So why did you wake me up you said?


Why did you end the night? Why did you wake me up?

I was so merrily rolling the window down and painting the town red with tobacco fountain-showers from my mouth.

I was so carefully washing my hands when the sweeper merely brushed past me.

I was so happily finishing the packet of potato chips and hurling the greasy non-degradable plastic packet below the very sign-board that read “No littering here.”

I was so skillfully pocketing shampoos and cutlery from hotels all over the world.

I was so joyfully judging people based on what they wore.

I was so happily evaluating them based on if they spoke English.

I was revering people if the color of skin was white and yet leaving no chance to fleece them, rape them and kill them.

I was objecting to movie titles, stand up comedy lines, speeches, press releases, going to restaurants, love, affection and everything else that was a part of a normal democratic life.

Why did you lift the veil of shadow from my face? Why did you let the light illuminate my eyes?

I was so happy being so… Indian.

Why did you end the night? Why did you wake me up?

Comments

Anonymous said…
You're fighting?
Anonymous said…
Thanks for visiting my blog. I really like that poem and I think I know what you are talking about.
Anonymous said…
sarcasm to the extreme.... agreed that the political / economic / social scenario in this country is not very favorable, it still is better than most places...
M not justifying any of the facts u mentioned here, but I still am proud of being an Indian...
satishds said…
ooh my god :)..it is such a beautiful poem!!. It is soo much true but remember, It is only small section of people who are awakened and most of them are still sleeping and hate to get up!!
Canary said…
@Prasoon
Well, right now i am fighting sleep :D

@Hattie
glad that you do :)

@chocolate
I wish for this minority to become smaller and smaller with every day..

@Satish
Thank-you! Actually I did not mean it to be a poem! :P
Junius said…
hehe good one :D
yamini N said…
Well one does angry with the way things are. Problem is when after much thought we find ourselves helpless to change it.

Saw Delhi6 this week and while I wont say anything about the movie there's a dialogue by Rishi Kapoor that resonated in my head. The way we cover up our mistakes.
rehene ko jagah nahi tho dil bada hai kehte hai.

same way we say the spirit of this cit that city , that country - its the survival spirit thats the greatest I guess and that when challenged makes us quite apathetic to others most times as much as we refuse to admit it.
See Bee said…
wow girl! i LOVE your tongue-in-cheek brand of sarcasm. really!

was nodding my head to all your points - sp the english part. I must admit i used to be a snob who judged ppl on their grammar - it has taken me a lot of growing up to get over that.....and im so glad I did open my eyes to that :)
Serendipity said…
Nice read and quite true. The sad part is there is so much erosion of true values that I find Indians valuing marks over honesty and the likes even when they leave the shores.

And thanks for reminding me how long it has been since I updated my blog.
Canary said…
@Prasad
:D Thanks, why the laughter in your name? :|

@Yamini
The survival spirit is over-rated, its more of a compulsion than a choice, what do you do when you're killed mindlessly? You learn to live with it over the years, just how people up in the hills develop larger lungs for oxygen processing.

@Trauma
Hehe! thanks so much!! So you're a big mature girl now :)

@Serendipity
Ok, so I am flying over to read the update soon..
Unknown!!! said…
Welcome back!, I thought you abandoned this blog :O
yamini N said…
Hi,
I did not mean survival spirit in the sense of the media hype but the fact that you put it, you want to survive and get through life regardless of who else gets killed because as you said there isn't much choice in reality when there is madness without reason.
No new posts since then ??
Trevor Penn said…
ain't that true now. What/who caused this rude,jolted awakening?
Canary said…
@unknown
no very much around, thinking of what to write next!

@yamini
yeah I totally agree!

@Trevor
I forgot :|
Anonymous said…
-astounding
-loved every word of it
-crisp
-brief
-no mincing
-loaded with subtle yet loud thoughts
-can be read a hundred million times
-would have become text book material for 7th graders if APJ had written it
-believe should be text book material for urban indians first, regardless of grade
-resonates patriotism for india and humanism for the world
-you're beautifully expressive
-you are beautiful :)
-write on
-thanks to you
Anonymous said…
Hi,

I was reading ur blog posts and found some of them to be very good.. u write well.. Why don't you popularize it more.. ur posts on ur blog ‘he canary airs her thoughts..’ took my particular attention as some of them are interesting topics of mine too;

BTW I help out some ex-IIMA guys who with another batch mate run www.rambhai.com where you can post links to your most loved blog-posts. Rambhai was the chaiwala at IIMA and it is a site where users can themselves share links to blog posts etc and other can find and vote on them. The best make it to the homepage!

This way you can reach out to rambhai readers some of whom could become your ardent fans.. who knows.. :)

Cheers,
Ray
SaffronSaris said…
Hie Canary,

Oops, I didn't realise you had dropped by SaffronShots last year.
Anyway, I'll be updating SaffronShots soon with new photos. Hope to see you drop by again :)
Voice said…
hey this one is great.
workhard said…
LOL, " i was so happy being so..Indian" Thats bad but true.. Thats what people do..


Read poems
Canary said…
@mouse
Thanks :)

@Ray
Thanks for inviting!

@Saffron
Glad that you dropped by...

@voice
Thanks!!!

@Work
Are you a spammer? :|
workhard said…
Find out:) iconsider myself not..
Canary said…
@Work
:)
Maria Maria said…
well and indians wnt ever lose their indianness!
i can relate.

Popular Posts