November 11, 2008

A tribute to the Iron Man.

(A poem I wrote on the contribution of Sardar Patel to the freedom struggle of India on his birth anniversary, Oct 31)

On this day, when the rest of the people around me are busy partying for despicable reasons, I am writing a 'poem' in the memory of India's Iron Man (hopefully not the last one). Yes the 31st of October is his birth anniversary. Of course, the same date has other memories for India as well, which we might revisit next year.

(The following has been written from the perspective of the Sardar roaming around the streets of India today and observing the decadence in the society and subsequently the government. I will try to give as many references as possible, if in any case there is no reference, it is to be assumed that I derived it from the Wiki article on him. So here it begins.)

I left being a barrister,
I could have been much happier,
But one man in khadi, caught my attention,
I introspected, and felt,
It was not in me, to leave my nation unfelt.

Today, I see pot-bellied barristers,
Warming benches, with typewriters,
Is this the profession I once followed?
Why sell their honor, least recognizing,
That ours is a great job, socially uplifting?

When I switched to being the Mahatma's aide,
And all my English belongings in a bonfire laid,
We donned the khadi, and fought for Swadeshi-
Today I see that my countrymen, long for foreign goods,
Doffed they our morals, to suit their moods.

The satyagrahas, the arrests,
The relentless rallying without any rests,
They seem wasted, for the people are yet,
To get true freedom, from now our own,
They are ours, and yet, they seem not our own.

The party, from which I defended,
The people's freedoms, and untouchability mended,
That party is now nowhere to be found,
A bunch of servile people, doing their mistress's bidding,
No chance they spare, to forget some flattering.

We sparked the civil disobedience movement,
To make the British quit, and to our anger vent,
Today the same people, I see pandering other enemies,
What a change, that pride in the nation,
Seems all lost, we are made to believe in a false notion.

Though charm and force, the Indian states united,
In people, the unity I ignited,
But for simple greed of power and negligence,
Today, the fabric of the nation is unraveling,
I hope somebody continues the bud nipping.

The division of India, in naivety I allowed,
Thought I, stability and prosperity would follow,
And communal tensions would die out,
Yet they are abetted,
When will human inclinations for violence, be wetted?

I wanted the Dogra kingdom every inch,
And deny the war-mongers any inch,
But alas! that was not to happen,
Now the issue lingers on,
In a bloody stalemate, on and on.

Science and technology have progressed,
But 'unity in diversity' has regressed,
Capitalism is bearing fruit, but so is corruption,
Perhaps all may not be doom and gloom,
I wait eagerly, to see the India of my/our dreams bloom.

The End.

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