Chaddar and Mask

Please remove the new mask/There is no need for that chaddar at the Dargah/ We know you must woo us to be anointed again/the high priest of the temple. / Our pen is not dipped in vitriol/It drips our blood /burning in the pyres in our heart/etched on the dusty coffins of our dreams. /Gujarat was a mistake you say/ But you will not touch the perpetrator/ who cut-up our womb with cold calculated scalpel swipes/ and disrobed by Vikramaditya8217;s diktat/ still struts unfazed/ and brazenly spewing the devil8217;s venom on our soul./We will not let it happen again you say/ But you will not rein in/ your storm troopers who ravage the psyche of/ our living and the peace of our dead./ Remember what the Sardar said:/ You may not have killed Gandhi/ but you created the laboratory/ which brought forth a Godse./ You say you are the harbinger of peace/ with Pakistan and Musharraf/ But please do tell us for Ram8217;s sake/ what that has to do with our quam?/ Do you want to reopen the wounds of partition each time you speak of peace to us?/ We ring the Church bell/ but there is an eerie silence/ When JP died you said/ He reminded you of Christ on the Cross/ Please show that Cross to your storm troopers/ while we await the next assault. Please make a pilgrimage/ to lay that chaddar on the Best Bakery graves/ before time peels away the smug-mask of history/ Remember your ashes will be swept away/ but our bones will remain here forever.

The writer is an independent documentary filmmaker and social activist