Facial contradiction
(i)
I,
A faceless person,
Who hid my body
Somewhere in the depth
Of this big city,
I am the undisclosed offspring
Of an unknown weak woman,
Who came to this big city
Once upon a time
At some cross roads of history
From a poverty-stricken village
Of Bihar or Orissa,
She had crushed her bones,
Shrunken her skin,
Became herself a worm
And slowly perished
While labouring for palaces
I don’t know her
Nobody knows her
Because, like thousands,
She also had no face
She had pushed her life
With her body only
Yes, body had a value
In any street
Where face had no value
Due to this,
There is no meaning
In searching a face for me
That is why
I don’t have a name
So, you can call me
Any name, as you wish
Thief, robber, killer, scoundrel,
Anything
Because,
I don’t have a face of my own
Whenever chances came up
I pasted on my face
The undisclosed faces
Of the politician here,
Of the social reformist
Or of any VIP
My most important peculiarity is
That I am not written anywhere
My name cannot be found
In the birth and death register
In the local authority
Because, nobody knows
Where I was born,
When I was born
And to whom I was born
My name cannot be found
In the marriage register too
Because, I don’t need a marriage
To fulfil my sexual urge
Even the police clerk
Writes nothing about me
As he doesn’t know
Who are my parents,
As I have no permanent house,
Or a permanent name
I can speak anything to anybody
Call any names
I can beat anybody
I can kill anybody
Nobody will ask me anything
I can use the road as a toilet
Nobody will protest against it
I can scream loudly in the day time
Nobody will say anything
I don’t have anything of my own
So what?
But, I have the freedom to do anything
I am beyond the time and ages
I am behind the curtain of all images
That is why, I don’t need any protection
Because of all these,
Nothing will happen even if I die
Because,
I was not written anywhere.
(ii)
I,
A person,
Who lives in the biggest
And highest echelons
Of this big city
I get five-digit salary
I move only in cars
I am an executive
With an identity card
Hanging from my neck
When I come back from work
Thinking of the world’s issues
So seriously, heating my brain
I have the comfort of air-conditioning
Clubs, discussions, parties and get-togethers
Are my inevitable routines
I have to keep a lot of manners
And take care of many social values
Hence, I have a lot of facilities
My parents gave me education
In posh English-medium schools
Mother tongue is a shame for me
I, who have all the comforts in life,
Had a revelation one day
Since that day
This thought started haunting me
Though I have everything
I don’t have anything
When I screamed loudly for two days
My freedom took me to hospital
When I used the road for toilet
They chained me
Because,
Everything about me
Was written
Up-to-date.
By Ismail Meladi
