It has been three years
since I entered
a Big Boss show
Countless bizarre events
are happening in this house
Big Boss watches everything
You too watch
some of the edited oddities
There is nothing
Big Boss doesn’t know
Even if I buy a condom
Big Boss has to know
My credit card number
is linked to my Aadhar card
that has my iris scan
printed on it
Big Boss knows
I am buying a rope today
to hang myself
We are being recorded
everywhere by the
surveillance cameras
of Big Boss
Political deals are recorded
Bedroom scenes are recorded
The entire nation
has become a tv studio
Big Boss
listens to my telephone conversations
reads my secret emails
counts the change in my bank account
knows the price of my underwear
The rules of the
Big Boss show I am in
are severe
We have to
speak the same language
eat the same food
hear the same voice
The house we are staying in
is turning into
the world’s biggest
mental asylum
Everyone is afraid
of everyone else
Suddenly some man howls
and instructs patriotism
In the name of patriotism
he cuts down and kills
some citizens of the nation
Denunciations are heard
Then it becomes quiet again
Big Boss keeps
delivering orders
over the speakers
He asks everyone
to stand up
for the national anthem
at the same time
Everyone stands up
He asks everyone
to sit on yoga mats
Everyone sits down
Many orders
have been delivered
in the last three years
Many of us have participated in
this Big Boss show
Others have to join together and find
a common enemy every day
Whoever remains at last
is the winner
This is a modern political ideology
People destroying people
People evicting people
Big Boss has written
the show’s script clearly
There is a clear plan
whom to evict
From that house
Big Boss
first evicted the Muslims
then Christians were evicted
then beef eaters were evicted
then rationalists were evicted
then Ambedkarists were evicted
then leftists were evicted
then educators were evicted
then economists were evicted
then cattle traders were evicted
then small traders were evicted
then farmers were evicted
then Gandhi was evicted
then Nehru was evicted
five hundred rupee and thousand rupee notes were evicted
honest journalists were evicted
honest judges were evicted
You cannot envision
a cruel game like this
A nation has turned into
a reality show of a Big Boss
Big Boss is watching all the
one hundred and twenty crore people
He controls them
He evicts some for not
conforming to his rules
I write poetry
with imagery
The cameras of Big Boss
ignore me
So I am still here
Big Boss
beats the show’s participants
with a whip
at least once a day
He describes
the bloody marks
growth indicators
of the nation
Big Boss is
never in this house
He is always in talks
with a head of some country
No one knows
what he talks
He is always signing
some pact
It is doubtful
he reads it
But wherever he is
he is watching us
monitoring us
In that show telecast on TV
the inmates of the house
can talk to each other
In the Big Boss show I am in
we form groups and
attack each other
Big Boss is satisfied
He realizes everything
is progressing well
as planned
and hurries to catch the next flight
No one knows when
this show will end
If it doesn’t end soon
every inmate of the house
will start killing
and eating the others
In the last episode of
this Big Boss show
no one will remain
except a cow and Big Boss
They will be the winners
Big Boss is getting ready for season two
even before season one ends
Manushya Puthiran
Translated without permission by – Siva Lakshmi (Houston)