Thursday, November 29, 2018

On Terror, Death and such. . . .


Last Sunday, one Suresh Nair was arrested by Gujarat's Anti-Terrorist Squad as one of the four main accused, in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case that left 3 dead and 17 injured. As per the NIA investigation, Nair, a native of Kerala but a resident of Kheda in Gujarat –an RSS worker – allegedly supplied the bombs to those who had planted them at the 13th-century Dargah of Sufi mystic Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. Nair was also reportedly present at the scene of crime while the bombs were being planted. The bomb was planted in a tiffin box and the explosion took place during 'iftaar' on October 11, 2007.

Well, look at the ‘politics’ behind the arrest amid the Rajasthan Assembly election, we can talk more. About how a thoughtless Malayali gets arrested, while the master brains and their masters continue to rule the land. Hope people do look into that and ponder over it...

Meantime, the news took me to another - the explosions in various locations in Delhi on September 13, 2008. Five blasts took place within a span of 31 minutes from 18:07 to 18:38 IST in busy markets or commercial localities. Indian Mujahidin claimed responsibility or were the suspected perpetrators.

Incidentally Suresh Eledath, who was returning from the British Library, had just escaped the blast at Connaught Place. Those were the years when we had police raiding every bus, every market place. It was a horror in itself. . .

Ultimately, what did we/they gain from all this fear and terror they spread ~

Well, for me in all the horror, I thought I gained a certain courage to look straight into the eyes of death.  Besides, I had a certain fascination for death all through.  The ‘what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger’ kind of appeal. So, a poem was born.

Today, looking back, I guess it was all just a fallacy. . . . Death is Death. The final curtain.
Now, if I write a poem about death, it will be an one/two-liner ~  O’ Death, I shall look at you when I meet you. I am no longer looking for you.

And, a word of advice to up-and-coming ‘Suresh Nairs’: ‘Take care of your lives, before you think of taking the lives of others.’ Can only hope people would like to be less foolish in the Information/New Media Age. . .

Now for a little fun, here’s the poem of 2008, when I felt courageous to stare death in the eye. . .

Looking for You, O'

Me and You
Life and Death
We walked together
Coolly so far
Hand in hand

‘You are so frail’
You would trap and tease
‘No worry,
You are so strong’
I would free and ease

And then
In a tease
You left me
To play
Hide and Seek

You became Terror
I became Fear
In the lasting game
I play with you
You play with many

You hide
Somewhere
In those bags
I look for you
In a child’s toy

You pat me,
From nowhere
I turn in vain
Round and round
Looking for you

You hide again
Somewhere
In those bins
I look for you
In a stranger’s eye

His eyes meet mine
Fear greets Fear
We smile in vain
And pass
Looking for you…



O' Death,
Fearlessly...