When politics of the day do not enthuse,
“Received wisdoms” find their use;
Godmen in league with the State
Underscore how all is fate.
Then we learn to conserve our energy
For purposes higher than ennobling life
With love, justice, caring,
shared joy and shared strife.
Thus, while kosher collaborators soothe our souls
With lofty things in scrolls inscribed
To turn us away from existence,
Their existence swells from bribe to bribe.
The fault is ours that we come to think
We must succeed like the predators
And demonstrate our worth to them,
And mirror our deservings in theirs.
Our politics must be our own, proclaiming:
“wise ones, we are wise to you,
Our common reasons far excel
The tainted claims of the very few.”
“Received wisdoms” we must test
Against the politics of the megaphone;
“Received wisdoms” are never far
From the interests of the newest don.
Badri Raina is a well-known commentator on politics, culture and society. His columns on the Znet have a global following. Raina taught English literature at the University of Delhi for over four decades and is the author of the much acclaimed Dickens and the Dialectic of Growth. He has several collections of poems and translations. His writings have appeared in nearly all major English dailies and journals in India.
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