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| Source: Here |
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening threatens
with phantoms
of nightmares rising amid
the gongs and chants in
the Baba’s kingdom.
Let us go, through certain
half-deserted corridors,
The muttering retreats
of restless souls in
search of what they know not.
Netajis and Lalajis meet
to conspire,
Having donned the mask to
suit the affair,
Baba ensconced himself on
god’s throne,
His women standing around
with smiles on
ready-to-serve masks.
The chanting rose in the
huge pavilion
Like ghosts in search of
their places of rest
While the gongs resounded
in the vacuum
of yearning chanting hearts
of yearning chanting hearts
Baba stood up having
signed the latest deal
With Netajis and Lalajis
And the women’s masks
smiled
The eyes met furtively.
And I have known the eyes already, known them all –
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase.
Baba dictates formulas
to chanters and gongers
Netaji to chelas
Lalaji to bankers
Women to Baba’s staff
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase
Are staring from behind a
mask
That’s hungry for what it
knows not.
PS. This is written
for Indispire Edition 133 #masks
Note: The lines in italics are
borrowed from T. S. Eliot’s poem, The
Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
Of course sometimes the masks of babajis, lalajis and netajis fall off. Still, the game goes on. It was great reading your post.
ReplyDeleteThey think we don't see through their masks.
DeleteWe are helpless, that's the simple fact. And so we too put on masks in order to survive in the hell created by Babas and their people.
Once again a great post!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm happy to see you here once again :)
DeleteThe Babajis, Netajis and the convenient world of masks..it never stops, does it ?
ReplyDeleteIt won't stop ever because nobody dares to disturb the universe created by the nexus. There's no survival if they dare.
DeleteStupendous indeed!
ReplyDelete(It doesn't matter what your political inklings are)facts are facts..
Such openness to facts is rare too. Thanks for that openness.
DeleteIt never stops.. :)
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
DeleteAnd yet again.. It's so good to read your post.. Liked it :)
ReplyDeleteGlad to know you liked it. Some themes refuse to leave me. They have become part of my being because of what they did to me.
DeleteYou chose my favorite poet.....And I smiled at the very first line...and frowned while reading the rest of it.....No babas with Eliot.....intolerable.....:)
ReplyDeleteEliot had flirted with Indian spirituality too. Probably he understood it better than our Babas.
DeleteThat's a different take on masks. The ugly but truthful nature of masks worn out of desire for power and praise and politics. Loved it. And as I always say, I ought to be reading more of such poems.
ReplyDeleteI had firsthand experience of one Baba's fiefdom and his close associates. I have never seen more crooked and villainous people than them.
DeleteEffectively written.
ReplyDeleteYou chose Netaji, Lalaji, and Babajis to tell about masks. Agree that these are the ones who are proven mask wearers.
But this makes me think that there is a little of Netaism, Lalism, and Babaism in all of us :)
Survival requires that we adopt the strategies of our enemies.
DeleteNice one sir. Its true we can't change this.
ReplyDeleteWe can't. The world has always been run by that nexus.
DeleteCompelling work Mr. Tomichan. This needs to be shared widely.
ReplyDeleteThis came from a real experience.
Delete