ME & MINE

I woke up in a different age...
I woke up in shock and rage...
Ten years further to today...
My village had gone astray...

It was like a fairy tale all gone wrong...
Where cacophony posed as a song...
Gone were the fields that were mine...
My land, my village was just a MINE!

I went to the authorities to complain
Hoping for justice to relieve my pain...
They asked me to prove my citizenship
Without my village, how could I exist?

I said forget about me, have some shame...
What about the villains and their devious game?
First they paused and then laughed aloud...
“It was you who contributed to the deadly shroud”

“How me?” I cried at the twist in the tale
My land I had never put up for sale...
When they came to me, I had said a clear NO
For me my land was my life, how could I let go?

They looked at me and laughed once again
“He thought it was never going to be his pain
Since the lease did not cover his land
He thought the problem was not his to fend”

“They first mined elsewhere, but he said that land is not mine
Then they mined closer, and he said that land is not mine
Then they mined next door, yet he said that land is not mine
And now look how he protests when his land is a MINE”.

To the dissonance of their accusing mirth
I woke up from the nightmare’s girth
But the future continued to resonate in my ears
Urging me not to ignore the approaching fears

It was futile to think of me and what’s mine
And ignore the killing moves of the MINE
For it is not an activity, it is really an attitude
That seeks to crush rights, dignity and aptitude

It is all about the important lesson
A truth that can never go out of fashion
We must go beyond what is “me and mine”
It is not just about what’s mine and thine

Lest our future is buried under the remains
Let’s consolidate solidarity’s gains
Let’s make the resolve to connect together
Instead of “Me and mine”, “we and ours” is better

Without the sweat of solidarity, community cannot shine
“We and ours” can defeat the onslaught of the MINE
Let’s together defeat the abusive merchants of dirt
Let’s ensure that green remains our valley and earth

Pravin Sabnis
4 April 2008, Goa