Friday, July 21, 2006

Remembrance

There's a sun set somewhere but it doesn't matter.

There's a blue dress billowing out in the sultry air, trying to awaken an unmoving glossy head.
She's young but bent grotesquely now. There isn't anyone to check why.

A few gulls call out in their cacophony. Their shrill sounds move her. She longs to join their cries.

There's a hint of silver that catches the sun's sinking rays. A cellphone lying in a heap of sand. Like it was flung as a badly aimed pebble into the sea.
It has rung several times since.

She must return she realizes, to glide smoothly back into a posture of normalcy.

It's time to put in a few flowers of token remembrance into beds of Lego green bricks.
To speak of you in 500 words. Like summarizing the most splended summer vacation in 2 pages for grade 7 English reports.


To pick and choose you. As if you were merely a story book to be summarized into and trivialized as non-chalantly.

Metal pooled in, fires fanned miles.
Flesh and blood. Hearts and brains. Blown up, strewn- far and wide. In death you were all one.

But they say the spirit of this city, our city once, will not be broken. That what happened to you, to them, will not move this city.
They need only say as much to have reduced your erstwhile existence to negligible. Unimportant.
In being forgotten too, you were all one.

This dartardly city with it's insensitive people. Like every other city in this world, I can now see.
I won't be speaking about you today. I didn't submit your photograph to be featured for 5 seconds on stage in 'remembrance'. I won't go to put flowers in your memory.

I will not open a sheet of paper to drop my tears over in public.

Because it is only this grief that now remains of you with me. And I shall not share that with the insensitive.

I shall not let them trivialize even this of you.


In memory of all those passed away in the Mumbai blasts of July 11th. In memory of all those in terrorist bombings that are now spread worldwide.
May the bastards who killed you, who defend those murderers' 'human rights', who protest about 'injustices' borne by those who killed you- may they all never find peace for having forgotten so easily the wrongs done to you and your dear ones.

3 comments:

Sriram said...

Dee, intense and yet the post conveys the thought. The memory of a person stays forever and it shouldn't be defiled by "oh, this doesn't affect my life. my life will go on." and statements/actions of that sort. Nice one!

Raja said...

You are still the same magician, but I didn't quite like the last paragraph

Anonymous said...

sriram:yes memories of civilians lost in such a tragic manner should indeed not be defiled

raja: call a spade a spade:)

southpaw: i expected you to understand

a.m. [your handle is rather difficult to reproduce easily!]: I'm not sure if such a politically incorrect sentiment would be published as easily :)