From the binary into the new

Reflecting the complexities of the real world, Dadapeer Jyman’s poetry is poignant and rooted in community experiences

Dadapeer Jyman is calm and affable, much like his poetry, which is tender in its strength, even while resisting prejudice, oppression and violence. On the sidelines of 'Kavya Sanje', a poet's meet, at Bengaluru’s Chitrakala Parishath, Dadapeer speaks softly but with a penchant for precision, a trait perhaps influenced by his love for mathematics, the subject of his post-graduation degree.

Hailing from a humble colony in Hagaribommanahalli, one of the most backward taluks in the state, Dadapeer’s sensibilities are informed by the sufferings of the downtrodden and those on the margins of society. The Pinjara community, from which he hails, is officially recognised as a Muslim community but is situated on the fringes and suffers caste discrimination.

Armed with an MSc (Mathematics), Dadapeer landed in Bengaluru in 2015 in search of a job. The anonymity offered by the city and the distance from the past crystallised his experiences. His ruminations in solitude led to his first offering as a writer, Neelakurinji, a collection of short stories that earned him the Kendra Sahitya Akademi's prestigious Yuva Puraskar award and the Masti Venkatesha Iyengar Book Prize, one of the highest awards in Kannada literature. 

"One cannot help but respond to the happenings in the world: Be it growing intolerance, communalism and the threats faced by communities in the margins. My writings, that way, are essentially an effort to capture the fragments of real life without compromising on the possibilities that fiction and poetry offer," Dadapeer says.

This can be seen in his stories, especially Jalagara, where Dadapeer’s fiction unravels a case of a pyramid scheme, a Ponzi marketing scam. What is ignored by the world as a report on the forgotten corner of a newspaper allows Dadapeer an opportunity to explore the innocence of the people who get caught in the scam. Despite their nature, his characters transcend the 'good' and 'bad' to reflect the complexity of the world in which they live.

Beyond binary

Dadapeer Jyman

Dadapeer’s search for an identity beyond binaries and the corollary exploration of queer poetics have not only brought him under the limelight but have also put him on the frontlines of the new wave of writers in Kannada, who are pushing against prejudices old and new. However, unlike the protest literature of the 1970s, the resistance here is quiet, as if acknowledging the limited space for LGBTQ activism.

As an active member of Queer Poets Collective, Dadapeer organises and takes part in poetry meets where gender issues rejected by the mainstream are discussed. Jaiman, through his poetry, turns the world inside out, without taking away its innate sense of warmth and comfort.

One of his early poems Akshara Akshaya talks about the uneasiness with which such literature is received. When a poem that defies the binaries "walks proudly in the strict bylanes/ carved into the world by the world", there is a threat of rejection and suppression. Still, the words live on "by turning breath into a song/persisting to show the mirror" to the world.

The anger against heteronormative structures does not lead to aggression or frustration. Instead, the poet holds on to the poignant moments, as seen in the characters of his stories, of the everyday world. At the same time, Dadapeer avoids stylistic pitfalls to search for possibilities, which, he believes, is the real function of literature.

The young writer, however, refuses to be tied down to one thing as expressed in an exhibit at a recent art festival in the Bangalore International Centre. The work, titled Words in a Mirror, had four poems hanging from the branches of a tree made from old newspapers. The sap was represented by a maroon line running through the trunk. The 'blood' disappeared between the trunk and the branch but burst out in flaming red leaves and flowers.

Winning awards for fiction here and getting recognised for poetry there, Dadapeer disappears briefly. Out emerges the Kannada translation of Purdah and Polygamy, Iqbalunnisa Hussain's 1944 novel piecing together a woman's struggle in a male-dominated Muslim household. It was followed by a translation of Barren Land, a play by Dmitrij Gawrisch. Dadapeer latest work Jaunpuri Khayal documented and narrated the life story of transgender queer artiste Rumi Harish.

In between, the poet has tried his hands at writing scripts for teleserials ("couldn't take it after three months") and took up fellowships ("working with downtrodden expanded my understanding of misery") and is now researching for a project titled Tracing trans-masculine expressions in mythology and history. 

Poet and writer Chidanand Sali believes that Dadapeer needs to tap into his full potential. "He is a young writer with a lot of promise. There is phenomenal work to be done, especially on the queer community whose realities have not been touched upon by anyone except Vasudhendra. I would love to see Dadapeer approaching the subject with rigour and precision, which will allow him to look beyond the emotional aspects," Sali said.

Building bridges

Among the driving forces of his activism is the “necessity to bring together” people involved in different movements. “There is a disconnect between the different sections of the oppressed. I believe we should reach out to every section and build bridges. Dalits opposing casteism, Muslims opposing communalism and the queer community opposing gender violence need to see the common threads of oppression, even as they recognise the different nuances of the struggle. It not only brings strength to a movement but helps resolve many issues within,” says Dadapeer.

Mamta Sagar, whose Kaavya Sanje has been a prominent platform for young poets and writers to share their ideas since 2013, describes Dadapeer as among a handful of strong voices responding to contemporary socio-political issues. 

"Dadapeer's unique position of being a person facing multiple discriminations gives him a vantage point. Also, because he reads works outside of Kannada literature, you can see a constant expansion of the horizon. So we get a poet whose metaphors acquire a razor-edge sharpness while responding to current issues, be it homophobia and Islamophobia or the oppression of Dalits and women. In the literary community, its impact will be felt in the coming days," she says.