Surfer's poem: The Republic Day

Countless, hungry, five-year olds, selling a million Tri Colours to a few thousand car commuters, writes Anand Kapoor.

Countless, hungry, five-year olds
Selling a million Tri Colours
To a few thousand car commuters
At smoke choked crossings on roads
56 years to the day
Of their alleged freedom
Welcome, fellow compatriots ·
To the Republic of India!

HT Image

We have the big bomb now!
And bombast to last a lifetime!
We have impressive growth rates you know
And bulls rampaging the trend-lines
We are about to take-off dear brothers
Soon we will be the leading brand
Soon, as we can package neatly
The mythical charms of our holy land

We are the ancient hegemony
If fables, silenced by History, be heard
Of the cultured pearls of our wisdom past
And fabulous wealth of a golden bird
Today, of course, we have some troubles
Like irksome botherations that mar
The shining pate of our newfound countenance
With corruptions of polity and scandals of power

And then there are the other issues
But Ah! That's politics. Lets leave the politics alone
Poverty, Illiteracy, Communal strife
Mere sins of politics, for economics to atone.
For money it is · or haven't you heard?
That will make the mare finally go
So hell with the gloom over ethical dwindling
Its Capital she needs, my boy and more!

Anand Kapoor, New Delhi
andy_kapoor@yahoo.com