Borders

Borders

We draw them
Around our drawings
That contain them

Those imaginary lines
That we invented
To divide
The equator
The axis
The longitudes
The latitudes

The lines on the map
The borders
Continents
Countries
Disputed
Territories
Capitals
States
Cities
Villages
Fields
Building 
Compounds
Houses
Rooms

Borders 
In our heart
The people inside
The circle
They’re ours
There are borders
Within our hearts

My youngest
My elder one
My husband
My best frien
My parents
His parents
My brother
My sister
His siblings
My friends
My colleagues
My neighbours
And so on
In a line
Or inside
The border of circles

God comes
Somewhere 
In this queue

It’s up to you
To decide
The place

But lines
And borders
Are everywhere

Your 
Catholic Brahmin
Catholic lower cast
Christian
Hindu
Jain
Buddhist
Muslim

There’s
A 
Pecking order
There too

Manglorean
Goan
Mango
Keralite
Tamil
Doesn’t matter
Any Catholic
Or Christian 
Or Hindu
Or else
We will compromise

Whites are ok
Blacks strictly not

Then there’s 
India
And 
At the other extreme
Pakistan
Catholic nations
Christian nations
Hindu
And MuslIm
 Nations

Our lines and Borders
All determined 
By which circle
Fate placed us in
And sometimes 
Our experiences

When
Will it happen?
When
Those lines
And circles
Cease to exist

When people 
Will be free
To stay
Where they want
Irrespective 
Of the name 
On the place
On that paper
The name
Of the place
Where they were born

The borders
Some of them 
Are fading away
Sense prevailing
People opening
That tiny circle
Inside their heart
To outsiders

If there are 
No lines
No circles
No borders
The world
It would be different 
There would be less 
To fight for
Our land
Our country 
Our religion
Our identity 
Might exist

But no circle 
In our heart
To keep away
The outsider











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