Tons of burden

Every day in the early morning

Even before early birds wake up

My master shouted at me and beat me for my last-minute hiccup.

She wakes me at 3 a.m. and forces me to milk the dozens of cows and buffalo.

Force me to clean the acres of compound

I am their cleaner.

I am their scavenger.

I am their cattle's rarer

I am their mechanic.

I am their driver.

I am their carpenter.

I am their blacksmith.

I am their storyteller.

I am their repairer.

I am their sexual object.

I have to dig ditches.

I have to cut and haul wood.

I have to slaughter livestock.

Last night, I went to my cabin at 12:30 a.m.

As usual, these are my blood-sucking working hours.

Lorries of unbearable pain and suffering

But I'm still going on with my decomposed body.

Tons of tears and sweating

Full of rotten flesh and blood.

Living together with my rotten body

But still no satisfaction for my master.

I am walking Carrion in front of my master.

I am a walking corpse in front of his house.

I am walking carcasses into their cabins.

Even rotten tomatoes are better than those masters of slavery.

But still, there is no freedom.

Dreaming of freedom from my chains

But the base and superstructure humiliate my human status.

Everyday humiliation

Everyday whips

Everyday wounds

My body has a number of scars.

But still no humanity in the heart of my master.

My master is inhumane, but still, the world glorifies my master.

My master is omnipresent and omnipotent.

My master is a celebrity.

Just like their ancestry

I am a slave.

My son is a slave.

My daughter is a slave.

My wife is a slave.

Just like my ancestry

 

When I was a child, my mother used to work 17 hours for 2 rupees in the agricultural fields of ordinary peasants or farmers in India. My father used to work 24 hours without rest as a truck driver for 250 rupees a month. 250 rupees is my father's monthly salary. Millions of slaves are living in India today. Every slave is born into the untouchable caste in India. I have seen slaves in Ethiopia too, but slaves do not belong to one ethnic group in Ethiopia. A master can be a Tigrayan, Amhara, or Oromian, whereas a slave can be from Tigrayan, Amhara, or Oromian ethnic groups, unlike in the Indian social order, where the master is a Hindu or Muslim and the slave is untouchable by caste. Slaves and masters have permanent positions in India, unlike in Ethiopia.

Dr. Suryaraju Mattimalla

Author of the globally acclaimed "Compatibility of the Death Penalty with the Purpose of Criminal Punishment in Ethiopia".

Author of "Why I Am Not Indian: The Untouchable Rejecting India's Citizenship"