Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 303

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Today's Topics:

   1. Read: "?Voices of Emergency?: How an anthology of protest
      poetry spoke out against constitutional injustice" (Vivek Pinto)


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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:14:31 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Read: "?Voices of Emergency?: How an anthology of
	protest poetry spoke out against constitutional injustice"
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9y9bQAmZGZLBKXy4vcaC9soH=b7GhcSr_cGsRB=eyW=Cw-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By: R. Raja Rao [R Raj Rao has written more than 25 books. He is the former
head of the English department at Savitribai Phule Pune University,
previously known as the University of Pune.]
Published in:
*The Wire*Date: June 20, 2026
Source:
https://scroll.in/article/1093291/voices-of-emergency-how-an-anthology-of-protest-poetry-spoke-out-against-constitutional-injustice
*Note:* Please access the source to read the entire article
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared Emergency on June 25, 1975. This
anthology comprises 280 poems in 15 languages against it.
"Indian-English poets are generally believed to be insular, untouched and
unaffected by the political goings-on in the country. Yet, several
canonical Indian-English poets have written on the Emergency. They include
Nissim Ezekiel, Jayanta Mahapatra, Kamala Das, Dilip Chitre, Eunice de
Souza, Pritish Nandy, Melanie Silgardo and EV Ramakrishnan."

"*Voices of Emergency, *though shoddily brought out, is that rare
collector?s item that needs to be reissued. It is amazing that a mere 19
months of the Emergency motivated so many poets to write against it in
protest. If an official Emergency were to be declared in India today, can
we expect a similar reaction? Or have our writers and poets grown so
cynical and such victims of cancel culture that they would prefer not to
open their mouths and speak out?

One of the most moving poems in the anthology is EV Ramakrishnan?s ?Where
Were You When.? It shows how the Emergency emasculated poets beyond repair:

?I had once asked my

father, ?Where were you when

they fought for freedom??

He said, ?I did not particularly

hate the British. Then there was

your mother sick

and dying. And I had my work

in the temple that kept

me busy.? He was



the local priest for fifty years.

I might as well keep the answer

ready for my son?s ?Where

were you when?? ?It felt

good when the price of edible

oils came down because I had

too many mouths to feed.

Then, you see, I had my work

in the college that kept

me busy.? And he will



know I was one of those

who was simply frightened.


End of Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 303
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