{"id":18456,"date":"2012-04-09T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2012-04-09T11:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=18456"},"modified":"2012-11-03T17:00:07","modified_gmt":"2012-11-03T17:00:07","slug":"rang-de-basanti-colour-my-saffron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2012\/04\/rang-de-basanti-colour-my-saffron\/","title":{"rendered":"Rang de Basanti (Colour My Saffron)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In support of ‘people of Koodakulam’ whose voices and rights have been suppressed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rang de basanti-
\nColour my saffron,
\nA phrase embodying Bhagat Singh-
\nThe “terrorist” who fought oppression,
\nWho wanted to bomb the authoritarians,
\nThey, not he, were the oppressors,
\nYet he, not they, was the “terrorist”<\/p>\n

Come, once again,
\nLet’s colour our saffron,
\nIn the red of blood,
\nAs many are beaten by police,
\nFor opening their mouths,
\nFor speaking up!<\/p>\n

Time and again,
\nWe must colour our saffron-
\nNo one values clothes
\nUnless the white ambassadors
\nSplash dirty waters after rain on our clothes,
\nAs the red lights-
\nThe celebration of their power flash<\/p>\n

Red, must be used, time and again,
\nTo puncture blood,
\nTo flash on ambassador cars to send out a message,
\nPolitical dynasties, families, and the untouchable Mayawati statues,
\nAre really untouchable,
\nLarger than life,
\nLike our Bolywood,
\nWhere Page 3 adorns
\nSexy women with pregnant bellies,
\nWhile in a remote village,
\nUnborn children refuse to kick,
\nBut to only howl,
\nAs mothers-to-be
\nAre denied milk and food,
\nTruly, how illiterate they are,
\nfor not having gone to school
\nWhere teachers slap you to tell you
\nThat white kurtas and Gandhi caps –
\nPeople who wear them must be Gods.<\/p>\n

Today, if you have courage,
\nThen go and colour the saffron
\nWith blood and atrocity-
\nDo you not see,
\nWe are a nation of deaf,
\nWhere politicians in the parliament,
\nUnder the blessing of CCTV watch porn,
\nDo you not see,
\nWe are a nation of blind,
\nBecause the power that sleeps on giant beds,
\nInside the symbols of the Raj,
\nConnaught Place and Janpath Road,
\nRaces behind money,
\nUnder the aegis of Racecourse Road,
\nDo you not see,
\nAfter 5, 10, 20, 100, 500 and then 1000 rupee,
\nGandhi is tired of being slapped,
\nAs his face is siphoned off to the Swiss lockers,
\nAnd basement treasuries!<\/p>\n

Dare yourself,
\nTake of your slippers,
\nWalk in 44 degrees,
\nCome, colour the saffron,
\nWith blood and atrocities!
\nRang de basanti-<\/p>\n

But wait, and
\nAsk yourself,
\nDo we,
\nDo we,
\nReally need Rang de basanti?<\/p>\n

______________________<\/p>\n

Published after permission from the author.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sumeet Grover:<\/em><\/p>\n

– Member, TRANSCEND Art\u00a0& Peace Network<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

– Coordinator of Global Poetry<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

– Msc Software Engineering<\/p>\n

– Originally from India, based in the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In support of ‘people of Koodakulam’ whose voices and rights have been suppressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[198,182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kudankulam-anti-nuclear-satyagraha-india","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}