Letter to Boroma by Purbasha Mondal

O Boroma!

Like Chicken Kabab

                                 Your girls are burning!

In this brutal darkness

                                   Can you feel their pain?

O Boroma!

Like the uprooted trees

                                    They are falling!

Can you hear their noise-bubbles?

O Boroma!

From India to Bangladesh

Your voice reached

Half-fed women

the wounded souls.

You are my Savitribai Phule!

You are my Goddess!

Now let’s burn

The candles

Of misogyny.

Notes

Boroma              Binapani Devi (1920-2019) who was a matriarch of the Matua Mahasangha    

Savitribai Phule  the first female teacher in India

Purbasha Mondal is a bilingual poet from Kolkata, India. She works as an Assistant
Professor of English at Saltora Netaji Centenary College (affiliated to Bankura
University). She has received Wegrow Academic Excellence Award (2020),
International Global Award 2021, International Women’s Day Achiever Award 2021,
Education Excellence Award 2021, Social Activist of the Year Award,
HUMANITARIAN AND PEACE AWARD, Honorary Doctorate Degree, Honorary High
Degree, Dr. B. R. AMBEDKAR 130th BIRTH ANNIVERSARY MEMORIES AWARD
2021 etc. She is a literary critic, writer and translator. She has contributed to various
national and international anthologies. Her poems have been translated into English,
Bengali and French by Prof. Robert Sinclair and Dr. Asit Biswas. She is one of the
editorial board members of Chaturtha Duniya. She has read her poem, “Matua” in
Paper Fiber Fest in 2022. She was invited to recite her poetry in various literary
associations in India. She was felicitated by the world-famous critic, Prof. Bill
Ashcroft in 2020. She can be reached at mondal.purbasha111@gmail.com.