I too am a product of my dear nation
By Ronak Singh Bhasin
Part I – Birth
At the stroke of the midnight hour, I roam at ghantaghar
The ghantaghar is broken and doesn’t tick
It doesn’t need to
(Nobody is asleep)
I am here to redeem –
Redeem a pledge that was made on my behalf not so long ago
They say I am the architect of my own destiny
A destiny intertwined so terribly with yours
After all we are comrades
Nay brothers I say, brothers made from the same blood and soil
We are brown even when cut
Dropped and mixed with lime
And shaken to a rather fine assemblage
Brother! Stand with me at ghantaghar,
The fine crossroad where the paths of the world merge
Look at the fine streets where we stand
Arrayed with an assortment of tobacco packets, cigarette stubs
Empty grain whisky bottles, polyethylene, heads-unsevered, limbs-unshod
Empty chai cups and our brown soil
Don’t let them soil your plain salwar. Oh brother!
It is time for chai now so I must take your leave
But you must continue towards the road to hard work
You have to lead our generation
But I must go
***
Part II – Stupefaction
We have to work hard they told me
The brown man was made to work hard
After all we are even-tempered
In paddy fields knee-deep and as a disc jockey in a dive bar
I too work in a call-center
(UK process bro)
If I could bake mud cakes all day
I would do that
They would be mawkishly tri-coloured
But there would be no brown in them
No orange, white or green either
(You can call me an anti-national)
I am sorry I am a Francophile
I used to be an Anglophile
And before that Russophile
I would love us but we are so many countries
All cramped head to toe
Just like my lines in a poem
One day they will burst
***
Part III – Release
White
I will choose white
No other to drape my shoulders – so cold
My roads – so barren
My head – so low
My behind – still raw
I am ashamed but I just want to make trysts with women
After all my entire life is corrupted at the core
I declare I am free now
I am responsible
I am an adult
I have the right to free speech
So I open my mouth to speak
In voice smooth and polished like an Arnamula mirror –
Thank you for calling customer support
This is Jackson, how can I help you?
***
Part IV – Epilogue
I love my country
I am a proud citizen
I am not an antinational.
Photo-credit: Ronak Singh Bhasin
Bio:
Ronak Singh Bhasin is also known by his pen name pagalkavi. When he is not banging around verses on his old typewriter, he is busy documenting the streets of Delhi with his analog camera.
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***
Read the latest issue of Cafe Dissensus Magazine on ‘Jewish-Muslim Relations in South Asia’, edited by Dr. Navras Jaat Aafreedi, Assistant Professor, Gautam Buddha University, Greater NOIDA, India.
One Response to “I too am a product of my dear nation”
Beautifully Written!