Monday, September 27, 2010

Ayodhya

True to the appellation, Ayodhya,
Place without war,
Those that live in the town—
Hindus, Muslims, and others--
Wish simply to be left alone.

Even after all the blood has flown
Down the Sarayu,
The Mahants and the Mullahs
Inhabit an intimate zone
Of piety, not known
To the marauders who claim
Ram for their own.
Their conch is blown simultaneous
With the Azaan.
And their cloth is woven by fingers
Conjoint in a weave
Of one wholesome humanist sleeve.
They need neither temple nor mosque
For their social or spiritual task.

Those that seem to worry most
About god and seek a grand
Temple to be built
On desecrated land,
Not only have blood on their hand,
But have more blood on their mind.
If only we remembered how often
The Lord has warned us of their kind.

And those that keep the realm
For now equivocate with crooked
Sophistry, thinking how best
They may remain at the helm.

O poor poor people of India,
Whose lives are never an issue,
How I wish you
Would rise for once from near and far,
And pour dust on those
Who have made of faith and trust
An ocean of tar;
How I wish you made impregnable
Your sentient loves,
And wrought a shield of sanity
That no breach allows.

*
Badri Raina

3 comments:

വര്‍ക്കേഴ്സ് ഫോറം said...

ബദ്രി റെയ്നയുടെ കവിത

വര്‍ക്കേഴ്സ് ഫോറം said...

What a beautiful poem to a beautiful people!

Something similar ...


Shahed Nadeem is a Pakistani playwright. He was talking about a beautiful incident. He had written a play ... Indian and Pakistani kids lost at the border ... unwittingly cross the border, find friends, play and have fun. In the meantime the parents and the authorities are all driven by fear and paranoia and are raising all kinds of conflict while the children are enjoying themselves ...

He said that at one point he had the play enacted and directed kids to perform, Indian and Pakistani kids ... and unwittingly cast the Indian kids as Indians and Pakistani kids as Pakistani. The kids called him on that and he had to re-think and re-cast them in roles that were individually appropriate. So he had Indian kids playing Pakistani roles and vice versa.

He said there wasn't a dry eye in the audience.

If only we can get the "parents" and the "authorities" out of the way!!!!!!!!!!!!! People of the world unite! - SM Shahed (മെയിലില്‍ ലഭിച്ച കമന്റ്)

വര്‍ക്കേഴ്സ് ഫോറം said...

a very poignant and moving poem.... hope peace prevails in and around ayodhya..-Sunita Raina, Virginia

lajawab! - Arun K.Agrawal; Bangalore.

bohot khoob. thank you - Beena Sarwar, Karachi

മെയില്‍ ലഭിച്ച മറ്റു മൂന്ന് കമന്റുകള്‍