Page 3 - MM-CUTTING OF MY LONG HAIR-PDF

 She recalled all her bad moments that embarrassed her as people had gazed on her, she
was thrown into the air like a puppet.
 But this time her hair was cut down and she felt like a coward. She was crying. She
wailed for her mother as she used to console her in her sad moments but today no one
came to console her.
 No one tried to know her point of view. She felt like an animal that is part and is being
Controlled by someone.

2. We too are human Beings by Bama

About the Author - Bama is the pen-name of a Tamil Dalit woman from a Roman Catholic
1992; a novel, ‘Sangati’, 1994; and a collection of short stories, ‘Kisumbukkaaran’, 1996. The
following excerpt has been taken from ‘Karukku’. ‘Karukku’ means ‘Palmyra’ leaves, which with
their serrated edges on both sides, are like double-edged swords. By a felicitous pun, the Tamil
word ‘Karukku’, containing the word ‘karu’, embryo or seed, also means freshness, newness.

 INTRODUCTION
 The writer says that when she was a student in the third class she had never heard
anyone speaking openly about untouchability.
 But she by then had already seen and felt it. For her it was very embarrassing to
experience the concept of untouchability.


 The writer says that one day she was coming back home from her school. She was
carrying an old bag with her.
 The distance between her school and home was only ten minutes. But she would take
thirty minutes to reach her home
 It was so because she used to waste her time in the street watching all the fun and games
happening there.

 THE MARKET SCENE

 She used to see new sometimes strange things happening there, and then there were
the shops and the bazaar that she loved to see.

 The writer describes of those things she watched in the street or the bazaar. There was
a performing monkey, a snake charmer who could make snakes move by playing music.
He would keep the snake in a box and display it from time to time.

 There was a cyclist also who had been riding his bike from past three days. He peddled
hard to continue his riding as he was into some kind of contest.
Somebody had pinned rupee notes on his shirt so as to encourage him and keep him
going on his cycle.

 Then there was spinning wheel and the Maariyaata temple, there was a huge bell
hanging inside the temple.

 The pongal offering that is a particular dish cooked during pongal was cooked outside
this temple. There were dried fish also that were sold by the statue of Gandhi.