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Farewell, Neeravbhai
The writer recalls her long association with her friend, companion, and interlocutor, the Gujarati poet and intellectual, Neerav Patel.
Ever since Neerav Patel, one of Gujarat’s foremost poets and intellectuals, passed away on 15 May 2019, I have found myself struggling to finish many incomplete conversations with him. I forgot to tell him, for instance, about Pariyerum Perumal, a 2018 Tamil film that also had a dog, like Kaaliyo from Neeravbhai’s own poem. The dog is killed by the upper castes, but it reappears, every now and then, to remind us of the violence perpetrated on Dalit bodies. Neeravbhai’s Kaaliyo is also made to learn a lesson. The Dalits beg forgiveness of the upper castes:
Khama ! Baap Khama!
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