I am
an anti-national.
I
believe
My
neighbour is my neighbour
Even
if she has a crucifix on her wall
Or if
he eats beef and prays on a mat towards Mecca
Five
times a day.
I am
an anti-national.
I
believe
That
you don’t stop being a human being
If
your name is Salim or Cynthia
And
you don’t stop having an equal voice
In
what happens to you and to me.
I am
an anti-national.
I believe
The borders imposed by colonial masters from across the seas
Are not worth killing and dying for
And that evil done cannot be undone
By inflicting evil on someone else.
I am an anti-national.
I
believe
That
using human shields is evil
That
blinding people with buckshot is evil
And that
the country is not served
By
treating our own people as the enemy.
I am
an anti-national
I believe
That
five thousand years of history
Cannot
be wiped away by a bloody finger
That
lies cannot become truth by repetition
And
that the politician of a moment
Cannot
be permitted to divert away the future
Into
the dead desert sands of “destiny”.
I am
an anti-national.
I
hear the screams of lynched Muslims
As
loud as the screams of beaten Dalits
The
mourning of Kashmir’s parents
The
sobbing of farmers’ widows in Maharashtra
The
drowning of children in Assam’s flooded valleys
The cries of pilgrims shot on the way to Amarnath
The cries of pilgrims shot on the way to Amarnath
Are
all equally loud to me.
I am
an anti-national.
I
cry for blood that is shed
And
think it is equally red
No
matter whose heart pumped it
No
matter whose stilled heart pumped it.
And
I believe the world is his and hers, yours and mine
Nobody’s
patrimony.
I am
an anti-national
Blame
me.
Copyright B Purkayastha 2017
Powerful. A poem that speaks against evil. I am sharing this.
ReplyDeleteBill, Very powerful.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to add that for myself, I am anti-racist. I believe in ONE race, the human race, any other supposed races are just artificial divisions based on skin color, as in some humans have a darker tan than I do. Big deal, all humans are humans, period.
If we just try every day to treat each other as we wish to be treated, we might get to that day when we put and end to the damn fool wars of choice.
Most of the Indians I know are BJP Hindoos. A few are Muslims.
ReplyDeleteA Hindoo told me the Hindoo religion prohibits the killing of a lactating cow. It does NOT prohibit the killing of a bull or steer or cow after the change of life. If this is true, every dairy farmer knows that. It makes the Hindoo religion sound quite reasonable.
Of course, I read of Hindoos killing people who kill steers or cows past the change of life, so not all Hindoos are like my rather reasonable friend. And, of course, Comrade Bill has written of Hindoos who insist that cows past the change of life must be allowed to starve, since they think it's a sin to kill them, and a sin to feed them. And Comrade Bill writes of Hindoos who would kill a Muslim who tried to feed a cow past the change of life instead of letting her starve.
It appears that, like all religions, there is a version of Hindooism that is quite reasonable, and the other version, similar to the takfir sect of Islam and the 'burn all heretics at the stake' sect of Christianity.
MichaelWme
I forgot (in my previous comment) why Christianity is clearly much better than takfiri Islam:
ReplyDeleteChristianity gives all infidels and heretics a hot stake, while takfiri Islam only gives infidels and heretics a cold chop.
(I fear, for Hindoos who never eat either steak or cold chops, my comparison is irretrievably lost.)
MichaelWme
I genuinely value your work. Great post.
ReplyDeleteIt is the only way we can be that will sustain us. Well written, sir.
ReplyDeleteOne of my BJP friends here told me that, when ballots were counted from an Indian polling station where almost all voters are Muslim, the BJP won a large majority of the vote.
ReplyDeleteSome of us find this very significant.
MichaelWme