You taught me this
When I was born
You said he was the enemy
And now they tell me – he was my friend
The hatred you taught me
And the colours – saffron and green
You said they were meant to be apart
I did it in Ayodhya
And in Bhagalpur
I went to Ghodhra
While passing through Mumbai
I did it in Benaras and Jaipur too
And now we point fingers at each other
And kill each other without blinking an eye
Oh Mother! Is this all you could teach me?
History books say we fought against each other centuries ago
But together 60 years ago
And now we are fighting against each other again
History repeats itself – some admonish me
History teaches – others say
But isn’t it a losing battle
Eye for eye makes us blind, Gandhi said
Oh Mother! Aren’t we blind enough already?
Are you waiting for the day, when in darkness we can’t see
Will you be filled with glee
Or will you be angst ridden
Are you waiting for us to learn another lesson
Or have we come too far already
--------------------------
Update
There are many people who we interact with, who don't just keep the prejudices in their hearts but systematically spread them too. Only if they were given the power to see what lies on the other side, were given unbiased information, they would be able to decide what they want to believe in and discard propaganda.
A movement called 'anti-tags' stems from that idea. It is anti-communalism, anti-extremism and anti-polarization and pro-information. Some might also call it secular, liberal or even pseudo-secular-liberal. It believes tags don't matter because it just wants to be the bridge that closes the gap between the 'real' and the 'assumed'.
How Can You Help?
Tell us your story. Did you face communal backlash? Did an incident change you? What do you think of propaganda in media and politics? How is it ruining our social fabric?Share it on 'anti-tags'. Age no bar, gender no bar, religion no bar, caste no bar. Leave you name or send it anonymously. Our email is antiDOTtagsATgmailDOTcom
Link: http://anti-tags.blogspot.com/
7 comments:
O!!!!
I could feel the pain and express my my feelings the same way!! But I wonder if it is mother who teaches us all that?? I have my own doubts.
Nonetheless, it is good observation and presentation.
Mann
Hi Mann,
When you look around, scratch the surface, you’ll find people turning fundamentalist..
Kids are taught, sometime subtly sometimes overtly to hate the ‘other’… it’s a bit depressing to see that.. this poem is a result of that…
hey NG
everyones fighting everyone else. a very thought provoking poem. some decades back we fought together now we are fighting each other. irony at its best!
very recently, the Amarnath shrine board issue caused riots in J&K and when the order of transfer of land was revoked the VHP aka "self proclaimed protectors of Hinduism" started their protests n called for the Bandh.
India being a democracy cant really prevent such outbursts lest it turns into a totalitarian regime like the Arab nations. But we would never ever want that.
At the most we can reduce such clashes by not participating in any kind of hate mongering.
take care
ciao
Hey TD
The post has been inspired by the amaranth issue…. It is senseless and pointless and people can’t see that…. The frustration of that made me write this poem..
Being a democracy is a good thing but holding the people to ransom is not… with the bandhs and stone pelting and violence… things become ugly… uff!!
Anyway….
Take care!!
Zephyr i am really impressed ... and moved by the pain that your poem contains within.
If you allow, i would like to use this poem in my blog for my readers to read you.
hoping to hear from u soon
Hi Rahi,
Welcome to my blog! Sure you can use my poem as long as you let your readers know where it came from :)
of course dear.
trust me to use ur name and a live link whenever i do
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