Anhad ka Baaja

An Anniversary Poem

Every year
On the anniversary
Of their wedding
Those stories
Would be revisited

Not just family
But an ever-widening
Circle of friends
Would hear of
Appa’s first…

Old friends

Last night
We caught up with 
Old friends
After ages:
The conversation flowed
Like the wine
What each of the kids
Were up to
What each of us four
Were up to
And on and on and on

Likely

They are likely
Committing War Crimes
But
We can’t be sure
So
We can keep supplying them
With weapons
(Defensive weapons, mind you)
Until
We are sure they are
Committing War Crimes
And even then
We can’t be sure
That they are
Committing War Crimes
With the weapons we supplied
(Defensive weapons, mind you)
So…

Parental Concerns

As we lie awake
In bed at night
Our thoughts go out
To our sons:
Is the older one taking care
To stay warm?
It is cold where he is
And when he is engrossed in work…
Is the younger one
Drinking enough water 
In this Heat Wave?
Will he remember to
Stay well hydrated
In the run-up to 
His endsem…

The Emperor’s New Clothes

The moral clarity 
Of the young
Has cut rapier-like
Through the double-speak
And intentional obfuscation
Of those in charge

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam

(The world is one family)

To be able
To empathise with the suffering
Of people you cannot see
To grieve for a child, a parent
A brother, a sister
Not your own
To try to shine a light
On violence far away
Even as you face violence
Here and now
To do…

Oppression

The more I write
The less I am read
The more the numbers
Coming out of Gaza
The more the numbness
In the world outside

Agency

The machine would
Have us believe that
You and I are small cogs
Replaceable
Of no consequence
In the scheme of things