The Wake-up Call

Looking Higher 

A hundred years of sleep

Was long, sound and quintessential.

It's time now, that

you throw away your blankets,

tear away pillows

drench mattresses and sprinkle,

on your clumsy faces,

the droplets of fresh democratic water,

fresh from the source,

as cold as the icy snow.

Get up! Walk!

Stop dreaming, no illusion,

no delusion, reality has come.

Think! Walk ahead,

Throw away your dreams,

not behind your footsteps

but to the front,

On the land untraveled.

Follow your dreams,

Catch him! Hold him!

Tight! Tightly tight!

Ask what you need

and demand what they prohibit,

You are born here

and this is your land,

You have the right to fight;

Not with the swords of steel,

But with the teeth of wisdom.

Never turn back,

Go forward, avoid ditches,

Each step you move

the interior you reach by a step,

You are a man

And a man never cries,

You have the gift—the Head,

If they can rule

Why can't you?

Know your potentials,

Don't sow them in your boggy land

Divert their way,

Let them take you high,

And higher till you are at the top.

Disown your ignorance

Chase it to a far away land,

Beyond the seamless oceans

Bid farewell to poverty, pain

and diseases.

Walk straight!

Into the heart of the Universe.

Find the glaring Volcanoes,

feel the heat, share your odysseys,

Show your fellow the ways,

And lead them! If not, push them -

the goat like beings.

Come! Follow the right man,

He has a torch in his hand

Do not pull him down,

for you have a habit

to envy the man with success.

He who is leading

is leading for the good cause,

Do not dethrone him;

Do not envy him;

The Bringer of Light.

He knows your pains

as he is a flower of the same plant,

You failed to bloom

While he survived:

the cold winter, bee stings,

hot summers, and though distorted,

He has come—come back to care his family,

He has unearthed an umbrella

to protect us, shade us and warm us

and until he leaves the world,

He will never leave the axle of the umbrella

out of his hands.

So get up and follow him.

Join him, support him, befriend him,

Reach him to the central

and he knows what he ought to do.

They have long gone

and here we are, trudging our way,

Trying every road with no destinies

We'll move slowly and steadily,

and win the race one day.

But keep walking! Keep your pace constant.

Do not jump for strawberries

like a child,

Do not fear barking dogs

for they seldom bite,

Keep your eyes focussed—

focussed to the centre,

Take a deep breathe

and swallow your fear,

Excel a long sigh

and vomit your worry,

Do not inherit them

like your forefathers.

We are going to make it—

make it one day,

When the stars favour us

When the luck merits us

Our hard works will be repaid

in tonnes of Gold,

But we have to work hard

Till our bones and muscles are separated,

Till our nails leave our fingers.

We had enough sleep—enough

Now listen to the cock crowing

and see the Dawn Dawning,

Get your tools on your shoulders

and set forth, without a grunt.

Your fathers tried their best

Yet luck was not their doll,

They cried all their lives

Yet no one pitied,

They yelled all aloud

Yet no one heard,

They sacrificed all their lives,

Yet no one saw.

Begin a new sentence—

A new sentence of hope;

A new sentence of promise;

Do not wait for the Gods

to bring home the freedom,

our fathers waited Him

all their lives,

Yet no one saw Him,

He was busy flirting

In the heavenly abode.

Yes! He was right,

Why should He panic for others

When he has an abode?

Just pray him,

He is a God and must be prayed

whether he hears or not,

Pray him without expectations,

Do not expect him in your dirty village.

Life has so much to do

for tiny human beings,

He is a God,

Shouldn't his duty be paramount?

You may say,

He is Omniscience and Omnipresent

Yes! I must agree you,

But who would love to be with us?

In this remote, dirty village—

no light, no road, no food

Would he mind to chew

the maize husks like us?

And dine tree leaves?

No god would ever come.

If he comes, at all,

He may expect offers from you;

What presentable things you have

than those barren land's boulders?

But he may say, “Its too heavy and useless too.”

You shake hands with him,

but what is the use?

The moment he leaves,

Your blessed hands have to

open the pig sty,

Dig for stools to fertilize your chillies.

Follow your Leader,

The product of a century's prayer

Behold him true to your hearts,

and he'll take you higher in your life—

To the horizon and beyond.

Never look back in slightest attachment,

Your wife, children, pigs, dogs, cats, cows

All of them are following you,

They don't want sufferings.

Never ever carry spears,

They go blunt once used

and rust if unused,

Carry your sharpened wit

The more you use,

The more sharp it becomes.

Keep your hearts warm,

It's the only machine that you got.

Nothing else do we have,

Youth have reluctantly gone,

Old age has hastily come,

Before we die

Let us unitedly create a heaven

for our younger generations,

And evacuate them

out from the Samsara.

Let us break through—

Through the middle of the sky

In search of light;

In search of wisdom;

In search of justice;

Uproot all the fears,

Backwardness, taboos, so on

Spit on them, dump it in the abyss of hell

for hell is the proprietor of these.

Come out, to the front

Get the rays of the sunshine,

Feel it seeping into your born,

Nourish your spirit,

Raise them! Prune them!

And grow it into a full-leaved tree

Unaffected, Unseen by the pests.

Come, my people!

Follow your lighter—

Your excellent guide—

Who knows suffering

As he himself has suffered,

Follow him like sheep

to the abode of Freedom,

into the Modernization.

When we reach our destinations

We'll sing with our hearts,

Dance with our souls,

Celebrate to the will of ours.

But we have to wake up now!