KOZHIKODE: It was four years ago that Drupad Goutham’s Malayalam poem ‘Bhayam’ published in Mathrubhumi weekly got noticed for its intense politics. The four lines of the same poem has now found a reference in Finance Minister Thomas Isaac’s budget connected to hot topics such as Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). Drupad was a Class 10 student of Government High School, Kuppadi, Sulthan Bathery, then.
Though he had published several poems and was adjudged first in state school Kalolsavam in Malayalam poem writing, the reluctant Drupad has not published a book till now. “Somehow, a book did not materialise, though his poems have won accolades from many noted personalities and got awards as well,” says Drupad’s mother Mini Bhaskar, who is teacher at GHSS Moolankavu.
In ‘Bhayam’, Drupad has portrayed the various faces of Nature itself being silent due to the chilling fear. He concludes it by declaring that ‘Bhayam oru Raajyamaanu’ (Fear is a Country), which Isaac quoted in the context of CAA-NRC. He is now a PG student at Central University of Tamil Nadu.