The crows shouted
for
they knew not how to spend the leisure;
the nightingales adorned their nests,
the hay became stacks.
The nightingales hatched,
their breaths were visible.
One flight —
and the world knew the newborn.
Suddenly all shouting stopped.
From The Crows Shouted by Dina Nath Nadim [Translated by Arvind Gigoo]
Silence. Let’s roll it on.
Preliminary Data: 12.5 lakh affected families
There you are raising funds…
Preliminary official Data: Damaged 3.50 lakh structures
There you are playing occupation, occupier, occupy, occupied and then falling silent…
Initial Data: Damaged 83,000 pucca houses
There you are watching the pheran with checks on it in Haider as Hamlet grimaces…
Initial Official Data: Damaged 21, 162 kachha houses
There you are the cyber-revolutionaries burning the urls with your informed criticism and lack of ground involvement…
Official Data: Partially Damaged 1.5 lakh houses
There you are with numerous photo-ops of slow death…
Data: 10,000 milch animals perished
There you are busy pointing fingers at the nation state and the state of the nation..when you needed to move your bums and jump in…
Also the official data states that: 33,000 sheep perished
There you are seminar junkies..you theorise numbers as makeshift tents increase…
The data screams: Losses over Rs 1 lakh crore
There you are playing the victimhood or the savior depending which side and sight you are on…
Data: Almost a month after rains, residential areas are still inundated with stagnant water
There you are brewing your kahwa…
As
the shit scared ruffled hair, dug in cheeks and the sunken eyes try to figure out what is aid and what is self-respect
who occupies the Facebook space and who faces the book
who spouts Frantz Fanon and who really knows the agony in the lines of Dina Nath Nadim
the disappeared fragrance of bakerkhani, sheermal, girda, krip, choat, teliwor, katlam, lavaas and kulcha
the bread isn’t baking
the bread isn’t breaking
Silence.
Let’s shut down the bakeries.
