Difference is a blessing!

Difference is a blessing, it's the leader of the ship
For if all the sailors went right, they would all sink
Difference is a blessing, imagine if we all wrote with the same ink
Imagine if all the birds were the same, same colour same wings
Imagine if we loved no other than the colour pink
If we went to the store everyday, to buy the same food and drinks
If every season was spring
If we all had the same dreams and if in the same way we would all think
Imagine if we were all born kings
If there were no carpenters or servants to wash the dishes in the sink
Give it a couple of days and the world would end
But difference is a blessing, not a way to offend
The hand holding it from the middle, always there to mend
Difference is a blessing, a connection between two friends
Your self contradictions are the same
For if you look at your contrasting frame
You'll find every aspect keeping you sane
For your contradictions are a blessing, an equation with meaning
It's what's keeping you from sinking and shaping you as a human being!

I'm a woman...

I am the martyr,
The mother of the martyr,
The sister of the martyr,
The daughter of the martyr.

I am the injured of the revolution,

The protester,the jailed,the detained,
The tortured,the exiled,the kidnapped and the raped,
I am the veiled, the non-veiled,
It's according to my deep conviction,
I am white, light skinned, dark-skinned,
Anyway, I am a beautiful soul.

I am young by spirit, old by experience,
I am the pregnant,the wife,the single mother and the widow,
I am living with one hand,one leg,one kidney,
But I study,I work and I travel,

Yet I am not the victim,I am the leader.
I clean up the streets of my nation ,
I raise up the past, present and future generations,
I speak out for my son at school,
For my client in court,
For my art at theatre,
For my mind on paper.

I live in the city, in the town, in the countryside, in the suburb, in the mountains, on the borders,
I am Africa, Asia, America, Europe, Australia and every corner where there is life and sound,
I boost the economy, I advance the technology.

Do I deserve to be equal to you? YES I do because I AM a woman empowered by my words

I raise my voice for human rights, for justice, for social change,
I use connections to unite,
I use platforms to debate,
I use my words to shape the reality,
I perform, I lead.

My achievements are not to be waived,
My dreams are not for giving up,
My body is not for sale,
My mind is not for manipulation,
My place is not for abdication,
My job is not for quitting,
My views are not for granted,
My rights are not to be violated.

Why? because I AM a woman empowered by my words.

When Things Go Wrong

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest, if you must — but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a fellow turns about

When he might have won had he stuck it out.

Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow 

You might succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than

It seems to a faint and faltering man.

Often the struggler has given up

When he might have captured the victor’s cup.

And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out 

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt 

And you never can tell how close you are.

It may be near when it seems afar,

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit 

It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.

Ego

An illusion of the mind

A stumbling block

Towards the growth of humanity and mankind!

When you begin to have pre-conceived perceptions

That your existence is your own inception!

A feeling of being right

Imagining yourself as the saviour,as the knight

To believe, the knowledge and power you possess

No one can evaluate or assess!

A dark day and a darker night

The greatest hindrance

For evolution of the human psyche!

A negative bond between body and mind

In-ability to accept any other view or reason

It blocks your inner thoughts and vision!

The exact opposite of God’s nature

History stands as the greatest witness

To the horrific deeds of those egoistic people

Who felt they were greater

Than this world’s Creator!

An illusion of the mind

A stumbling block

Towards the growth of humanity and mankind!

Tick Tock

This quiet night, full of nothing,
This empty bottle, that once had something,
These thoughts, which fill the mind and haunt the soul,
These feelings, which bind and take control,
These memories, that never fade, never break,
This is all the past, that which future will take,
Each day, each hour, each minute and second,
Each passing tick, is a tock to be reckoned,
Each passing moment, is a now gone then,
Each chance, opportunity in a distant when,
Let it wash, let it consume, let it take over,
If you can't live now, how can you have closure?
If every now is spent thinking about then,
Every empty bottle is an empty bottle again,
See through the glass, not the reflection so cryptic,
and you will see every tock is passed by another tick

A painting to its artist...

Prove this as such an undying fantasy
That I have wished to feel your breath
Across my silken shade of satin
Beneath my velvet pose
And just unearthed in polished vigor
My heart becomes a rose
And red like blood that feeds the weak
Or blue like azure skies
My body is my masterpiece
My critic is your eyes
Now lay me down to pass a test
A virgin drawn too close
Such picture perfect aptitude
I have and yet who knows
Tomorrow I will just be one of those who wears your wall
Today is not much better but tonight
Tonight I'm yours alone

From satire to sedition:Indian democracy

The arrest of Aseem Trivedi recently on charges of sedition for having drawn satirical cartoons, including one that depicts the parliament building as a lavatory buzzing with flies, was seen as an attempt to stifle the freedom of speech and expression, a fundamental right under the Indian constitution.

The episode catapulted the hitherto unknown 25-year-old to the position of a national hero, with his cartoons echoing popular resentment against a scandal-plagued government. Social media was abuzz with his pictures and twitterati  made #AseemTrivedi one of the most searched items on the micro-blogging website.

Trivedi’s arrest showed an alarming trend in Indian democracy — that of smothering opinions and ideas not in line with the credo of the political class.

From the prime minister’s office which attacked International media for being critical of Manmohan Singh to the imprisonment of a West Bengal professor for poking fun at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, politicians seem to have forgotten to take criticism in their stride. Instead, they choose to counter-attack it.

‘Block, ban and censor’ seems to be the new motto for politicians; be it the decision to remove a cartoon from the school curriculum or block more than 300 web pages and a number of Twitter accounts, including several spoof accounts impersonating the prime minister.

The government’s increasingly conservative shift is also reflected in its proposals to introduce alcohol permits or statements that Indian culture doesn’t allow women to smoke.

So, even as we try to make the world believe in the India growth story, it looks like many our policies are regressive.

It’s ironic that India flaunts to the world its technological prowess with its 100th space mission and at the same time brings sedition charges against a cartoonist depicting the current political climate.

Perhaps the government believes a cartoon is more seditious than corruption perpetrated by its own ministers.

Democracy - a government by the people and for the people providing political and social equality.

Hypocrisy - the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs and principles but not actually having them.

India - the world’s largest democracy or hypocrisy?