-for Hany Babu Last week in the market you saw two fights, I saw one myself, today— wounded pride or unpaid debts, rain-fed flowers of worry. Neighbors and friends still trickle away, as rations and patience run low; now they’ve…
False Narrative (i) -for Rahul Roy and Amit Shah A book or film that relied on identically worded ‘witness statements’ in order to show that Kristallnacht, the Delhi riots, or any other pogrom was caused by a conspiracy between the…
I was thinking of your poem, ‘When Moonlight Moves Into the Dark’ as a comrade and I walked past the remnants of one of Delhi’s once wild forests. From our left came the sound of rain soaked branches and wind,…
-a letter to the editors Pandit or pauper, doctor or gangster, under the law, professions don’t matter: if they set out to kill you, without a court order, that’s not an ‘encounter’, that is a murder.
Every so often, I catch a glimpse of the lizard that lives in my room; he does most of his work in the dark. I know it’s a foolish comparison, but his eyes evoke a home minister who appears on…
Behind us, a rusty, wire fence; under our feet: dry grass and dust. We were thirsty. Above us loomed an enormous, leafless tree; it looked as if it might touch the shivered, June moon. Samir gestured, or maybe it was…
We slept on my grandmother’s porch, how we got there, who can say? Dogs approached, snarling and circling; I cried out, and you held me close. Later, came sounds from the road, a grinding of gravel and boots; you said…
Delhi Police blames victims and those who preach peace; they say rain is ‘flame’. Delhi judge accepts unsaid words are sparks that blow; court rules for the fire. Delhi people know rain is rain and fire is fire; we’re a…
1. Perhaps he wanted a sudden transfer, or maybe he just didn’t get the memo, but on Monday, a Delhi High Court judge granted bail to a man accused of arson during the Delhi ‘riots’. The judge remarked, ‘prison is…not…
I dreamed they came to our door and took you away at dawn. I tried, but I could not stop them; they were silent, and rough, when you struggled. Tonight, friends, let us all dream: doors open and cages…
Earlier in the week, the UP Police charged a man with sedition for calling CM Yogi a dog on FB, and late last night, the South Asian Canine Confederation held emergency meetings all over North India to debate the difference…
-for Devangana, Natasha and all political prisoners Each of us needs a safe place to dwell, love and care when we’re low or ill; we all need enough to eat and drink— stories and songs, paper and ink; respect at…
Yes, hunger is stalking the land, you’ve seen it up close, and I hear you. And they are using the UAPA to crush those who dare to speak out. Last night, you lay awake turning; I dreamt of thick smoke…
‘In the FIR, the police claimed that the communal violence was a “premeditated conspiracy” which was allegedly hatched by Mr. Khalid and two others.’ -The Hindu This world is built on sand and silt, dark clouds are hanging low; how…
When right wing thugsattack members of a religious minority in broad daylightin a nation’s capitalwhile the police look onor join in the attacks,that is not a ‘riot’,that is a pogrom. And when armed men in uniformforce their way into homes,…
Sometimes as you drift off you feel your chest tighten; your ears ring and your lungs won’t fill, like you’ve been shut in a cold, dark vault, or you are shackled and shivering in a cell somewhere in Kashmir or…
I’m dreaming seditious dreams,I’m singing a seditious song!I’m loving my neighbors,don’t care where they’re from—let’s abolish all checkpoints and borders…as we sing a seditious song! I’m dreaming seditious dreams,I’m singing a seditious song!I’m praying for freedomfrom fear and from want—let’s…
There are some who give off an evil glow,no matter what colour clothes they wear. In a state just a bus ride from here,a leader shouts promises of revenge; what he says quietly, we can only guess.I have not been…
-after Bertolt Brecht It’s simple,anyone can grasp it.It requires no forceor violence.The exploiters tell us to sell, borrow and buy it;pandits and priestsdisguise it with dogma;and tyrants call it ‘sedition’,when the wrong people say it.It is against buying, selling,debt and…
Before the darkness, you used to laugh when your Communist friends warned you, Never forget the Golden Rule: he who has the gold makes the rules! In UP, newspapers report that police raided a madrassa and arrested 1oo young students…