Do you know me ?

I have always been around,

prowling the shady corners of history.

Always a familiar character

in the nightmares of the innocent masses.

Named , several times over 

by my many surrogate fathers, 

They called me by various names:

for a long time , I was a pagan,

the barbarous savage,

an eye-sore to the “official” eyes.

At some point , I was the communist,

“ A spectre that haunts Europe”. 

Now , as always , I am many,

Multiple and all pervading.

I am the Muslim in Newyork,

London or Delhi who stoops more

With the innocent burden of each succeeding blast.

I am the suitclad Brahmin

bound by the triple threads of history

to an electric chair of historic guilt....

I ….am….many more…. 

And I will always be there.

You may not know me by my name.

But you will always know me by the huge nametag

which you write and hang around my slim neck.

This work by Rakesh R is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 India License.