Application For CROWD-FUNDING Through MILAAP
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I am a Dalit poet writing in the English language for about ten years and I have been offered admission for MA Creative Writing (Full time), Poetry at University of East Anglia, UK- one of the most prestigious creative writing programs in the UK. I am probably the only Indian student in a class of 15, out of 117 applicants from all over the world.
I have been residing at Trivandrum for the past 10 years. I have two collections of poetry to my credit “Letters to Namdeo Dhasal” (2016, Desirepaths, Baroda); and “Love after Babel” (2020, Daraja Press, Canada) both of which were shortlisted for the YUVA PURASKAR of Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, the former was a runner-up at M.Harish Govind Memorial Prize (2017) instituted by Poetry Chain, Trivandrum and the latter had won The Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista Outstanding Book Award (2020) from the Caribbean Philosophical Association (CPA). One of my individual poems was in a shortlist for the prestigious Srinivasa Rayaparol Poetry prize. I was a fellow at the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa (2018).
I write from the perspective of a Dalit poet writing in English; Dalit is the term of political self-identification for India’s independent indigenous peoples and those—previously called“untouchables”—who have historically occupied the lowest rungs of the subcontinent’s caste hierarchies. I intend to bring into my poems a wealth of experience from my involvement in various civil right struggles of Dalit-Bahujans and also a parallel exploration of intricacies of language in a post-colonial, multi-cultural world. To be frank, Indian writers in English tend to be nearly exclusively from the upper castes and poets of my background and socio-political leanings tend to be a rarity on the contemporary Indian English poetry scene.
Since I have been offered only a partial scholarship from the UEA, I do not have the financial means to pursue this program; hence I need your help.
Tuition Fees: £ 17,600 Visa costs: £348
International Health Surcharge: £475 for one year
Living expenses: £13, 276 (based on UEA e-mail communication) Airfare (round trip): £700
Total = £ 32,399 or 33,43,195.04 INR
UEA India fellowship is £ 4000.
Hence total amount = £ 28,399 or 29, 30,442.17 INR
The deadline for fees remittance is on July 31st, 2021. I request your good selves to kindly grant me financial assistance which will be equivalent to a full scholarship. Please go here to donate: https://milaap.org/fundraisers/support-chandramohan-s?fbclid=IwAR2i2JvzFSGJ0mFg9IlOP8NVo-x3WL9HME3gWVxGN5C2KofJ_DfMxjWdRvQ
P.S. Since I am knocking on all doors for financial assistance, if I am granted money by other sources (like if the UEA decides to give me full scholarship) , the money raised (through crowd funding) will be donated to PK ROSI FOUNDATION (A Dalit cultural collective), TQT (A poetry collective founded by Arjun Rajendran) and to some Dalit artists who have requested financial relief publicly in platforms like Facebook. If you have any queries you can reach me at cmsiit@gmail.com
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