20 | November | 2013 | Impressions

.
.

By T. V. Antony Raj

On November 13, the day after I posted my article ASI Hits Dirt After Following a Seer’s Dream of Fool’s Gold a person commented with a poem, slightly out of context to the subject. Nevertheless, I am reproducing it here since it impressed me somewhat.

This is a free translation of the author’s Gujarati poem that he wrote on January 30, 1984.

By the way, the author Hemen Parekh celebrated his 80th birthday on Sunday, June 27, 2013.

Who is Bapu?
By Hemen Parekh

There was a time
When you were our Bapu,”
A Mahatma;
For a lifetime long
A tortured Atma;

To wash away the sins of your children
You died a martyr’s death;
Now those very children
Have opened-up a shop
To sell ” Gandhi-ism ”;

They are even maintaining
Two separate books of accounts,
One for income from ”Unknown Sources “,
Strictly as required by the law!

Even out of curiosity
Do not venture
Anywhere near;
No one will recognize you
Without your NSG / Z+ bodyguards!

And children from city slums
Will chase you, shouting,
”Ben Kingsley, Ben Kingsley, “

And when they ask you for your autograph,
Do not sign,
” Mo Ka Gandhi ”!
Just pretend that you are Ben Kingsley,
TV cameras, Reporters, Anchors
Will follow in your footsteps;

Just forget that
You were our Bapu!