This year I was invited to read my poems on the eve of Independence day by Institute Menezes Braganza, Panjim, Goa. This annual event is a multilingual poets' meet and one eagerly looks forward to the occasion. Amidst a galaxy of poets I read my poems.
I began with a preamble that through all my travels across India I have experienced a unique quality of peace. I recited my poem on Srinagar and then moved on to my poem 'A Peace of India.' I ended with my poem 'Weep India' written last year in memory of Gauri Lankesh.* I spoke of how voices are being stifled and today we even have a prominent Goan writer who has been given a death threat. The poems were well-received. I was also felicitated with a memento.
Srinagar
The dayes pass by
like a deck of cards
The ace of spades
and the queen of hearts
Somewhere in the distance
The future flickers
On the highway of pain
It is the trail that beckons.
(Srinagar, 1998)
Earlier I was invited to be a judge at the a poetry competition for students. The fare was promising and most poets in Konkani, Marathi, English and Hindi delivered with aplomb. Themes included the soldiers at the front, Nirbhaya, mother, and father. It was a memorable evening. Earlier an invited poet spoke about how the significance of Independence day is forgotten the very next day.
At another venue earlier in the day, teenage college students decried the rising trend of attacks on women. They wondered at the irony of the soldiers protecting the borders while they were attacked with impunity from within.
A Peace of India
My heart is roaming
in the wild blue yonder
But where I lie
Will always be Goa
Between the black soil of the plains
And the red mud of the coast
There for me
is India's peace.
(Enroute Goa Express train, 1999)
My busy day ended with me reporting for duty at the studios of All India Radio, Altinho Panaji, where I was scheduled to be the English Announcer on AIR's Mhadei Channel broadcasting on 233.1 metres, corresponding to 1287 khz, medium wave. For my programme on Western Classical Music at 10 p.m. I featured the Largo from Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's 'New World' symphony No. 9 in E minor.
Srinagar The dayes pass by
like a deck of cards
The ace of spades
and the queen of hearts
Somewhere in the distance
The future flickers
On the highway of pain
It is the trail that beckons.
(Srinagar, 1998)
Earlier I was invited to be a judge at the a poetry competition for students. The fare was promising and most poets in Konkani, Marathi, English and Hindi delivered with aplomb. Themes included the soldiers at the front, Nirbhaya, mother, and father. It was a memorable evening. Earlier an invited poet spoke about how the significance of Independence day is forgotten the very next day.
At another venue earlier in the day, teenage college students decried the rising trend of attacks on women. They wondered at the irony of the soldiers protecting the borders while they were attacked with impunity from within.
A Peace of India
My heart is roaming
in the wild blue yonder
But where I lie
Will always be Goa
Between the black soil of the plains
And the red mud of the coast
There for me
is India's peace.
(Enroute Goa Express train, 1999)
My busy day ended with me reporting for duty at the studios of All India Radio, Altinho Panaji, where I was scheduled to be the English Announcer on AIR's Mhadei Channel broadcasting on 233.1 metres, corresponding to 1287 khz, medium wave. For my programme on Western Classical Music at 10 p.m. I featured the Largo from Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's 'New World' symphony No. 9 in E minor.
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*See my blog post titled 'Weep India.' Photo courtesy Institute Menezes Braganza, Panaji taken on 14 August 2018.
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