BORDERS

Drawing lines in imaginary spaces

Dividing all by the color of their faces

Their races, their language, where their space is

Does not matter if the line cuts through homes

The tomes that they read about God

That say draw a line,

Draw a sword,

Draw blood

Let it flood,

Let each space be washed in red

The slaughtered heads which your lines create

Fate hangs in balance as with your HB2 Ajanta

You draw a line, so fine,

It’s only yours not mine

No rights, no left, no wrongs, no songs

No this, no that, no what, no ifs,

No buts, no whys

And then the darkening of the skies,

The Junes, the Julys

As people prepare to cross the line

You rant, with a map in hand

Showing them where they stand

As they huddle together inside a box

You built for them as home

You turn out the lights

Squeeze the fight out of them

As you turn on the gas.

THE PRELUDE

Bang your head against the wall
And fall
For reasons beyond your grasp
Only to beck and call.
And always like the ways
The stench of putrid days;
One stares at burnt bottom of pans,
While somewhere a pantomime plays.
Numbers on the pages you hold,
The clammy dungeon, the cold
Monster stands scythe-handed
For your life is sold.
The lullaby from the mouth
That silently shout
And stick out tongues to lick your face
Into a mesmerizing doubt,
Only then to slice you complete
The pleading bleat
Of the stab of your pen through the heart
Like a knife through dead meat.

What a start
To the beginning.

STATIC CONVERSATIONS

Old voices over phones with static
A face you once knew
But now thousands of miles away,
Seem a dim, faded projection
Like the stained pages of your diary
Dated 1986
Just like the remnants of tea-leaves
At the bottom of your cup.
Silence is your conversation
Though you thought you had
A million tales to tell.
The static is all that remains.

THE BUTCHER

Loneliness makes its onslaught felt –

The hanging carcass in the butcher’s shop.

Life drains out

With drops of blood and tears;

The glassy stare of the severed head.

While God laughs

Slicing another piece of you.

image courtesy: www.wired2theworld.com/nepal1.htm

MERGING

I shall not smell the rain
Or hear the breaking of dawn –
A trail of black smoke
Is all that I will be;
A thin sliver of ash and
A boat of flowers, afloat
As my body will bid adieu
To my soul.
I shall not smell the rain –
I will be the rain,
And I will be the breaking dawn.
In nothingness shall I exist.
I will be nothing – yet everything.

change is good. change is permanent. change washes away the old, and welcomes the new... blah blah blah blah... and so shall it be, and so it shall come to pass... hmmm.this is what i feel about the horrific attack on mumbai - the aftermath and reactions from the people... this time things will change... because it's no longer the middle-class commuter on the train that has died... or the hand-cart pushers in a dingy alley... or just nameless faces with no standing in the social strata... things will change because the rich have lost friends and family, industrialists have been mowed down, and 5 star hotels in whichnthe elite hob-nob have been damaged... really a sad thing to say - but it's true... how many news reporters just went on and on abt the taj being the icon of bombay - and how it is being damaged!! screw you!! how can you even bother sobbing over a structure (historic, regal, much loved etc no doubt) when human lives were at stake... and we had a "peddar road" resident come out and say "oh i go to the taj when i feel depressed, and i had to come here today..." wrong thing to say - but guess what? this time things will change, and leaders will be pulled up. this one has hit where it hurts most. We have insensitive journalism, irresponsible politicians and leaders and the system is corrupt... and then we talk abt the "bombay spirit" crap! we pay the hoghest taxes in the country - do we get any back? and when we do it just disappears... did anyone notice Mod telling a person to shove off and not block the frame, as that person was standing in between the news cameras and Modi!!! the cheek and cheapness of it all - that idiot wanted the world to see that he had arrived and was mourning - when we have leaders like these... will there ever be salvation? when will our cops get proper equipment, when will our leaders stop passing the buck? on a show, barkha dutt asked shobha de about how the politicians for the first time seem united - shobha de replied - they ae not doing anybody any fvors - this is their job... how ironic but true - that we have a nation being torn apart by corrupt politicians and an inefficient system - who needs terrorists? in the USA, the different positions are given to leaders with credentials so that a banker does not get home ministry (as we have in India) - shouldnt the army/genral/armed forces be in charge of The Home Ministry - who else is better equipped or knowledgeable... a 75 year old man who has a criminal record or some such person who the nation has elected!! we are an incredible nation - we are doomed to say the least if we don't see change now!! because soon 26/11 will remain a piece of memory - or garlanding photographs of the martyrs where political leaders will show their "solidarity"... when will we change?

Indian Journalism at its worst - Mumbai Terror Attacks

Please get Indian news journalists off air
We have blamed politicians, we have pointed fingers at cops, we have asked questions about fire-fighters reaching late, and we have wondered who to blame for the security lapses. But have any of the TV news channels been chastised for being one of the biggest reasons behind the ordeal lasting for 59 hours?
Every move that the NSG commandos made, every tactical position that they took up, every detail of the hotel guests hiding, every arrival of fresh commandos and back-up was revealed with accurate detail by every journalist present at the Terror-Venues. In their bid to out-do each other, in the mad-rush to be first, some channels even gave out wrong information creating panic amongst citizens, only to retract it later with a lame apology. As representatives of the Nation’s News brigade isn’t there a code of conduct that they follow? Don’t the journos ratify the information they get? And one Hindi news channel even showed images of a head separated from its torso – one of the victims of the CST attack – on TV!!! What kind of journalism is this?
The Hindi news channel India TV (that recently did a news story about whether aliens too drank cow’s milk) had or claimed to have one of the terrorists calling them up LIVE on air. See it to believe it.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=CVI4Mdf1tE4
The militants followed every bit of news on TV, followed every Twitter update, visited web pages on their blackberrys – they knew every tactical detail that they required to know to aid them attack better. The news that NSG commandos were on their way to Mumbai just helped them to plan much in advance. This is what The Times of India had to say on their online edition http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/Blow-by-blow_breaking_news_breaks_viewer_patience/articleshow/3785897.cms
And no one delivered tactical info better than one of the most senior and Padmashree Award recipient television journalist – Barkha Dutt. She was in your face – loud, frothing, sensationalist and irritating. She did her walk-through the crowd, pointing the camera to them, pulling bystanders for sound-bites, and pointing to broken glass and curtains. When the NSG chief asked the crowd at Nariman House to disperse and be quiet as the operation was still under-way, Ms. Dutt pointed the cameras on the crowd and got them excited. Does every bit of news that she reports has to have a sensational angle? And at one point after the Taj ordeal is over she urges the commandos to give thumbs up sign and then shouting and asking him – “are there any more terrorists?” The NSG chief already told the world that... and then she turns to cam and says “I have just heard from the commando that there are no terrorists inside!!”
It seems that the online community is united in its opinion on the shoddy journalistic ethics of not only Ms. Dutt but of all the news channels. There are groups on Facebook like “Barkha Dutt for worst senior journalist on the planet” which has 834 members and growing - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37072947818
Yet another group on Facebook that boasts of 2409 members is called “Can you please take Barkha off air” http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37072947818#/group.php?gid=37165432771
Chyetanya Kunte on his blog - http://ckunte.com/archives/shoddy-journalism has this to say about Ms. Dutt’s reportage:
“In another instance, a General sort of suggests that there were no hostages in Oberoi Trident. (Clever.) Then, our herione of revelations calls the head of Oberoi, and the idiot confirms a possibility of 100 or more people still in the building. Hello! Guys with guns, you’ve got more goats to slay. But before you do, you’ve got to love NDTV and more precisely Ms. Dutt. She’s your official intelligence from Ground zero.”
There is Raaj who reacts to Cheytanya’s blog with his comment http://ckunte.com/archives/shoddy-journalism#comment-16494
“I guess she made more damage (if there can be something like that) during her reporting in Kargil. My Brother-in-law was fighting in one of the operations ‘exposed’ by Barkha Dutt (the terrorists stooge in the media) and his blood boils at the very mention of this women as he says a lot of our brave jawans were lost because of this channels greed for TRP’s. The greatest irony is that she got an award for this ‘reporting’.”
And for all wondering if there are any rules and regulations that the News Broadcasters have to follow – there is. http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=3296&pg=1&mod=1§ionId=7&valid=true
Take a look at it for yourself and see how many of these rules and guidelines were broken during the onslaught of the media while Mumbai burned