Poetry

mayank sharma, 18 november 2013

My Dream for India

Like martin Luther king jr. said I have a dream,
 Caste based reservation gone for the cream;
 Where scams aren’t the only thing you hear about,
 Black money not making politicians’ kids stout;
 Where religious diktats don’t rule the minds,
 And not cause riots with violence of all kinds;
 Where the political parties work for the cause,
 The noble dream of independence that it was;
 Where hatred does not nicely fetch you votes,
 Speeches in rallies aren’t full of empty quotes;
 Where sacrifice for the nation is looked at with awe,
 Not as if you had an academic flaw;
 Where the potential of a man is truly probed,
 Not just pay the good graduate beautifully robed;
 Where the positions of responsibility are filled with a diligent lot,
 And with crammers and bribers of any sorts not;
 Where the poor don’t feel so badly oppressed,
 And farmers don’t commit suicide depressed;
 Where meaningless universities don’t decrease the value of education,
 Meagre paying jobs not killing hardworking students’ motivation;
 Where natural disasters aren’t used to campaign for election,
 And parliamentary blame game doesn't hinder India’s super power transformation;
 Where girls aren’t killed while still in the wombs,
 And government stops spending crores on politicians’ birthdays whilst they rest in their tombs;
 Where soldiers don’t die in the hands of terrorists, Maoists and naxalites alike,
 And aren’t forgotten by the bureaucracy during the commissions for pay hike;
 Where power and money don’t rule people’s will,
 And the hunger for survival doesn't make people kill;
 Where honor killings don’t scare the feeling of love in the young,
 Not leaving in fear of dying after some time out you've hung;
 Where kids don’t sell ancestral property for fancy cars and mediocre lives abroad,
 And end up in regrets for the life they once awed;
 Where women aren’t made to walk miles for water every day,
 And people waste even the luxuries as per their wish as they may;
 Where there are no kids deprived at night of light to read,
 And plenty of it isn't with those who don’t even pay heed; 
Where a lot don’t have to be born and eventually die in slums,
 And a few don’t just inherit palatial houses guarded by hoodlums;
 Where little kids don’t have to cross rivers as a chore,
 And a few don’t even walk even if you lure;
 Where a geographical quarter’s population doesn't be racially discriminated,
 And the so called holy Ganga isn't polluted by disposal of corpses never cremated;
 Where the rejection doesn't seem better than to vote,
 And the democracy isn't run by bags of thousand rupee note;
 Where indiscriminate mining does not mess the environment up in pain,
 And the cash flow of the nation does not go outwards in drain;
 Where the political will of the nation does have some spine,
 And doesn't just come out to the citizens as swine;
 Where whistle-blowing wasn't forced to be the norm of the day,
 And those close to the government not looting as they may;
 Where hollow pre-election promises aren't made,
 And the development work simply does not fade;
 Where it doesn't matter if you are Brahman, baniya, Kshatriya or a chamaar,
 I bet this wasn't Nehru’s vision at the stroke of the midnight hour;
 Where people don’t join the public service for power, bees and honey,
 And serve people without siphoning off a single penny;
 Where the rulers don’t try to save the people wrong,
 And don’t still get elected again for five years that are painfully long;
 Where being over-educated for a lower grade position isn't a necessary evil,
 And life doesn't get tough as if in the world of the devil;
 Where- as of now enough have I said,
 For tomorrow’s a class and I've got to go to bed;
 The dream I see is Utopian with no doubt,
 But that’s what the nation improvement process is all about;
 I wish that this dream comes true soon,
 And the ideal India comes out of gloom;
Where I don’t have to sit and write such stuff,
 And governance is no longer a total bluff;
 Where there is such an era- a golden time,
 I don’t have to write such stupid a rhyme.