Throughout my adult life I kept wondering what wrong the Kashmiri Pandits had done that they had to leave their own homeland and live a life of refugees, even after we got independence from the British. I remember my Dad telling me about how Hindus from the North Western part of Punjab and Sindh had become refugees because of the Partition. But no one had prepared us for Kashmir! And no Media, no Judge, no Prime Minister, no UN, no one wanted to help … there was no one to wipe their tears. Yes, they survived; yes, they kept alive their traditions and culture; yes, they remained law abiding citizens of our country. But those who drove them away from their homeland, those who raped them and tortured them roamed free – in fact, they indulged in more violence and bloodshed. Those who protected them, our soldiers, became their target for violence. And there was no stopping them. Till ….
A poem to pay tribute to the man who has tried to bring about a change in the situation…
It takes one person to change the world
It takes one person to mould people’s thoughts
It takes one person to show courage, to sow courage
To change the world & to mould people’s thoughts.
It takes one person to understand what has been lost
It takes one person to what is to be done
It takes one person to show sympathy, to be empathetic
To give back what has been lost & do what has to be done.
It takes one person to lead the fight against wrongdoing
It takes one person to do it with least violence
It takes one person to chalk a different route
To fight wrongdoing, using strength to reduce bloodshed.
It takes one person to show the world
That to remove stains of blood
A little scrubbing, a little patting, a little squeezing is required
For bloodstains cannot be erased by applying lipstick stains over it.
To those who cry crocodile tears over loss of life
To those who complain and whine over their own incapability
It takes just One person to remind them
That a leader sets the path, he doesn’t always follow them.
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