The colour of my skin?In a land sold on fairness creams?.Common language?Only one shared sentence: death..Shared history?Wasn't all Empire was it?.Ancestors?Didn't yours kill mine, andMuch before Partition too?.What makes a southasian?. Geography? One end's dry as a bone The other riven by river & sea.. Contiguity? Big enough to hijack a plane And find a sanctuary.. Trade? If one's smuggling Basmati across the wire.. Food? Only by the lack of it.. What makes me southasian then? Not global warming for sure, That makes me global, Not local like. Receding glaciers, Receding coastlines, Water harvesting, Power cuts, Rickshaws, Made in China, Maid in Singapore, Avian flu, Despair, Disparity, Celebrity, Film stars, Monarchs, State reprisal, Ethnic cleansing, Riot, Shortage, Inflation, Embargo, Sanction.. Right, so how do we mend fences? Don't mend fences, demolish them, Not mosques, blow up myths, Not people, share water, Not prejudices, open borders, Not hostilities, oh god, not again These fatigued clichés Filed away, fished out again Recycled at climate-controlled, Bottle-watered seminars Filtered away again until The next tranche of funds Arrives.. I didn't say, what makes me proud? I said: what makes me southasian.. ~ Anmole Prasad writes from Kalimpong and earns a living as a lawyer.
The colour of my skin?In a land sold on fairness creams?.Common language?Only one shared sentence: death..Shared history?Wasn't all Empire was it?.Ancestors?Didn't yours kill mine, andMuch before Partition too?.What makes a southasian?. Geography? One end's dry as a bone The other riven by river & sea.. Contiguity? Big enough to hijack a plane And find a sanctuary.. Trade? If one's smuggling Basmati across the wire.. Food? Only by the lack of it.. What makes me southasian then? Not global warming for sure, That makes me global, Not local like. Receding glaciers, Receding coastlines, Water harvesting, Power cuts, Rickshaws, Made in China, Maid in Singapore, Avian flu, Despair, Disparity, Celebrity, Film stars, Monarchs, State reprisal, Ethnic cleansing, Riot, Shortage, Inflation, Embargo, Sanction.. Right, so how do we mend fences? Don't mend fences, demolish them, Not mosques, blow up myths, Not people, share water, Not prejudices, open borders, Not hostilities, oh god, not again These fatigued clichés Filed away, fished out again Recycled at climate-controlled, Bottle-watered seminars Filtered away again until The next tranche of funds Arrives.. I didn't say, what makes me proud? I said: what makes me southasian.. ~ Anmole Prasad writes from Kalimpong and earns a living as a lawyer.
