Happy Independence Day to India, the country of my birth! Mixing it up with some non-AI, very human content today.
The Hindustan Times front page on 15 August 1947 (Indian Independence day)
Tryst with Destiny (linked for context)
A burning sun shone bright with nervous energy
anticipating a hope, a possibility, a sign from heaven
on that Thursday eve in 1947.
Sweat on tired brows mopped by dusty rags,
the farmers of India,
stomachs growling, anger in their hearts,
watching every movement and suit emerging from
the promenade of white gaadis
emblazoned with the queen's crown;
Littered like shoe boxes
against the glorious vermillion
of an imposing fort
once ruled by rajas/kings
now the refuge of the white civilizers.
Villages pillaged by famine and neglect
Crops dwindled, wells run dry
‘Natives’ put to work
Polishing the shoes of gentlemen
Far from gentle.
Names rewritten
Too hard to pronounce
Bombay
From Mumbai
Madras
From Chennai
And with irony stealing
the word ‘loot’
From lūṭ
Treasure moved quickly
Across oceans
Into crowns and palaces.
Too quickly,
Tenacious tea traders
Dethroned an empire.
The last nail on the coffin
into children at a park
families fallen
crying children
nailed the coffin shut.
And so –
Brown hands picked their poison and their sacrifice.
Soldiers with makeshift guns,
Bloody from battle,
Dangerous with defiance;
Non-violent resisters,
Bare feet claiming/reclaiming the earth
a mutiny of boycotts and loud silence
staring down machine gun barrels.
That 14th August eve
At the stroke of the midnight hour
A static on the radio had
A billion people hold their breath.
At the famous stroke
Of the midnight hour
A determined voice in
English, most civilized
Spoke to a nation
Ready, waiting
to be unchained
Untamed,
Unbound in independence.
A reminder that history repeats
Thieves and tyrants come disguised
But what endures is the need
for strong minds
And strong hands
Folded or fisted
For freedom.
Wonderful!!