When ‘We, the People of India’ Assembled at Adyar on the 15th of January, 2020

Dr Parinitha
January 17, 2020

We came on foot, we came on boats, shouting slogans of Azadi.

We stood on roof tops and sat on walls under the burning midday sun,

Listening to the words that we had longed to hear for so long.

Words that had been scripted through the lonely fears of our hearts.

Words that were spoken now with the clarity of courage.

Words that were spoken now with the suppressed strength of pent up anger.

Words that were spoken now with the certainty of belonging to the soil 

Which had become one with the dust of our ancestors.

We stood there in the waves of heat

Feeling the surge and press  of countless bodies around us.

Bodies meshed through the odour of sweat 

And the shared fear of a common persecution.

And hanging from the roof tops,

And tied to the poles,

And clutched in hands slippery with sweat,

And wrapped round the pillars,

And spreading into our blood,

Were three strips of colour with a wheel of spokes,

Sewn together into the shape of our being.

Woven into the folds of our future and the creases of our past. 

Stitched to the seams of the earth, the water, the air and the sky 

That belonged to us and to which we belonged. 

And we stood there from noon to evening,

We the people of India.

Raising our clenched fists like signposts to the future.

Chanting slogans like a new anthem.

Kin to each other through the ties of community.

Born to live and die 

In a nation that was ours to hold on to

And ours to belong to.

Dr Parinitha is a professor of English in Mangalore University. She penned the poem soon after participating in the historic protest against CAA, NPR and NRC at Shah Garden, Adyar, Mangaluru on 15th January, 2020.

Also Read: 

‘The more you try to divide us, the stronger and united we’ll be’: Record turnout in Mangaluru’s anti-NRC protest

Anti-NRC protest in Mangaluru brings ‘media bias’ to the fore

Comments

Abdullah
 - 
Wednesday, 29 Jan 2020

Salute to you siter for your meaningful poem.  This is reality.  However, the enmy is blind/deaf/dumb.   May God give right way of thinking to enmy and in case he is unlucky, let God finish him and let him beg for death.  

Indian
 - 
Thursday, 23 Jan 2020

Waav..What a Heart Touching poetry...

 

Hats off to you ma'am....

 

Love from all Indians...

 

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News Network
January 12,2020

Mangalore, Jan 12: Thieves reportedly stole around 70,000 cash from a MESCOM ATP machine located at Chembugudde in Thokkottu, Police said here on Sunday.

Police said that the theft took place in the MESCOM sub-division office at Chembugudde. It was said that the thieves broke open the room where the MESCOM customers bill payment machine was located and stole 70,000 rupees cash from the ATP machine.

This machine had nine lakh rupees cash. The amount was reported to have been transferred at around 1500 hrs on Saturday.

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News Network
May 15,2020

Kalaburagi, May 15: Former Karnataka Minister Dr Sharanprakash Patil and 22 others, including several local Congress leaders, have been booked for violating lockdown guidelines by conducting a meeting at a convention hall in Sulpeth town on May 13.

The FIR was registered on Thursday against 23 persons, including the former MLA and 21 local Congress leaders, under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Congress leader Patil and his followers had conducted a meeting at a convention hall in Sulpeth town on May 13, following which sectoral magistrate Muneer Ahmed lodged a complaint.

This comes as the country of under lockdown and the Centre and states have issued strict social distancing and other norms to be followed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Mar 11: Two activists of Sangh Parivar have been arrested by the police in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore for hurling a petrol bomb at a mosque in Ganapathy on March 5.

The miscreants had hurled petrol bombs at the front gate of Hidayathul Sunnath Jamath Mosque at Vedhambal Nagar near Ganapathy in Coimbatore around 1 am on March 5. Since the bomb did not explode, nobody was injured in the incident.

Following a complaint from the Secretary of the Jama’ath, the police had formed three separate teams to nab the miscreants.

Based on tip-offs, the police detained BJP member Pandi (41) and VHP member Akhil (23), both from Rathnapuri in Coimbatore for inquiry.  The duo has also been remanded to judicial custody.

According to a statement by the Coimbatore police, the accused told the police that they hurled petrol bomb at the mosque to protest against the attack against Anand, a Hindu Munnani functionary a few days ago. The accused also reportedly told the police that they were planning to create more chaos.

Madukkarai Anand, the District Secretary of Hindu Munnani was attacked on March 4, while he was returning home after participating in a pro-CAA dharna organised by the BJP and allied parties in Gandhipuram.

He was allegedly followed by men on two motorbikes, who attacked him with rods. Anand suffered head injuries in the attack and was admitted to a hospital. The Podanur police registered a case for attempt to murder based on a complaint and had also formed special teams to nab the accused. However, no one has been apprehended in that case till now.

Based on the statements given by the accused, the police arrested the two men, seized the two-wheeler they used, two cell phones and the things they used to manufacture the petrol bomb.

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