The orders forbade assembly
But was disobeyed blatantly
Protestors had gathered clandestinely
And marched as one purposefully
Placards were brandished angrily
Their rights they demanded lustily
To manage the mob summarily
Law enforcers were brought in hastily
The crowd was told decisively
To disperse quietly and immediately
Instead the situation turned ugly
As the irate throng turned unruly
At helmeted men awaiting orders patiently
They pelted stones unerringly
To subdue the mob unequivocally
Lathis were raised and used liberally
A policeman soon fell wordlessly
He had been stabbed stealthily
The retaliation came instantly
Enforcers fired at the hordes indiscriminately
What followed was pandemonium so bloody
As some fell, others fled bleeding profusely.
The newspapers splashed pictures of the melee
And write ups had every detail gory
Crying mothers, fathers, siblings from each family
Lamenting their loss to a cause they understood barely
The leaders from their lairs issued decrees peremptorily
The march had been a success unquestionably
Martyrs for the cause had been created undoubtedly
Satisfied they smiled, their plan had worked perfectly.
– Shail Mohan (May 2011)
Pssst! What else do you expect from a Mallu?! Lol. But hey I am apolitical! No left or right for me, or even left centre or right forward for that matter. If I had my way, I’d dump the lot of them in the ocean and then worry myself sick that the ocean would be all polluted.
Written for
Words this week: brandish, manage, forbid
Shail's Nest 
I can’t open the first link you’ve given on twitter – I assume it’s a link to some ‘uprising’?
We see the situation you’ve described so graphically, so often nowadays.
Unfortunately political parties stage-manage protests, more than not- and the common man usually doesn’t even understand what he’s ‘protesting’ or what ‘rights’ he’s demanding. Nowadays the stage-managing is done by the media too…
@manju,
That link was to this poem 🙂 Something went wrong and the link wasn’t working. I deleted the old and posted anew at twitter.
You are right about the stage management done by political parties and the media. Common man is like the kids I wrote about in an earlier post who thought their benches from the classroom were being taken away because a bench of the Division Court was sought to be moved.
Good one undeniably!
Laughing at the thought, of the ocean getting polluted, hysterically 🙂
@Indian Homemaker,
It would get polluted, won’t it IHM?? 😉
Loved it 🙂
@Prats,
Thank you 🙂
Nice one! 🙂
@Anu,
Thank you 🙂
Can we bundle them all into a container and jettison them in space?
Loved the poem, it does depict what is happening in Maya – Land right now well
@Phoenixritu,
That’s another option we can consider! 😉
Thanks. Yes, its happening all around.
This had a great rhythm. OK, I was a little unhappy with “melee” and would have preferred “randomly” and “gory” could have been “gorily”. But it is your piece and I enjoyed it.
@Old Egg,
I like your suggestions. Randomly and gorily would have gone better with the other words. Thank you. 🙂
Clever stuff, intense from the off! I like the way you balanced this!!
@andy sewina,
Welcome to Shail’s Nest. Thank you so much 🙂
I for a change would not mind at all getting them all together and Shooting them and then burning them and then digging a deep hole to puth them in…
the reason being I dont trust that they will die that easily and Hey dont worry about the pollution of the Ocean for a Bigger good you got to do a bit of BAD toooo…
Beautiful poem 🙂 loved it
I am evil I know .. but latton ke bhooth baton se nahin maante ..
🙂 To see politics permeate the deepest recesses of the common man, one has to live in Kerala and experience it first hand. I did during the election season. It was an experience when random strangers came up to me asking me if I was going to vote or not.
@Anita Menon,
Yes! And to see more of the ‘uprisings’ you have to live in the capital city! 😦
My crude attempt at 3 word Wednesday
There was a time when all you needed to do to MANAGE a crowd was to BRANDISH a big stick and FORBID shouting.
==============
Quote:
Pssst! What else do you expect from a Mallu?! Lol. But hey I am apolitical! No left or right for me, or even left centre or right forward for that matter. If I had my way, I’d dump the lot of them in the ocean and then worry myself sick that the ocean would be all polluted.
Unquote:
===============
I am reminded of Jay Leno’s joke on politics
poly means many.
You know what tics means.
Regards
GV
@G Vishwanath,
Ahh Jay Leno knew about politics! 😆
An epic poem detailing cultural, social, political resolve.
@Kim Nelson,
Thank you 🙂
Congrats for the 100th poem, nicely done. Cheers.
@Chris,
Thanks Kirshnan. But this is not the hundredth. Looks like I have crossed 100.
Great use of imagery in this poem you can picture it all
@Sheilagh Lee,
Thank you 🙂
The leaders will continue to shamelessly lie
knowing well their followers life is a vey cheap buy.
That their family will be the only ones who will cry,
when they foolishly decide, for their masters, to die
Who will make them understand this simple truth, Sigh!
@Govind,
Indeed, who will make them understand how they are being taken for a ride? Sigh…