Poems by Akhil Katyal
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Maruti Swift It takes a 1248cc diesel engine, 4 cylinders, 16 valves, a max. torque of 190 newton meters @ 2000 revolutions every fuckin' minute, it takes rack & pinion steering & drum brakes & disc brakes & steel tyres, it takes one thousand five hundred kilos of metal moving, always moving in 48 second loops on the assembly-line, painted & cut & bolted & fed by workers. It takes workers on 9 hour shifts, one 30min lunch break, and two 7 minute tea-cum-toilet breaks (those two-seconds-late-&-pay-cut-breaks) it takes "if my leg itched, I do not even have time to scratch it," it takes waiting for one's own fingers it takes white-hot "discipline" cut by teeth, welded by metal to townships with smoke-grey evenings it takes 13 days of occupation, months of sit-ins, lock-outs, it takes 147 workers arrested on manufactured evidence, to make one of these. (thanks to Anumeha Yadav, Satish Dalal and Imaan Khan) |
About the poet
Akhil Katyal is a writer and translator based in Delhi. His book of poems 'Night Charge Extra' is forthcoming with Writers Workshop in July, 2015. In 2014, he was selected as one of the five best emerging writers from India by The Caravan Magazine and the Columbia University Centre in France and was invited to read from his work at the Writers of India festival in Paris. He teaches literature at SNU. |
