Surname Poem by rathod vaishakh

Surname

 

Ved Vyas and Valmiki

both great writers of the world

no, great intelligent writers of world

 

The epic poems of

Ramayana

were written

and slowly became holy books

We worship many of

the characters in them

as gods

and from the dust of these epics

have laid the foundation

of our culture/ civilisation

 

You who created my character

O writer

have you read these Books?

Even if you read them

I’m sure you did not

understand them.

 

Mixing all the emotions you etched out my character

Each second you painted many hues on the pages  with your brush

But you made a miniscule, ant-like mistake

You added a surname after my name –

Parmar, Mohammed, Bhil

And Singh with a head gear.

 

You don’t know

but this ant slashes like a sword

It is brandished from all directions

It frightens, it threatens

No one befriends

No one gives a job

A shadow like death hovers over the heart

At times I thirst for water at times I hunger for a roti

Leaving kites and crows all men

Claw at my mother, my daughter

At times I light up the juloos of Id

At times Rama’s Rathayatra.

 

My writer, think a little

if

these intelligent writers of the world

called

Ram ‘Ram Parmar’

Sita ‘Sita Chamar’

Krishna ‘Krishna Mohammed’

The Pandavas ‘Pandava Bhil’

and

Ravana ‘Ravana Singh’

then would we put our hand on the Gita

when we swear to tell the truth?

Would we teach our children the culture

in these Books?

 

You who write me, my writer,

Simply remove the surname from behind my name

then look...everywhere

you will find

Krishna

Pandavas

Sita

and

the epitome of perfection

Rama.




vaishakh rathod