THE FOLLOWING POEM BY MISHA OBEROI WON SECOND Prize IN Wingword Poetry Prize 2019’s Junior Category

Here,
Just one shop sells dhokla,
rasgulla and halwa,
Just one whatsapp group sends eid mubarak,
merry christmas, and happy holi,
Just one street has had ram mandir
and babri masjid,
And when that one foreigner asks me about India,
The first thing that comes to mind is,
Unity in diversity,
Ekta mai hi shakti.
Lekin abh nahi.

For now,
When I visit that one shop,
I see that it’s once so welcoming doors,
Are now shut,
I ask kishore bhaiya why,
He tells me,
‘Ahmed ke paas kaagaz nahi the.’

When I check that one whatsapp group,
I see that the ‘same to you,’
Has been replaced by,
blue ticks,
For sometimes,
Silence speaks louder than words.

And now, when I walk past that street again,
Instead of groups of pilgrims,
with devotion in their eyes,
And faith in their hearts,
I still see groups,
But of people trying to scream loud enough.
For their voices to be heard,
Of people who haven’t gone home in 134 days,
Of people who seem to have lost the spark,
Who seem to have lost hope.

Hope that one day,
They’ll see Ahmed again,
That one day their father in law,
will see past the clothes on their body,
And the name they chant,
And when that foreigner asks them about India again,
One day, unity in diversity,
Will be the first thing they’ll say.

Illustration created for Wingword Poetry Prize by Dhanashree Pimputkar