Bapu (A Collection Of Poems/ Poems In His Memory) Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

Bapu

By Bijay Kant Dubey



A Collection of Poems
As A Tribute To Him


Bapu---
Tumhari yaad mei,
Hum kitanei bekhabar!

Bapu---
In your memory,
How lost are we!


Shanti
Chandrakona
2022

Preface

A Portraiture of Gandhi
Under The Shadow of Gandhi
Gandhivadi Chintan O' Vichardhara

Bapu, Tumhari Yaad Mei, in writing the collection I have just put the efforts in collecting my digital poems, the poems uploaded on the sites, the webs, as I have not written them afresh. I have just gathered them for your reading and perusal. I do not know if there is anything readable in them. To praise him is not it all, I want to take him as for criticism sake too. Was he not a man? He too was a man and he too had weaknesses. Gandhi was an icon definitely. He is a role model for us, but before him too were some to take a lesson. He was also a father, a husband of Kasturba. He was a lover of man and woman an above all of humanity. Let us critique him too. Has the Indian constitution been not drafted after different charters? Can it be not amended? Was the building not there before the Constituent Assembly meetings? Try to see it all with a new perspective rather than sticking to old concepts and obsolete thoughts and ideas. When the lime clay and small brick made buildings get demolished or dilapidated, do the debris tell of what it was? What it is today with us may not be tomorrow. Just take it for.
Keep it Gandhi and Gandhism for criticism. Do not

The loosely-tagged together poems, what is it in them, I cannot assure you of it all, as I have just re-arranged and re-presented them rather than writing it anew.

A Portraiture of Gandhi may be the sub-title of the collection under our perusal or you may call it Under The Shadow of Gandhi, the big photo of Gandhi overlooking us and we crossing the town square may be the thing of our deliberation. One may make the portraits of his. The images of Gandhi, one can definitely.

First, I chose Bapu as the title and then Bapu, Tumhari Yaad Mei as for English and Indian matter, a Hinglish one forming the crux of the thematic and again I went for A Portraiture of Gandhi for the thesis title or as a painter takes to or a pedestrian Under The Shadow of Gandhi walking past, I writing my work, painting my masterpiece, having a tryst with Gandhi and Gandhism.

While critiquing Gandhi, the essay by Orwell on him flashes upon my mind showing it Gandhi as a man and a saint in a balanced way.


A Tryst With Gandhi

Gandhi, my homage,
My tribute to him,
Gandhi on my mind
And I going my way.

Bouquets of blowers
By his photo
And he smiling
The Grand Old Man of India.

Prem se boliye,
Mahatma Gandhi ki jai.

I wanted to conclude it with Rajghat poem, but something let it me not and interrupted me from concluding the poem. Just after paying our homage to the Father of the Nation, I felt it sufficed to pay and go away. But something held me from behind, drew me and it got lengthened unnecessarily.

In his Memory

The bouquets of flowers
By the side of his photograph
And the candle burning before
As our tribute, homage to him
In our fond memory of him.

Some of the poems which I wrote long ago and which I could not locate them I have not included hereunder it. I have just the digitized ones written directly on the computer as I have not been able to find, locate, re-locate and trace the hand-written ones which are missing even now. But the material is not less than and it will suffice our purpose of doing a series on him and taking them into consideration as for to evaluate and re-evaluate him.

-------Bijay Kant Dubey

The Five Elements

Earth to earth,
Fire to fire,
Water to water,
Wind to wind,
Spirit to spirit
The return journey
To the five elements
The body is composed off.
N.B. Leonard Dabydeen commented on Facebook The elemental journey is sacred.

Tiranga, The Tri-Colour Fluttering


Under the tirnaga
Gathered we
In rows,
Stood they up,
The flag was pulled
Bordered
Saffron,
White
And green,
The middle white
With the Ashok Chakra

The flag went up
To the pole mast,
The thread strung
And the sling opened it
With a plethora of petals,
Flower petals scattering over.

Saluted we,
The incense sticks burnt it,
Flowers were offered to
To the dais with the flag-post,
The song was sung,
Jana gana mana mangal...,
Some remembered it,
Some seemed to have forgotten
As never were good to remember
In their lives,
Jut gave the lips to,
Some repented for not to be singers

And the song came to an end
With the slogans,
Bharat mata ki jai,
Mahatma Gandhi ki jai,
Jawaharlal Nehru ki jai,
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose ki jai.

The rows dispersed it,
The lines of the people
In reverence or homage historic
And full of martyrdom,
Much blood spilt
In getting freedom,
Freedom of speech and expression,
Peace somehow maintained,
Some suspicious of and in doubt of
Developmental schemes
To be taken
For the women, widows and children,
However be that, sweets were distributed,
Crackers were burst
And finally went they away
Celebrating the Republic Day.

Under The Shadow Of Gandhi I Celebrating Azadi


Under the shadow of Gandhi, the life-size statue of his,
I celebrating
Azadi ka jashna,
Independence Day Celebrations.

There lies the statue of Gandhi at Gandhi Square
Just at the crossroads leading to villages
And the floodlight falling upon
And he with the stick striding and talking.

When there is none there,
I see the statue shining in the light
And the ways manless and lonely
Parting, saying the saga of.

I stopping by, pausing a bit to see the statue
At the lonely place,
Wanting to go back to out of fear,
Just the closed doors of the adjacent houses I can see it

And the jackals straying out of their burrows,
Into the bushes in hunt of food in human vicinity
And the street dogs sleeping on the road
Around the raised dais with Gandhiji and his statue.

I See Kabir

I see Kabir
In Mahatama Gandhi,
In Rabindranath Tagore.

One with the charkha
Rotating it
While the other without spinning the yarn.


For M.K.Gandhi


Who is at the hand loom wheel,
Wheeling and weaving
And singing of
Ram-Rahima,
Ishwar-Allah
As His Name
Of the Same Almighty
Called by various names,
Worshipped in different forms
Like Kabira and dohas?

Where the saint of Sabarmati,
Frail in appearance,
But austere in automation,
Resolute in resolutions,
Moving
And activating,
Materializing dreams
Into reality,
Where,
Where the saint?


O, Where You The Saint Of Sabarmati?

O, where you the saint of Sabarmati,
The Dandimarch,
An Indian half-naked fakir
Attending the Round Table Conference?

O, the saint of Sabarmati,
Spinning the wheel for the yarn,
Singing the song of Rama?

Where you, Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,
The toothless, old saint of India,
Singing the song of Rama,
So simple and plain speaking?

Believing in non-violence, peace and truth,
Where, where that apostle of peace,
Where, where that votary of non-violence and truth?

On Gandhi Jayanti, The 2nd Of October


On Gandhi Jayanti,
The 2nd of October,
Something feel I missing
Or seem to have forgotten,
Something miss I to remember,
To remember from the close of my heart,
An image, a portrait hanging on the wall
Reminding of
A saga of truth, non-violence and peace,
An apostle of the trinity.

Mahatma Gandhi,
Mahatma Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,
The old man,
The great old man
Walking with the stick
And in a dhoti and ganjee
With the round and olden specs
On the nose
Smiling and singing
With zest
The song of Rama.

Mahatma Gandhi,
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi at the wheels
Spinning and singing,
Spinning and singing
The song of Rama,
The same old song,
Raghupati raghav raja ram...,
The same song of harmony and co-existence,
Alignment and inter-faith meeting.


For Bapu


We call him Bapu with love
Father of the Nation,
A half-naked fakir with a lathi
Striding alone
In dhoti and shawl.

N.B.Leonard Dabydeen commented on Facebook: Lovely write, Bijay.

Bapu


Bapu, where you spinning the hand loom wheel
And singing with the toothless smile,
Raghupati raghav raja ram,
Patit pawan sita-ram,
Ishwar-allah tero nam,
Sabko sanmati de bhagawan?

O singer of Ram and Rahima, Ishwar and Allah,
Where you, where you,
The country searches you,
Remembers you,
the need of the hour is?

Bapu, Where You?


Bapu, the Father of Nation,
Where you spinning the charkha,
The wooden hand-loom wheel for yarn
To make khadi clothes?

Where you, Bapu,
The votary of satya, ahimsa and shantih,
Truth, non-violence and peace,
Where you, the Father of Nation,
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi?

As you believed in karma which was your dharma,
In viswa-manavavad, world humanism,
Service to man was service to God as your philosophy
And so served you man and society!

Gandhi at the wheels spinning yarn
Rounding and rotating the hand-loom,
The charkha for khadi clothes as for to clothe
Humanity half-clothed and unable to cover up.

Bapu, where you, where you,
Making yarn spinning the wheel
And singing the song of Rama,
Raghupti raghav raja-ram...?

Bapu, In Your Memory

Bapu, in your memory,
Stand I here,
Marking the candle burning
On your samadhi
At Rajghat,
Asking,
Be thou light to thyself.

Bapu—A Clay Model

Bapu, the old man smiling
Singing the prayer,
Believing in humanity strongly,
Frail in appearance,
But simple in bearing,
An old man in the specs
With a shawl over
And in dhoti
And a lathi going
As an apostle of satya, ahimsha, shantih,
Truth, non-violence, peace,
As an angel,
An ambassador of.

Gandhi singing and praying
And at the handloom
Making yarn,
Gandhi singing the song of Ram and Rahima,
Of love, peace and humanity,
Non-violence and mercy,
Kindness and pity and all-round prosperity,
Gandhi looking lovefully
And calling from far
To preach the gospels of love and humanism,
Charity and philanthropy,
Gandhi the man,
Gandhi the philosopher,
Thinking, man as a world citizen,
Man as a lover of man.

In The Memory of Gandhi (On Gandhi Birth Anniversary)

Bapu's three monkeys,
Do not see it bad, do not say it bad, do not hear it bad,
Did you say it something,
Did you hear it something?


Bapu, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Bapu, Bapuji
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,
The Father of the Nation,
Indian nation
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,
Bapu, Bapuji.

Gandhi


Gandhi in my
Mind, heart and soul
And I going past
The image hanging
Over,
Overlooking us.

I moving ahead
But the trail of Gandhi images
Leaving me not behind,
Intercepting me on the way
As if someone were calling me
From behind,
Letting me not go.

And I feeling it awkward,
Finding nowhere to go,
Clueless and wayless
As for where to go,
Where not
In such a fix
And something overtaking me
And I feeling nonplussed.

Gandhi and Gandhism,
Gandhian Studies,
Gandhian thoughts and ideals,
Gandhian principles and world thoughts,
Satya, ahimsa, shantih,
Manav-prem,
Visva-manavatavad.



I, Gandhi And Gandhigiri

Gandhi, Gandhi,
I, I
And Gandhigiri, Gandhigiri,
I, Gandhi and Gandhigiri, l,
Who is for whom,
What is for what,
Say you?

Gandhi, Gandhi means Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,
I, I
And Gandhigiri, my Gandhigiri,
Yours not, my, mine, only mine,
I thinking about Gandhi and going,
Gandhi his life and times,
Thought and philosophy,
History and politics.

Delving in Gandhian studies,
Gandhian thought and philosophy
And ethics,
Gandhian life-style and living,
Gandhian dress and ideology,
Gandhi-Gandhi,
A Gandhi follower I
And Gandhi my icon.

How to be a Gandhi,
How to be,
What to say about?
Gandhi, Gandhi,
I, I,
And Gandhigiri, Gandhiri,
Did you understand,
Stand?

Gandhi

Gandhi with the charkha
Spinning yarn,
The old man in the specs
And in dhoti.

The half-naked fakir
Spinning yarn
From the charkha
In his cottage.

And singing the song of Rama in zest
The old man toothless
So simple in bearing,
But strict in manner and attitude.


Gandhi, We Have Not

Gandhi, we have not forgotten,
We shall not forget,
Gandhi!

Gandhi, Your Pagletgiri…
Gandhji, your pagletgiri like I, admire and appreciate I,
But not the all,
The excesses of yours,
You too had been a man
And you too had the limitations
Of your own.
Had the English been against, you would not have been
A leader of the world stature
And turned you into a paglet
As for them, the British,
Who recognized in you,
The talent of being the leader of the masses.
I like your pagletgiri, but not the overcolouring of it,
That you had been so much truthful,
That you experimented with truth,
The teacher asked you to copy down
And you copied it not,
This too not, Gandhiji.
You too had been a politician of some sort this way or that way,
Had you not politicked,
You would not have been a politician,
Honest, sincere, truthful, peaceful and non-violent,
So many adjectives to be given to,
But I am sure you were a politician.
Sometimes showed you honesty in excess spinning yarn,
But how much can one weave,
Can you arrange for the clothes of the Indians,
The whole population,
Am I right or in the wrong,
You say it please, Gandhiji?
Suppose you are doing a fast as for your demands
And the authority is unmindful of that,
Heeds not towards,
How will you continue with,
Fast unto death,
There should be somebody to talk of your pagletgiri,
To announce about, isn't it?
Your pagletgiri, not Hamletgiri, though alike, talk I, discuss I,
To be or not to be, between the two horns of a dilemma,
A split personality,
Feeling the crisis or torn in between,
Should he or not,
How to take the political stunt,
Doing the padyatra with the like-minded men?
And your men too not the simple men, not merely Gandhians,
Some of them blunt lathimen and rustics
To adorn later on
When their numbers will fall
The stage of the national days,
Looking robust and stubborn.
Gandhiji, if you believe, and let me criticize you,
As you too were a man,
And you too had the limitations of your own,
You married at a small age and had been complacent,
But in this world of today,
Late marriage, maladjustment, joblessness and unemployment
Are tearing the youths apart.
Gandhi, was your honesty, so much talked of
A plan, a hidden agenda or strategy of yours
To come into the light,
To protest and demonstrate with the masses
And to get a few dandas as for to be famous,
To be in light and the cameras falling on you?
Instead of your house, you built an ashrama to live in,
But in this world of today,
People make their cemented houses
And call them cottages, villas,
Which but I know it not
In your context.
Wherever you went, people managed the goats for you
And you milked and took goat milk,
Can it be in general life,
This is only possible for the politicians,
Not for me,
And if they die, wreaths will be many
And if I, people will like to wash their clothes after visiting my house, say you?
Part Two
Gandhiji, you turned into an icon of Indian freedom movement,
The Father of the Nation,
But how would it have been,
Had you been in shirt and pants,
Would you have,
As the dress too makes and unmakes?
The round specs, the lathi, the kurta and dhoti indigo blue-washed white-white,
These too aggravated your stature
In looking reverent and honourable,
Apart from your political stance and stature,
Your philosophy of life.
Gandhi, I see you on the currency notes and try to identify you,
What it was in you,
Did you look down so,
Were you a man or not,
Had you been divine,
What was it the truth?
But in your resistance and resolution, firm belief and activation,
Lay it the philosophy of karmayoga,
Your pagletgiri
And you had been a paglet no doubt,
Getting the works done somehow,
Whatever be the resolve.
You fought for independence, fought for freedom and liberation
And in this regard,
Your pagletgiri helped you,
In attaining that,
Fighting for
With undaunted valour and determination.
Gandhi, had you been not stout and stubborn, firm and resolute,
You would not have,
What it led to,
Was your pagletgiri,
The key to success
And had you been not a paglet, would not have.
Gandhi, had you not been a paglet,
You would not have achieved
And your pagletgiri the corner-stone of your foundation,
To do or not do, to accept or not,
Always thinking of self-prestige.
I do not know it whether you a senior paglet or junior paglet,
Whether you a Hamlet or not
Or his small brother,
But both of you were paglets of some sort.
Gandhi, your Gandhigiri, the world praised,
Your simplicity, your foolishness
As you tried to be truthful,
Tried to keep your lust and greed under control
And tried to win the hearts of others.
I envy you, envy you, gentleman, envy you, envy you, old man,
Your story and philosophy had been yours,
Only yours, particular and typical indeed,
With a base in pragmatic knowledge and wisdom
And worldliness,
Non-violence, peace, truth.
Moving along some principles, keeping some philosophies,
I mean principled and philosophical,
It attached to your pagletgiri
And you using in politics,
Turned you into a politician.
And it is also true that had you been not a politician, a leader,
The world would not have come to know you,
Your pagletgiri,
Your rigidity and obsession with,
Firm resolution to resolve.
A nationalist, a freedom fighter, a republican, a democrat, a socialist,
You learnt your theories from the West
And applied them with a pagletgiri
To give an Indian outlook,
Gandhi, I know that you were a paglet
And your pagletgiri raised the guts of yours.
Gandhi, Gandhism and Gandhian Studies
Gandhi,
Gandhism
And Gandhian Studies.

Gandhi in literature,
Gandhi in pol.sc.,
Gandhi in history.

Gandhi in education,
Gandhi in philosophy,
Gandhi in rural economics.

Gandhi, Where Is He Not?
Gandhi,
Where is he not,
Read and taught?
Gandhi an image,
An icon.

Gandhi in stories, novels,
Poems and dramas,
Sketches and paintings,
Gandhi cinematographed,
Gandhi silhouetted.

Gandhi as bill boards,
Banners and graffiti
With the imprints of,
Gandhi in protests and movements.

Gandhi in history,
Gandhi in pol.sc.,
Gandhi in political thought,
Gandhi in education,
Gandhi in drama studies.

Gandhi in Gandhism and Gandhian studies,
Peace Studies,
Gandhi in media and print journalism,
Gandhi as a news man,
An editor and a news maker.

Gandhi in sociology,
In rural economics,
Handicrafts and cottage industries
Inspiration behind,
Gandhi in Harijanodhara,
Social upliftment.

Was Gandhi A Lover?
They have levelled allegations
And I am enquiring the charges
Levelled against
Was Gandhi a lover,
A lover of girls,
Deshi and videshi
And having gone through the files
Available,
The witnesses and evidences
I have come to the conclusion,
I smell a rat.
There is nothing unnatural about it
As he too was a human being,
A man of flesh and bones,
Desire and temptation,
Human weakness and frailty.

Women In Gandhi's Life/ The Love-Affairs Of Mahatma Gandhi


How can it be he kept company with
Indian and foreigner women
And did not love them,
How can it,
I question it not,
But they in askance
Keep whispering into
That Gandhi too had been in relationship?

First, loved he Kasturba
Then the ashramites
And movementeers
Practising brahmacharya
Though no brahmachari was he,
Not a yogi, but a bhogi,
Was a married man
With children
And abandoning them,
How could he be a sanyasin?

How can it be if I can see him still
The old man going
With two English girls,
I mean White girls,
How can it be
As he too was a man
Of flesh and blood,
Love and attachment?

You going with
And experimenting with
The power of celibacy,
May I ask you, Gandhi,
Why the girls merely to flank you
While walking
Or going for a photo call
During your march.

Gandhi, They Talk It About
Gandhi, they talk it about
Your truthfulness,
The schoolteacher asking you to copy
The matter
And to show it to the British time school inspector
Visiting the school on inspection,
Btu you copied it not
And for it they give credits to you,
But give I I t not
As for your turned honest,
But the one who got rebuked
Bore the brunt of,
Gandhi, what sort of truthfulness is it,
What sort of honesty is it
You came clean,
But he got unclean
As for you,
Your mild intelligence?
Was it truthfulness
To put the blame on the class teacher,
What had he t do
If the students read it not?

Bapu, The Old Man
Bapu,
The old man,
Smiling,
Smiling toothlessly.

Bapu's Three Monkeys (Gandhian Thinking And Philosophy)

Bapu's three monkeys,
Do not see bad,
Do not hear bad,
Do not tell bad,
Gandhian thinking and philosophy.

An artistic reflection,
A thinking,
Thought-line,
A philosophy,
An artifact.

From Gandhi to Gandhism and Gandhian Studies,
Gandhi as I understand,
As I take to my understanding.



One Day I Used To See With Love, Bapuji Ke Tin Bandar Emblem


When I had been a child,
I used to see
With so much curiosity
And used to ask inquisitively
All about
The emblem,
The replica,
Gandhiji ke tin bandar,
Sitting closely
With the hands over eyes
As for to avoid seeing bad,
With the hands over the mouth
As for avoiding to speak it bad
And the hands into the ears
As for haring it not bad.

I still remember it which
My father
Had kept in the room
And we used to keep it with so much care
To derive and draw from
Reliving and revisiting Gandhian principles
And philosophies, ideals and thoughts.

Gandhiji Ke Tin Bandar/ Gandhi's Three Monkeys—A Replica In Morality

Gandhi's three monkeys,
Bura mat dekho,
Bura mat kaho
Aur bura mat suno,
Do not see it bad,
Do not say it bad,
Do not hear it bad.

An art replica,
An artifact
With the three monkeys
One with the hands over the eyes,
One with the hands on the mouth,
One with the hands over the ears.

The allegory of the shisyas,
Disciples and devotees,
Just like the Kabirite words,
Gandhi forbidding to do the things
Which seem to be immoral.

The replica in the visitor's room
Of the house
And the small children asking their dad
About the monkeys in Gandhian postures,
Bura mat dekho,
Bura mat kaho,
Bura mat suno.


Where Are You Smiling, O Old Man? (A Tribute To The Father Of The Nation)


Where are you smiling toothlessly,
So simply, sinlessly
Without anything in your heart
So plainly,
Where you, Gandhi?

Frail in appearance, simple in bearing,
Clad in a dhoti and kurta
And with a lathi,
Where are you striding, Gandhi?

The specs old and round
And you looking through,
Having the visions of rebuilding, reconstructing,
Having the visions of life and the world.

In Remembrance Of Mahatma Gandhi, The Father Of The Nation On The Eve Of Gandhi Jayanti



Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation,
The Saint of Sabarmati,
Singing with zest
Raghupati raghav raja ram patit pawan sita-ram,
Ishwar allah tero naam sabko sanmati de bhagaban,
Where you,
Where you,
O the Saint of Sabarmati,
See. see,
What have I brought for,
See, see,
What have I brought for?
A bouquet of flowers for you, Gandhi,
A handful of flower petals for you, Gandhi,
This my tributes, my unpaid regards,
My homage to you, Gandhi.

Gandhi's Birth Anniversary


On the 2nd of October,
I not,
The nation remembering Gandhi,
Paying floral tributes to
By lighting a lamp
On his samadhi
And lo, Bapu smiling toothlessly,
Ay, the Father of the Nation.

On the 2nd of October, the birth anniversary of his,
People remembering
Gandhi,
Bapu,
The Father of the Nation.


On Gandhi Jayanti, First I Want To Have A Glimpse Of The Father Of The Nation

Each and every year
The 2nd of October
Brings
To our memory
The picture,
Picture
Of,
Of the Father,
Father of the Nation
Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi,
Mahatma Gandhi
Fondly called
Bapu
With love.

On Gandhi Jayanti, The 2nd Of October



On Gandhi Jayanti,
The 2nd of October,
Something feel I missing
Or seem to have forgotten,
Something miss I to remember,
To remember from the close of my heart,
An image, a portrait hanging on the wall
Reminding of
A saga of truth, non-violence and peace,
An apostle of the trinity.

Mahatma Gandhi,
Mahatma Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,
The old man,
The great old man
Walking with the stick
And in a dhoti and ganjee
With the round and olden specs
On the nose
Smiling and singing
With zest
The song of Rama.

Mahatma Gandhi,
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi at the wheels
Spinning and singing,
Spinning and singing
The song of Rama,
The same old song,
Raghupati raghav raja ram...,
The same song of harmony and co-existence,
Alignment and inter-faith meeting.

2nd October, Gandhi Jayanti

Gandhi, in your memory
How lost are we,
Gandi an idea, an image!

N.B. Here Gandi is not a mistake, not a typing error, a slip of finger, but has been in style as an Englishman pronounces. I have tried to say it in style, Gandi. Say you, Gandi sometimes, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in style.

Gandhi Jayanti, The 2nd Of October


I remember you so much
And you residing in my heart,
Bapu, the Father of the Nation!



Mahatma Gandhi


May I take the liberty of knowing the White girls accompanying you,
Say, who are the maidens, the belles
Flanking you, Master,
I know them not
As I enquire about
Just as a common man of flesh and bones,
With a desire to probe and question psychologically,
The dark secrets of life,
The stories of human relationships,
Attachment and detachment?

You please say it to me who are the White beauties flanking Gandhi,
Going with him,
With the hands over his shoulders,
Supporting and going
And he striding
With a stick,
The man in khadi robes
With the round specs on the nose.

But their hearts, their relationships, the fact and the fiction of it
The whispers say it,
The world suspects something otherwise
Which but keeps the suspectful and the suspicious guessing,
Why did Madeleine Slade, the daughter of Admiral Sir Edmund Slade,
Mirabehn
Renounced the world
For to be a disciple of yours
At your ashrama?

Gandhi, did you ask her to be, letting her devote her precious life
In your service and devotion,
You got name and fame, were called the Father of The Nation,
But what did she, that English girl
And when we got freedom,
Who went to Vienna to see her?

In loneliness, how had it been the talks, the moments shared with and spent by,
How did a young belle pass her times
And how did you accept her as a disciple
Counselling her to be a shisya, Gandhi?

Nathuram Godse, Nathuram, You With The Revolver, Writing, The Shooting Of Gandhi

Nathuram Godse

Say you,
Why,
Why did you shoot Gandhi?

Say, say you,
Aren't you guilty of?


Nathuram, You With The Revolver, Writing, The Shooting of Gandhi

Nathuram, you with the revolver
Writing,
Writing the shooting of Gandhi
As your autobiography,
Why Did I Shoot Gandhi? ,
For which,
Which did you,
Did you not do penance for,
Penance for
Shooting a great soul,
A great soul?


N.B. Interconnected poetry inclusive of two poems

Rose-Petals For You Mahatma On The Eve Of Your Birth Anniversary

Rose-petals,
Rose-petals are for you Mahatma,
Mahatma Gandhi
On your birthday.

O, Father of the Nation,
You accept them,
Accept them
The humble rose-petals of mine
And my tribute to,
My homage to you, Father of the Nation!


My Tributes To Gandhi And Valentine


Lotus petals for Gandhi,
Rose petals for Valentine.

A lotus for Mahatma Gandhi
On the eve of the Independence Day.

A red rose to St.Valentine
On the14th of February.

Gandhi And Khadi, Khadi And Gandhi

Khadi,
Khaddardhari
And Gandhi.

The charkha
And Gandhi
He sitting with the spinning wheel.

Gandhiji (A Confession)

Gandhiji, frankly speaking,
Forgive me
If I say it otherwise,
Never did admire I
The Khaddardharis
Speaking roughly, doing it politics
With your khadi clothes,
My counsel to them was,
Wear you the clothes,
But do you not politics
For to be blunt and rustic fighters,
Rough and tough Khaddardharis,
Sahityalankaras, vyakarnachayas, jyotishacharyas
Gathering to talk about morality and ethics!

A Vis-A-Vis With The Gandhi Statue, Gandhi, You Have Lovers World-Wide, Why Did You Move Out To Ghana Univ. Campus?


Gandhi, you have lovers worldwide,
Why did you, did you
Choose the Ghana Univ. campus
As for a walk over
In Accra
Where the men so politicized,
So conscious of
And that too in this age of personality thrust
And post-truth phenomenon?
Gandhi, frankly speaking, did you,
Did you want to be an icon from your within,
Speak, speak you frankly, Gandhi?
Speak, speak you,
Are you, are you not satisfied with
Your statues built worldwide
That came you to Ghana for politics?
Gandhi, why to be a god?
You too were a man,
You too had shortcomings, limitations of your own.

Gandhi, why are you not satisfied with
As you have lovers worldwide,
Why in Ghana for politics
If they like you not,
Not all, but the few
As they are bent upon taking your head.
Gandhi, where are you not?
Your sculptors and inaugurators the great men,
Great men of the world,
Your statues I see in and thank them
Looking upto for their skill in making,
Sculpting, raising, erecting it,
This much is your love,
Do not expect beyond this.

Your marvellous statues I see
At Parliament Square, London, England,
Ariana Park, Geneva, Switzerland,
Garden of Peace, Vienna, Austria,
Memorial Garden, Jinga, Uganda,
Glebe Park, Canberra, Australia,
Plaza Sicilia, Buenos Aires, Argentina,
Church Street, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa,
Copenhagen, Denmark,
Tavistock Square, London, England,
Lake Shrine, California, USA.

The Petitioners For The Removal Of The Gandhi Statue Of The Ghana Univ. Campus They Too Are Gandhists


Whether they like Gandhi or not,
Want it or not
The statue,
They too are the Gandhians
Of some sort
Willingly or unwillingly
As without knowing Gandhi and his principles,
One cannot criticize,
If we look into their hearts,
We shall find it to our surprise
That they too are the lovers of Gandhi.


Ghana University Removing The Statue Of Gandhi From Its Campus


If the professors and boys want,
Let them,
Let them remove
The statue of Gandhi
For allegedly, purportedly making
Racist remarks
Which but he has not now.

Had he been alive, we would have
Definitely lodged the complaint with,
But now he is dead and gone,
So, how to report about
His so-called remarks.

But if you have to install a statue
Of an African or Ghanaian leader,
You my gladly,
But blame you not Gandhi
After his death
When he is no more in this world
To hear you, to redress your grievance.

You may definitely remove the statue of Gandhi
From your varsity campus,
But say you it not
That Gandhi was a racist
As it hurts us,
Hurts the common sentiments,
You may criticize,
Criticize him,
But slander him not,
Do you not mud-slinging.

They Are Removing Your Statue From Ghana Univ. Campus, Accra, Let Them, Let Them, Gandhi!

I shall get,
Get
Your statue
Built again,
Again,
Gandhi!

Don't mind
If it has been removed from
The Ghana Univ.campus
Out of ignorance.




Glasses Stolen From The Gandhi Statue Of Ghana Univ.Campus


Did they steal it
To keep
In the Gandhi museum
Or the Gandhi library of Gandhi Studies
Or to lodge their protest
Against his unwanted presence
In the campus?

Gandhi, I Felt It Pain When They Set Your Things On Fire In Africa


I felt it,
Felt it pain
When I,
I saw you
And you things
Set,
Set on fire
In Africa
In Johannesburg.

I saw the news
In the magazines
Featuring the fire flames
Blazing,
Things destroyed,
Burnt and set on
Legacy and heritage.

But what to say it,
How to go into
The mood of dissent and anger
Which man sometimes fails to rein in,
Control and check,
Who erred it
And who reaped it consequences?


How discontent brewing
And what it led to
And what it happened it
In a fit of rage,
How to say it that
As man sometimes loses it temper?

Gandhi, Again Got I Disturbed With Racism

When I saw them taking to streets,
Burning, breaking and destroying
The things,
Setting on fire
The hooligans and rowdies in America
In the aftermath of racism and anti-racism
Levelling allegations,
Fighting pitched battles,
Taking the movements to far
In different countries,
Wanting to topple the statues
In the name of racism and anti-racism
With their utter folly and rampant vandalism.
,

Gandhi-A Re-evaluation/The Relevance of Gandhi


Gandhi may
But will it Gandhigiri?
Gandhism and Gandhian Studies?

Gandhi, The Difference!


Gandhi

Gandhi---
When he was,
When he is not in us,
Just the difference!

I Saw Gandhi In Khadi Gramodyog, The Handloom Enterprise

My search for Gandhi and Gandhism,
Gandhian Studies,
Philosophy, thought and idea
Led me to Khadi Gramodyoga,
Handloom Enterprise
A smell establishment selling
Handloom clothes,
Ill-paid, dedicated fellows
Selling handloom made clothes
Competing with modern clothing
And they sponsoring other cottage industry objects too
For their survival.

I Saw Gandhi Sitting In Khadi Gramodyog & Promoting Khadi Clothes

I saw Gandhi
Sitting in
Khadi Gramodyoga
And getting it sold
From the Khadi Bhawan
Hand-loom made clothes
From the Charkha
Purely Indian and rural.



The Charkha, The Cow And The Calf And The Hand With The Five Fingers

The Charkha with
Gandhiji at the spinning wheel,
The Cow and the Calf
With Indira and Sanjay
And again the Hand symbol
Showing the hand of Indira,
Telling of
The spinning days of the Congress Party
And the Congress men.

Gandhi And Khadi, Khadi And Gandhi

Khadi,
Khaddardhari
And Gandhi.

The charkha
And Gandhi
He sitting with the spinning wheel.

For Gandhigiri, Asked They To Take Goat Milk Which But I Could Not/ No To Goat's Milk, Gandhi




For Gandhigiri,
To be a disciple and follower
Of Gandhi
And his Gandhism,
They prescribed goat's milk
And asked me to take
Which but I could not
And failed I in my first attempt,
Rejected outright
In making a tryst with destiny,
Goat's milk
I could not,
The bearded goat's little milk,
The key to his success,
His success mantra
And here failed and flopped I
Packing the things to be back home
From his hut.

Celebrating 150 Years of Gandhi, I With My Gandhigiri, Not The Gandhians
Gandhi has died,
But Gandhism will never,
Nor will Gandhigiri.
Mahatma Gandhi amar rahe, amar rahe,
Mahatma Gandhi ki jai, Mahatma Gandhi ki jai.
Gandhi has died,
But his Gandhism will not,
Nor will Gandhigiri.
From Gandhism To Gandhigiri A Journey


Gandhism to Gandhiness
A journey from
With vales, symbols and ideals
Into pop culture
To be all inclusive of.

I Am
I am giving time to Gandhi and Gandhism
And Gandhian studies,
I do not know it
How I shall grapple with,
Do justice to the topic in hand
In my perusal?
How much do I know it
Gandhi an Gandhism
An Gandhian studies,
What studies have I undertaken?

Gandhi, Were You?

Gandhi, were you a politician
Or not,
Or, a saint were you,
A married or unmarried saint?

Gandhi, wee you a politician
Who did it politics,
Does a saint do it politics?
But h is a saint,
I myself do not know it.

Ganhian Studies

Gandhain studies, how to take it,
Gandhists and Gandhian followers
And disciples,
Ashrama men,
Ashramites?

Where his autobiographies,
Who the biographers of his,
How the stories of his?

Gandhi, Were you A witness To The Partition?

Did you really want,
Want it o be partitioned
Not?
Had you the desire to be the president,
Say,
Say it t?
Did you mean your son to be?
No, is the answer
As know we it.
But why was it?

I was very sad to see
When you visited Noakhali,
The gruesome, dastardly things
Were happening it around\And there was none to check it.

May I ask you? ,
Why do you not answer
Keeping mum
And silent?

Why did you,
Did you
Hand it over the nation
To the novices of politics?


Gandhi As

Gandhia as the votary of
Satya, ahimsa and shantih,
Truth, non-violence and peace,
The votary of
Satya, ahimsa and shantih.

Gandhi as the singer,
The singer of Rama, raghupati raghhav raja ram,
Patit pawan sita-ram…

Gandhi, Were You A Dramatist?

Gandhi, were you a dramatist,
That did you
With your stride and march,
Dandi March,
Jail Bharo Abhiyaan?

Rajghat

With, Hey Ram,
Inscribed over
The samadhi
Gandhi lies it sleeping!

Gandhi Statue, The Floodlight, The Lonely Crossroad Square And The White Ambassador Car And The Lonely Viewer On The Eve Of 15 August

Gandhi Statue
At Gandhi Crossroad Square
Leading to village pathways
With a few houses littered around,
The white Ambassador car parked near
And the lonely viewer seeing Gandhi
In the night-time loneliness
Of the floodlight
A night before
The Great Old Man, Father of the Nation
Paying tributes to in a huff
As for loneliness and manlessness
When the ambushed grey jackals waiting to come out
And the street dogs sleeping around the dais
On the cemented road.

The life-size Gandhi Statue,
The lonely crossroad of the Gandhi Square,
The street dogs sitting around and sleeping,
The ways leading to villages and the country
But the jackals seemingly loitering,
The white Ambassador car parked near the steps to
And the lonely man paying homage, tribute to.

Have We Gandhi-Ized History?

Gandhi, Gandhi, Gandhi,
Mahatma Gandhi on everything,
Seeing it,
Sometimes think I,
Have we Gandhi-ized history,
Gandhi in economics, history, art and culture,
Gandhi's life in miniature and frescoed,
Gandhi on currency notes,
Where is Gandhi not?

Gandhi standing at the town square,
Gandhi striding,
Gandhi in statues and torsos,
On seeing it,
Think I,
Was there none before him,
A world without Gandhi,
A world with Gandhi,
The difference?

Where Is Gandhi? Where Do We Teach Him Not?

Gandhi is in Gandhian images and portraits,
Movement leaders and their movements,
Peaceful resolutions and pacts.

Gandhi is there in the struggle for freedom,
Is there as a lawyer in Africa
Pleading the cases,
Gandhi talking about the welfare of the Harijans.

Gandhi in political thoughts and thinking,
Gandhi in history with marches and movements,
Gandhi imparting a moral lesson, teaching the people.

My Gandhism Got I Hurt

When found I
The sahityalankaras, vyakarnacharyas and jyotishacharyas
From some vidyapitha
Threatened the British-time read to take the charge of
The educational institutions,
When saw I the khaddardharis pleading as Gandhians and Gandhists
Giving longer speeches
Those illiterate fools, uneducated persons,
When saw I the blunt villager fighters of my village
Speaking it otherwise,
When the khaddardhari teachers of Gandhian studies
Claimed they as extraordinary Gandhists.

When I Was A Child, I Used To The White Marble Replica of His Three Monkeys

When I was a child,
I used t see with love
The replica,
The art model
Of his three monkeys
With the hands on the mouth,
The eyes,
The ears
So that it may not see it something bad,
Hear it something bad,
Speak it something bad.

I used to see and see
And used to enquire about,
Why the monkeys were so
Sitting tight-lipped with the hand cover over the mouth,
Why the one blindfolded with the hands over the eyes,
Why the other so deaf to hear the sounds from outside with the hands on the ears?

The art-model,
The emblem kept on the shelf
Used to be dear to us
And we used to see it
Asking for meaning and elucidation
And used to think,
Can monkeys be as such?

Sometimes We Used To Feel It Happy

On seeing the fish and meat markets
Lying closed on Gandhi Jayanti,
The 2nd of October,
Sometimes used to derive from seeing Gandhis
In newspapers on the 2nd of October,
The small children dressed in dhoti and shawl
And with the specs and the lathi
Walking like.


Gandhism As A Way of Life


Gandhi and Gandhism is just a way of life,
To take lessons in life,
In morality and ideals,
How to be truthful,
How to act as a pacifist,
How to adopt no-violence as a way of living?

Gandhi, How Did He Come To Influence Martin Luther King Jr.?

Gandhi, Gandhi,
How did he,
Did he come to influence
Martin Luther,
Martin Luther King Jr.,
The civil rights leader
Adopting peaceful resistance
And non-violent protest?

Mondela, The Gandhi of South Africa

How did,
Did it
Beat the heart,
The heart of Nelson Mandela
For Gandhi
Deriving from his satyagraha and ahimsa,
Ruth force and non-violent resistance?



Post-script

Now I want it to close it down the Gandhi exercise as it has got lengthened so much spanning over to so many pages and poems. The impression and shadow of Gandhi hinges it over and we seem to recollect and reminisce under the lurking shadow of his. Even if you want to wind it up, winds it up not as the discourse is never-ending as for the evolution of Gandhian thoughts and ideas. Again, I have put before you two sub-titles to end it which but communicate to us indirectly that many a thing has been left it unsaid as we know it not. Gandhi images exhaust it not. It is a matter of reading, the way you read and take to. What more do I know it?

Gandhi My Love
Gandhi Over Our Spirit And Soul