Kasab Uvacha: Dear India, Dear Friend

A few days after Mumbai attacks in November 2008 (26/11), still recovering from what we all saw on live TV, I kept thinking that these verses are what Kasab might be saying to himself while he and his fellow terrorists went on a 4-day killing spree, while keeping their cell phones on.

“Chikna, chikna,” the words the Senior Inspector Mahale used to describe Kasab, stuck in my mind.

I remember reading one of the hotel guests (someone from somewhere in Europe, I think) making a point about how the hotel staff didn’t even hesitate to give them their personal money from their wallets, and remember seeing the hotel guest moved by it and thinking to myself, “How patronizing…”

And I was aghast at the ceremony-like flurry of social media. Everywhere on the internet Indians tweeted, shared, and blogged this days-long murder as though they couldn’t keep their eyes away from it.

Indian TV networks covered it from every angle possible, and I cursed at myself, seeing myself as one of them, “What animals!”

A sort of helpless anger at all that we saw on the television, and on social media subsequently, still remains. Remains relevant.

~~~

Dear India, Dear Friend
At last the time has come
For me to take you in my arms

So handsome, so beautiful
So chikna that I am

Here my sweet one
Drink this Glue
So thick, so good
A Hindu Glue
A Muslim Glue
We are Hindus and Muslims First
Cops and Security Second

Don’t let them confuse you
With calls to sanity
Don’t let them break you
With urges for clarity
It is what it is
So why…? Unnecessary…!

Here you are
Let me take you in
Let the comfort of my squeeze
Strike you like a gentle breeze

There you are
Let me sleep you in
The slithery slumber
Of your tri-color Tradition
Of your Endless Argumentation

How sweet it is
To make ourselves
Like animals…ANIMALS…!

See how proud they make us
Saying even amidst Death’s bullets
Our hotel staff bestowed their wallets

How bright are our youngsters
The tin box sloshers, the tweeters
How final is the love between us
How narrow is our vision

There now,
Sleep, my Elephant friend
Hush…!
The Dragon is still
Far and behind

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