The Shadows of the Khaki and the Black Law
Rajkumar Panthoiren *
You are always there
In groups on sun-scorched roadsides,
On rain-beaten days too
And late at night when the city sleeps.
You point your guns at us menfolk.
But your eyes turn towards the womenfolk
And I know you prefer the younger lot.
I can't help but ask you:
"Are we men too ugly for your eyes?"
Worry not, I never asked you to be a gay.
Do look at us with your eyes for once
And not always with your guns, please;
Because guns don't wink or smile at us!
Or you can teach them that too if you think you can.
One Meitei kavi1 once wrote:
"In this present Manipur,
To be dressed in phanek only saves life!
What do you say, my friend peace keepers?
Let all the men wear phanek?!"2
I'm a student.
A teenager.
A hard working farmer.
An innocent citizen.
A father.
A son, a brother.
A mother's piece of heart.
I'm a human just like you.
Or, if I may ask, are you not one?
I try to breathe and smile a bit
And I know it's my right to live.
While you snuff out my life,
Tears are falling from the sky as if they would drown the valley.
My mother is still waiting for me
And my father is searching for bits of my clothing everywhere like a mad man.
You take me to dark alleys and you shoot me at the head
And throw over my dead body a gun I didn't even buy.
Why do you love to make me your target practice?
Is the Government too poor to buy you some cardboard sheets to shoot at?
If that's the case, you could've asked before you shot me as I've so many in my backyard.
Would have gifted you with pleasure only if you had asked;
Or, maybe, was it necessary for you to punish me for not doing any crime?
Yes, in Kangleipak, people must commit a crime to live or else, they are going to die.
O gods and goddesses, where have you gone?
Are you, too, afraid to live in this land like me now that you have run away?
But I heard that you are bullet-proof and super powerful.
Or is everything a lie, a deception, a betrayal, a joke?
Yet the shadow keeps on following me…
Maybe it is the only truth!
Reference:-
1. The Meitei kavi is Thangjam Ibopishak.
2. Jiten, Nongthombam. The Mind of the Middle Class and Modern Manipur Literature in Post-colonial period. In The Rise of Middle Classes in Manipur, ed. Gangmumei Kamei, 2002. p. 162, New Delhi: Akansha Publishing House
* Poem written by Rajkumar Panthoiren for e-pao.net
This poem has been published in the April issue of eFiction India (an upcoming literary magazine) this year
The poet can be contacted at panthoirk94(at)gmail(dot)com
This poem was webcasted on April 21 2014.
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.