Big Brother’s Cousins

Big Brother has cousins
All over the world
In every place 
Where flags are unfurled
Some older, some younger
But all of them
With that Big Brotherly Hunger
To be the one who
Is looked up to
Revered
Worshipped
Pedestalled too
Or it’s
Off with your head
And his and hers
And of course that of…

Brighter than a thousand suns

The brightest minds
Of that generation
Let the atomic genie
Out of the bottle

Technological hubris
Follow the leader
Utopia of plentiful energy
Patriotic flag-unfurling
We…

Hippo Rock musings

As I sit on Hippo Rock
And look down
I see that
As I have been sitting on Hippo Rock
And looking down
Potti’s land has become Raja’s
Duraisami’s land has become Thenan’s
Kumar’s land has become Rajkumar’s
The advantage of being an only son:
You inherit all your father’s land

Our Future

Kings have built temples
Pharaohs pyramids
Politicians have their statues
Ozymandias, too
And the Ambanis have their Antilia
All this to proclaim
To the future:
I was here

Finger, Moon

Once upon a time
The exam finger
Used to point at
The learning moon:
You were examined
So that you learnt
What you had learnt
And what you hadn’t

Racism

Blue-eyed and blond lives matter
Matter a lot
I would say

Enola Gay and her
Little Boy
Were both
Blue-eyed and blond
I daresay