A dictator fallsComments closed
while IDF drones
continue to target
young children.
Closer to home,
the cold arrives late,
and a young mother I knew
ten years ago,
dies of TB
and caste.
Poems about the dark times.
-for Professor Ratan Lal The feelings of powerful people are so easily hurt, lately– the police investigate satire as if wit were a felony. Reason, humour, history are now enemies of the state; solidarity’s called ‘terror’; they see love and say ‘hate’. But what do they find most painful? A Dalit who speaks his mind, friends! (If Ambedkar were alive today, Tihar Jail is where you’d find him.)Comments closed
Patriotic schools, large flags— prayers and promises; our CM’s studied Gandhiji; says Ram Rajya is his goal. Let’s study Ravidas, Kabir, Phule and Ambedkar; instead of ‘soft Hidutva’, friends, let's learn to live together.Comments closed
When I tell you what it means to me to live in Delhi, I won’t use trending music or a dozen flashing photos approved by the Ministry of Tourism— just a few words to conjure images-- that pair of young women brushing shoulders as they sip tea on the edge of the dusty maidan— or the thin, strong man in the next lane over who right now is stripping off his shirt as he assesses a growing pool of stinking water— and on a good day, this might be enough to get you to consider one or two simple ideas: we can remake this world; we can, and we must, my friends.Comments closed