Let none play tricks or polarize people
Such efforts be doomed, and condemned
My native land has rainbow reflections
In one mind both the ancient and modern.
Dr. Lalit Mohan Sharma
Dr. Lalit Mohan Sharma, born in 1952, has served in Himachal Pradesh Education Department in various teaching and administrative capacities till he retired as Principal of Government College, Dharamshala. Dr. Sharma is a bilingual poet, translator and author. His publications include 15 books of English poetry, two anthologies of Hindi poems, Another Gandhi, a monograph on a freedom fighter and A Three- Step Journey, an English translation of Zahid’s Urdu poems.
“Dr. Lalit Mohan Sharma is a seasoned voice in contemporary poetry whose reflective verses beautifully weave personal introspection with universal human experiences. His work continues to enrich modern poetic discourse with depth, clarity, and quiet emotional power, “writes Malini Joshi, editor, The Literature Times.
My Native Land
Failing to connect the lies he told earlier
He invited funny queries, even ridicule.
Having known real poverty, he begged
For long though he looked fine as a youth.
Why get into specifics, a widely known life
May have warts to hide, glories to shine.
He lived in a country he understood not
He dreamt a nation as one like in Europe.
Every few miles you find a new dialect,
A hundred miles speak a new language.
Similar the instruments of music as also
The style of singing and variety of dances.
Western dresses may have overwhelmed
Still dressing varied with natives around.
Fourteen hundred million carved mankind
Flourished on this subcontinent of Asia.
Who tells them to speak in one language,
Be in one apparel, follow one ideology?
My grandpa left college on Gandhi’s call
And left Congress as independence came.
He worked for partition refugees along
The volunteers wedded to the cause.
The same volunteer force was suspected
Of complicity in Gandhi’s assassination.
Grandpa too was arrested and was in jail
For three months, then was released.
He had no rancour against the officials,
He swore gladness, we were a free nation.
Let none play tricks or polarize people
Such efforts be doomed, and condemned.
My native land has rainbow reflections
In one mind both the ancient and modern.
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