Poetry

July 26, 2017 Poetry , POETRY / FICTION

sarathy selvamani

 

By

Ajmal Khan

 

 

Jai Bheem – Lal Salam

 

 

Ambedkar and Marx

Sat together over a tea

between the ballet boxes

during the students union election

and smoked Calcutta Beedi

 

Che offered them a Havana cigar

Spoke on same stage

at a funeral meeting of a suspended reserved category student

and sloganeered

Bharmanism mudabad”

“Jai bheem Lal salam”

“Jai bheem Neel salam

 

Revolutionary programme

and the Constitution

went on hunger strikes

seeing Brahmanical Marxism

and Saffron capitalism

Buddha red the Communist Manifesto

and Marx the Annihilation of caste

De classed comrades tried

de casting

The red faded

and became saffron

blue cotton stitched with saffron flags

 

When the results came out

Jai beem and Lal salam became two negative sides the same magnet

The image of the category student

who went to stars

on the election campaign posters kept smiling

 

Another dead body of a category student

found in the hostel room.

 

 

 

My missing poem

 

 

My poem is said to be missing
by the editor
I got a formal letter today saying
Your poem is missing and we regret to inform you that
we can’t publish missing poems

I had sent it via Registered post
signing on the poem
He had to sign on the register
to accept my poem
and in the records he has signed on it
Still he says my poem is missing
Did any ABVP goons assault my poem
after the editor signed on it?
This time my poem had a Muslim name
unlike last time

it had a Dalit name then
Editor didn’t accept my last poem saying
I haven’t attached an original
Scheduled Caste Certificate
since they found the attached certificate fake
Now I didn’t have any Muslim certificate to attach with
but he might be sure of it
from the syntax, adjectives, verbs and rhymes
that its a Muslim before it was “missed” between the editors
Where do all the missing poems go?
To the dust bin of the editor and then
to the dumping wastes?
Until a new poem being written and published
the idea of my poem sees no light
Unless my poem is found in between by the police

or the dead body of my poem found in editors dust bin.

 

 

 

 

8 ways to look at a cow in India

 

 

  1. Did the Hindus never eat beef?
    Dr. Ambedkar said yes
    they did

 

  1. Cow is a holy animal- said the Brahmin
    and waited for Dalit
    to remove the dead cow

 

  1. “The cow and the bull are sacred
    and therefore should be eaten”-
    Apastamba Dharma Sutra

 

  1. Aklaq didn’t ate it-
    the postmortem report
    and forensic report

 

  1. There are only Muslims and Dalits killed
    in the race of Gauraksha
    why?

 

  1. Urine and cow dung
    the holy profit
    than milk

 

  1. Who got the profit of cow?
    Mosalman butcher?
    or the Bhaniya merchants and exporters?
    or the Saffron?

 

  1. Again one more killed
    was told, he ate beef
    No one asked,
    if he had food to eat.

 

 

 

 

 

Rejected poem

 

 

The poem was accused

as anti national

and rejected

like a US visa applicant

from a Muslim country

 

It wanted to prove as nationalist

It started with Vande matharam

the continuing lines were only nouns

of the independence struggles

which the poem was part of

Rest of the lines were written in green,

white and kesari in colour

Signed on the lines which start with J&K

that they are integral part

it ended with national anthem

 

The poem was again rejected

on the grounds

had two names Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan

in foot note,

syntax had no saffron and khaki pattern

Moplah rebellion is included

and instead of 1947

it’s written Azaadi.

 

 

 

 

 

Ajmal Khan

Ajmal Khan A.T is a bilingual writer and activist who writes in English and Malayalam, his mother tongue. His English poetry collection My Tolerant Nation is published by Wings & roots (2017) and Malayalam one line story collection Museebat (2017) published by Monsoon books, Mumbai. His poems and articles have appeared in important magazines online and print in India and abroad. His poems have also appeared in anthologies including GOSSAMER; An anthology of contemporary world poetry by Kindle Magazine.

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