I have two hundred and six bones,
Like any human being;
Some are born with more.
Three hundred at the beginning.
Then fusion, growth, becoming,
Numbers change,
Caste doesn't.

When I was born,
I did not have a caste bone.
While growing,
I did not grow one.

Bones fused,
Counts reduced,
But not a single bone learned hierarchy.

Eighty bones in my skull, neck, and torso.
One hundred twenty-six in my arms, legs, and girdles.
Axial or appendicular,
None divided by Untouchability.

My smallest bone, the stapes,
Deep in the middle ear,
Works without rest.

It bears the largest bombardment
Of Caste,
Of Untouchability,
Of Dalit genocide.

My bone listens,
Caste learns my skin by force.
The body remembers.

Inside my ear,
History names my body,
Untouchable, 
Madiga,
Unseeable,
Unspeakable,
Unshadowable,
Mooknayak,
Reservation,
Non-Merit,
Academically inadequate,
Starmark,
Degraded surnames,
Humiliated names,
Dirt,
Impure,
Filthy,
Candala,
Achut,
Pariah,
SC,
Black,
Thin,
Lean,
Bony,
Scavenger,
Malnourished,
Dalit bastard.

My smallest bone
Keeps count of every blow
My skin was born to bear.

My largest bone, the femur,
Bearing the weight of my body,
Refuses Untouchability.

My bones support, 
Protect,
Move,
Produce blood,
Store minerals,
But they do not store hierarchy.

They are living tissue,
Calcium and phosphorus in quiet rebellion,
Working tirelessly against
Pyramids of power,
Caste structures,
Dalit Genocide,
Atrocities,
Untouchability,
Rape,
Dowry,
Forced marriages,
Purity and impurities,
Class structures,
Against anything that crushes life, love, liberty, and light.

A normal skeleton 
Does not carry 
Caste bone,
Untouchability bone,
Genocide bone,
Religion bone,
Class bone,
Race bone,
Geography bone,
Ethnic bone,
Colour bone,
Gender bone,
Sexuality bone,
Oppressive bone.

My bones reject,
Caste,
Untouchability
Hierarchy,
Exclusion,
Excommunication,
Dalit Genocide,
Reduction,
Humiliation,
Insult,
Shame,
Mockery,
Atrocities,
Geography,
Ethnicity,
Crimes,
Sanctions,
Honour killings,
Lies dressed as tradition,
Hypocrisy wearing masks,
Unequal structures,
Gender violence,
Sexual erasure,
Sanatan or Sharia ideologies,
Religious absolutism,
Totalitarian gods, goddesses,
Monocultures, 
Islam,
Hindu,
Burqa,
Scarf,
Hijab.

They stand for a world
Where no creature is killed or eaten
By powerful systems,
Where humans, animals, birds,
Especially ostracised, small lives,
Are not reduced to silence or meat.

My bones celebrate
Life, love, liberty, light,
Equity, diversity, inclusion,
Democracy, human rights, civil freedom,
Knowledge, science, philosophy,
Social thought, honesty, truth,
Civilisation, Constitution, 
Nation-States, Western world,
Rule of Law, One-Man, One-Value,
Integrity, morality, ethics.

In my bones, there is only one ideology:
To cherish every living being,
To be a safe shelter, 
Even for the dead.

If some bones are taught
To walk as carrion,
As carcass,
As dead,
As untouchable,
As unseeable,
As unshadowable,
As unapproachable,
As impure,
As dirt,
As sub-human,
As secondary, 
As filth,
That is not nature.
That is deformation.

My bones are normal.
And normal bones
Refuse genocide.

Every organ in me carries this spirit:
Abolish Caste,
Abolish Untouchability,
Abolish hierarchies,
Stop Dalit genocide,
Respect life,
Protect the weak,
Cherish life, love, liberty, and light.
Leave no room
For genocide against the untouchables.

I did not have a caste bone.
I did not have an untouchability bone.
I did not have a bad bone.
I did not have a decomposed bone.
I did not have a rotten bone.
And I never will.

When I saw the white bones, 
I tried to rise. 
Not because they were strong,
But because dignity
Still lived inside them.

My bones were thin like dried branches,
Ribs counting themselves
Beneath a trembling skin.
My body had bartered thousands of years 
To keep my stubborn heart alive.
When I stood, 
My knees forgot me, 
Muscles long starved into weakness.
Loosened their hold on hope.
I weighed no more than a child
Yet carried the iron weight
Of Caste cruelty, 
Of hunger,
Of survival.

My bones know
The grammar of cruelty of Caste.
The fascism of Untouchability.
The "Outposts" of Hindu Raj
And Muslim Raj
Built in my "Dalit ghettos."

Still, 
I have no bad bone,
No hatred bone,
No Brahmin bone,
No Kshatriya bone,
No Vaishya bone,
No Shudra bone,
No Muslim bone.
No Hindu bone,
Only
White bone.

Only bone.
Only humans.