Wednesday, October 28, 2015

A letter to Akhlaq

Dear Akhlaq,
         Death is a grim reminder of how stupendously short-sighted the mass is. Our rage, our resistance is all a mirage, ready to be jolted back into the reality of nothingness.
     Your death has caused much anger. There have been tears, disbelief and resistance. Lynched mercilessly in the hands of a collective monster, you succumbed to suspicion.
     The debate unfortunately was reduced to the choice of meat which facilitated your impending doom. Was it Beef? Was it Mutton? Did you just store it? Or did you consume it too? Did you slaughter the holy emblem of this nauseating nation? Or was it just an animal, unholy enough to consume?
    These trepidations raided every household, screaming poignantly through the voices of the fourth pillar of our decorated, derogatory democracy.
    There were also furious explosions on popular virtual platforms, frequented by the modern argumentative Indian, questioning the erosion of fundamental freedoms.
     Scarily, these opinions turned into polarised clashes. You had the Haves and the Have-nots, terms immortalised by the man who realised that materialism not humans are the source of all evil.
    The Haves paraded their majoritian generosity, their ability to be at peace amidst the arbitrary violence of the minority. Fanning the consciousness of the 'neglected numerous', the leaders of articulate verses, proclaimed their dedication to the cause.
    The Have-nots were forever cashing on their numerical weakness. In a state, so suddenly enveloped by the smog of a singular ideology, suffocating the minds of political atheists, the minorities picked up the stink of a resurgence of betrayal. A reactionary defence led the Have-nots to climb up the other extreme of the ladder, dismantling the middle path, a forgotten vision of the man under the Bodhi tree.
    In the myriad of political twists and turns, my dear wounded working class hero, your pitiful end got lost in intellectual interpretations and arm-chair discussions. Your gashes, which groan of injustice, have buried under the pricking priority for ideological clashes.
    Your family has been offered a heavy compensation and your village is crowded with repetitive activists and journalists, your perpetrators although arrested have received resonated support to be treated as living martyrs for finishing the devil behind the blasphemous act.
    I laugh at the exalted outcome of your murder, your wounds have wounded many hearts and the radical blood is trickling into the sea of unsettled emotions and unheard grievances.
     Many say we are heading into a torrential rain, laced with the acidity of mistrust and it will wash away the inspiring, imaginative union of the Haves and the Have-nots. That terrorism and politics have no religion and is a lesion well learnt, is only a seemingly misguided conclusion.
    Gruesome but eye-opening your torturous finale has been.
     A mob, with blood-shot eyes and myopic souls are confidently crucifying the secular hope, and you Aklaq have left for good, shaming an entire population.

From,
neither a lover nor a hater.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

I am idle

I am idle.
Idle on a sun kissed yellow beach
watching the waves crash against shrill laughter
I am idle.

I am idle,
sitting at a long table
adorned with blood red wine
and carmine lips with flashy teeth
chattering on the world and its woes
I am idle.

I am idle,
staring at a screen
flashing numbers and news
with people around lost in their laborious lust
I am idle.

I am idle.
Idle witness of a road-side brawl
a woman lying with a wounded soul
oozing puss amidst a mad crowd
I am idle.

I am  idle,
only hero to the farmer in famine
pining for a drop of revival
calling out to me,
like a shipwrecked sailor
calls out to a distant light
but, I am idle.

I am idle to the man munching his meat
dragged by society,
wielding knifes and stones
butchering his bones
gouging his eyes
for holiness and hatred.
I am idle.

I am idle
tracing the stalker on the lose
enjoying his masochist moments
at home, at work, or on the streets.
Abusing the sari, assailing the burqa
assaulting the tunics and bikinis
while i stare into the abyss
as the skies become clouded with insecurity
I stay idle.

I am idle
at the resurgence of an ancient battle
galloping on a history of slaughter and revenge.
I am idle at ghettos and polarised minds
breathing fire into naive kingdoms.
However, I am idle.

I am vile, I am dying.
I am as idle as the devil.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Arable

Sensing a split in unending harmony
Do you?
Breathing into vibrant vacillations,
do you sense a monotonous mockery?
Sneering at your face,
your forgotten face.

Lush barren fields
and sparse vegetation.
Do you sense the yearn?
For condensation,
only to repay compensation?

The Shylocks of this world
have united.
What is their religion you ask?
Hindu, Muslim, Secular?
Money, they cry out, money!

The thirst have clipped many wings,
saturated many souls.
Still, the peacocks don't dance,
the children don't squeal.
This thirst thrashed you,
me, crops, careers, comfort, character.
It took the heart out of muddy by-lanes
and coerced an entire generation
to lust for the concrete, the chaotic.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Green

You are green,
like open spaces covered with carpets
soft, unassuming.
You are green,
like jealousy,
difficult, demanding.
Terrifyingly slow yet tediously swift,
you are green,
like the waves, violent, boisterous.

Green to my eyes,
you are green to a soul,
parched.
Quenching an unending thirst,
you let the distant seem intimate
the poor, flamboyant.

You turn me green.
You make the blood rush to my veins,
and smudge the kohl across my face.
Loitering with my suspicious heart,
you turn me green,
everytime.

Then, you kiss the intoxicated tears till the severed lip breaks into a curve.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Mourning

The tires screeched till the blood
escalated from a trickle to a gush.
The puppets of human cliches
stood there, mum and uncomfortable,
waiting for their cue.
Should they be sad? Or should they rush?
Do they save? Or stand in a corner with wishes?

In the head, they are all heroes.
Martyrs returning from their daily struggle.
Self proclaimed leaders of tomorrow.
They doubt, they criticise, they juggle.
They uphold happiness and avoid sorrow.

The reality stands opposing the head.
Death slips in
but not swiftly
not at once.
But, it sets slowly like the winter sun.
The world has never seen an end
so furious, so final.

Dinner is served at eight
and the crowd slowly vacates
to ensure a full tummy
and their short term memory.

Friday, November 14, 2014

The Nothingness of Nothing


There is nothing in everything,
yet nothing is like everything.
There is nothing in nothingness.
There is nothingness in a broken heart,
a hungry beggar, a melancholic bard.

One experiences nothingness
when they say, "you're nothing."
Doesn't matter if they softly whisper
or scream it from rooftops or even whimper.

The nothing in nothingness engulfs you
feeds on you like vermin,
covers you like a blanket
in a cold winter night.
Nothingness never leaves
without a fight.

This fight is nothing,
It is amusing, it is unnecessary
Yet, nothingness suddenly becomes everything.
It is tedious, long and weary.

Eventually, nothingness triumphs over nothing.
It becomes important, omnipotent and all pervasive.
Nothing disappears,
while nothingness stays,
strong, healthy and gradually impassive.


Friday, October 31, 2014

The children of Gaza


A strip of land
few people, fewer humans.
Guns, missiles, tunnels
looking for the perfect enemy.
Not you, not me
they are the faces on your channels.
Tiny faces, tinier hands.
Some call them children,
the children of Gaza.

Black and grey,everywhere
Red is in abundance too.
They drowned in these colours
stand in contrast to the rainbow above.
Little dreams, littler hopes.
They call them children,
the children of Gaza.


Peace, ceasefires and agreements
are the holidays they get.
Different from the one in Christmas.
They smile their rented smiles
crouched in their homely tents.
Short heads, shorter lives.
We call them children,
the children of Gaza.