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Friday, June 30, 2017

"Big Boss is Watching Us" by Manushya Puthiran

"Big Boss is Watching Us"
by
Manushya Puthiran
===================
.
Three years have passed since I entered this Big Boss show
Countless bizarre events have occurred in this house
Big Boss is watching us, watching everything
We are watching too, but only certain edited events.
There isn’t anything that Big Boss doesn’t know
Big Boss will know even when I buy a condom
My credit card is linked to my Aadhar card
And my retina lines are registered on that
Today, I’m buying a rope to hang myself
And Big Boss knows that too.
Big Boss' has surveillance cameras 
They are recording us everywhere 
Political negotiations are being recorded
Intercourse scenes are being recorded
And the whole nation is turning into a shooting spot.
Big Boss,

Is listening into my phone conversations
Is reading my secret emails
Is counting my bank balances
Is reading the price tag on my new underwear.
The rules of this Big Boss are stringent
We are all made to speak the same language
We are all made to eat the same food
We are all made to follow the same faith
We are all made to listen to the same voice
The house we’re staying in for this show;
Is turning out to be world’s biggest mental asylum
Each person is becoming afraid of the other
Someone is screaming
Someone is preaching nationalism
Someone is killing in the name of this nationalism
We hear condemning voices; and then it becomes quiet.
Big Boss continues to issue orders on the megaphone
He calling everyone to stand up for the national anthem
And we all are standing up
He calling everyone to sit on the yoga mat
And we all are sitting down
Countless orders have already been issued in these three years.
A lot of us have participated in this show
We have to find and eliminate one enemy every day
Whoever is left out in the end becomes the winner
This is our new political philosophy
Of people eliminating people
Of people killing people
Big Boss has penned clear scripts to this end
The plan is clear on who should be eliminated.
First, we eliminate all Muslims from that house
Then we eliminate the Christians
Then we eliminate the beef-eaters
Then we eliminate the atheists
Then we eliminate the Ambedkarites
Then we eliminate the Periyarists
Then we eliminate the leftists
Then we eliminate the academicians
Then we eliminate the economists
Then we eliminate the cattle traders
Then we eliminate the small traders
Then we eliminate the farmers
Then we throw Gandhi out
Then we throw Nehru out
Then we throw 500 and 1000 notes out
Then we throw honest journalists out
Then we throw honest judges out.
You would never have seen such a cruel game
The whole nation has become a reality show
Big Boss is watching all 120 crore people
And eliminates those who wouldn’t follow his rules.
I write metaphoric poems, and
So the cameras of Big Boss don’t bother me
Hence, I’m still being allowed to be here.
Big Boss whiplashes the participants at least once a day
The bloody marks on the bodies are presented as national growth.
Big Boss is never at home though
He is always in talks with some world leader
No one knows what they talk about
He keeps signing treaties with them
No one is sure if he reads them himself
Yet, wherever he is,
He is always watching us
We all know that.
In the famous TV show, the residents can talk to one another
In this show that I’m part of, we can form groups and attack each other
Big Boss is genuinely satisfied
Content at seeing his plans in perfect motion
He rushes to catch the next flight.
No one knows when this show would end
If this doesn’t end soon enough, 
We might start killing and eating one another.
In the last episode of this Big Boss, no one would be alive
Except the cows;
And they alone would be declared as winners.
Big Boss Season One is still in progress
And Big Boss is already preparing for Season Two.
--x--
.
.

Sridhar Subramaniam

Shahjahan R

Manushya Puthiran
© Abdul Hameed Sheik Mohamed (Manushya Puthiran) 
Tranlsated with permission by Sridhar Subramaniam
Copy-edited by Shahjahan R

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