If violence be her creed
I would care not to live in India….
Bullets of violence,
Ripped my ribs to dumb me
To live like a portrait…
With eyes but no tears,
With lips but no words,
With limbs but no works
Thanks I am not there to see
The demolition of Babri,*
The fire in Godhra **
The ethnic bomb in Kandhmal,***
The dismembered limbs in Kalinga****
26/11 Mumbai stains,
Naxalites’ wrath.
But...My India….
India of my dreams
The Ganges of holiness,
The plains of purity,
The heaven for millions of gods
Being shot every moment
If survives
May rot like a portrait.
Awake, awake!!
Note: Written after reading a quotable statement by Gandhiji - if India makes violence her creed and I have survived I would not care to live in India.
*Babri-a mosque
** Godhra-a place in Gujarat that witnessed communal riot
*** Kandhamal-in Orissa that witnessed communal violence
**** Kalinga – a place in Orissa
