Pogrom Poems

Keki Daruwala reviews Seeme Qasim's After Gujarat And Other Poems in this week's Outlook. Here, Ms. Qasim writes about her feelings over the Gujarat pogrom.

After Gujarat, I remember
the Saryu flowing
Near an ornate temple
the azaan
travels
into myself....

After Gujarat, I remember
frail Amma at her namaaz

We're reminded of a pretty cool Nida Fazli verse on the same subject we read somewhere, some time ago. Here it is (sorry, non-Urdu speakers):

Mujhe maloom hai tumharey naam sey mansoob hain tootey huey sooraj
Shikasta chand, kala aasmaan, curfew-zada rahein
Sulagtey khel ke maidan, roti cheekhti maae'n
Mujhe maaloom hai charo taraf jo ye tabahi hai
Hukumat mein siyasat ke tamashe ki gawahi hai
Tumhein Hindu ki chaahat hai na Muslim se adaavat hai
Tumhara dharm sadiyon se tijarat tha tijarat hai
Mujhe maloom hai lekin tumhe mujrim kahoon kaisey
Adaalat mein tumharey jurm ko sabit karoon kaisey
Tumhari jeib mein khanjar na haaton mein koi bum tha
Tumharey rath pe to Mariyada Purshottam ka parcham tha.