after the bombs


reach-in-touch-cold
call-out-hear-pain
lick-lips-taste-ash
sniff-ground-smell-fear
look-sky-see-blood

fifth-march-sixty-six


[in 1966, the indian government who could not send aid to starving mizos did manage to send the air force to bomb aizawl-the only time (thankfully) that india has bombed its own 'citizens'. click here to read a transalation of a personal account or here to the wikipedia page about mizoram]

12 comments:

Calliopia said...

Hmmm a few years before, in Dec '61, the Indian govt had also sent in the air force to drop bombs on Goa

feddabonn said...

true. but the bombing was to push the portugese out, no? so goans were not citizens (yet). then again, i guess with a declaration of independence one ceases to be a citizen? heh.

Calliopia said...

Having actually experienced '66, I don't in any way support the Indian givt but I believe the MNF had also declared independence which woke up the central govt.

feddabonn said...

@calliopia: true. if my reading of history is correct, didn't they ask for help and *not get it?

i do not personally believe that a declaration of independence is such a bad thing in itself, considering that india had just declared independence from the british empire.

having said that, i do not believe independence will do the north east any good, and their struggles are more naive than not. mostly, we get sandwiched between terrorists in the chinky armies and the indian armies.

Anonymous said...

Short and ironically sweet.. Kinda reminds me of the Japanese art of "Haiku".
Back home in Durtlang, I once saw a small crater and was told it was one of the outcomes of that bombing.. I've heard of stories about it, about how terribly ignorant we were at that time, about how people were scared to dry red sheets in the sun fearing it might give out their location, about the fear it instilled into a handful people who were only defending themselves against a country who just couldn't bring them to their kness until they finally conducted the worst air-raid as a last resort.. etc etc.. I shudder to think how many were actually true.

feddabonn said...

the japanese economy with words is a lovely concept, though i cannot work within the discipline of a haiku.

war is a stupid thing, and ultimately pointless. btw, there's also an electric post riddled with bullets in the museum.

John Doe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
John Doe said...

speaking of 'economy with words' have you come across 55 fiction?

feddabonn said...

have heard of, jd, though never tried. do you?

John Doe said...

never thought that I would be able to write a short story in 55 words. tried it and found that it was true. turns out all my short stories end up being of 33 words.

go figure.

feddabonn said...

aah, J. now i just *have to ask-where do i read them?

John Doe said...

maybe I will mail you some soon.