"Indian" by Balachandran Chullikkad (my English translation)
This is the English translation of the poem “Indian” by Balachandran Chullikkad which appeared in Malayalam in Mathrubhumi weekly (Issue 41)
Court: Do you not have aadhaar card?
Accused: I don’t have an address.
Court: Name?
Accused: Indian.
Court: Don’t you have any other name?
Accused: No.
Court: Father’s name?
Accused: Mahatma Gandhi
Court: Isn’t he father of the nation?
Accused: I don’t know of any other father.
Court: Mother?
Accused: Bharath Matha.
Court: You are an orphan, aren’t you?
Accused: No. There is a guardian. The President.
Court: (Angry) Anything else to say?
Accused: The earliest memories…
Court: (Interrupting) Your own story?
Accused: I don’t own this story.
Court: Be brief.
Accused: There is nothing much.
Court: Continue.
Accused: The earliest memories are that of me savoring feces on the railway track.
Court: Che, why?
Accused: There was no free ration as there was no ration card.
Court: Oh, undernourishment.
Accused: No. Was eating peels of banana in the day and semen of policemen by the night. And flies in dream.
Court: (With detest) Anything more?
Accused: Wouldn’t get anything more.
Court: (Losing temper) You may stop.
Accused: (Humbly) Stopped.
Court: The accused has been found guilty beyond doubt of stabbing and murdering the preacher who was speaking in the ground. But considering the mental health of the accused this court sentences her to life term in a mental health facility.