Untitled.

I swear I’m not cynical,

I think of myself as open and liberal,

I believe in talking of problems on this stand,

Maybe that’s why I can’t think of any good things about our land.

My brain is wired to not think of a solution,

So I’ll pick out more problems like corruption or pollution,

There are hundreds of problems about this country we need to talk about, 

If you want me to talk about these issues, then I’ll go all out. 

I swear I’m not anti-national, 

I love my country but I’m just being rational,

Who has the time to come up with solutions for the problems? 

Because even if someone is in pain, we’ll just stand, and watch them. 

Basically I’m an Indian. 

It’s hilariously ironic because we all, 

Want to healthy and wealthy, with our families standing tall,

We all want amazing lives where we don’t have to complain, 

Yet these complaints start rolling out when somebody else talks of their pain. 

It’s an inherent thinking pattern, hence, 

We need to invalidate the other person’s existence, 

We need to talk about how much their problems don’t matter, 

Complain till around us, shards of sympathy are scattered. 

“I broke my wrist yesterday”, I say,

Someone from the audience will stand to have their way,

“So what? I broke my neck last week”, but pray,

Tell me, how does this make any of our problems go away?

“Women are not safe in this country”

“So what? Men are not too”

Okay, then, what do you suggest we do?

How do you propose we solve this issue?

No, I’ll just cry and complain, give me a tissue. 

The pollution is worsening, Delhi is covered in smoke, 

“Big deal, yesterday, while cooking, I accidentally broke the stove”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t solve the national crisis”

“No, we’d rather fight over petty issues filled with prejudice and biases.”

We don’t know the difference between patriotism and aggressive nationalism, 

We just get progressively aggressive about religion and casteism,

Nobody seems to care about army commanders given medals and sashes, 

Because “patriotism” only comes out during our cricket matches.

Somehow the sacrifices of the soldiers at Siachen are remembered, 

Only to justify things like demonetization and not complaining about the cold December, 

There’s controversy, we go crazy, two days later, we’re back to being merry, 

Only thoughts and prayers, no speech and action, because hurting someone’s feelings is scary

We just don’t pay attention to the problems at hand, 

Floods are knocking us off our feet, we’re losing our stand, 

We’re busy building statues and boasting about this feat, 

But we couldn’t even save miners in Meghalaya stuck more than a hundred feet deep.

We only ever mock people, our mentality is hindering progress, 

Mental health issues aren’t given importance, students left buried under stress.

We’re ready to complain, 

Read to mock and blame, 

We can’t step up and take the reins, 

Because deep inside, we’re just afraid of change. 

Okay, maybe I’m cynical, I’ll accept my flaw, 

But I won’t apologize for being too blunt or too raw, 

If the only good things we can talk about are 70 years old, 

Either we haven’t made any progress or those stories haven’t been told. 

We know, we studied History for around 10 years,

Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar- we know of their blood, sweat and tears, 

We don’t again need to know about the ancient kings, 

We have modern heroes to focus on and various other things. 

Modern queens like Sunitha Krishnan, heroes like Jadav Payeng, 

Angels like Narim Gulia or the great Dr. Rani Bang,

Or even the freedom fighters who haven’t been given enough recognition,

Or maybe we could promise to finally come up with a solution. 

I’m at fault too. 

For five minutes, all I’ve been talking about is the problem, 

But let’s be honest, we’re here to eat and maybe sing the national anthem, 

We either laugh about our problems or tweet about them on Twitter, 

Or write obnoxiously long poems, like me, do nothing and become a quitter.

Because frankly, me, talking about our problems to you 15 year olds, 

Isn’t going to change the course of history or how the story unfolds. 

But sometimes, you’re just so tired of how the world works, 

But you see something hopeful, and a little less it hurts, 

How 377 got struck down, how every village now has electricity, 

How digitalization has brought us close or how we’re number 4 in renewable wind energy. 

We discovered water on the moon and launched over a 100 satellites, 

We got our first female pilot, ready to soar to the greatest heights, 

We can’t be afraid of change anymore, because then, we become the problem to our problems, 

Now it’s about time we step up, we shut up and we solve them. 

We’re no longer at a standstill, we’re actually moving forward, 

We’re progressing in every way, we’re trying to keep up our word, 

We can’t be afraid of change anymore, if change is what is happening, 

This is New India standing up, this is young India’s awakening. 

This is very cliché, you’ve all read the signs, 

But maybe you 15 year olds can help change the times, 

We can start to act together and hopefully change some minds, 

We can make a better 2019 or even a better YouTube rewind. 

Two things before I leave, I hope I haven’t already given you a headache, 

1. We are the change bringers, the music makers and we will not break, 

 We will strive harder than any other generation has for change, 

 We will work to transform until there is nothing left to gain. 

2.                I’ve said the word problem too much, I feel like Ariana Grande, 

  I’ve also run out of rhyming words so I’ll just repeat the word Grande, 

God might be a woman, but maybe India really isn’t,

India isn’t a third person you can serve, although that might sound pleasant, 

India is the person next to you, India is the ones around, 

So when you say you’ll serve the country, it’s the people to whom you’re bound. 

So pick your words wisely, when you say you put India first, 

Unless you’re ready to sacrifice for these people, consider yourself cursed, 

Because, you first heard it in Thor and now you will again, 

India is not a place, it’s the people, who make up this name.  

(One of my first slam poems, which was written and recited for Republic Day.)