for Rohith Vemula
and JNU students
like sirens
wailing through
night streets
they steal
the quiet
haven inside
your mind.
not to alert
you about the
nation lying
wounded in the
ambulance of
our youth’s
desperate protest
but to scatter
seeds of canard
so a forest fire
burns the truth
beneath the
lies.
they invade
the halls of justice
and crush
the voice of reason
but truth being
stranger than
fiction, truth will
rise like smoke~
like a Phoenix
from the burning
embers of
a nation that will
not be held hostage
by a parliament
of rhetoric
and rogue politicking.
do they not know
“it is rain that
grows flowers
not thunder”?
it is enlightened
youth who
nurture nations
not those who sunder.
I am D a l i t
ForRohit Vemula
D A L I T
Damned
Adulterated
Low-caste
Inconsequential
Tarnished.
I am D A L I T.
i am the stain
in your ilk
i am the fly
in your milk.
I am a rat
of mean streets
i am the dirt
beneath your feet.
I relish my beef
which i can afford to eat
but you ban my nutrition
to celebrate your religion.
YET~
while I appease
your lust for hate
i am the master
of my fate.
i die as I question
your Manusmritism
i die as I condemn
your narcissism.
i am poet
and president
i am scavenger
and saint.
i am Dalit
i am Rohith.
i am a rebel
with no restraint.
SEDITION
for Kanhaiya Kumar,
Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya
SED I (in exclama)TION!!
how retrograde is a legislation
that mutes protestations
that maims agitations
with the sword of sedition.
how fraught this formation
of rogues in predation
whose fear and machinations
abort the incubation
of free minds and revelations.
how vile this mutilation
of our nation’s constitution
how evil this annihilation
of our ancient civilisation.
let’s stir our imagination
to purge the immolation
of the right for free expression
if they maim us with sedition
there must be reparation.
THE BOOK OF LIFE
for Gauri Lankesh, Malleshappa Kalburgi,
Govind Pansare and Narendra Dhabolkar
one bullet?
two, three, four bullets?
they claimed her
one or four.
they claimed her
with hate.
shot her into
a forever eclipse.
her blood stains
the conscience
of they who seek justice
her blood flows into
the stilled veins
of brave-hearts
who, like her
had reason… to reason.
they are all gone
and there will be more…
the river of blood
will flow forever
and the demons will sail
flying their flag of venom
fueled by chauvinism
of race, religion,
power, territorial jingoism.
this is our history
and the educated
do not learn.
and THEY know that
the book of life
has many pages…
that you turn a page
and move on.
there will be
more dissenters to kill
more pages to turn
while the book of life
sits on our shelf
like a phantom
as voices are erased
one voice at a time.
one bullet?
two, three, four bullets?
do you hear a satanic laugh?
KASHMIR LEARNING
Schools Set Afire in Kashmir
August-October 2016
flames leap
the walls burn
and from the ashes
we learn
that they can never
really kill
our zest for knowledge
our steadfast will
that is resolutely fed
with curious minds
that will not shed
the quest to learn
the right to yearn
for an informed life
that is not dead.
thus, you who burn
and you who kill
your lust for power
will never still
your frenzied, joyless
decadent mind
that will live and die
and never find
the solace of a life
of peace
of sharing joy
more than you receive.
flames leap
hearts burn
from the ashes
let us learn.
Bionote
Bina Sarkar Ellias is founder-editor-designer-publisher of International Gallerie, the award-winning global arts and ideas journal since 21 years; also a poet, fiction writer and art curator. Her book of selected poems FUSE, was taught at Towson University, Maryland, USA, and has been translated into Chinese. She has received a Fellowship from the Asia Leadership Fellow Program, Japan, 2007, the Times Group Yami Women Achievers’ Award, Bombay, 2008, and the FICCI/FLO, Calcutta, 2013 Award for Excellence in her work.
