Ground Ziro

Vast open rice fields all around a tiny elevated piece of heaven. A green sky beneath our feet and a clear blue one above. Pure air in between, clean as white clouds seen from an airplane window. The people - young, bohemian, some looking to escape, some to impress, most to seek and discover. The easy sound of guitars waltzing with the breeze.
Rice beer and wine served in bamboo glasses. Light on the head, heavy on the spirit. Travelling from the sun soaked fields of Punjab to the rain drenched hills of Meghalaya on the wings of a song.
Gum boots and bamboo huts and airborne photographers. Apple cheeked and innocent eyed school kids wearing colours of the sky, ambling by. Up and down a hillock of grass.
The Apatani people - friendly, wearing shy, honest smiles. Humbling the outsiders with their hospitality.
Night - bonfire, guitar and guttural sounds mixing in the mist. Laughter, new friends, old songs, new meanings. Prem baba and chacha galibh flying kites in a starry sky.
Tents and sleeping bags and musical dreams.
The morning after - more of the above.
A festival for saints, seekers and memory keepers.  Addictive.
Banao banao banao banao...right now!

A raped woman speaks

Go rape your mother first
She deserves to see the real face of the monster she gave birth to
In your childhood
When you sucked at her supple breasts, did you bite them like you did mine..with the same demonic glee?
Did you shove your thing inside her like you did inside me?
If you think it makes a man out of you..go do it to her...
Give her back her love ...along with the interest of your barbarity
If boys are boys let your mother be the certifier of your manhood...she deserves it for spouting out filth like you...
Not me...no I didn't ask for it...didn't want it...now I won't let any other man love me...for I am yours for life ..whether you want me or not...I have a right on your thing...I will hack it up into so many pieces that your tiny brain will not even let you count...
But not before it goes inside your mother...from where it should never have come out...so go on now...prove that you are a "man". and I will rejoice in not being cursed by that evil identity... For I can create what you can only destroy..
Rape me a thousand times and each time I will rise...not as your victim but as the mother you betrayed...

Mujhe nashe me rehne do!

Mujhe nashe me rehne do
Main nashe me hu to kya
Par nashe me mujhme 'main' nahi
Gar is mai ne mujhse 'main' ko nikala
To is mai se bada duniya me koi nasha nahi

Glossary:
Main: me
'Main': Ego
Mai: Alcohol

Beginning of Ram rajya?

Six thousand lives for six percent growth
Not a bad deal, sirjee
Not bad at all!

He gave us Gujarat
We need development, right?
Never mind Godhra
A blot on the hinterland
Even the moon has spots

He will make a man out of us
Teach us to leave our wives
Wear khakhi shorts
And embark on yatras to annihilate histories

Textbooks will be rewritten
Ram temples will be rebuilt
Ram rajya will return
When Lord Ram himself will lord upon us

We will bomb the bloodsucking neighbours away
They gave us 26/11
We will rule them 24x7

Billions will come rushing in now
Our ratings will soar
FDI, FII, the sleeping sensex will roar

Who cares if the 10% live or die
We can do without them
They are a dark spot on “shining” India
We will shove them away
Sahranpur banega Shanghai
Let us go the China way

What if its their home too
But damn them, they are so few
Let’s build a few more nuclear bombs
And  of course we will subsidise their tombs

A lament for modern times

Shining iphones with a million apps

Wafer thin handsets, the promise of a zillion pixels

I live in a land of subway surfers and candy crushers

Where our phones are smarter than us

It’s got an eye at the back and a mirror in front

Yet it doesn’t show me

But hey it got 47 likes on facebook, must be a ‘nice’ pic, no?

Let’s burn all the faceless books out there

And download free ebooks

Otherwise what’s the use of that ipad I got

Oh it’s so easy on the eyes, and so many options too

The other day I browsed through a hundred titles

But couldn’t decide on one

Don’t want to waste time on mediocre stuff you see!

Why are the damn birds so angry?

I used to envy their flight once

Tried to emulate it as well

But what the hell

I learnt to tweet instead

#afarewelltosanity

The other day, the mirror asked me

Are you all right?

Did you have a breakup?

You haven’t changed your display pic for like a week!

Gosh, I must unfriend that bitch

Don’t worry, I told her

I’ll get over it

Try Black Label, she said

It’s a girl’s new best friend

The world consumed in a race to click the best selfie

While the self lies alone – unheeded

Shrinking into an abysmal wretch

How many friends does it have?

How many likes?