My wife Maina is now at Dandakaranya—she is in charge of a group in Bastar (district of Chhattisgarh). We met in Hyderabad when I was state secretary (of Andhra Pradesh) and she was a comrade. The last time we met was two years ago. We communicate through letters—use of mobile phones has been banned by our central committee. I write poems to her and make sure the Indian postal department delivers them to her. I wrote poems after the landmine attack on Buddhbabu’s convoy and also on the day somebody hurled a shoe at (George) Bush.
Have you ever thought of having children?
I don’t have kids. Our party doesn’t support the idea of having children. There is no ban as such, but the leadership expects the women in our party to undergo sterilization after marriage. This is done to ensure that their political careers are not compromised.
Tell us about your daily life… It must be difficult being a militant, isn’t it?
We live a difficult life…constantly on the move and with a 15kg load of arms, ammunition and water. I remember walking seven years ago some 116km in 24 hours without any rest. I sleep very little—maximum four hours (a day) and at times as little as 10 minutes. But because we live a disciplined life it doesn’t matter.
No matter how late I sleep at night, I rise by 5. The first thing that I do in the morning is tune in to BBC (Radio) for its bulletin at 5.30. By 6, we start our physical training and military drills—we need to be fighting fit always. So, even at 51, I don’t need glasses to read and can walk for hours without rest. We eat whatever we get. I love eating rice with mashed potatoes and green chillies, but at times, even that is difficult to come by. I was a south Indian Brahmin before joining the party and a strict vegetarian. But I have turned non-vegetarian after I left home. I love eating mangoes and wild fruits that are abundantly available in the forests that we inhabit. I am a dreamer like all revolutionaries, and work hard to realize them. My dreams are about the people in the villages...the people around me. We are soldiers, but we too have emotions such as love, kindness...
But without hatred, it is difficult to keep alive the fire of class struggle and to fight against oppression.
romita.d@livemint.com