Circus (Marathi Poem)

Dombari are a caste of acrobats in Indian Society

Circus

From South Pole
To North Pole
Life —
A tightrope walk
. . .

Dombari are a caste of acrobats in Indian Society. In the democratic India’s changing economy, they are now vanishing: No rehabilitation, No education. Who cares?

They are mentioned in Siddhartha Jataka that date back to 3rd Century B.C. Would they ever reach Olympics, or vanish?

© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Firefly (Marathi Poem)

Firefly
We have a short life
but we have our own light.
We do not want
prophets of our justice.

* * *

With the woodlands and forests vanishing, with the use of chemical pesticide and insecticides in aggressive farming, the fireflies too vanish. Where would the younger generations see the firefly? Would they comprehend what a firefly is? Is it on the TV, on the internet, or in the Natural History Museums, which most unlikely?
Firefly inadvertently represents generaly the peasants and particularly Adivasi, the tribal, who are upright people.

Mumbai
[6-3-1989]

~~~~
© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

INFORMATION AGE

INFORMATION AGE

In hogging without ruminating
I forgot my Fourth Need -
To release without polluting. …
Alas, to my help no Guru, no God.

* * *

19 – 03 – 2004
© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Indian Budgets 12 years apart (2 Poems)

Fence-sitter

Indian Budgets 12 years apart (2 Poems)
By Remigius de Souza

Fence sitter's view (Year 1994)

Grand old Adam
From heaven
Of free enterprise
Wonders, watching
The acrobatics
Of the finance expert
How he manages
Indian rope trick
Of the annual national budget
In between the holes
In the sky, by
Terrorists' acts
And Bofor's kickbacks
So also, securities' scams
Until bomb-blasts sneaks
And Mother Earth shudders,
All of which rise on and on, along
The progress chart of GNP
Successively year after year.

In the arena of circus
The first rows
And the second rows
Are entertained with
Intellectual kicks,
While the acrobat makes
Those in the stands
Forget their woes
Back at home, awhile.

The Marx, the Thoreau
The Gandhi and Leo
Watch with thumb in mouth
While grand old Adam
From heaven of free enterprise
Relishes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
(Mumbai: 8-3-1994)
__________________________________________

Ways to Wealth (Year 2006)
1 
Once a god adored adorned
many a head of door to an abode.
Now the gods take to the road,
beg for patronage. And the rich
beggars go globe trotting for
finance, know-how and trade.

2
Once the children of communities
cohesive received learning free
in the life-supporting skills in
branches of wholesome life-tree.

Now in the forward societies
they buy it at the trading malls
turning their clocks fast forward
until late to their adulthood
to earn their dough of uncertain
value to buy the living and life-
supporting services from expertise
at the thriving market place.

3
Now the bureaucrats – the masters
from the branches of expertise,
at their highest level of incompetence
in Peter Principle – take chairs;
replace colours faded of feudal-ship,
at the helm of the people’s affairs.

Now no wonder the prostitution goes
rampant and the pimps thrive on
as they make it quick with smile on
the by-ways and highways to wealth.

4
Now no wonder all the world children
– you and I, yours and mine –
are the cursed ‘unwanted generation’,
as much said, the ‘growing population’
by the stakeholder – the rational animal – man
as much done: the rape of Mother Earth.

(Mumbai: 04-03-2006)
Remigius de Souza
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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

WORLD WARS WITHOUT BANG

iTECHNOMAN, Self-portrait, Remi de Souza

Arrogant Ego of hi-tech-man
mountain-high, with blinkers on,
makes PCs, satellites, metropolises
that leaves deeper craters
in the Earth, than meteors:
Without Bang World Wars.

* * *
Remigius de Souza | Mumbai | 28-12-2011

Read more>> 1. Missed Target of 9/11, 2. iTECHNOMAN

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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Song of an aborigine in our times

By Remigius de Souza
(Originally published in Archetypes India)

Image 1: Bhills celebrate Holi Festival

In our ancestral Land and Waters
I am not a residue or a by-product,
of this monstrous civilized chaos
that challenges at every breathing
the honour and dignity of humanity.

We aren’t depressed or dejected
by our lack of wants; for us
Life rises above all artefacts.
Every breath is indeed an occasion
in deed for celebration
of Life forever to Rejoice

despite the chaos around so base.
It falls free at its own equations
and impositions, the notorious
and famous; all are about to be
washed off in time through
the floodgates of anonymity.

I assure you of my loyalty
to reach back in antiquity —
our spirits are ready to spring
O, my kinsfolk, in aboriginality.

Image 2: Bhill aborigine damsels’ impromptu dance

Image 3: Bhill aborigine damsels’ impromptu dance

Note: 
Image 1: Bhill aborigine tribe celebrate Holi Festival
Image 2 and 3: Bhill aborigine damsels’ impromptu dance at time of maize crop gets ready.Images by Remigius de Souza

© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

These Offspring of Kali

By Remigius de Souza

Goddess Kali

Kali - Goddess of Destruction and Regeneration,
is one of the three expressions of Shakti or Energy.
The other two are Lakshmi - goddess of sustenance
and Sarasvati - Goddess of Learning.

I jump on an incoming evening seven thirteen train

to secure a window seat.

As I open 'Leaves of Grass' the first line noticed,

declares, 'Sing on there in the swamp' in

the 'Memoirs of President Lincoln'.

An urchin occupies the seat next to me

With harmonium on her lap;

Her fingers wide apart, search for a pitch across

on the bars, high low, high low,

from maintain picks to deep seas.

She settles on a pitch appropriate to the crowded train

in motion, plays a pop movie song.

On the threshold of sprouting youth, her dark face

And full eyes glowed divine grace;

She is sound personified.

Her wards, two little sisters, one recites the song lines;

The other with tiny folded hands;

They appeal to the softer edges of weary home-going crowd;

They, not belonging to the mundane, remain

Untouched by hostilities or sympathies.

The Time atomised; there is no yesterday, tomorrow neither.

The concert moves to the next compartment.

They have not lost either their fragrance of innocence

Or dignity of untimely adulthood,

In the energies creative to sustain.

The last straw of hope, yet for the Post-historic

Civilization of exploitation,

These offspring of Kali, until they open

The Third Eye imminent

To make way for regeneration.

(Written, 1980s)
Notes 1: 21st century is witnessing uprisings of the poor at many places. This has been happening in the past, but now it is simultaneously a Global Action, as a result of Global Oppression by invisible tentacles of invisible global Capitalist Powers.
2: Image of Goddess Kali is one of the popular versions that are mass-printed in various sizes, available in the market.
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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

COOL Legacy in the 21st Century (Poem)

All fall down

 

COOL in prestige – power – politics
with CAR-CAD-CLASS-COM
Quickies come handy
to push away or out easily
a man or matter alike.
Quickies all fall down
like a house of cards falls down.
(23-04-2004)
Note: Image source Internet
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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Karma-sannyasi's Self-immersion in Water (Poem)

Karma-sannyasi's Self-immersion in Water (Poem), translated in Matarthi and published on Remichi Marathi Boli on September 3, 2011.  

Image 1: Christian Burrial ground in Mumbai

Death, now, in the civilized societies is no more natural, and is more expensive than living.

I
His logic ends in No-Action act,
no energy spent in any effort,
no chase after what is gone,
no regret if it may
or not return ever,
in an environment
hostile or ambivalent,
natural is the behaviour
when body and mind
and soul in tune are.

II
Cosmos autonomous inner
is never an inert matter
enslaved not, isolated or
from the world outer.  
There’s the fearless fire
that can’t be consumed
by trivially mass mania mundane
in the waves after waves
that rise and fall and vanish.
In finality his flame inner
unites with life-giving water.

(Mumbai | 27-29/12/2005)

Image 2: Underwater Life and Death

Note 1: Recently there was news on BBC: New body 'liquefaction' unit unveiled in Floridafuneral home". It made me laugh. On one side the First World Nations talk-talk-talk of Environmental damage and hold responsible the entire humanity, and on the other hand find new ways to destroy natural environment by proxy.

2: Image 1: 'Christian Burrial ground in Mumbai' by the Author

3: Image 2 : Source- Internet

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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

A Pawn

pawn on chaseboard

 A Pawn



Soul is priceless.
Mind is pawned.
Body is feeble.
How do I keep
Three together?

(27-07-03)

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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.