Colour me right (written on 2 March 2018)

(my poem written on 2 March 2018 was not uploaded here... better late than never)

 

Colour me now

But colour me right

Not as a mix

Each clear in sight…

 

Clear in sight

Distinct and distinguished

Not as a smear

Where colour is extinguished…

 

Colours extinguished

Turn into an obscure shade

Diversity is felled

When unity is a cutting blade…

 

Blade cuts to divide

But unity tends to expedite loss

Assorted strands ripped

togetherness goes for a toss…

 

The dance of togetherness

Needs different types of moves

For it is only variety

That makes an interesting groove…

 

The groove of merger

For different parts, is a bane

Insistence on uniformity

Forces individualities to wane…

 

None should wane

Each should be in clear sight

Colour me now

But please colour me right!

 

- Pravin K Sabnis

 

We killed an old man

 Why the fury? Why so much ire?

for someone who refused to retire

He refused to stop his proactive plan

that's why we killed this stupid old man!

 

He refused to ignore like so many do

he taught others to ask questions too

To halt our progress, he thought he can

but our juggernaut will crush all such men!

 

Our development express refuses to stop

we will do everything to rise over and hop

We will jump over every stakeholder’s plan

we will break down resolve of such old men!

 

He wanted to save people as if his own

He taught them the right to voice and tone

But we know how to halt his every fan

by confining behind bars, their old man!

 

Call them anti-national to dump in jail

apply law that the Raj used to deny bail

Our gullible choir will join and raise cain

as we stifle and defeat their old guy main!

 

Our men seating in judgement seat

are blind to what lies at Truth’s feet

Mere accusation is enough to condemn

each and every one, young and old men!

 

The younger lot has a lesson to learn

By the way we prolong, twist and turn

It is easy with a fake nationalist plan

History is full of felling of such old men!

 

Now for the others we hold behind bars

more voices may say that we went too far

We may have to concede they are no fiends

we tarnished them, like we did that old man!

 

Watch the few that protest and cry

ensure the emotions recede and dry

Pull out the ones who together with him sang

they may undo the death of that bloody old man!

- Pravin K. Sabnis, 5 July 2021

(Indian tribal rights activist Stan Swamy died of a cardiac arrest today. The 84 year old Jesuit priest, suffered from Parkinson's disease, was consistently denied bail & moved to a private hospital in May after he tested positive for Covid. The oldest person to be accused of terrorism in India, he was arrested in October 2020, among 15 renowned activists, academics & lawyers, who were charged under a draconian anti-terror law. Swamy repeatedly denied the charges, saying he was being targeted for his work related to the caste and land struggles of tribals in Jharkhand state. At the time of arrest, his health was waning. But his bail appeal on medical grounds was rejected & National Investigative Agency (NIA) continued to oppose his release. In the eight months he spent in Mumbai's Tajola jail, his health declined)

rise (written on 29 aug 2020)

 

rise

if we do not

trapped will be thought

battle lost before it is fought

 

rise

if we do not

time is a diminishing dot

ones who don’t move will rot

 

rise

if we do not

worse will be wrought

wounds festering under the clot

 

rise

if we do not

one by one will be caught

to be tried for an imagined blot

 

rise

if we do not

humanity will go to nought

as humans burn in the hate-pot

 

so rise

do what we did not

break the chains & step out

opening up every closed spout

 

so rise

do what we did not

pursue the positive thought

together to sing, dance and shout

 

so rise

do what we did not

stand up, march or squat

synergise the simmering lot

 

so rise

do what we did not

seek what we always sought

peace that only justice brings about

 

-  Pravin Sabnis 29 August 2020 -

Let me breathe

written 3 June 2020

Eyes full of mist
Cuffs on my wrist
Lungs set to collapse
For free air as I gasp
These aches and sores
Have happened before
Stop crushing me underneath
Let me breathe… Let me breathe…

Mouth on fire
Life on the wire
When the food I did find
Did not know of cruel mind
That gives an innocent pain
Laying death traps insane
For my baby in my sheath
Let me breathe… Let me breathe…

Brutes on the beat
Drag me by my feet
Violate my being
Treat as a plaything
When they are brought to book
I am blamed for being lure hook
The weariness of being aggrieved
Let me breathe… Let me breathe…

Why do you hit
For every little bit
Drew water for my thirst
Can’t fathom your outburst
Who decided that you are dear?
Who decided that I am impure?
My living you turn into grief
Let me breathe… Let me breathe…

You treat me as soil
While enjoying my toil
I ensure your comfort
By cleaning your dirt
But when I was in need
You refused to pay heed
The road seems endless beneath
Let me breathe… Let me breathe…

Sometimes you pinch
Sometimes you lynch
If not for sickly honour
You will find a rumour
You have hit where you could
Yet stake claim on victimhood
Stop lying through your teeth
Let me breathe… Let me breathe…

In a world vindictive
Empathy is selective
Go beyond choosy pity
Reclaim human personality
Throw away all excuses lame
We are all born one and same
Don’t bury humanity under the hate wreath
Let everyone breathe… Let everyone breathe

- Pravin Sabnis
3 June 2020

VOID (29 July 2019)

(a poem written on 29 July 2019)

Void
The empty chair
The missing stare
So full of care...

Void
The bare bed
Words unsaid
Heart full of lead…

Void
The still cane
A closed pane
Weeping rain…

Void
Absent look
Quietened nook
Unopened book…

Void
A closed sill
The numb feel
House gone still…

Void
Poignant space
Reminiscences trace
The bond of grace…

Void
Memory pond
Forever fond
Immortal bond…

~ Pravin K Sabnis

Troll (20 Jan 2020)

Mirror on wall, mirror on wall

Watch out who is on virtual call

It starts with an indignant scroll

Then released is the vicious troll!

Mirror on ceiling, mirror on ceiling

Watch out who strangled feeling

Hurling abuse, going for the killing

The latest sin of inhuman trolling!

Mirror on floor, mirror on floor

Watch out who steps to score

A closed mind, a locked-up door

Trolls kick the wound till sore!

Mirror on screen, mirror on screen

Watch out for who just walked in

Masks slip and cover gets thin

Trolls scream in ravenous din!

Mirror in mind, mirror in mind

Watch out for who you find

Friends have put fiends behind

Trolls go distant from mankind!

Mirror immortal, mirror immortal

Watch out for malice on the portal

Trolls have chosen a blood thirsty ideal

A two-edged sword, killer and suicidal

Trolling is sadly both: killer and suicidal!

~ Pravin K. Sabnis

20 Jan 2020

Blood on my hand (6 Jan 2020)

Not just the brutal goons
I have blood on my hand...
I had asked for the strike
now they bloodied our land!

I stood safe on the shore
shouting till it hurt my gland...
When Blue Ocean turned Red
hues of hurt stained the sand!

I ignored that in a bull fight
taking sides may seem grand...
But not just the raging bull
gored oft are the cheering band!

Stoking fires is easily done
difficult it is to be manned...
It may seem a harmless sport
but blaze will get out of hand!

We must know the fallout
of taking an extreme stand…
Humanism, justice and peace
should be keys to every demand!

When I ask for the strike
they will drench again our land...
Not just the brutal goons
I will have blood on my hand!
I will have blood on my hand!!

~ Pravin K. Sabnis

6 Jan 2020

Teach him now!

He looks at her and what she wears

He looks as she shamelessly stares…

He looks at her wander in the night

He looks as she seems an assured sight…

He wants to teach her… real lessons

He wants to hold her… off her passion!

He wants to rein her before it is late

He wants to chain her inside the gate!

He hears her argue with her mother

He hears her treat advice as a bother…

He hears her ask her father for rights

He hears her speak, stand and fight…

He tells her that she is a lesser one

He tells her to stop acting like a son!

He tells her she is asking for trouble

He tells her to be just random rubble!

Now when she is brutalised, he is full of fury

Now he wants to play prosecution and jury

But the ones who abused and set her ablaze

Are just like him… movers in a bigoted maze!

He saw her as a lesser thing… so did they

He saw her as a pet… they saw her as prey!

He held dirty thought, they did the dirty act

Thoughts lead to actions… that’s a real fact!

So clear the dirt now that blurs the brain

Treat her like a human… not as a stain!

No lesson needs to be taught to any girl

It is the boys who need the washing swirl!

He needs to change his outlook of her

He needs to learn humane behaviour…

Abuse, brutalisation is the same chafe

Teach him now so that she can be safe!

Teach him now so that she can be safe!

 ~ Pravin K Sabnis

 1 Dec 2019

Pause

Pause

Many a cause

Sometimes a short break

Sometimes a breath intake

Pause

Quiet claws

Stop for the station

Transitory punctuation

Pause

Roads at a cross

Short of words to say

Thoughts going astray

Pause

Damp moss

The numb feel

A life going still

Pause

Unsure clause

Too short a rope

Flickering of hope

Pause

Apparent loss

Screams that are still

Grit on downward drill

Pause

Spilled sauce

Palate gone wrong

The end of the song

~ Pravin K Sabnis

6 May 2019

road safety rhyme

(to be sung to the tune of ‘Row, row, row your boat’)

Ride, ride, ride your bike

gently down the road

wear it, wear it, wear it, wear it,

helmet is not a load!

Drive, drive, drive your car

gently up the slope

strap it, strap it, strap it, strap it,

seat belt is safety rope!

Ferry, ferry, ferry your bus

gently by the school

carefully, carefully, carefully, carefully,

Don’t be a killer tool!

Run, run, run your truck

gently round the curve 

steadily, steadily, steadily, steadily,

don’t crash after the swerve!

Move, move, move along

gently down the lane

safely, safely, safely, safely,

life needs no needless pain!

~ Pravin Sabnis

4 April 2018

Back to Dust

The dust is back 

rising like a black cloud

Their steps are stomping
threatening to lay a shroud…

A shroud onto our land
amidst claims that are insane

Assailants are playing victims
and pretending to be in pain…

Pretence of imagined pain
at the bloody raider’s behest
who wants to have another go
and repeat his dirty dig fest…

The deep dirty pits dug

Have turned sucker hovels
That suck the ground of water
putting flora and fauna to shovel…

The shovel also fells fields
leaving the honest farmer to cry
The gluttony of the raiders
will not stop till all here will die…

When all here will die

They will find another place

To excavate once again

Till ore and earth is out of trace…

Till earth is out of trace…

The stooges will lay siege again

The dust will keep rising

as we play blind to the drain!

We play blind, mute and lame

And bolster the rogue’s bust

Till we do not step out together

We will die of the deadly dust!

We will die of the deadly dust!

Pravin Sabnis

19 March 2018

little pebbles in little hands

When a little hand clenches a little pebble

not to play… but to hurl, hurt and cripple…

When with fear and rage little ones tremble

it is the loss of a mind born openly simple!

A mind of a child is for kindness to reside

but some elders unkindly otherwise decide…

Love is submerged under the reprisal tide

and the loving child turns to a spiteful side!

Future is not for diggers of the past season

who ignore lessons that lead to reason…

Lines are drawn to define loyalty and treason

and childhood bears the brunt of the hate-lesson!

And little hands are handed pebbles for hurling

at hoods who as warriors are masquerading…

Never mind the trigger, we need calm thinking

does a child’s mind deserves such burning?

No wrongs can be ever set right this way

where children are led from peace to stray…

There are better paths than the bloody bay

where missiles are born of things of play!

It is time to speak up to reach every hearing

that the larger fight needs careful considering…

Little hands are not meant for harmful hurting

Little hands are meant for positive building!

So hand little pebbles to little hands now

but not in the name of another holy cow…

Let little hands with little pebbles play to show

Little towers that rise with hope on the brow!

And if not towers let the pebbles form a way

like steps that rise to lead to a better day…

in the name of humanity let’s assert to say

‘little hands need little pebbles only for play!’

~ Pravin Sabnis 

4 January 2017

ना तूफान है ना आंधी

ना तूफान है ना आंधी 

कश्ती के बाहर या अंदर...
मन मे ही मची सुनामी
यही है सोच का संमदर।

~ प्रविण सबनीस
२३ दिसंबर २०१७

Measure of Memories

Memories of a friend begin to fill my mind
in spaces where we met, I seek him to find...
But, I cannot find or meet him anymore
as before his time, my friend had to go!

Two are needed to hold a relationship rope
when one lets go, the other seems sans hope!
But we can refuse to let go and find a way
To keep our friend alive by our actions today!

We must move beyond sorrow and pain...
and learn from the measure of grain!
When the measure overflows it is a clue
that someone has made add-ons new!

The memory measure needs moments anew
It will surely overflow even if add-ons are few...
The things he loved to do, we must do again
Instead of grieving loss, let's add to the gain!

Recreating moments will carry on the show
as we build on a memory of joy not woe
And when the memory measure overflows...
it will make us feel that he did not really go!

May the effort be followed by another one
by doing the things he would have done…
Let’s move beyond the wistful memory rim
And fill them with positives beyond the brim!

May newer memories overflow the measure
as a tribute to the one who was a treasure…
The ‘measure of memories’, it is found to be true
is ‘memories without measure’ in add-ons we do!

(it is an year since my friend, Ravi Shirsat passed away on 16 December 2016... he (& his wife Poonam) had gifted me an 'overflowing measure of grain' to wish me abundance... this muse is a resolve to make my 'measure of memories of Ravi' overflow)

~ Pravin Sabnis

16 December 2017

Keeping a friend alive

When he was alive some would refer to him as ‘your friend’
And then mock him for what he said or did against the trend…
Now that he is no more, they say he was ‘their close friend’
As they declare they were with him on issues together to fend!

Some cry more fiercely than the ones who truly grieve
Some lament louder than hearts turned into a sieve…
Some talk about memories that the world always knew
Some stalk on the stage as if they are the heroic few!

But time will show who really were under his spell
Who were the ones that he inspired so well…
For the many fans, their hero will never be felled
They will continue the story that he lived to tell!

The one who has died can live on forever
in minds, in hearts and actions of the lover…
His legacy of empathy would diminish never
If we choose focus over occasional fervour!

The thoughts of his mind, should be ours too
Where actions are more and words are few…
With words to be used for deeds that are new
We can keep him alive, in a legacy that we sew!

We can keep our friend alive if we rededicate
To his commitment to compassion predicate
In the end, our actions over time will indicate
That his worthy living we chose to truly vindicate! 

~ Pravin Sabnis
(Written in the aftermath of the death of a compassionate combatant for human dignity and justice, Satish Sonak… with the intent to trigger a resolve in self and others who want to keep him alive)

The Masks Return

So often with the powerful and the moneybags they mingle
Now they strangely speak of a resolve that is single
Single is the purpose declared of reclaiming freedom of expression
These are the same who have oft sided with forces of suppression.

The culprit will defend devious and deadly development
Sitting with those who he insisted were anti national elements
And these elements who once were vocal will choose to be silent
And insist that solidarity is a must for countering the violent.

They ignore that the baker broke bread with the same one
Whom he identified as the vilest under the secular sun
They ignore that the very persons who claimed that they fight
Were partners of an inconvenient deal born in the night.

They forget that the fight for human rights is not just with rogue foe
We have to beware the fiend posing as a friend waiting at the door
The door is just a frame for documenting the photo opportunity
To build a fake case of being a worker in the fight for human dignity.

The stage has been set, the arc lights have been hoisted high
The act has been rehearsed without any remorseful sigh
The masks have returned and you cannot tell who is which.
The net is cast high and wide to grab the gullible within reach.

The good are easily gullible as the crooks are double faced
They stand next to smiles artificially saccharine laced
It is a human tragedy that repeats and repeats every season
It is time for these damned masks to be exposed for real reason.

The masks keep returning as the players know well
That the people will forget what their other mask sells
But there are some who have seen through the deadly game
And the masks will not hide that the wearers are ideologically lame.

- _Pravin Sabnis_
16 November 2016

Waterfall

Waterfall

the water falls
screams steadily rise
the children overflow with gleeful surprise

into the passing foliage
the waterfall disapears
excitement recedes
but the smile lingers

screams will be back
when turns the train...
the milky waters
are now in a larger frame!

Pravin Sabnis
14 November 2016

क्यों

शहीद कहलाए १७ जवान
पर क्यों मरे ऐसे कोई इंसान
मरना चाहा था देश के नाम
कायरों के कारण गया प्राण

अब बहेंगे आसू क्रोध के
वादे होंगे प्रतिशोध के
पर कृति बिना होगी बात
क्योंकि अपने ही थे साथ

अपने गद्दारों के लंबे हाथ
बडे बडे है उनके साथ
कम होता है जवान का मोल
जब तक झुठ का ही हो बोल

घर के भेदी का हौसला बढ़े
कोई नही उनके पीछे पड़े
जवान ऐसी मौत मरते रहे
जवान ऐसी मौत मरते रहे

प्रविण सबनीस
१९ सप्टेंबर २०१६

RAIN

Here it comes again
Down comes the rain
Knocking on the windowpane
And flowing down the drain...

Go get your raincoat
Let us make a paper boat
And watch how it floats
On the waters of the moat...

Rain is fun, fast or slow
When it stops, sun will glow
See up there... a rainbow
Monsoon is the best show!

Pravin Sabnis
11 June 2001

Play well!

The veteran may score a blank
The senior may walk the plank...
but the score book doesn’t mind
If the debutante turns into a find!

Best is yesterday, be better today
Great past goes easily astray...
The present play is what matters
Previous scores can turn tatters...

So don't put down another on age
Wise often is the younger sage...
For while experience has its worth
Youth can break free of the dearth...

The unburdened mind we oft find
Is sans shackles of the doubt grind..
It may be wayward or off the mark
It may be just a shot in the dark...

But score books don't really care
Whether a honed skill or just a dare...
Those who play well are a treasure
Performance is the only measure!

So ensure the focus and play well
Our true calibre only time will tell...
And when it does, don't turn smug
Around the turn, lies the failure plug!

We must play well all the time
Speaking with the humility chime
Especially when we grow real tall
And comes along a player small...

The veteran may score a blank
The senior may walk the plank...
But the score book will only tell
The tale of the one who played well!

~ Pravin K. Sabnis
9 August 2016