The Fire in Our Hearts

Sixty Years of Azadi, Yes.
 But forget
 You made Salt at Dandi that shook the Empire
 We are Salt-sellers
 in the bottomless pits of power-brokering
 salivating for more and more and more.
 We stop at nothing
 the rock salt buries all.

But forget
 You said to wipe every tear from every eye
 We are not geared for that:
 heard about the India-Bharat divide?
 Artificial tears are packaged for India only;
 the real ones are in Bharat.
 We are also stockpiling our cellars
 of our world class city constructs
 with stacks of blinding teargas shells
 blended with special red chillies
 from Guntur for everyday use
 against the spoilers and troublemakers
 —the jholewallas agents provocateurs
 who question everything
 growth rate and development,
 dialectics and anti-intellectualism.

Anything ‘will do’ in India.
 But in the mindscape of Bharat
 you are blind and deaf
 for you cannot see the edifices burning
 and the pygmies who usurped them
 wallowing in the muck of scams
 scurrying for life like little rats and mice
 covered in black soot with their tails afire
 for you cannot hear the cries of
 the tortured and tormented
 while the smouldering scaffolds crumble.

Tell me: What potion will wake us up from our
stupor?
 Before history repeats itself
 Like one day the Farmans from Lal Qila
 could not pass muster beyond Palam
 Do you want ‘What is to be done?’
 buried in the archival mounds of Raisina Hill?

Nandigram or Mudigonda-Khammam?
 Does it really matter?
 The brutes are everywhere.
 Bullet-ridden bodies speak only numbers
 till the voice of a vibrant and resilient activist
 like a Narmada, volatile and unbeatable,
 reverberates:
 Rape me as many times as you can
 I will not surrender
 I will not surrender.

The tears have dried the eyes
 to reveal gaping holes of fire within
 and the fury of the shrieks has
 plucked the ears in a deafening
 collapse of the charred pillars of
 lives lived in squalor and misery
 in fear and trepidation of losing
 their land, their hearth, their livelihood,
 —of losing all.

 How many more cries to be muffled?
 How many more voices to be silenced?
 How many more women to be raped by booted rogues?
 How many more farmers to commit suicide?
 How many more protesters to be killed?
 How many more bullets will it take for the raging fires to reach the Temple?

The fire is in our hearts; it won’t be long!
 The fire is in our hearts; it won’t be long!

August 7, 2007 Suhas Borker ....

(Suhas Borker is an independent documentary filmmaker and social activist based in New Delhi. He can be e-mailed at suhasborker@gmail.com)