By Reeti Singh:
India, my country-
Became free tonight.
Not many years have passed,
We shall celebrate liberation on the 15th with festive delight-
Freed we were from bondages of the west,
Troubled and tested, all under great unrest.
Struggled and died, many a martyrs for this country-
Widowed and orphaned many then lived,
Wiped their tears and strived ahead-
Wept not tears till they drove away the guest.
Rose then here the devil within-
corruption and poverty simmered in sweet delight.
Employment a crisis, and death in face-
Picked up the sickle, all faith in place-
Rose then from here the nation within.
Some saw shadows, some saw light-
Some saw evil, some saw what was right.
Some saw their own pockets, some saw other’s plight-
Rose from here our nation, our pride.
India, my country-
Struggling still to its feet,
India, my country-
An emerging delight!
India, my country-
It’s a people’s nation,
Flawed in many ways, perfect in others-
Diverse in many ways, united still!
We crib, we jostle,
We haggle over a single potatoe’s price-
We stare, we oggle,
We spit at every corner’s respite.
We yell when we like, or respond not when not merry-
We kneel in front of our gods and stand up and fight when ready.
We, a nation where every human is not just a human-
But a kin-man, a “bhai”-
Where the neighbor is family, not a man-black or white.
We have our gliches, our flaws, our ways-
“jugaad” is our system,
Not the government’s bite.
we dwell not here, it is here that we live-
where every day is a festival,
at some beach or some hill.
India, my country-
Its vast and wide,
It is a pallete of coulours, a florist’s delight.
India, my country-
Became free tonight,
Tonight, six decades and four have now gone by-
Our country is now dabbed in some ways,
A delight in others.
India, my country-
Became free tonight!
My heart now fills with indebt-ed gratitude, martyrs and leaders-
Followers and people who lived back then,
Beared so much for us,
Went through grime!
A thank you note this may not be-
Well-composed not,
Mere scribbling from a glad-heart’s pen-
I care not now for words or structure,
Freedom is when you are free to feel and express,
And I feel proud to write a poem this absurdly (un)composed-
It is now that I know for sure and in all conformity,
India, my country-
Became free tonight!
Photo by Anshumaan Singh.