Monday, September 08, 2008

Kandhamal...


Let’s write our destinies on the leaf of desire,
Let’s bring back the dead from the burning pyre.

Why smear some ash, some vermillion on the face,
Why act like mercenary puppets on hire.

Let’s not think for thinking makes it hard to remember,
Let’s forget for once that we created the fire.

Why blow over cinders and feed them with straw,
Why not let it be subsumed in its own mire.

Let’s pour some libations for the spirits, who watch,
Let’s not knowingly get into the gyre.

Why pretend to sleep while dying tonight,
Why fall “Mirage” and pretend to go higher.


Post script: This post/gazal is an appeal to the people of Kandhamal(a small district in Orissa) and Kashmir, where they are killing each other in the name of religion, in the name of God. Do we have a right to take away something that we cannot give to others? It is honour killing. Which honur? Whose honour? The pseudo secularism in India has not failed to bring shame to humanity for so long now. the bloodshed in the name of religion has to be stopped. There is only one religion, the religion of LOVE. How difficult is that to follow?


Secondly, this genre of English Gazal has been inspired by Agha Shahid Ali's innovative use of the Gazal Genre into English.



10 comments:

Mampi said...

Very Innovative, very new and very relevant.
Write more in this genre.

delhidreams said...

when it becomes easier to kill then love, when it's safer to hide then to confront, when it's comfortable to be dumb then speak up, when it's better to die then to sleep...then, my dear mirage, we'll take our caravan to the next stop on this endless journey of ours.

SHUBHAJIT said...

i really like your poem and appreciate your thought..interestingly, couple of days back something provoked me to write on the same topic..religion is necessary but the matter of fact is, people make it for their own ulterior motives..its really painful when people fight with each other in the name of God...

Noni said...

Timely....

images are nice..creative....

Impressionist said...

I loved the poem, I really did not know about this village until I read ur poem.
hmmm..

-I

oceanic mirages said...

Mampi: thank you pretty lady.
i am trying, hope u will soon get another gazal soon.

Adi: u strongly reminded me of eliot's Waste land. "the April is the cruelest month". Love isnt dead yet, it will be sometime before that happens n then there wont be ane1 to repent anyways.

Shubhajit: thanx for the visit and u r right about the ulterior motives people achieve by instigating this deadly weapon.

Noni: thanx for the visit.

Impressionist: Glad i could spread the awareness and my words reached u. thet still have to be read by lot many other people, n understood by even many more.

dharmabum said...

i do listen to ghazals, but am more of a music person. i do not know the technicalities, but this - ghazals in english is certainly interesting.

about the incidents in orissa, while i feel sad that it is all happening, i also feel we are only looking at the problem superficially. the root causes are a lot more complicated, and nobody is talking about that. for instance, while every paper / news channel reported the massacres, why did none of them speak of the killing of that swami?

off tangent - and because i do not know if you come back to read replies to comments - yes, it was indeed a real conversation with pa. on sms though :)

soulbrush said...

very thought provoking post.the whole world has gone mad, i see it in the classrooom with 3 year olds....all the unnecessary violence. what do you teach? i was a teacher for 40 years and have now just semi-retired...on to do different things now. the pressure in the classroom is far too much these days.

human being said...

oh yes one religion... religion of love... and poets like you are its prophet...

at the end of your poem i cried... it was so resonant... and evocative...

'Why fall “Mirage” and pretend to go higher.'

this line just killed me...
you soar, Dee... upward surely...

love

Sujoy Bhattacharjee said...

Hmmm. Good work. Didn't know about Ghazals in English earlier. Now I do.

Not sure your intended audience will get to read this. But it was at least an honest try.

Cheerio,

Mayfly.

Sun-kissed nights,  run wild and sure mornings, shrouded in grey walk slow,  noons burn high, and so do the hearts. like dawns I linger, lik...