Unveil the new nation, soaked in a vision of the ruling government
Restlessly changing colours, with bulk of saffron, some minimal green, and astonishingly fictional white
Where religious beliefs challenged by a petty rival in a small chamber of the media room
Can spread like wildfire on the internet, and lead to another digital partition
Then public figures will act like healing agents, and they’ll act brilliantly
And you, the confused citizen, do you want more drama?
So turn on the television, and be a virtual participant of a bizarre debate
Let your independence know that it’s not free
Fearfully light the gas stove, celebrate if you’re consuming a vegetarian dish
Anyone in the crowd could be a protector of the magnificent cow
Their emotions can explode, you could be dead, but they’ll be at ease if the cow eats plastic
Chant the slogan of secularism, anyone at any point can interrogate
Make notes, memorise, revise again until you can fluently prove your nationality, and your innocence
Infrastructure development will continue to remain inversely proportional to emotional demolition
Depression has gone far ahead of cancer, we’ve more politicians and less psychologists
The lust for land is equally advertised by the religious spokespeople
Now temples and mosques need cleansing and purification to be safe from the daily visiting fraudsters
Peace of mind is merely an illusion, things have changed
Lock yourself inside, and see each other fight in the name of everything
Scream at the top of your voice, “my nation is not a prison, my nation is not a prison”
Then weep to witness the fading glory of your majestic country
Politics has agonized your nation, yet your motherland has always been generous
Dear civilian! you’re in a loop, trapped inside an influential space owned by your nasty leader
Try coming out, or decay staying in
If you come out, you’ll be oppressed
If you stay in, you’ll be depressed
Sometimes, there’s no solution for a galaxy of complications.
Hamid Khan is a wildlife enthusiast, a civil engineer, and a poet at heart. He is a patriotic Indian but a cynic when it comes to the saddening intersection of bedazzling politics and human reality.