My son keeps a computer institute
And he is a good teacher
So his students swear
Boys and girls from reputed city high schools
Come in batches morning and evening
Young women aspiring to land jobs in firms
Young men with ambitions in corporate
receive classes in Irfan’s Computer Education Institute.
He is a handsome twenty-nine year old
I ask him many times to marry
And bring me a daughter- in-law
He says, “When I find the right girl,
I’ll surely do your wish.”
One day, he brings a young woman
To me and says, “She’s the one.”
I gather after some minutes of conversation
That she is the only daughter
Of a businessman in the city
And that she belongs to the majority fold
Something within pricked me
Will her parents and her people agree to
This inter-faith meeting of hearts?
Irfan and Ishita say, “We are adults. We love each other
And can’t think of marrying anybody else.”
They exchange garlands in the court of law.
What I fear happens
Men in khaki knock at our door
Question Irfan and Ishita
Find nothing to incriminate them and go away
Next land a gang of musclemen in shiny cars
They lift Ishita away
Another lot vandalizes Irfan computers
And abduct him with force
His lifeless body is found
Beside the railway tracks not far
The Police say it’s suicide
But I’m sure in my heart
It’s a murder, cold-blooded!
Xavier Bage
Tues, 25 September 2018
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