Of India, Why Are We So Proud?

I am not proud of my country India and there are many reasons for that; which I will list in the poem below:

Of India, why are we so proud?

From the rooftops, do we shout

“India! India! India!”

Is India truly such a great country?

Constantly on my mind, is this query

Of India, why are we so proud?

So many rules, do we repeatedly flout

Without tickets, do we travel in trains

And snatch a truckload of chains

In the open, do we defecate

Thus, many problems, do we create

After drinking ourselves to death, do we drive

Honesty is something, by which we rarely live

Of India, why are we so proud?

Though we ourselves are brown

We call others “Black”

And play the victim card, when we draw flak

We protest against caste-based reservations

But take pride in our caste

We are all for affirmative action

But only outside India

We raise our voice for the marginalised communities

In Pakistan and Bangladesh

But never in India

Called out, when we are, for our casteism

We play the “Hindu Unity” card

Because, to quote Ex-IPS Officer Sanjiv Bhatt

“By and large, we are a country of dishonest, greedy, spineless cowards”

Of India, why are we so proud?

Our human rights record is under a cloud

We carry out lynchings

As though it were all in a day’s work

And when there is resistance, even a mere spark

Quelled it is, in a manner most brutal

Our behaviour would put to shame

Even the most dangerous of all animals

And do we come up with excuses so lame

Even an infant can see through them!!

Of India, why are we so proud?

Our patriotism is simply too loud

However, the gap between the rich and the poor

Is even wider than the river Nile!!

Closed, is the door

To quality education and healthcare

Unless you have money

Which can buy even the costliest beer!!

When a Muslim man marries a Hindu woman

Call it “Love Jihad”, do we

Truly are we inhuman

A country that is not quite safe for women

Is safe as houses

When it cometh to cows!!

It is even safer to walk into a lion’s den

Than publicly criticise the government right now!!

Again, must I ask

Because it is one of my self-assigned tasks

Of India, why are we so proud?