Reserved Compartment brings Dalit English poetry showcase to Chennai
The Reserved Compartment collective is touring Indian cities to perform Dalit English poetry focused on protest and anti-caste themes. The group aims to reclaim mainstream cultural spaces and build a community that challenges the upper-caste dominance in the spoken word scene.
Why it matters
It highlights the intersection of art, social justice, and the democratization of cultural spaces in India.
English poetry can sometimes come with its own set of barriers: the language, the rooms where it is performed, the people who fill those rooms. For Reserved Compartment, a collective of four Dalit poets, the answer has been to walk straight into those spaces and bring their own stories with them.
After initial shows in Mumbai and Banglore, this weekend, the Reserved Compartment partners with Mahad Productions, an artiste collective in Chennai, to bring its Dalit English poetry showcase to the city. The programme will be centred on protest and anti-caste poetry. The collective — Dr Abhijit Khandkar, Gautam Vegda, Daniel Sukumar, and Aleena, will be joined by Chennai poet C Nivetha for an opening performance in Tamil.
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