An exodus that never made any waves
Under the siege of British colonial army
Long before the formation of India union
A break away group left the native Arcot
Leaving behind their wealth,and heritage
To avoid life under the captive of enemy
Found refuge in the southern travancore
Locals ostracized them as the outsiders
Treating them as unequals in all sectors
They were served tea in coconut shells
They became a new community with
New narrative and a new resolve to fight
The successors revolted against British
They chose to seek education for kids
At the cost of surrendering the identity
When India became sovereign nation
They stopped speaking their lingua Tamil
They stopped celebrating their customs
They became malayalies like the natives
Celebrating the festivals of the Kerala
They have slowly attained prosperity
None of them tried to go back to Arcot
They wonder if locals will welcome them
More than a century after the exodus
This poem is about a section of a community that had to relocate from Arcot near Chennai to travancore/Kerala during British onslaught in 19th century. It changed their lives. They had to rebuild their lives with new realities and identity. Missionaries gave them education. They chose education over social status. They became a new community with privileges attained for being backward in their new native.
4 comments:
Such a rich, moving account...well done!
I love that you add where the poem stems from, it makes it much more enjoyable to me!
It's always enlightening to discover history that you didn't know about. Beautifully written, very evocative.
Very well done! Thank you for including the history with the poem as well. You learn something new everyday!
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