Poetry of Protest -4

Every beautiful poem is an act of resistance. —Mahmoud Darwish

Literature is about recording what is forgotten, but also about living and recreating the life that surrounds us. Continuing from the series of the Poetry of Protest - 1, Poetry of Protest - 2, and Poetry of Protest - 3, we will read a compilation of the resistance poems. Why? We are living in a consumerism and post-truth era without a memory, which accepts, without much resistance, ideological interpretations of the history, as dictated by the regime and enforced by its media. The solidarity of the protest can only be built by a form of literature that is emotionally compelling, contributes to the combating of loneliness, and makes the reader less terrified of themselves and the political powers which surround them.  Here is the curated list of poems with spirit of the protest:

1. First they came..--- Martin Niemöller 
2. Unadikum ( I Call on You ) ---Tawfiq Zayyad
3. The Will of Life --- Abu al-Qasim al-Shabi.
4. Grass ---Carl Sandberg
5. I am the People ---Ahmed Fouad Nigm
6. The Times They Are a-Changin' --- Bob Dylan
7. Let them not say ---Jane Hirshfield
8. Pity the nation ---Lawrence Ferlinghetti
9. Write me down I am an Indian Ajmal Khan
10. Pity the nation --Khalil Gibran
11. Write down! I am an Arab ---Mahmoud Darwish
12. Dreams --- Langston Hughes
13. Still, I Rise ---Maya Angelou
14. Two Poems of Resistance ---Ayat al-Qormezi
15. Strange Fruits--- Abel Meeropol
16. ख़्वाब मरते नहीं --- अहमद फ़राज़
17. एकला चलो रे। --- रबिन्द्रनाथ टैगोर,
18. आज बाज़ार में पा-ब-जौला चलो --- फ़ैज़ अहमद फ़ैज़
19. खेत में दबाये गये दाने की तरह --- भवानीप्रसाद मिश्र
20.  होने लगी है जिस्म में जुंबिश तो देखिये --- दुष्यंत कुमार
21. कोसल में विचारों की कमी है! --- श्रीकांत वर्मा
22. उनका डर --- गोरख पांडेय
23. दस्तूर --- हबीब जालिब
24. कविता पर रोक --- शहरोज़
25. बोल कि लब आज़ाद हैं तेरे --- फ़ैज़ अहमद फ़ैज़
26. ये दाग-दाग उजाला --- फ़ैज़ अहमद फ़ैज़
27. हम देखेंगे --- फ़ैज़ अहमद फ़ैज़
28. हम लड़ेंगे --- पाश
29. भूख के एहसास को शेरो-सुख़न तक ले चलो --- अदम गोंडवी
30. वेद में जिनका हवाला हाशिये पर भी नहीं --- अदम गोंडवी
31. जो अपराधी नहीं होंगे, मारे जाएंगे...--- राजेश जोशी
32. बच्चों का दूध --- रामधारी सिंह "दिनकर"
33. आग जलनी चाहिए --- दुष्यन्त कुमार
34. अब क़लम से इज़ारबंद ही डाल --- हबीब जालिब
35. हम कागज़ नहीं दिखाएंगे --- वरुण ग्रोवर
36.  मैं भी काफ़िर, तू भी क़ाफ़िर --- सलमान हैदर

Why I am infrequent here ?

I have been working as a social impact consultant from last 8 years and before that was a student of rural management. This parallel journey kept me occupied and took negative toll on 'Sparsh' blog. Due to nature of the work, I started reading blogs related to development studies, social sciences, economics, agriculture, public policy, rural management, and related field. Yet, I found lot of factual blog but very few personal blogs on topics above. So, I created a blog: Diary of Rural Manager! where I have a space to write exclusively on social impact sector, sustainability and rural management. Maybe it was time to admit that I was the writer I was waiting for.

It was cathartic to speak to the community and to feel that I was standing in dialogue with them fully as myself. In the process my ideas started to develop. I could finally articulate what I had only felt vaguely all along the journey. I had even written on the idea behind incubation of Diary of Rural Journey in 2013.

I traveled, lived, worked and enjoyed life as a rural manager in rural India (often referred in popular vocab: the field). I made an effort not to refer rural India with any connotations of exotic otherness. Rural India suggests hardship, bad roads and yet a rough terrain inside mine comfort zone, into the unknown. A journey on muddy road has always showed me to re-examine managerial education, renouncing the elite hook and turn into pragmatist. Actual or feared, exploration is my fuel for the writing.

Why Diary of Rural Manager! blog is important? The writing process of blog helps me to establish today’s insights and record them for posterity. Often, we find that truths established today are thoroughly debunked for at some future time, while some neglected truths are later uncovered and brought to the fore. Blogs, at their heart, have a lot of characteristics that are going away in changing times. Blog had stable URL and can be accessed without any app on any web browser. Blog is  not particularly tied to any platform like Facebook, Instagram or Google.

The difficulty of good blog is not to write, but to convey what one mean and want. Blogging is a game of rhythm but the process of writing usually goes into two distinct modes. In the first mode, its all about endurance and discipline. In the second mode, long periods of inactivity are mixed with brief bursts of power and inspiration. Deadlines for writinf, just don’t work out for me, due to inherent laziness. Blogging like Marginal Revolution , JabberWock, and Cinemascope is a work of a master craftsman who understands that talent and skill has to be paired with tactics and strategy to being success.

Like a startup, blog requires a lot of interaction with potential readers to reach and validate the early stages of the content quality and ease of reading posts and outreach. Otherwise just forcing a way into an idea lead towards a gossip ditch. Idea behind this blog now is to share insights so that more students can avail the benefits of professional counselling and choose the right career at the right time. An information asymmetry acts as an important early career lubricant, allowing the privileged to manoeuvre into more promising career tracks, resist exploitative employment and take risky opportunities – all of which increase their chances of long-term success.

Those who make a commitment to an idea ironically find a sense of freedom. People care about people — and a blog is not a newspaper that has to be published regularly. The neglect of Sparsh has given way to lethargic numbness on personal space. It’s important to nourish yourself; to keep emptying yourself out through words and then filling yourself again with observations and experiences. Easier to say in hindsight today but nothing starts as easy in beginning. Hopefully I shall resume blogging on Sparsh and keep on repeating the process.

Thoughtful Present

In the name of "They got what they deserve", a great deal of injustice gets explained away and perpetuated in each society! We self-deceive to make us feel better about ourselves and naturally think in ways that come to conclusions that favor us. Strength of the country is not just in its GDP but in the confidence of its citizens on the fairness and equality of justice there.

I was guided by several articles on issues of Justice, Liberalism, Secular State, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Reduced Inequalities, Need of strong Institutions. I was inspired by persons like Christopher Hitchens, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nadeem Parcha, Pratap Bhanu Mehta etc. Also, I interacted with a progressive, and liberal individual whose essays have impacted me in a positive manner. The person is Mr. Namit Arora whose blog was a insight into heart of a humanist.

It was his great gesture to share a copy of The Lottery of Birth: On Inherited Social Inequalities with a young reader for a social network friendship. Thanks Sir for the gift.