Dear Doctors,

Dear Doctors,

When you remove Saibaba’s eyes,
Please add a touch of gentleness,
For in them lie traces of the world he dreamt of,
That might unfold within someone else.

Please extract his heart with utmost skill,
For in that tenacious heart that denied death
In the fascist Manuvadi regime’s prison,
You may find the roots of tender compassion
For the Adivasis and the oppressed masses.

In constant captivity, grappling with illness,
He stood firm for his beliefs.
Please check, perhaps, those polio-stricken legs
Could leave a mark on the faces
Of the chameleon activists who preach a new ideology every day.

One more, final request …
Please preserve that brain even more carefully for the future generations,
For though ninety percent disabled,
His “thinking mind” made this exploitative system tremble with fear.
Someday, it may help someone identify the system’s weak link.

Janjerla Ramesh Babu
President, Telangana Forum Against Displacement

(With a heart burdened by sorrow for the sudden martyrdom of Comrade G.N. Saibaba…)