January 11, 2007

Two poems and a signature

I am the Indian Ocean

Surge of my waves and their mystical themes
Embracing Bombay and Dar-es in hold
We all belong to the cradle of earth
Same human civilization pervades us all
Generations of life in these lands were like waves
Rising and falling and melting in time baobabs and
Banyans stood witness to these cycles
Bondage of slavery and foreigners yoke
Are gone with the past and power now to people
Gandhiji and Nyerere’s nobility and soul strength
Got thy the freedom, and now you have a mission
Enlightened youths, now you have to sweat
For making thy people prosperous and happy
For ye are the greatest hope, for this part of globe


Soaring Dream

Fabulous air show of Paris in motion
My thought too in flight and yearns for my Nation
When will the planes designed in my land
Pierce the sky as lightening in action
And gracefully land as angels in full boom
All to the envy of spellbound spectators
Yes we can !!
When we are united in action and addicted to deeds
Sky can’t be limit for my nation in action !!


Both poems by APJ Abdul Kalam, President of India. These and more by the President, available here.

***

Postscript: On each page that carries one of the President's poems, there is a link at the top labelled "Enable Speech". My mouse cursor passed over one of these and immediately my screen went blank, some "Speech Guidelines" that I could not understand appeared, and after several minutes a small popup window told me:
    This applet was signed by "President of India," but Java cannot verify the authenticity of the signature's certificate. Do you trust this certificate?

    Click Trust to run this applet and allow it unrestricted access to your computer. Click Don't Trust to run this applet with standard Java restrictions.
I need to admit here that I'm more than a little concerned that my computer seems unable to verify the authenticity of the President's signature.

3 comments:

km said...

"Enlightened youths, now you have to sweat" - Someone print these words on a t-shirt, please!

And my next band *will* be called "Time Baobabs and Banyans".

Anonymous said...

We all belong to the cradle of earth
Same human civilization pervades us all

Can I then assume that the Indian civilisational ethos is the same as Saudi Arabia where anybody worsipping any other religion can be executed?
Or China where perhaps you could have been behind bars if you dissented with the government?
Where we do not see minorities such as Tibetans holding the highest office in the land?
These are questions that I have always posed to people who always keep on downplaying India's positives and club it under a global civilisation while portraying its negatives.

Your thoughts on this please.
Wish you A Happy New Year. Returning to the blog after a long time. If you saw any posts in my name for the last 6 months - be assured it was not me.

Anonymous said...

"i am worried that ...signature". and i, dilip, am worried that our president, by all accounts a thoroughly reasonable man, will not stop committing poetry. his spirit is wililing, and my flesh is weak. some mad dictator types lynch one and all that, but el Presidente's poems: i tell you they are verse, much verse than bloodshed and the Chinese water torture.