7/27/2019 Bharatmata a poem http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/bharatmata-a-poem 1/7 BHARATMATA – A PRAYER (dedicated to indira gandhi & malay roy choudhury) Author(s): Arvind Krishna Mehrotra Reviewed work(s): Source: Mahfil, Vol. 6, No. 2/3 (1970), pp. 1-6 Published by: Asian Studies Center, Michigan State University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40874303 . Accessed: 20/07/2012 06:28 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Asian Studies Center, Michigan State University is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Mahfil. http://www.jstor.org
BHARATMATA – A PRAYER (dedicated to indira gandhi & malay roy choudhury)Author(s): Arvind Krishna MehrotraReviewed work(s):Source: Mahfil, Vol. 6, No. 2/3 (1970), pp. 1-6Published by: Asian Studies Center, Michigan State UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40874303 .
Accessed: 20/07/2012 06:28
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
Asian Studies Center, Michigan State University is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
(dedicated to indira gandhi & malay roy choudhury)
0 BHARATMATA0 SOCIALIST MOTHER NDIA0 BRIGHT STAR0 LAND OF THE PEACOCK & THE LION
LAND OF THE BRAHMAPUTRA THE HIMALAYA
OF THE BRAVE JAWAHAROF THE MIGHTY GANDHIHOMAGE O THEE
indiamybeloved country, ah mymotherland
you are, in the world's slumthe lavatory
the septic tank where in paper guttersfall themarksrublesdollarspoundsyensliras francs
yet our stomachs remain sirens
tooting pathetic messages
1 am so used to your cities with achain reaction of suburbswhere whole families live in bathroomsand generations are pushed out of skylightsand the next one sticks out its headlike a tapeworm through frozen shit.used to the village reduced to a boneand then swallowed.i am used to seeing pot-bellied childrenride the dog with jockey's confidence.
used to the old man pick his nosein prayer like concentration.used to
a handrag like
wiping themouse likecarwith aleafoutsideindustry house
the gangais overflowingwith hydroelectric projectsand
pretty houses of prostitutionsoshake off the dream of'the wonder that was India'like the sun shakesout of each day's night.leave the glories and the glorious pastin the milk barlet the waiter remove itwith his tip
instead see at the jehangirs and the chemouldspainters
who on the pallette of the throatwith tongue for a brushmake noisy abstractsin frothy white and thick yellowfeel the brown skins of town girlstight with sexsee their dirty feet, torn heels.i hate to talk of their fat, motherlyarms full of expanded vaccinationsof their breath coated with vaginal juices
a wheat-skinned innocence
with an aura about her nippleswith palmssoft as grapes
washing her hairin the pool whereeach ripple addsa tingea new patternto the leafy designis receding into extinction
*
poetry
is owned by the governmenta project in the public sector
poetryshifts from the yellowing paperto the covers of a glossy weekly
poetrygoes to the tables and chairsto "Silence Requested11 &
and tried to contain these multitudesand tried being our Representative Man
your yankee tricks won't click with us
for the greek girlcorrectly following the gay tourist guidewrote to her friends on picture postcards
'what a wonderful land'
and iris murdoch was"struck with awe" at the elephanta caves
and ved mehta swallowed us completelyin six months for the new yorker
AND VIDYA NAIPAUL HAD A SHILLING IN MINDWHENHE SAID "an area of darkness"
I have looked at them all
have absorbed them all.the Belgian youth who played the guitarwhile his wife collected a capfulof rupeesthen bought a pretty blue sarifor her mother from Handloom House
The German street artist with torn beardwho drew a child's head on the footpathand asked us to pay his passage toaf ghanistan(& we did, sayingindia is a
hospitable land)and all this while
by the pillarstood the beggartwitching his bones outside Grand Bazar
till the shuttersflashed down
he then dug a few pussy coppersfrom a few blisters
coppers he had saved for the rainy day
*
and i am following the flesh of these menhiding in their poresi am in the dryness of each twigi am in the monsoon clouds which rain
upwardsi am in the reptile-like cracksi lie stretched beneath the three oceansand keep watch from the mountainsi'm everywhere because i feel everything
because the Travellers Companionsbind me into a unity
better than the Ramayana
becausewhen masturbate
the universe throbs and continents clap
*i amwatchingunseen
yesterdaytodaytomorrow
i amwatchingthe seconda sperm n time's orgasm
i amwatchingthe hourswollen with its ownrashswimmingnto the
moving irclei amwatchingthe dayssupporting each otheron artificial musclesdayssleeping under the shadeof newspapertitlesdaysfalling like peasfrom he year's pocket
i amwatchingthe yearin union with the nude
onthe calender
*when growtired of watchingi roll in cowdungand bathe in the waterfalli washmy oul on the rocksi toss my oul like a tennis ball
in nature's courtthen i amonce again ready to holdthe Indian by his armpitto bite into his adamsappleto tug in my eeth the hair on his chest
to lick roundhis navelto enter his bowels °to deurinate himcompletelyto violently wrenchhis penis offand use it for a pento write these prayers
