S. Joseph (born 1965) is an Indian poet writing in Malayalam in the post-modern era. He was born in the village of Pattithanam near Ettumanoor, Kottayam. Joseph began writing poetry very early, at the age of 16. He has published a number of works on contemporary issues that affect the common man and also the ones who toil in the lower rungs of society. He works as a lecturer in Malayalam at Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam. His poetry collection Uppante Kooval Varakkunnu won the 2012 Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. He was bestowed with the prestigious Odakkuzhal award in 2015, for his contributions to Malayalam poetry.
His poetry collections:
- Karutha Kallu (Kottayam: D. C. Books, 2000)
- Meenkaran (Kottayam: D. C. Books, 2003)
- Identity card (Kottayam: D. C. Books, 2005)
- Uppante Kooval Varakkunnu (Kottayam: D. C. Books, 2011)
- Vellam Ethra Lalithamanu (2011).
- Chandranodoppam (DC Books:Kottayam)
Dalit writers like S. Joseph captures Dalit community life in urban and rural settings. In their arguments and narratives, the caste acquires a new meaning. Joseph emerged as a pioneer of contemporary Malayalam Dalit poetry by narrating the first-hand experience of agony and alienation. His poems give an authentic and genuine voice to Dalits. He was able to challenge the age-old Brahminical poetic traditions while offering verses that soothed the wounds of the lower caste people. His work is a rare example of Dalit literature that borrows inspiration from across India's states, a feat that is challenging because of linguistic barriers. His poems meditate on the cruelties of caste while simultaneously speaking of the beauty, love and generosity with which a Dalit person deals with such cruelties.
His poetry is about down-to-earth people who are missing from Kerala’s group photograph- weavers, fisher-folk, labourers, farmers and other common people who lead less ‘noble’ lives. His poems are noted for the detailed portraits of Dalit life.
We all know that Kerala state is
renowned for its educational achievement. But in the very same state, how the
class of a person turns out to be a cause of discrimination is well expressed
by S. Joseph in Identity Card.
“Identity Card”
In my student days
a girl came laughing.
Our hands met kneading
her rice and fish curry.
On a bench we became
a Hindu-Christian family.
I whiled away my time
reading Neruda’s poetry;
and in the meanwhile I misplaced
my Identity Card.
I noticed, she said
returning my card:
the account of your stipend
is entered there in red.
These days I never look at
a boy and a girl lost in
themselves
They will depart after a while.
I won’t be surprised even if they
unite.
Their Identity Cards
Won’t have scribbling in red.
In this poem, the poet shows a world where love seldom triumphs over caste identity. The poem starts with a nostalgic memory- when the poet was a college student, he had a love affair with a classmate. She came to the class with a smiling face, they shared a bench and food, and enjoyed the thrill of touch.
Our hands met kneading
her rice and fish curry.
On a bench we became
a Hindu-Christian family. (3-6)
The past love affair is portrayed with the visual image of the young lovers sharing a lunch of rice and fish curry on the same plate, the romantic experience they shared as their hands met while kneading the rice. Sitting on a bench, they became a Hindu-Christian family. The poet is trying to say that the difference in religion does not impede the course of love.
The poet then continues to say that he spent his time in a pleasant lazy way reading Neruda's poetry. He believed in an egalitarian society and he found Inspiration in Neruda's poetry which was driven by political motives. Neruda was a Chilean poet known for his love poems and revolutionary political ideas in his poems. He read Neruda’s poetry because those poems gave a voice to a population that was ignored by their government and by the upper classes. Those poems gave courage and pride to the struggling working class.
Then the poet comes to a turning point in his affair. One day he misplaced his identity card. He never imagined that he would lose his love along with the identity card. His girlfriend found his lost identity card and gave it to him saying,
the account of your stipend
is entered there in red. (13-14)
The moment she noticed the stipend amount he receives on his identity card; it marked the end of their relationship. He loses his upper-caste ladylove because of the red-ink entries found on his Identity Card. The card and stipend he receives as a Dalit, mark his caste and class and cost him his love. Although religion is not a matter in a love affair, the cast is. His caste makes love impossible for him in a pseudo-modern society that pretends to be a secularist. The red scribblings on his identity card have become modern-day caste mark in a state, where conversions to Christianity was promised with the disappearance of caste identity and discrimination. Here, anti-reservationists considered those who had made use of reservations and stipend as inefficient. It still continues.
This incident caused him to change his belief system regarding romantic affairs. Now whenever he sees a boy and girl deeply in love, he is sure that they will depart very soon for the same reason of his. Even if they unite, he wouldn’t be surprised because that boy will never be a Dalit. This is a short poem where much lies unsaid between red scribbles on a college ID card and intensely charged lines of verse. S. Joseph depicted the plight of a Dalit who has no right even in his love relations.
The theme of Marginalization in the poem
Caste discrimination is a common experience for people who belong to lower Castes and the Speaker has realized it very young in his life. The 'girl' who came 'laughing' at his life rejects him for his caste. See the line- 'Returning my card'. It is symbolic of the closure of their relationship. The 'card' was supposed to remove the oppression and lack of status attributed to the Dalits. S. Joseph expresses through this poem, the subaltern experience of the speaker who is loved once but later neglected by others for his caste. The speaker in the poem ridicules the 'subaltern marginalization' through his poem.
The speaker was discredited by his lover for being a Dalit and realizes that caste will always remain a factor in the relations and associations of people with one another. After the incident, he decided to distance himself from his lovers. He knows that only people belonging to the same caste have the possibility of uniting. The identity card is an image of Indifference, resignation and loss of hope, He thinks that Dalit Identity will remain marginal and discriminatory always.
In the Indian context, the poem sums up the issues of the Adivasis, the Dalits with the responsibility falling on the issue of 'lower caste' or even 'out-caste'; and also people who are perceived as backward.
The 'religion-caste' nexus, an instance of a 'historical wrong' still taints the claims of modern Indian secularism. Being a Dalit student denied his freedom in a county that we call secular democratic. Even in the mind of children, this dangerous discrimination is being injected by society. The real betrayal is not singular or by an individual; it is a many-layered betrayal by politics, a government, and an era. What he encounters is not a traditional taboo but a modern stigma.
To conclude, the poem is written in free verse. It doesn’t conform to any traditional elite model of versification. The diction is simple and lucid. The poem is a portrayal of the Dalit experience of rejection and pain brought about by his birth into an underprivileged caste.
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