Saturday 1 December, 2007
Thursday 8 November, 2007
DIWALI
Here’s an old poem penned by my younger avataar…
DIWALI
Effigies of evil strut in the streets…
Loudspeakers blow, drums beat…
The blaring music, the rhythmic dance…
Carnaval is back with its mesmerizing trance!
Is it a time to be happy and gay?
Or is it just revellery gone astray?
Questions stagger in the mind…
Why does the light seek to blind?
The youth celebrate the blinding blaze
And children watch in innocent daze
As the sky breaks into another dawn
Everyone is now beginning to yawn…
It is time to sleep, you know
It is Diwali – the festival of lights!
--- Pravin K. Sabnis (November 1991)
(In Goa, effigies of Narkasura are burnt early in the morning. Due to keeping up all night, most of us would feel sleepy on Diwali day)
DIWALI
Effigies of evil strut in the streets…
Loudspeakers blow, drums beat…
The blaring music, the rhythmic dance…
Carnaval is back with its mesmerizing trance!
Is it a time to be happy and gay?
Or is it just revellery gone astray?
Questions stagger in the mind…
Why does the light seek to blind?
The youth celebrate the blinding blaze
And children watch in innocent daze
As the sky breaks into another dawn
Everyone is now beginning to yawn…
It is time to sleep, you know
It is Diwali – the festival of lights!
--- Pravin K. Sabnis (November 1991)
(In Goa, effigies of Narkasura are burnt early in the morning. Due to keeping up all night, most of us would feel sleepy on Diwali day)
Saturday 25 August, 2007
GETTING OLDER
(a poem written in college)
GETTING OLDER
No jumping and shouting like before...
Life is not the same anymore...
I am no longer brave and bold...
Maybe I am getting old...
My limbs complain of pain...
Tired thoughts trouble my brain...
My (once) boiling blood is turning cold...
Surely, I am getting old...
The walk is getting slower...
Spoken words are fewer...
My hand needs another to hold...
Of course, I am getting old!
And of me, says a modern sage,
"At last, he is coming of age!"
- Pravin K Sabnis (1989)
GETTING OLDER
No jumping and shouting like before...
Life is not the same anymore...
I am no longer brave and bold...
Maybe I am getting old...
My limbs complain of pain...
Tired thoughts trouble my brain...
My (once) boiling blood is turning cold...
Surely, I am getting old...
The walk is getting slower...
Spoken words are fewer...
My hand needs another to hold...
Of course, I am getting old!
And of me, says a modern sage,
"At last, he is coming of age!"
- Pravin K Sabnis (1989)
Wednesday 1 August, 2007
SECULAR THREATS TO COMMUNAL GROUPS!
Hey, within minutes the police were there
To forward a complain of fear and scare
Those naughty secularists were at their game
To claim that Hindu, Muslim and Christian are the same…
The adminstration acted in double speed
A call for harmony can be dangerous feed…
These talks are giving us a bad name
By exposing the nationalists’ stand as lame…
How dare these people demand serenity?
How dare they insist on tranquillity?
Why do they insist on dousing out the fire?
Why do they call my leader a liar?
No confusion over who shares the blame
Muzzle every voice that tries to be sane…
Hang them at the nearest lamp post,
But even when killed, arises their ghost!
It is an old human tale that never seems to end
These humanist nuts drive me down the bend…
We stopped them then and thought they would learn,
But, they come again to put our plan to burn!
My Lord, my God, instill in them some fear
Please spare me their irritating cheer…
May they fight over the smallest of things
We need to rejuvenate our right-wings!
--- thoughts of a communalist as observed by Pravin Sabnis (31 July 2007)
To forward a complain of fear and scare
Those naughty secularists were at their game
To claim that Hindu, Muslim and Christian are the same…
The adminstration acted in double speed
A call for harmony can be dangerous feed…
These talks are giving us a bad name
By exposing the nationalists’ stand as lame…
How dare these people demand serenity?
How dare they insist on tranquillity?
Why do they insist on dousing out the fire?
Why do they call my leader a liar?
No confusion over who shares the blame
Muzzle every voice that tries to be sane…
Hang them at the nearest lamp post,
But even when killed, arises their ghost!
It is an old human tale that never seems to end
These humanist nuts drive me down the bend…
We stopped them then and thought they would learn,
But, they come again to put our plan to burn!
My Lord, my God, instill in them some fear
Please spare me their irritating cheer…
May they fight over the smallest of things
We need to rejuvenate our right-wings!
--- thoughts of a communalist as observed by Pravin Sabnis (31 July 2007)
Wednesday 30 May, 2007
poetic thoughts on statehood day
ON EC’s action
(of disallowing Ram Punayani’s talk)
There are those who feel the EC deserves a clap
But in the din, didn’t you hear the sound of a slap
A slap on the face of the people who seek a peaceful state
That is under attack by fascists and their venomous hate
LANGUAGE
My teacher taught me in school
That language is a very powerful tool
So, if the words were from my pen’s surge
“Hindutva right wing” would never emerge!
My teacher would exclaim, “What a weak construction…
Of a sentence about perpetuators of destruction!”
Use the right words, lest readers understand late…
“rapists”, “murderers”, “fanatics” would be appropriate!
SALESMEN
Sometimes it is the name of an astrological sign…
Sometimes, it is an atheist with a name divine...
Sometimes it is about developing common wealth
Sometimes it is about suppressing your own breath!
All the time we thought that politics was the pits
But look at those salesmen do their dirty bit!
DILEMMA
You see it really isn’t anywhere close to fair
For those of us who are fast becoming a tribe rare!
I can’t bring myself to down the Corrupted drink
Or jump off the communal cliff’s brink!
I can’t appreciate the two-timing two-leaf guys
Or board the flight full of diseased flies!
I can’t get myself to ride the wolf in lion’s clothes
Or search for the dove in the scattered feathers!
You see it really isn’t anywhere close to fair
For those of us who are fast becoming a tribe rare!
VOTE FOR ALCOHOL
The election commission disallows us a legal binge
As if we were going for a talk against the right wings!
But it is okay to down the free flow of alcohol
and drown the noise of your conscience call!
(of disallowing Ram Punayani’s talk)
There are those who feel the EC deserves a clap
But in the din, didn’t you hear the sound of a slap
A slap on the face of the people who seek a peaceful state
That is under attack by fascists and their venomous hate
LANGUAGE
My teacher taught me in school
That language is a very powerful tool
So, if the words were from my pen’s surge
“Hindutva right wing” would never emerge!
My teacher would exclaim, “What a weak construction…
Of a sentence about perpetuators of destruction!”
Use the right words, lest readers understand late…
“rapists”, “murderers”, “fanatics” would be appropriate!
SALESMEN
Sometimes it is the name of an astrological sign…
Sometimes, it is an atheist with a name divine...
Sometimes it is about developing common wealth
Sometimes it is about suppressing your own breath!
All the time we thought that politics was the pits
But look at those salesmen do their dirty bit!
DILEMMA
You see it really isn’t anywhere close to fair
For those of us who are fast becoming a tribe rare!
I can’t bring myself to down the Corrupted drink
Or jump off the communal cliff’s brink!
I can’t appreciate the two-timing two-leaf guys
Or board the flight full of diseased flies!
I can’t get myself to ride the wolf in lion’s clothes
Or search for the dove in the scattered feathers!
You see it really isn’t anywhere close to fair
For those of us who are fast becoming a tribe rare!
VOTE FOR ALCOHOL
The election commission disallows us a legal binge
As if we were going for a talk against the right wings!
But it is okay to down the free flow of alcohol
and drown the noise of your conscience call!
Friday 26 January, 2007
ON REPUBLIC DAY
my country’s flag flies full mast to the full-throated singing and cheer
it’s great to have a public holiday … please pass on some more beer!
let the school kids do the drill… the national anthem is beyond us to sing
freedom took away the foreigners… now elected leaders do worse things!
the pathetic politician waxes eloquent in his superficial sermon
puffed up chests will wane… republic day is just another occasion!
it’s great to have a public holiday … please pass on some more beer!
let the school kids do the drill… the national anthem is beyond us to sing
freedom took away the foreigners… now elected leaders do worse things!
the pathetic politician waxes eloquent in his superficial sermon
puffed up chests will wane… republic day is just another occasion!
you see, it really isn’t something to be much bothered about…
in my country’s consciousness, democracy is plagued by doubt!
I can rattle off the problems and fail to be part of the solution
it is sad but true that patriotism is just a plastic emotion!
but then, why is that when India wins that rises in my heart a cheer?
and why is it that when India loses that I succumb to my tears?
a foreigner’s abusive words may make me see red…
but, in deed for my country, I prefer to play dead!
I maintain my stoic silence as my nation is raped and razed
it is just a piece of land… my behaviour remains unfazed!
so what if I am a man of honour, so what if I talk the lofty talk
how can I forgive myself when I can’t do the patriotic walk?
we have to take the initiative, by each let this be heard
in my country’s consciousness, democracy is plagued by doubt!
I can rattle off the problems and fail to be part of the solution
it is sad but true that patriotism is just a plastic emotion!
but then, why is that when India wins that rises in my heart a cheer?
and why is it that when India loses that I succumb to my tears?
a foreigner’s abusive words may make me see red…
but, in deed for my country, I prefer to play dead!
I maintain my stoic silence as my nation is raped and razed
it is just a piece of land… my behaviour remains unfazed!
so what if I am a man of honour, so what if I talk the lofty talk
how can I forgive myself when I can’t do the patriotic walk?
we have to take the initiative, by each let this be heard
call it saving ourselves; call it patriotism or any other word!
don’t wait for someone to begin, it really starts with me…
…to save my land, its people and every threatened tree!
they are so few… those who grab, loot and terrorise
we are so many and stronger… if only together we rise!
Republic day belong to us… we the public that is eager
to do what it takes to secure our country’s future….
Republic day is a time to make the commitment again
to do what needs to be done to pull my country out of the drain…
love for our country should never be an occasional intention…
love for our country is when we speak through hands-on action…
let each moment be where, together we walk the united way
let each day be celebrated as my country’s Republic day!
---- Pravin Sabnis (January 2007)
don’t wait for someone to begin, it really starts with me…
…to save my land, its people and every threatened tree!
they are so few… those who grab, loot and terrorise
we are so many and stronger… if only together we rise!
Republic day belong to us… we the public that is eager
to do what it takes to secure our country’s future….
Republic day is a time to make the commitment again
to do what needs to be done to pull my country out of the drain…
love for our country should never be an occasional intention…
love for our country is when we speak through hands-on action…
let each moment be where, together we walk the united way
let each day be celebrated as my country’s Republic day!
---- Pravin Sabnis (January 2007)
Monday 8 January, 2007
THANK YOU SATISH & PATRICIA
Thank you Satish & Patricia,
you are the bright blaze
that uncovered our shifty eyes
and our lame daze!
We shed only teeming tears
We hid behind our selfish fears
Refusing to take on the threatening might
Running away from the righteous fight!
The police came without fail
And send the saviours off to jail.
But then something happened to me
… my mirror reflected the cut tree!
Keep going Satish & Patricia,
you are the igniting flame
that dispelled the darkness
and exposed the dangerous game!
The aggressors had to be tackled…
their greed had to be humbled…
The Goans now began to talk
and dawned the urgency to walk
We must save the Goan identity
where Mother Nature lives with dignity.
We want the real Goa and not a fairy tale
Don’t you dare put up my motherland up for sale!
Thank you Satish & Patricia,
you are the motivational flare
that lit up our spirits
and reminded us how to dare!
We must also gather our guts
To take head on the two-faced nuts
Let’s challenge every deceitful argument
That speaks for fallacious development
It isn’t just about saving our land
Or the forests, mangroves and sand
It is about saving our future generation
From the necropolis of misplaced progression.
Rest assured Satish & Patricia,
you are no longer the lonely embers,
from Odxel, Saleli, Sulcorna and everywhere,
Goa is showing the numbers!
No money and no muscle can deter
The Goan who has cast off his fear
It is after all, the fight for true freedom
From the insatiable rulers’ fiefdom.
The people are awake and aware
The rude rulers have to beware
You are out to abuse our mother
And expect us not to bother?
Smile Satish & Patricia,
we have thrown away our pretexts
'Save Goa' is no longer
just another spoken concept!
---- Pravin Sabnis (December 2006)
you are the bright blaze
that uncovered our shifty eyes
and our lame daze!
We shed only teeming tears
We hid behind our selfish fears
Refusing to take on the threatening might
Running away from the righteous fight!
The police came without fail
And send the saviours off to jail.
But then something happened to me
… my mirror reflected the cut tree!
Keep going Satish & Patricia,
you are the igniting flame
that dispelled the darkness
and exposed the dangerous game!
The aggressors had to be tackled…
their greed had to be humbled…
The Goans now began to talk
and dawned the urgency to walk
We must save the Goan identity
where Mother Nature lives with dignity.
We want the real Goa and not a fairy tale
Don’t you dare put up my motherland up for sale!
Thank you Satish & Patricia,
you are the motivational flare
that lit up our spirits
and reminded us how to dare!
We must also gather our guts
To take head on the two-faced nuts
Let’s challenge every deceitful argument
That speaks for fallacious development
It isn’t just about saving our land
Or the forests, mangroves and sand
It is about saving our future generation
From the necropolis of misplaced progression.
Rest assured Satish & Patricia,
you are no longer the lonely embers,
from Odxel, Saleli, Sulcorna and everywhere,
Goa is showing the numbers!
No money and no muscle can deter
The Goan who has cast off his fear
It is after all, the fight for true freedom
From the insatiable rulers’ fiefdom.
The people are awake and aware
The rude rulers have to beware
You are out to abuse our mother
And expect us not to bother?
Smile Satish & Patricia,
we have thrown away our pretexts
'Save Goa' is no longer
just another spoken concept!
---- Pravin Sabnis (December 2006)
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