My Country is MY COUNTRY!

Jun 22
NabanitaDhar
My country is a country,
A single entity I thought,
Until told bluntly,
Apparently it’s not!
My country is my country,
My very own I thought,
But some agree,
Entire country is mine not?
My State or My country?
Which more my own?
When I connect the dots,
With pain I groan.
When both are mine,
Why should I explain?
To random countrymen,
For being in their lane?
Which is my place?
Shillong, where I grew up?
But they say it belonged,
To completely another lot,
I was an outsider then,
Never been an insider even?
Questions about my own space,
How do I find my haven’s gate?
Which is my place?
City I graduated from?
But there I was treated,
Liked a wild wilder beast lone.
Looked at skeptically,
As though a monkey feral,
Forced to fight to belong,
Never accepted in real!
Which is my place?
The city I work?
Where I’m treated like a scum,
With no right to walk,
I pay my tax, I pay my rent,
Who are you to ask me off this land?
Not born here so what I say,
Who asked your permission anyway?
A country fine,
Unity in diversity divine,
I was taught and I thought,
Was a fact and true!
But regional chauvinists prove,
All were untrue,
One India is but a notion false,
Pseudo-nationalists, this corrosion, cause!
But I don’t care,
What they say,
I belong where
My heart finds its sway.
I respect all regions,
Not knowing all languages is not treason,
Regional chauvinist, my friend I’ll live in your land,
Make peace with thee else get me hanged!

40 thoughts on “My Country is MY COUNTRY!”

  3. I wish people would be free from the geographical barrier some day. I wish if every one could say "My WORLD is my WORLD" Quite a silly thought I guess 🙂

  6. Passionately and beautifully written, Naba! I recently wrote a post Indian that outlined the same angst.

  7. Regionalism, quite a concept it is.
    Quite widespread and most of all, a frontline defence for pathetic politicians.
    Captured well, but I think you lost objectivity here.
    Quite angry about this, are you?

  8. The pain of many in India…Where division is a cult not hidden anymore .Used in politics and for power !! Well expressed .. I wish I could pass on the link of the poem to .. Raj Thackeray .. 🙂 and alike him !

  9. the Son of the Soil theory negates the cardinal principle of 'Unity in Diversity.' But then, there are people like you who never buy the sectarian stuff. Nice poetry.

  10. Beautiful! Boundaries change, shoreline changes, rulers change, rivers change their courses, mountains rise, or valleys change contours… For me, my country is neither a handheld map nor the tricolour flag: It is the Land, Waters and Life.

  11. Beautiful one…how true…we try to create borders where none are needed. I hope younger generation understands this and resolve this stupid issues.

  14. Beautiful Jahid! "My WORLD is my WORLD" Beware of all the regional chauvinists' attacks now 😉

  18. Well I'd say its very much there in ordinary people too not just politicians..

    Thanks Brendan 🙂

  21. Wonderful…! "my country is neither a handheld map nor the tricolour flag: It is the Land, Waters and Life."

    Thanks!

  23. A beautiful array of words giving expression to the anguish of your heart. Despite the kind of alienation you find, you are as much an Indian as all of us are, united by the bond of love and trust….really liked your post.

  27. even i feel peeved when people indulge in regionalism….good choice of subject there….it was a lesser told story

  35. very well written Nabanita… capturing the essence of divide and rule politics.. and the question thousands of Indians ask everyday.. nice 🙂

  39. Nabanita!
    I appreciate your poem. But I can’t resist say more. I go beyond. Our brain is 5K years old, crammed with civilized concepts, orientations, habits, prejudices etc. Is it possible to drop some of the load of history?

    There are a few persons, who embrace World Citizenship such as A. K. Coomaraswamy, who wanted die on Indian soil, or Eduard Suess [1831-1914], Austrian geologist did put forward the idea of super-continent (1861 A.D.) and named it 'Gondwanaland'. He was aware that even the continents shift. The history of civilized society, successively and progressively, moves to consolidate Centralized Power (of classes / castes / now corporate). Every effort made to liberate, from Das Kapital to Arab Spring turns to be the tentacles of Centralized Powers. Even the click on key of keyboard of cell phone or PC does that, by Design or Default!

    Regionalism is not used where it is most needed, for example, in Habitat Planning, which should care for, preserve, and restore Biodiversity. But it is ignored to keep regimentation in Development Planning models?
    http://remidesouza.blogspot.in/2011/03/india-bharat-or-gondwana.html

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