By: Vijayshree Kurumilla
Some people in the Seemandhra region are fighting, for, something illusory called ‘Samaikyandhra’. One can find a solution, if it is something concrete, but where from, can we give, life to an illusion. One thing is very clear though, that they have no one who would, tell them the truth, in a very lucid manner, to pierce through those illusions, created by a business-politco lobby using, the electronic media.
I can feel the other side’s envy; they think Hyderabad is some kind of El-Dorado and that we are getting ownership rights over it, which they thought, belonged to them for eternity. Some are screaming their head off, ‘Our properties, we have developed Hyderabad, what will happen to our properties’. An outsider looking at or hearing their screams, would think, that we, Telangana people are, some kind of looteras, who are vandalizing their properties and threatening, their lives here.
I feel pity for these guys, pity that they think properties, are the only legacies that need, to be bequeathed, to their children. A society which, thinks on these lines will be an unhealthy one. I feel pride at that point of time, thinking of a different kind of legacy which had been bequeathed to us. To fight against all odds and to fight to the finish, an adversary who is perceived to be, thousand times, stronger than you.
We had come a long way, from the time, when as children, we faced prejudice, in terms of language and culture, being ridiculed and we grew into silent people, not knowing anything about our valiant history and knowing only the kindness of our parents and of our race. Our history was very cleverly hidden from us, by not mentioning even a trace of it, in our school textbooks.
I remembered, only, the best part of my childhood, which was when we went to our village and we spent time in the fields, listening to the village women, singing as they went, about their work. Those moments were magical, it was the real Telangana, which was soothing our ruffled hearts and telling us, that happiness can be found, in simple things in life.
We went on with our lives and grew up, ‘To earn to live’ and not ‘To live to earn’. At Hyderabad, we were often called Naxalites, but we learnt to get angry momentarily and then, move on, with our lives. I, then, knew nothing about the 1969 movement or the peasant revolution.
With the restart of Telangana movement in 2001, our minds were ready to receive, what we had missed, all those years. In our thoughts, there were so many blanks with, no reliable information to fill in those, blanks. That was when, Jaishanker sir entered our lives. He filled the blanks, and connected them into meaningful sentences. He acted as the bridge between those, long gone years and the present.
We not just heard and understood him, but we burnt his rendition of our history, into our minds. Yes, in the tradition of the old, when the legends of the past were carried to the next generation through an oral form; Jaishanker sir took the role of a historian, teacher and guide, to shape our thoughts like no one had done, before, in terms of our struggle for Telangana.
Jaishanker sir achieved a major victory in that, he brought to light, what was deliberately hidden from us and in his voice; they seem to be happening again, right, in front of our eyes. Everything that he told fitted into, what we had experienced. The result was that Telangana was once again, bonding into one entity and this entity was ready, to take on its powerful adversary.
Jaishanker sir was a, gardener of our dreams. In his hand, the sapling of Telangana not just withstood various storms, but also survived, the insects in its own soil, eating away at its roots. Once he saw that his sapling was on the way, to growing into a strong tree, he knew, it would only keep growing until its shoots, reach up to the sky.
Yes, the other side should envy us, they never had a person like Jaishanker sir, but I also wonder whether, even if they had him, would they, have given him, the same kind of value, as we did. They are left now, at the mercy of leaders, who have only, greed in their mind and this greed will devour anything, which will come in, its way. I hope people over there realize it, before it devours them, to satiate its insatiable hunger.
Telangana has a legacy to give to this world: a legacy of fighting spirit, a legacy of suppressed people striking back at their oppressor, a legacy of keeping a fire burning for many generations, a legacy of battling for justice, a legacy of sifting for the truth amongst a multitude of lies, a legacy of holding on to their identity, when under attack and finally, a legacy of never bowing before anyone, however mighty, they might be.
With such a rich legacy, we will always have, something, to give to the world. Who wants their properties, when there is so much indestructible wealth within us?
Jai Telangana!