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Pandit-Ji* – A Poem for Jawaharlal Nehru.

(November 14th 1889 – May 27th 1964)




 


1.


The moon cast an enveloping shadow over the teeming multitudes,

as they made their tryst with destiny**,

with you as the bearer of the light,

and at the stroke of the midnight hour,

you emerged an icon, from the long and desolate night.


Long years had passed,


since those humid evenings spent,


languishing in jail,

yet your mind remained unshackled,

putting words on paper in the dim candlelight,

as the gaudy glare of empire began to pale.



2.


Today,

you live,

within us,


though not amongst us,

and,

your discovery***,

your glimpses***,

smoulder within me,

your immortal words,

my compass.



I am now,

the soul of nations,

once suppressed,

that have,

found utterance**.


I am now,

me.


I am now,


finally,


free …


 




* – ‘Pandit-Ji’ was the name that Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, was respectfully called.

** – excerpts from Jawaharlal Nehru’s “Tryst with Destiny” speech on 15th August 1947.

*** – two of the few books written by Nehru – “Glimpses of World History” and “The Discovery of India“



Quote from Google