Deeds of Shame

Winter seeps into the Indian hinterland

Breaching the darkness of the summer's scams

Democracy's bastion is being sieged

By influential termites stacking their nests.

Shrieking cries of freedom, we prop up our governments

Smugly gloating over trampled rights in the neighborhood

Wondering why so few backslap us our so called achievement

Chagrined that no one else appreciates our oft-quoted "worlds largest democracy."

So we bellow louder and louder to knowing deaf ears

In a land where stealing food lands you behind bars for 3 months

And looting crores gets you the cream of the bar and a party ticket

- and respect of your peers.

Can any amount of chest thumping grudge cold statistics

Of child mortality worse than Sub-Saharan Africa

Or the unnaturally skewed man/woman ratio and myriad other horrifics.

A true homeland deifies equality, honesty, and pride in oneself

But alas!

What built our founder fathers by sweat and blood

We corrode away by deeds of shame.