strange rash
46 all over his chest.
47 And my friend says
48 do you have a child? Why not?
49 When will you get married?
50 And the bus arrives
51 crowded with people hanging
52 out the doors and windows.
53 And her baby cries
54 in my arms, cries
55 so an old man wakes up and yells
56 at me: How could I let
57 my child get so sick?
58 Luckily, just then
59 someone tells a good joke.

60 I have friends everywhere.

61 This time we met after ten years.
62 And suffering is
63 when I walk around Ahmedabad
64 for this is the place
65 I always loved
66 this is the place
67 I always hated
68 for this is the place
69 I can never be at home in
70 this is the place
71 I will always be at home in.
72 Suffering is

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73 When I'm in Ahmedabad
74 after ten years
75 and I learn for the first time
76 I will never choose

[Page 102]
77 to live here. Suffering is
78 living in America
79 and not being able
80 to write a damn thing
81 about it. Suffering is
82 not for me to tell you about.

83 Go walk the streets of Baroda,

84 go to Ahmedabad
85 and step around the cow-dung
86 but don't forget
87 to look at the sky.
88 It's special in January,
89 you'll never see kites like these again.
90 Go meet the people if you can
91 and if you want to know
92 about hunger, about suffering,
93 go live it for yourself.
94 When there's an epidemic,
95 when the doctor says
96 your brother may die soon,
97 your father may die soon—
98 don't ask me how it feels.
99 It does not feel good.
100 That's why we make
101 tea with tulsi leaves,
102 that's why there's always someone
103 who knows a good story.

© Copyright material reproduced under licence from Carcanet Press Ltd

DETAILS

Publication title: Brunizem

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 Pages: 100-102

Publication date: 1988

Publication year: 1988

Physical description: 110 p.

Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd

Place of publication: Manchester

Country of publication: United Kingdom, Manchester

Publication subject: Literature

ISBN: 0856357359

Source type: Book

Language of publication: English

Document type: Poem, Book Chapter

Publication note: Preliminaries omitt ed.

Accession number: II3028972

ProQuest document ID: 2147977608

Document URL: https://www.proquest.com/books/go-ahmedabad/docview/2147977608/se-

2?accountid=14524

Copyright: © Copyright material reproduced under licence from Carcanet Press Ltd

Database: Literature Online

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