tricolour

A 40 kg silver brick overrides the

threat of the grim Saffron coronal rim

that explodes in the stomach

of a fever-ravaged populace

 

Hunger floods the Green

challenging it to celebrate

internecine borders crimsoned

by the wheel, the sickle, the crescent

 

Hatred bubbles under hooded

jobless seekers of truth.

Jails clang with differences

between Left and Right.

 

The White in a democratic writhe cries,

“Let Peace and Truth abide.

Imagine, imagine what unbesmirched would mean

The Saffron, White and Green….

 

What power and strength it could unleash

What multitude of stories it could weave

Come let us dream, dream of what the

Tricolour could mean –”

Mitali Chakravarty is a writer and the founding editor of Borderless Journal.


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3 Comments

  1. Zeenat Khan says:

    Thank you for the beautiful poem. You were born to be a poet. Different colors to me represent perception, warmth, and emotion. One must continue to dream to ensure joy, excitement, and to live our lives. I look forward to your next poem.

    • Thank you Zeenat. I am merely reiterating the values reinforced by the tricolours. White was for Truth and Peace, values that are taking a backseat while people bicker; saffron for courage and strength and green for productivity, growth, fertile lands. These values need to be revived — relating saffron to a religion or green to crops undervalued the philosophy that went into binding different cultures together.

      We should have all religions subsisting in harmony side by side — you can see it in Bali, where the same boundaries house altars of multiple religions, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. I have seen confluence of cultures and religions in so many places in SEAsia that I wonder why the subcontinent finds it difficult to accept the variations and exist like the Tricolours on the flag.

      • Zeenat Khan says:

        Thank you for the clarification. I wholeheartedly agree with you. Our Mitali Chakravarty is an enlightened soul. Your writing brings a unique perspective and freshness. I find your work whether a poem or prose often leads to positive feelings and one wants to change their outlook for the better. I get that you have traveled widely and that has added the richness in your mind. Brava! For the same reason Pico Iyer remains my most favorite writer. Religious and ethnic conflicts in the subcontinent is a very old thing. Take the case of India. In India, there are about eight major religions. Ethnic and communal violence uprooted so many people in the recent times. Now if you add the mob violence and the Assam conflict to the mix we see destruction of more lives and various other things. Such things do bother people like you, I and many others. What we can do is bring continuous attention to the problems and not give up. Perhaps in our lifetime we will see definite resolution of problems. The subcontinent is getting crippled and has become a hostile place for the freethinkers and all the others who crave harmony and peace. keep on writing…

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