Just Can't Imagine
There was a time
When Britain ruled India
Where Hindus were discriminated against
Temples became government property
Crafts, livelihood and culture wiped out
By setting up kangaroo courts
Aiding churches and missionary schools
To convert Hindus
Considered less educated and less couth.
So, today Britain has a Prime Minister
Who proudly calls himself a Hindu
Whose ancestors reached there circumventing
Not just biases but also geography
To reach there of all places
Well educated, well mannered and brainy
With a Hindu wife born in India
She, the daughter of self-made humble billionaires
Who proudly says she is Indian
And remains Indian upright.
Time, Time is the answer
Time is the truth
That generation that suffered
Did not witness
But we, their descendants stand testimony
That time will give back
Give back in full measure
To those who try to wipe out
To those who try to exterminate
For like the phoenix that rises from the ashes
People and races and civilizations will rise
Dust off and build themselves better
And conquer the world.
Can't imagine the looks on erstwhile kings and queen
Can't fathom the depths of what Churchill must be feeling
Nor Atlee, Baldwin and Chamberlain
Nor Clive, Cannings, Curzon, Hastings and Mountbatten
Kings, Queen, Prime Ministers, Viceroys and Lords
When they heard the bugles and pipes sounding the arrival
Of a man of Indian origin as Prime Minister
At 10, Downing Street.
In their graves will they remember
How they sucked us Indians of blood
Made orphans out of millions
Denied dignity and right to life
Taxed the salt that kept us healthy and alive
Even sold the grass leaving but parched earth
Making millions starve to death
Worse than cattle on the roads
Just to fill their majesty's coffins
And earn majestic favour.
Time will turn again
And hope one day
In my lifetime I will see
Not just from Asia and the Oriental
But with roots from Africa and the pacific too
More such Prime Ministers who will rule
All those countries who used their boots
On the forehead of our ancestors.
No one blames this generation
But then remember, they have not cared yet
To apologize even in a line
Nor reimburse ill gotten wealth
Return valuable treasures of civilization
Instead bringing laws to hold and keep
Their ill gotten wealth and still
Go around the world bombing
As though the lessons of yesterday
Hasn't even pricked them light.
So time, please do your thing
A bit faster maybe, for man forgets
His follies and idiosyncracies fast
With his brutality he continues
To rule distant lands like before
By sowing seeds of hatred and illwill
By arming man against man
By policy of divide and rule
Yet behave they are better than any.
Time, time, time
Turn and turn a bit faster please
To teach the human race some lessons
There is no protectors like you
There is no teacher like you
There is no healer better than you.
