दिवाली पर मुकरी

साँझ ढले पर वा सज जावे 

देखत ही मन हर्षावे  

अंतर्मन कर दे उजियारा 

एक उसी से सब तम हारा 

स्वर्ण सी आभा, जैसे राजन 

मन को सादो, जैसे कीप।     

का सखी, साजन? 

ना सखी, दीप! 

क्षणिका

अदल बदल कर 

कानों में डलते रहते हैं 

तेरे जुमले 

मेरे झुमकों से हैं पिया 

Excerpt from the poem - Rain and Riches by Sunil Sachdev

 In its truest sense

the rainbow should come 

before the rain 

as 

then at its end would be 

not only 

a pot of gold 

but a shower 

of rubies 

 and gems

and diamonds 

Great Indian Recipe: Parliamentary Brick - Poems by Sunil Sachdev from the book U Turn

 Carefully select one well-grown 

and thick skinned student leader 

dress him up like a chicken 

then put him in a kneader 

the purpose of the kneader 

is to make a spineless dough 

but the thick skin should remain 

to tell half truths and to bow

now put this special dough 

in a national party mould

party name is not important

provided its leaders are old 

keep the mould in a furnace 

lit by communal fires

and blow air mixed with slogans 

to brainwash and inspire 

when this hardened lout turns 

red and yellow and white 

you know he is ready to change 

colours, and wear what's right 

the 'brick' is now ready 

to lay another foundation 

to join Indian politics 

serve parliament and nation. 

क्षणिका

मैंने तुमसे नहीं सीखा 

गिर कर सम्हलना 

तुम्हारा योगदान 

बस गिराना भर था। 

कविता की ज़िद

वो जो छींक 

आधे में रुक जाती है न? 

जिसके आ जाने तक 

सांस रोकने के अलावा कुछ नहीं कर सकते? 

पूरे अधिकार से 

रोक देती है 

जो भी ज़रूरी काज या बात 

कर रहे हों। 

सर्वाधिकार संपूर्णतया सुरक्षित। 

कुछ कविताओं का मन में आना भी 

ऐसा ही है। 

You know that sneeze 

that stops midway

just to demand 

complete attention? 

Where you have to stop doing

or saying 

Whatever it is that you were

saying or doing? 

Yeah, some poems 

come to the head 

in the same way. 

My EVM journey

Yesterday was elections where we live. 

I noticed that on the Electronic Voting Machind, the candidates from the 2 main parties - BJP and Congress were placed next to each other. 

Anyway, I registered my vote but to my surprise, the button next to it lit up. 

I thought, at the time, that i had pressed the wrong button. 

But since the other button belonged to a party that is responsible for the massacre of my family members, I just could not let it go. 

All day and all evening, I kept thinking of how I could have pressed the wrong button. 

And at night, I focused the brain to go back to the moment the button was pressed. The symbol of the candidate is to the left. Which symbol was it when I was pressing the button?? 

It was the right symbol. I did press the intended button, but the machine registered my vote differently. 

I understand this is a serious accusation, and there is no way of proving it bcs there is no CCTV camera inside the booth, but I know what happened here. 

Incidentally, only one party created a ruckus saying that the EVMs can be tampered. It was the party that 'erroneously' got my vote yesterday. 

Even if no one knows, I know. 

Update: The results were announced and the party who got my vote unintentionally still lost. Surprisingly, only in my state, they started talking about an EVM malfunction. No other state where they lost, did they allege EVM malfunction. My sense is that they expected some amount of ground votes (real votes) and some amount of EVM rigging, and that would be the way to win elections. But the rigging did not quite compensate for the lack of ground votes, hence the frustration. However, after this, i will never allege that EVMs are incorruptible. I stand corrected through personal anecdotal experience.