On Our Independence Day.. Poem by Suchitra Bandi

For more than a century,
we endured the bristish rule..
We lead a submissed life,
full of fear, grief and pule..

But then we stood up unified,
prehended the country's reins..
we got our independence,
and pride surged our veins..

And now after all these years,
into nothingness that went by..
we ask ourselves what we did,
now that the time is high..

What do we find when we look,
back into the traces of past..
a nation torn by religions,
racial discriminations and caste..

what we have achieved is,
only in material terms visible..
it doesnt have any true meaning,
nor for any true purpose feasible..

we built industries, universities,
we built theatres and malls..
we built bridges and fly overs,
metro rails and function halls..

Yet we failed in bridging,
among hearts those gaps..
which are forever expanding,
wherein lies our great lapse..

I wish this independence day,
we come together once more..
not to fight foreign invasion but,
to drive these lapses offshore..