Amita Paul

Revolution

 

انقلاب آئے گا رفتار سے مایوس نہ ہو
بہت آہستہ نہیں ہے جو بہت تیز نہیں
- علی سردار جعفری

inqalāb aa.egā raftār se māyūs na ho 
bahut āhista nahīñ hai jo bahut tez nahīñ
- By Ali Sardar Jafri 

( The Revolution will come : do not be discouraged 
It is not very slow even though it is not very rapid
 - Amita Paul's translation of the Urdu couplet by AS Jafri )

Revolution, a new poem by Amita Paul 

A Revolution need not be sudden 
A Revolution need not be violent 
A Revolution need not be noisy 

If a Revolution is not sudden, or violent , or noisy ; 
If a Revolution is not tagged , labelled and flagged ; 
If a Revolution is not televised or radio broadcast or satellite beamed ;

If a Revolution is not mast- headed  by newspaper headlines ,
If a Revolution is not screamed out by TV anchors ,
If a Revolution is not debated by political spokespeople 

If a Revolution is not analysed in press editorials, 
If a Revolution is not articulated by public intellectuals ,
If a Revolution is not candle- lighted by civil society activists 

If a Revolution is not tom- tommed by social media , 
If a Revolution is not filmed by Bollywood or Hollywood , 
If a Revolution has no propaganda machinery 

If a Revolution sprouts silently and naturally like a plant from a seed ,
If a Revolution grows like a silent river rising in an unstoppable flood ,
If a Revolution advances inexorably hugging the soil of the earth 

Would you recognize it ? 

Did the people who lived through the Industrial Revolution know what the Industrial Revolution was ? 
Did the people who lived through the European Renaissance know what the Renaissance was ? 
Did the people who lived in Mohanjodaro and Harrappa know what the Indus Valley Civilization was ?

Do we recognize the times that we are now living through ?

It is time for each one of us , for all of us , to ask ourselves :
Is there a Revolution taking place around me , around us , that I am not , that we are not even aware of ?

Look around yourself carefully , and then answer , as honestly as you can . 

If you can see it .....

Come, join the People’s Revolution, and help make a better World , 
So that tomorrow , you too may rest , in Peace and Power. 

Amita Paul is by profession a retired bureaucrat but at heart a poet and a teacher. She writes , mostly poetry, in English, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. Her recent poems are featured or are forthcoming in anthologies and journals and have found a place of honour in many an online poetry writing forum this summer. She was awarded the NISSIM International Poetry Award (First Prize) for 2019, for Excellence in Writing and her contribution to Indian English Poetry especially through a new genre called Tapestry Poems, by the jury of The Significant League , a Creative Writing group on Facebook. On 22 January 2020 , the TSL Jury announced the award of the First Reuel Prize for 2020 for non – fiction to her for her experimental prose and multi – media Anthology , ‘ The Saaqi Chronicles’. Destiny Poets, Wakefield, UK declared her Poet of the Year ’20, and also Critic of the Year ’20. Her poem 'View From A Porthole', was acclaimed at the National Poetry Writing Month site. A selection of her poems feature in an anthology 'Impressions & Expressions' edited by Amita Sanghvi, July ’21, as also in the special edition of the Yugen Quest Review, Issue 1,June '21.