Mainstream Weekly

Gandhi's Compass

Suhas Borker — 2021-08-20T19:41:05Z

(Note: How relevant to the dot this poem remains after 17 years? It was first published in Times of India on 19 April 2004. It referred to the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and to the 11 vows of Gandhi; The moral compass was pointing to the 2004 General Elections - the 'India Shining' campaign was leading the country nowhere. For the 11 vows of Gandhi please see link: https://www.gandhi-manibhavan.org/educational-resources/the-eleven-vows-of-gandhiji.html)
Do come to my old (…)

- 2021

Book Review: Gandhi's ingenuously reconstructed autobiography | Suhas Borker

Suhas Borker — 2021-07-30T16:44:15Z

RESTLESS AS MERCURY:
My Life As a Young Man
by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Edited by Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Aleph Book Company | January 2021 | 400 p
ISBN: 9788194874140
https://www.alephbookcompany.com __0__
As I read the preface by Gopalkrishna Gandhi to Restless as Mercury: My Life As A Young Man, I was reminded of what his elder brother and professor of philosophy Ramchandra Gandhi told me 30 years ago. Back in 1991, we were working together to make Jagran aur Gavahi: Tees (…)

- 2021 / Book Review

Come Pegasus, Come Pegasus! | Suhas Borker

Suhas Borker — 2021-07-23T16:47:18Z

Come, Come, Pegasus,
snoop away, snoop away, into the dark
till we trace your master(s)
in remorseless hot pursuit to tick and mark
find you we shall up to the up-up
find you we shall down to the down-down
naked truth won't let you hide for long
and soon you shall be sold for a song
Come, Come, Pegasus,
snoop away, snoop away, into the dark
wing carefully lest guardian dogs bark
you were in the Inner Temple Arms
you were in Gandhi's and Nehru's spurs
not in spyware tools and (…)

- 2021

You made me a Martyr | Suhas Borker

Suhas Borker — 2021-07-09T18:12:53Z

You made me
a simple eighty-four old Jesuit priest
into a martyr
By demonizing me
By putting me in jail
By repeatedly denying me bail
By declining even a sipper
to my Parkinson's torn body
You tormented and tortured me enough
But you could never imprison my spirit
a simple adivasi rights activist
fighting for my people's human dignity.
Remember you will never be able to
wash the blood on your hands
till the day of judgment
You killed me - one Stan Swamy
But my sacrifice (…)

- 2021

Have you written down my name? | Suhas Borker

Suhas Borker — 2021-05-21T23:51:52Z

I knocked on the door
Have you written down my name?
I realise that was a big mistake
Never walk blindly behind anyone
I lost the power to think independently
I can see the ship capsizing
and I want to live another day
I knocked on the door
Have you written down my name?
How long is the list now?
(Overheard a andhbhakt mediaperson speaking)
18 May 2021
Translated from the original in Hindi by the author
[Suhas Borker is Editor, Citizens First TV (CFTV) and Convener, Working (…)

- 2021

Our immunity is innate

Suhas Borker — 2020-05-16T22:01:40Z

You dare not make us the nowhere people You dare not stop us from reaching our hearths We are the harvests and the grains and all the food We are the furnaces and the smelters and all the steel We are the mills and the looms and all the fibre We are the factories that cast and mould the future We are the fires that stoke and alight the economy Remember never to push us against the wall Remember without us there is nothing Only you are in your antiseptic and sensitised bubbles Only you are (…)

- 2020

Coronavirus, the Latest Excuse for PSYOPS in India

Suhas Borker — 2020-04-11T14:48:37Z

The first major PSYOPS of the Modi government was demonetisation. The second is the COVID-19 lockdown.
Psychological operations (PSYOPS) are operations to influence the total persona of a target – emotions, motives, reasoning and behaviour. In this case it is the 1.3 billion people of India.
In India, for PSYOPS to succeed, they have to delve deep into the psyche of the Indian public with its inherent divisions and divides. The strategies of PSYOPS are devised after digging deep into (…)

- 2020

Jaipal Reddy — A Tribute

Suhas Borker — 2019-08-18T22:22:47Z

by Suhas Borker
S. Jaipal Reddy, veteran parliamentarian and former Union Minister, passed away on July 28, 2019 at Hyderabad. He was 77. This is a tribute to him from a friend, close associate and “comrade-in-arms”.
November 12, 1997. 3.00 pm. Broadcasting House, New Delhi. The Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Gandhiji's one and only live broadcast on All India Radio is to begin.
On November 12, 1947, Deepawali Day, Gandhiji was scheduled to address more than two lakh refugees (…)

- 2019

Gandhi or Godse

Suhas Borker — 2019-06-01T16:59:12Z

The moral compass has no tones of grey
It is white or black
It is light or darkness
It is good or evil
It is Gandhi or Godse.
Suhas Borker
[Suhas Borker is an independent documentary filmmaker and Convener, Working Group on Alternative Strategies and is based in New Delhi. He can be e-mailed at suhasborker[at]gmail.com]

- 2019

Brazen demons: your time is up

Suhas Borker — 2018-04-28T16:23:20Z

What kind of land has this become
where little girls can no longer walk and play
safe and free from rapists?
In the mind's eye of the people
the spokes of the Blue Chakra have come asunder
replaced by the little girl Asifa's
bloody mutilated vagina.
Just wait and watch
how from it will sprout
waves of fiery blooded lava
drowning in molten moulds
the brazen demons of our times.
Brazen demons: your time is up!
Your time is up!
April 22, 2018 Suhas Borker (…)

- 2018