The other day the headlines read
Another ‘baba’ was caught and sent
To the jail where he cried
And rent the air
Filling all with disgust and dread
This one is a ‘flowering head’
Collects huge alms and builds his regime.
In ancient days the ‘babas’ all
Lived a plain and simple life
Dreading God in fear of hell, not fine
Like mushrooms they spring up everywhere
Fooling people ‘status’ and all
Politicians too, line up and touch
Their dirty feet to preach untruths
They garland, bow, and secretly vow
To help erect their empire large
Fiddling, twiddling, passing time
Their secret funds rise up and fly
Rapes and frauds, murders unwind
When some girls begin to whine
Reasons there are beyond control
For these very devoted girls
Fooled and trapped, screwed up for life
They whimper and recoil to fight
Caught and lost in religious fantasy
Fret and lose their life.
Too late the parents pant in vain
Run here and there for justice, too late
Law is blind they do not know
The scales are tilted too late they opine.
~Shobha Diwakar
Jabalpur, India
* Babas are religious quacks
garbed in wolf’s skin