Rang de Basanti (Colour My Saffron)

POETRY FORMAT, KUDANKULAM ANTI-NUCLEAR SATYAGRAHA, INDIA, 9 Apr 2012

Sumeet Grover – TRANSCEND Media Service

In support of ‘people of Koodakulam’ whose voices and rights have been suppressed.

Rang de basanti-
Colour my saffron,
A phrase embodying Bhagat Singh-
The “terrorist” who fought oppression,
Who wanted to bomb the authoritarians,
They, not he, were the oppressors,
Yet he, not they, was the “terrorist”

Come, once again,
Let’s colour our saffron,
In the red of blood,
As many are beaten by police,
For opening their mouths,
For speaking up!

Time and again,
We must colour our saffron-
No one values clothes
Unless the white ambassadors
Splash dirty waters after rain on our clothes,
As the red lights-
The celebration of their power flash

Red, must be used, time and again,
To puncture blood,
To flash on ambassador cars to send out a message,
Political dynasties, families, and the untouchable Mayawati statues,
Are really untouchable,
Larger than life,
Like our Bolywood,
Where Page 3 adorns
Sexy women with pregnant bellies,
While in a remote village,
Unborn children refuse to kick,
But to only howl,
As mothers-to-be
Are denied milk and food,
Truly, how illiterate they are,
for not having gone to school
Where teachers slap you to tell you
That white kurtas and Gandhi caps –
People who wear them must be Gods.

Today, if you have courage,
Then go and colour the saffron
With blood and atrocity-
Do you not see,
We are a nation of deaf,
Where politicians in the parliament,
Under the blessing of CCTV watch porn,
Do you not see,
We are a nation of blind,
Because the power that sleeps on giant beds,
Inside the symbols of the Raj,
Connaught Place and Janpath Road,
Races behind money,
Under the aegis of Racecourse Road,
Do you not see,
After 5, 10, 20, 100, 500 and then 1000 rupee,
Gandhi is tired of being slapped,
As his face is siphoned off to the Swiss lockers,
And basement treasuries!

Dare yourself,
Take of your slippers,
Walk in 44 degrees,
Come, colour the saffron,
With blood and atrocities!
Rang de basanti-

But wait, and
Ask yourself,
Do we,
Do we,
Really need Rang de basanti?

______________________

Published after permission from the author.

Sumeet Grover:

– Member, TRANSCEND Art & Peace Network

– Coordinator of Global Poetry

– Msc Software Engineering

– Originally from India, based in the UK.

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 9 Apr 2012.

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