A parody on Tagore’s poem
By Justice Katju
The famous Bengali poet Rabindra Nath Tagore wrote a well known poem titled ‘ Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo ‘ ( Where the mind is without fear )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitto_Jetha_Bhayshunyo
I have written a parody on the poem, given below, which gives an idea of the days that are coming in India :
Chitto Jetha Bhaypurno
( Where the mind is full of fear )
Where the minds of the people are always in fear of losing their livelihood or not being able to make two ends meet, and the head is stooped low
Where unemployment has reached a record level and is increasing.
Where prices of even essential commodities like food, fuel, and medicines, have skyrocketed
Where the politicians of the country, of all parties, are shameless rogues, rascals, gangsters, crooks, looters, deceivers and gundas who have no genuine love for the people, and only seek power and pelf, have amassed fortunes, and are experts in polarising society by inciting caste or communal hatred, to secure their vote banks.
Where a few crony big businessmen have cornered most of the country’s wealth, while the masses are living in abject misery
Where most people are servile and kowtow, crawl and do shaashtang before the corrupt leaders and the rich
Where cows are worshipped as ‘gomata’ ( when even a little commonsense can tell us that an animal cannot be the mother of a human being ), and minorities lynched on false charges of cow slaughter
Where a Ram Mandir is built not only in Ayodhya but also in every town, and even in every mohalla and village in India, and these mandirs, built at heavy cost, start leaking at the first rainfall
Where Muslims are thrashed if they do not say ‘ Jai Shri Ram ‘, their houses bulldozed, and they are oppressed in various ways
Where people raising their voice against oppression, exploitation and corruption are branded as Naxalites and shot like partridges
Where bollywood, cricket, fashion parades and astrology is given to the poor masses instead of food and jobs, following the dictum of the Roman Emperors who used to say ” If you cannot give the people bread, give them circuses ”.
Where people demanding bread are told to eat cake, as Queen Marie Antoinette said
Where the largely corrupt, sold out and shameless media keeps diverting attention of the people from the real socio-economic issues facing the people like massive unemployment, skyrocketing prices of food, fuel and other essential commodities, appalling level of child malnutrition, almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education, etc for the masses, to non issues like lives of filmstars, fashion parades, cricket, astrology, etc
Where every virtue has decayed and vanished, and honesty regarded as stupidity
Where wealth replaces character and conduct, might becomes right, might and money alone determining dharma and justice.
Where most farmers have committed suicide, as farming has become uneconomical, and farmers are unable to pay their debts
Where trade and fraudulent practice become synonymous.
Where the law favours only the rich, and has no regard for justice.
Where he that can curse and swear best is considered the finest orator and scholar.
Where poverty is sufficient cause to establish guilt in the eyes of the law, while wealth and ostentation are indices of character and innocence.
Where he who maintains his family by the foulest means is considered most respectable.
Where dharma is observed only for exhibition.
Where whoever is crooked and daring becomes the political leader, and rules like a greedy lustful bandit, with plunder and rapine of the citizens as his objective
Where exhausted by cruel taxes and oppression of all kinds, the people subsist on wild vegetation, roots, bark of trees, and leaves
Where the political leaders, when the people complain they have no food, tell them, like Foulon before the French Revolution, to eat grass `.
Where the rulers are mere robbers, and men, driven by despair, poverty and unemployment become beggars, thieves, murderers or suicides.
Where arrogance, hypocrisy, deception, dishonesty, sloth, somnolence, cruelty of every kind, delusion, terror and wretchedness are the order of the day
Where the vilest men become the foremost traders, making cheating and thievery the common practice of the marketplace.
Where seated upon the sacred thrones of great and holy gurus of yore, babas that are masters only of vice, expound dharma to the gullible populace.
Where depleted by dreadful taxes, tormented by drought, starved, owning none of the bare necessities of life—homes, clothes, food and drink, a bed, a bath,etc. –men seem more like bhutas and pisachas.
Into that hell of slavery, Father, let my country awake
