Write it down! I’ am an Indian Muslim
Poem
Write it down! I’ am an Indian Muslim
Asad Ashraf
*Poem Adapted from Darwaish’s Identity card
My Aadhar number is 286142
I live in “Failed Pakistan” within your flashy neighborhoods
my children number, 5
It will be 6 coming December,
Does this make you rage enough to rape one of them?
I am an Indian Muslim.
With my fellow comrades, I labor hard
I cook your Biryani, teach you Urdu
Satisfy your fetish for a culture, which once was mine,
and remember, I do it for my 6 children,
I get their bread, their uniforms
And their schoolbooks,
from your taste buds, your appetite for Biryani,
Your fetish for my culture
No, I don’t beg at your door.
I don’t tremble on your threshold
so does this make you rage enough to rape one among my six?
Write it down!
I am an Indian Muslim.
I am a name with no dignity yet horrific
Enduring in a land
where everything lives in longing fury
my roots were planted before you developed this hatred towards me
My great grandfather cultivated this land
Which is your mother?
Are you pleased with my status?
I am a name with no honorific.
Write it down!
I am an Indian Muslim.
Hair color: Black
Eye color: as black as yours
Attributes:
A cap on the skull over my head
My hand as hard as a rock
That will scratch if you touch it
My address:
I live in failed Pakistan within your cities
My great ancestor find some recognition only on these streets,
For strangers they are nameless
All its men in the fields and industries as labors,
Those who stay back will fetch you biryani when you pay us a surprise visit
does this make you rage enough to rape one among my six?
Write it down!
I am an India Muslim.
You have stolen my history
And the culture we cultivated
I and all my children
Leaving nothing for us and all my grandchildren
Except for these narrow lanes with the stink of the nearby septic’s
Will your government also take them
Like people say?
Therefore,
Write down,
I do not hate you
and neither do I steal
But if they make me starve anymore,
I will eat my oppressors flesh
Beware, beware of my rage,
I am an Indian Muslim.
Photo Courtesy_ TRTWorld
