Anhad ka Baaja

वहाँ लोग चिल्ला रहें हैं उन्की आवाज़ सुनाई नहीं देती यहाँ हम सब चुप हैं हमारी खामोशी सुनाई नहीं देती यह बडा बद्किस्मत ज़माना है सिर्फ सर्कार की आवाज़ सुनाई देती Bandook ki Khamoshi Wahaan log chilla

Pandora’s box is open  And the -ism’s are flying about Nationalism has bitten her quite badly Her friend has been stung by Doubt The -ism’s are creating schisms Between him and me and you Is there

Why didn’t you write  About the 1984 Delhi riots? But… Why didn’t you write  About the massacre of the Pandits? I… Why are you so biased? So anti-Hindu? No, that’s… Why should I Justify my poetry? I

Brother fights brother, each for his share Whatever one says, the other doesn’t care Cousin fights cousin, each claiming he’s right “My father gave in to yours without a fight” Such an inheritance

Elie Wiesel has borne witness So that the dead do not die twice Once in fact and once in the forgetting Urvashi Butalia has written unflinchingly of Partition And Manto, of course, Manto But for us

Big Brother is always there He’s always speaking his mind What He does is always right Big Brother is always kind Chandrayaan is Big Brother’s baby No matter what unkind people say It has gone to the