Political cousins in a pillow fight -------------------------------------------- There is a family that fought our freedom And ruled India like it was its fiefdom With a quirk of fate a Nehru became Gandhi Now we had a whiskey that sounded like a brandy Ah, the power of a surname is magnificent It enhances the value of the proverbial two cents So a pillow-fight between cousins at the polls Is grist for TV news as the camera rolls So Priyanka, elder girl of the clan and all that Tells cousin Varun to do this and not that A non-storm in a non-teacup makes it to the headlines And we wish they’d discussed Bipasha’s hemlines Pocket boroughs get slippery in dusty dehat Where the poor stay poor and watch a cousins’ spat There’s Raja Bhoj or two and plenty of Gangua Telis In the princely states of Amethi and Rae Bareli Yonder in Sultanpur, the cousin prince rides an open car In a Lotus-hued moment arrives for an electoral shikhar And the elder sis, (one with a pink-trousered hubby) Proceeds to give advice to the cousin so chubby. It’s not a tea party, she says; it’s an ideological war It all sounds so intellectual: like a brawl in a bar And then she mentions it is a family thing: like ideology was a shopping mall bling. Such monopoly over the nation’s Constitution When there’s decline all around of every institution Such regal airs when the republic’s not fair Such democratic elegance: no interview in the air! The commoner wonders, ponders and winces Examines the exalted confederacy of the dunces Devils abound in this Deep Sea, she notes As she mulls who she will this time vote. --N. Madhavan, 2014. blogs.hindustantimes/madversity
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 04:22:21 +0000