Tuesday, 31 March 2026


The Poem
Ensconced in the here and now,
when the world is advancing
by leaps and bounds,
and when I saw me as riding on the crest
in league with the power of womankind,
some strange gust of wind
blew over with an image from the past
which shattered me to the ground.
Not so remote in the stride of time,
in the history of my ancestral memory,
the memory of our colonial past,
A picture of an aging woman
bearing on her back
a powerful,sturdy sack,
which probably she was given to use
for the tea leaves culled from the hillsides,
working in the plantation of some colonial sahib.
With her back bent but not broken yet,
she carried in that sack the noble savage,
flashing the lights of his civilization
in the sunhat he wore like a crown
and his pointed shoes polished by some native hands,
the shoes with which he kicked perhaps
on a daily basis
the souls who worked on subsistence wages;
and Malthus and Ricardo trumpeted their theories in cold blood
of how the world is ruled and run on well oiled cogs
of a giant wheel of colonial power.
 
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  • Latif Z's profile photo
    Thanks so much my dear friend !
    Great respect for you and for your culture
    You are great poet and wonderful Lady
    My english is so bad
    I can good speak only arabic and french language !!!
    JUST one word my dear : you must that you are near to me and you have great place in my heart !!!
    Best regards ✌
    REPLY
    Mar 9, 2016
  • Sushama Karnik's profile photo
    Glad to be your friend Latif. Don't worry about the English language. It is the universal link among people all over the world.The British rule in India was a mixed legacy and one good thing they left behind for us was this language and with the language we have an access to the world. I can see that you are fluent in French and Arabic but I have no knowledge of these two languages. However, we can communicate well in spite of the  language barrier. Indeed , it is a small world now.
    +Latif Z 
    REPLY
    Mar 9, 2016
  • Latif Z's profile photo
    +Sushama Karnik Happy and smiling day 😊 my dear
    REPLY
    Mar 10, 2016

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