[Poem] An Ode to Freedom.
What is it to be free,
To be independent?
Underneath the sky full of stars,
witness my land full of freedom,
where I walk carefree, with my head held high -
Free of fear, rape, and molestation,
Of the baseless justification,
And that hateful identification.
A land full of familiar faces,
Beyond caste, beyond races,
To take pride without prejudice -
In whoever, I Love, still, unafraid,
In whatever I eat, grass or dead meat,
Free to chose what I speak -
for what I seek,
to hear, deep within my heart;
is that blissful call of freedom!
But, do you know,
what is it to be free,
To be independent?
Where our fathers, won the battle, not long before,
The land of Nehru, Gandhi, Bhagat, Bose and many more -
Bestowed, to us, this land full of freedom.
War is over, yet, what is it,
That we, still, keep waging? This silent wailing?
Born of this rage, a droplet of hatred,
My brainwashed brothers!
While Kashmir burns,
another Dalit is set to fire,
another state stands divided,
yet, another angry Naxalite
flaming this invisible ire,
bracing, yet, another fight,
and embracing the hands of invisible independence.
But why?
Why did we trade our freedom?
And to whom?
This Illusion of choice -
The rigged election, yet another fiction.
A fable, anointing a handful of proud pigs,
This illusion of choice -
Disillusion of divide and rule! While,
My brothers of Khaki and the sisters who smile,
The sons of poverty and daughters die in distraught,
While these battles, that are still fought,
This illusion of choice -
Voting for this, The choice of hatred over peace,
The invisible boundaries that still divide us - awhile -
the freedom of fancy coveted lives we live upon.
Divide us, and they shall rule.
Wake up!
Here and now, Unite. Quit this inner fight.
Get up, Stand up,
Stand up, for your rights!
Look beyond, these invisible shackles, the bondage
Look beyond, Men behind those masks, coming of age,
to sell us out,
sinister schemes, bogus bills, hypocritical hypothesis -
that become The Blind Law,
and us? The proud law abiding citizens.
- A trap, a loop, a labyrinth of lies,
and then, this here is their version of our freedom!
But do they know,
What is it to be free,
To be independent?
The symbols, anthems, this fake preach of patriotism,
Taxation, reservation, my constitution, this holy inhibition,
Speech, politics, blasphemy, to set me free?
"Go to work, have kids, send them to school,
obey all rules, follow the fashion and pretend all's cool,
act normal, walk on the pavement, watch the Television,
trade your youth, save for the future, remember the vision,
keep your eyes close, cover your senses and obey the law,
it's alright! A brave new world, without any flaw.
Now, repeat after me:
We are free, We are free, We are free..."
And all this while we raise the flag
and sing the anthem,
decorate ourselves with the tricolor,
remember our heroes and forget this moment,
our chests out in adoration, in pride,
and minds shut off objective fiction.
Year after year, the same,
the nationalistic kills the idealistic,
And that's the end of this game,
The game of freedom. "We are free, we are free, we are free..."
But, did you understand,
what is it, to be free,
To be independent?
To be independent?
***
[About]
As per all recorded evidence, India gained independence on August 15, 1947.
70 years later, the question remains the same,
What is it, to be free,
To be independent?
***
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