The moonlight was bright!
Green fields surrounded by rows of coconut trees greeted the comrades who had traveled from afar, easing their fatigue and offering them a pleasing sightas they halted among the sweet limetrees on the village outskirts.
The wind blew, frantically trying to extinguish the fire of hunger in their bellies. While everyone else was engrossed in admiring the beautiful scenery and trying to forget their tiredness, Ashokanna sat down on a bund as if unable to stand any longer. He had been suffering from malaria for the last two days and felt weak from not eating anything. After walking for long hours with great difficulty, his body longed for rest. Just as he thought of spreading the blanket on his shoulder and lying down…
‘Do you want to sleep, Ashokanna? Let me spread the polythene sheet,’Chinnakkasaid, lowering herkit.
She found a goodspot and laid out the polythene. As Ashokanna lay down, she covered him with the blanket. He asked for some water, drank it, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep, pulling the blanket over himself. Everyone spread out their polythene sheets and lay down to rest their backs.
Just then,Venkanna arrived with a food bundle, greeted themwith ‘Lal Salaam!’, and putting down thebundle,he shook hands with all the comrades.
‘Lal SalaamVenkanna! How are you?’Somanna exchanged pleasantries. In this society filled with artificial affection, scenes full of such natural warmth were commonplace in the lives of guerrillas.
Commander Somanna inquired about the village news with Venkanna. The remaining members of sangham(massorganization) who were supposed to come to the meeting had not yet arrived. However, Venkanna had come early since he had brought food for the comrades.
‘Hey, looks like you lost some weight. Is there something bothering you? How isakka (referencingVenkanna’swife) doing?’Somanna looked intently at Venkannaand inquired, even as he spread out the polythene.
‘What is there to say about her? She doesn’t like any mention of dalam(squad) at all. I prepared even this food at Poshalu’s house. Forget about her, let’s talk about me. When will you take me along with you?’Venkanna asked in a determined manner as if to settle the matter this time.
Just then, Chinnakka, who had come from sentry duty, put her gun aside, sat down to eat, and asked, ‘Come on, Venkanna! Are you going to come alone? Then what will akka do if you join the dalam?’
‘What should I do, Chinnakka! Will she come with me? She doesn’t listen to me at all,’Venkanna said, as if he could do nothing in the matter.
‘That’s right, Somanna! Akka doesn’t listen to Venkanna. She is a loud mouth. She scolded me a lot when I went to their place,’ said Ramanna, who had newly joined the dalam. It had been only four months since Ramanna joined the squad, so he didn’t yet know that the akkalu (sisters) who initially scolded the annalu (brothers) would later give their lives for them. Ramannanarratedthe experiences he had when he went to their house twice for Venkanna…
Somanna understood the situation. He wanted to explainthe matter in detail to Venkanna and the others.
‘Ok, Venkanna! Did you tell akka that you are coming here?’
‘No’Venkanna replied, as if there was no need to tell.
‘Alright! Will you tell her after going?’Somanna asked.
‘I won’t,’Venkannasaid, his expression indicating that they don’t have a clue as to what mayhappen if he did tell his wife.
‘The sangham meeting will go onall evening. By the time you go home, it will be past twelve at night, right? Won’t akkabecome suspiciousabout where you have been until then?’
‘She will not be suspicious. She knows everything! As soon as I go, she will scold me and get annoyed!’
‘Then will you also scold her?’Somanna asked.
‘Does he stop with scolding? If Akka doesn’t stop scolding, he starts beating her!’Chinnakka added, eating her food.
Venkanna lowered his head as if he was ashamed.
‘Look, Venkanna! What will happen if we also start scolding and beating like that? Why doesn’t Akka listen to your words? You need to think about that!’
‘Tell me something, do the people in the village listen to our words or not?’Somanna asked.
‘They do,’ said Venkanna.
‘Why do they listen…?’
‘Because we don’t speak empty words,we do what we say,’Venkanna replied promptly.
‘Do people listen to the words of someone like Dharmayya?’Somanna asked.
‘No!’
‘Why wouldn’t they?’
‘He’s a complete liar, not a real red flag bearer. They might pretend to listen in front of him, but they spit behind his back!’ said Venkanna.
‘So, the whole village listens to you, but Akkadoesn’t. Why? It’s because as soon as we go to our wives, we become ’husbands’and we don’t have the patience to talk to and convince our wives… why?’
It is because of the low opinion we have of them.
Ashokanna, who lay down far away from them, couldn’t fall asleep no matter how hard he tried. As soon as he heard Somanna’s words… low opinion… low opinion,Ashokanna mumbled those words to himself as if he wastalkingin his sleep.
‘Venkanna, if you are beating Akka, it’s that same low opinionof her that’s working in you. But what does our party say? Menand womenare equal, right? But your mind doesn’t agree. Why? Because society teaches us that way. Our eyes see women as not equal to men. However, if they are like that, it’s because of the circumstances in which they were raised from childhood, raised to be submissive and to not be like men. That’s why they are like that. But today, womenare also moving around in the squads. They are fighting against thepolice. In Dandakaranya, womenare always ahead in all activities such as running, carrying weights, climbing trees etc. Our society says they are not equal to us without even giving them anyopportunity. But we don’t do that, do we!’Somanna said and got up to wash his hands.
. Chinnakkawho knew what Somanna was going to say next, looked at Venkanna, who was silent and asked him whileputting a morsel in her mouth,
‘What work do you do at home, Venkanna?’
‘What do you mean by work?’Venkanna said, his face showing incomprehension.
‘Fetching water, lighting the stove, cutting vegetables, do you help Akka with some of the chores at least, or not?’ she asked in detail this time.
‘Is all of that my work? Besides, how much work is there? How many people are there at home? Is it that difficult to cook for four people? No, I don’t do any of that, Akka,’Venkanna said.
Somanna, who had washed his hands and returned, leaned against the rock next to Venkanna, put his arm around Venkanna’s shoulder, and said,
‘Isn’t all that your work too? It’s not just Akka‘s responsibility either. This cooking and householdwork are such that you have to do the same thing day in and day out causing a lot of frustration. If women are stuck doingjust that work betweenthe four walls, how will they learn about the world? Then they will always remain inferior to us. That’s why our communism says that womenwill develop only if they are freed from the kitchen and the development of society depends on their development. Cooking has to become a collective activity in orderto free them from the kitchen work. Until then, we need to help them with cooking and housework. Not only that, but whatever you do – whether it’s buying land, getting a loan, selling the house, or bringing clothes for a festival – you must tell Akka everything and involve her in every decision. If you do all this, then Akka will recognize the difference between you and the men in other houses. If you stop beating and scolding and respect her as your equal, she will definitely listen to you! Only then will she understand why you are so good. You shouldtell her our news, and read out our magazines and stories to her. You should tell her about our party, our struggles, and the exploitation of landlords. You know all these things, right? You keep educating everyone in the village about these, don’t you!’Somanna said with a smile.
‘But she is terribly afraid! She tells me not to mix with you people,’Venkanna said.
‘Anyone would have that fear if they don’t know why we are fighting. Weren’tyou also afraid before you started interacting withus? You at least read the paper, roam around with people, and hear about the good work we do in villages. You had the opportunity to know all this, but Akka doesn’t leave the house. That’s why she has less opportunity to know about annalu. If you bring her to the dalama couple of times, she will listen to our words and songs, and she’ll learn about the work we do.Then she will begin to trust us and all herfear will go away. That’s why bring Akkathe next time… or at least take Chinnakka to your home. Then she will understand why evenwomen are wandering around in the forests, enduring so many hardships.’
‘Do you think she’ll listen to me…?’Venkanna mumbled doubtfully.
‘Come on! Why wouldn’t she listen! All our sangham members initially said the same thing as you. But now, their wives cheerfully joined the partyand are doing so much work. Why go so far? Look at Chinnakka right in front of your eyes! When I was at home, I used to behavethe same way as you. What do you think Chinnakka was like then? More than our Akka! I wouldn’t say anything to her.The repression increased within two years andit became difficult to stay in the village because the police were searching for me. So, I joinedthe squad. After I joinedthe squad, Chinnakka’s anger towards the annaluincreased even more. She used to wail, ‘Oh my! They have taken my husband away with sweet talk!’ She used tocome to the squadto meet me, but she wouldn’t talk to annalu.She would just cry every time she came… and she would scold annalu,.. Seeing annalulaugh and talk to her despite all the scolding, seeing our hardships… slowly, after getting used to all this, she started bringing provisions to the squad. After that, she slowly joined thesquad. Even then, she thought she could somehow take me home. Instead, she stayed back in the squad. That’s how it was,’Somanna said, glancing sideways at Chinnakka with a smile.
‘Wow, Chinnakka, there is so much story behind you!’Venkanna said in surprise, looking at Chinnakka and laughing.
Chinnakka also smiled contentedly, recalling the transformation that had taken place within her. As she imagined how much she would have lost if she hadn’t joined the squad,a thin layer of tears welled up which doubled the light in her eyes.
‘Venkanna! Even if Akka doesn’t come with you… shouldn’t she have the courage to live independently without you? If the police raid your house, she should have the intelligence to be able to hide you and have the courage to raise the children while facing their harassment. Only if you explain why you workwith usand convince her that your work is good, will she support you. Without the cooperation of women, our struggle will not succeed. Even when the village is surroundedbythe police, it is the womenwho protect our squads, and it is they who bring food to the squadwithout being seen by the police. In North Telangana… when the police raid the villages and create chaos, it is the womenwho confront them with chili powder and pestles. They are the ones getting the sanghamannalu released by forming human barricades against the police jeeps and by staging dharnas in front of the police stations, even if it means risking their lives. That’s why our party has also recognized that our movement will not move forward without the support and participation of akkalu. It has started paying special attention to recruiting them into the dalams. It has even formed a new ‘Akkaladalam’,’Chinnakkasaidenthusiastically.
‘Akkaladalam! Does that mean it will only have akkalu?’Venkanna asked eagerly.
‘Yes, it will only have akkalu. We need to form many more such units. Only then will we win the struggle. That’s why you also shouldn’t keep saying you’ll come alone. You should prepare Akkaalso to come with you. Our party says it’s good if all married couples come together,’Somanna said.
‘Then what about those who are not married?’Ravanna, an organization member who had just arrived, asked smiling, after greeting everyone with a Lal Salaam. ‘Those who are not married should also look for someone! Look at our Rajanna, didn’t he find his partner! He came first… and then brought the new bride along,’Seenanna said, pointing atRajanna and bursting into laughter.
‘Otherwise, it would have been difficult and I would have lost weight with that worry,’Rajannajoked, and the group responded with laughter.
But Ashokanna, who laid down a little further away, was lost in his thoughts. Due to the malaria fever ofthe last two days, Ashokanna was sick and cold and he covered himself fully with a blanket.Despite that, he was unable to sleep and he listened to their entire conversation. Somanna’s words kept echoing in his ears and several thoughts ran through his mind.
‘Yes…! Ialso explain our party’s struggles very well to akkalu who come to the dalam. But when it comes to Ganga, I always lose my patience andargue with her. I resolved the problems of so many husbands and wives. But why wasn’t I able to change Ganga? It’s myown fault… yes. As soon as I am with Ganga, Ibecome a ‘husband’. That’s when my patriarchal outlookcomesout… tch… tch…
Despite leaving the house, giving up education, upbringing and severing all the blood relations, why am I not able to get rid of this backwardness? Truly, it is so difficult to get rid of this. How deeply ingrained is this sense of superiority in us without our knowledge! If we don’t make a complete effort to uproot it, it willindirectly contribute to the failure of the struggle. That means it will benefit the enemy. No… I will not let that happen.
This time when I meet Ganga, I will address herwith love, and patiently explain everything, Ganga will definitely change. Didn’t the seemingly innocent Yellakka transform into Chinnakka and rise to become a SAC (Squad Area Committee) member!
It has already been more than three years since Ijoined the party. Ihave also risen to become a SAC member. But,Icouldn’t bring about any change in Ganga in these three years. It is definitely alack of effort on my part! Even so, it is only recently that the party has also seriously recognized the importance of women’s issues and started educatingthe party cadre on it! It’s only after reading ‘Women’s Circular’ andbooks such as ‘Women’s Liberation in China’ did Irealize the necessity of involving women ‘who constitute half of the sky’ as equal partners in the revolution. Today, the commander’s words are about to turn that understanding into practice!’ Ashokanna thought and sighed contentedly.
(Published under the pen name Bhavana)
First published in Telugu as ‘Venukabatu’ in Arunatara, May 1997
Translated by MadhuMalathi
Notes:
Anna – elder brother but used to refer to male comrades in the party
Akka – elder sister but used to refer to female comrades in the party
Dalam– squad
Lal salaam – red salute
Sangham – mass organizations for women, students, youth, agricultural workers and small peasants, workers etc which fought for the rights of its members and also on generic rights
